The Laundry Room

When most folks come into the shop, they seem to enjoy the laundry room in a detergent bottle most of all... The element of surprise I suppose.

Here are a two examples of laundry rooms done by friends of mine. The large Tide bottle was done by Pat Angrick, and is currently on display at the shop. Many of the pieces in it were made during a workshop that Pat organized through AIM a few years ago. Notice that the washer and dryer are vintage salt and pepper shakers.

The other laundry room was done by Jane Lane, and is in an antique iron box. Love the way she thought outside of the roombox and went for an interesting container.

I am currently working on my own version of this. "Imitation is the sincerest of flattery," says Charles Caleb Colton, and I must concur. I am also working on another laundry room in a wooden Ivory Soap box. It's much easier to go and do laundry when you've got a cute roombox to look at while you're there.

So keep thinking outside the box.

Dining Room and Musical Instruments

Pam has this darling blue dining room set on sale at 15% off. This includes the table and four chairs, china cabinet, buffet and buffet table. The accessories are separate. Also, here's a sampling of the musical instruments we have in stock.

Mark your calendars!

We are very excited about being a dealer at the September Miniature Show this year! Mark your calendars and plan on attending. We'll see you there!

September 18-19, Indianapolis, IN
9th Annual Museum of Miniature Houses Dollhouse Miniatures Show and Sale
Saint Luke's United Methodist Church, 100 West 86th Street
Hours: Friday 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.; Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Admission: Adults $7.00; Members $6.00; Children 6-12 $4.00 (good for both days)
Exhibits! Make it/Take it Projects! Workshops & Demonstrations!
Information: Museum of Miniature Houses and Other Collections, Inc.
111 E. Main Street, Carmel, IN 46032 (317) 575-9466
E-mail: mmhaoc@aol.com
Visit the web-site: http://www.museumofminiatures.org/

NAME Convention and Madison Avenue Miniaturists

Suzanne, Hannah and I all belong to the Madison Avenue Miniaturists that meet the second and fourth Wednesday, from 10-12 at the Franklin library. Our club had a great time creating a Houseparty Helper called 'Going Home'. The convention theme was 'Our Family Reunion' and our very creative group came up with the idea of replicating a 'wake' in the 40's time period when funerals were held at home. I must say it was very unique and received rave reviews. During the Saturday evening banquet, we club members continuing with the theme, dressed in our mourning attire. The processional was led by our adopted clergy, Julia from Rhode Island that we met at the convention.

For those of you who read this post, I have a few of the tote bag favors leftover that we gave at convention. Come into the shop and mention that you read this and you may have one.

Honey is here!

My husband, Mark is a hobby beekeeper and has just extracted 90 lbs of honey which is available at the shop for $6 a pound. Honey is best purchased locally to achieve the most health benefits. Mark is a member of the Indiana State Beekeeper’s Association and the 10 o’clock Beeline Beekeepers Club that meets on the second Monday of the month at the Brown County Extension office at 7pm.

Piece of Cake!

Can you believe that this is a photo of a CAKE! Nothing but icing and cake. Wow!

The Museum of Miniature Houses and Simply Sweet Shoppe

While you are in a 'mini mood', you'll want to visit The Museum of Miniature Houses in Carmel. It's a beautiful museum with wonderful exhibits that will inspire you and they have a tiny miniature store that's fun to browse in.

Helio's is a darling tea room across the street that would be a great place for lunch. For dessert, head over to Simply Sweet Shoppe and say hello to my neighbor Jill. Be sure and tell her that Donna sent you. Sounds like a fun day to me!

National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts

This week is a BIG week for Indiana miniaturists. The NAME National Houseparty Convention is right here in our state! There are events all week for NAME members. If you are not a member of NAME, you can still see the exhibits and sales floor this Saturday, July 18 from 1:30-5 and Sunday, July 19 from 11:30-4 at the Indianapolis Mariott East at 21st and Shadeland. There is a small admission charge. This is the first NAME National Convention in Indiana even though the main office is in Carmel. You don't want to miss out on this weekend! If you are a member of NAME, be sure and remind us when you are at the shop because you receive a 10% discount!

Our New Mailbox

My dear friend Jane painted this charming mailbox for us. It looks so cute on the front of the shop. Jane and I have been friends since she came to the shop back in '86 for a miniature class I was teaching. Now she and her husband Mel live down the road from us in Brown County. She is a very talented artist as you can see and creates treasures in miniature and life size. You'll be seeing more of her work at the shop in the days ahead. I think these mailboxes would make a wonderful housewarming or Christmas gift. She will custom paint them just for you, but you'll need to order early. Come in and we'll get you in touch with her.

Sarah's Fun Flowers

Daughter Sarah has been punching out these little flowers day and night, lol. They make the cutest little impatients or phlox. They come in a variety of colors and they really are a fun little project. A bag of 200 prepunched petals are only $2. What a deal. Great project for the kiddo's too. When you come in we'll let you give them a try.

The Dollhouses Have Arrived

Pam has managed to find a few darling dollhouses. Pam's daughter Kimmie assembles them, so they are ready to go! They are very well priced for the beginner or young miniaturist. These two are both front opening houses which save you space. Kimmie has two other styles she's working on and they'll be in the window soon. These are not available at any other store in Indiana, but I'm sorry to say that we only have a limited number of these cuties.

I'm a firm believer in prebuilt dollhouses. Many a kit goes home, and when opened, is quickly shoved under the bed because of the overwhelming contents. With a prebuilt house you are ready to get to the fun part of decorating.

On Display

Wanted to give you a chance to see some of the things that are currently on display at the shop. I plan on changing these around at the end of the month, so try to get in to see these if you can. The majority of these are from my own collection of roomboxes that I've made with just a few exceptions. The purple and green roombox on the bottom right was made by my daughter Hannah, and went to the State Fair through 4-H a couple of years ago. The dolls were made by my friend Pat Angrick, Elegant Dolls by Pat. For Sarah , Hannah and I each she made a beautiful doll. The one on the right daughter Hannah dressed and wigged. The large building on the bottom left was made by Bill Lankford and given as a gift to Pam's dad. Lots of fun things to look at to get some ideas of things you can do yourself. We'll be glad to share the stories and ideas with you. See you soon.

Our First Month

We want to thank you all for helping us to have a very encouraging first month. Lots of friends and family have visited and we've made many new friends.

We want to thank Suzanne's granddaughter Aya for creating this beautiful website for us. You can see her own website at http://www.strawberrykoi.com/. There is a link to the left. Besides being a very talented artist, she does graphic design, website design, photography, and collects vintage clothes. She has some delightful YouTube videos on vintage hair style how-to's. She is a very creative young lady and a joy to work with. So if you need any web design work, she's your gal!

Besides Aya's fabulous website, our only other advertising was a very tacky sign written in glass paint by yours truly. I never claimed to be a sign painter, lol. Since you didn't even know about our website at the time and I can't believe your really liked my sign, so my conclusion is that good old 'word of mouth' has been our saving grace. We appreciate you supporting the reopening of The Homeplace and all the years that you supported us in the past.

Where was Sarah?

That was the big question on Saturday. Well, here she is riding Abby in the Spring Blossom Parade in Beautiful Downtown Nashville. Along side is her friend Gabe on Lady. Behind is Isabelle on Fuzzy. Can you tell they were having a good time, LOL?

Thank you to Lynn Hopper

A BIG THANK YOU to Lynn Hopper for her article about The Homeplace that she posted on her Indystar.com/Plainfield Blog. I believe that Lynn was the first person in the door Saturday at Homecoming. It was a pleasure spending time with her and sharing news of all the exciting changes coming to Downtown Plainfield. Thanks Lynn for supporting The Homeplace!

Open for Business!

Saturday had all the makings of a wonderful day... food, fun and fellowship! Lot's of family and friends stopped by to give their support and encouragement. We want to thank everyone of you who took the time to come!

Let me introduce you to some of my friends who are also my family.

Pam and I have been friends for probably 20 years. I used to buy dollhouse miniatures from her dad when we were open back in '85-'95 and he introduced Pam and I. We've been friends ever since. Pam will be managing the store for me and keeping the miniatures well stocked for you.

Suzanne and I met at a miniature show back in the 80's. She came to work with me at the shop shortly after that. After The Homeplace closed it's doors in the 90's, Suzanne went to work with Pam's family choosing wallpaper, paint colors and such. She's back with us at The Homeplace now and is our doll and miniature artisan. Besides being a gifted artist, she is a dear friend.

Hannah (13) is my daughter and is a fine miniaturist in her own right. Some of her works are currently on display. She has won ribbons through 4H and the Indianapolis Miniature Show for her creations. She was involved with the Junior Miniaturist Club at Jeepers Miniatures in Nashville. We hope to be get a group started this summer for our young artisans at The Homeplace with her assistance.

Sarah (17), my other daughter is not in the photo from Saturday because she was riding one of our horses in our local Spring Blossom Parade in Nashville. Her first love are her horses so you may not see her as much as her sister.

I'm Donna and one of the original owners of The Homeplace and an avid miniaturist. About 5 years ago we moved from the west side of Indianapolis to Brown County and are now living our dream of a log cabin, horses, dogs, cats and kiddos. If you came to the shop in the early days, you will remember my grandparents, Tom and Ruby, or Pop and Gran to me who supplied the furniture and antiques. They are both gone now and missed greatly. They both loved the shop very much and all of the friends they made there. My mother Judy bought all the wonderful giftware we had in the shop. She is no longer able to work, but still talks about our family business. Somehow I just couldn't sell the shop. So here I am, the only kid and grandkid, reopening the shop after it's been closed for some 13 years. We're opening a few days a week, and sharing the family business with the next generation and our adopted family. Times have changed, our family has changed and so has our shop, but it will always be about family and good times together.

Homecoming! Saturday, May 2, 2009

Come by and say "Hello". We would love to see you! Pam has her dollhouse miniatures out and ready to go. I've brought in a few things from my personal collection for you all to see. Shanda is bringing in some special treats for us to eat. We'll be there all week getting ready for homecoming, so there will be lots of surprises.

We'll see you Satuday!
Donna