This purse was made from material that I removed from one of the reupholstered chairs in the scene.  The fabric reminded me of one used for carpet bags and I was pleased that I found a place for it in the room box.

Pink bunka is coiled and glued to a cardstock base to make the dress-up hat.  Green and white feathers are another one of those finds laid on my desktop by Zinnia so that I could find a place for them in my miniature scene.

I made this basket  from a weaved placemat that I found at a Japanese paper store in Chicago.  I stained it with a watered down red Golden Fluid Acrylic paint.  The basket base is made with an elliptical-shaped woodsie.  The flour and brown sugar bag printies come from Joanne Swanson's site.  The tea box and butter box are internet downloads and the yogurt is another gift from Grandpa's Dollhouse.  Flowers were designed by Sherrill Jenkins.

I tucked this metal mini 1/144 scale bear into the apron pocket.

Once again, these drawers were painted by Sage.

Pie plates are bezels from the craft store that have been painted with nail polish.

I bought a small bag of confetti letters from the dollar store and painted the letters "Baked with Love" with nail polish.

The watermelon -colored Chrysnbon clock is flanked by more recipe books and a Lisa Engler laser cut teapot sign that I colored with Souffle markers.  I made a cookie jar with a large bead and topped it with an extra porcelain lid. The teapot is a metal mini that I painted with peacock colored nail polish and Sage painted the tiny designs,  These cute plastic bears were a gift from Liz Dieleman of Grandpa's Dollhouse in Canada.

Like our pure white cat Grace, this miniature version was created byBridget McCarty.

An unobstructed view of the cupboard.

Once again, I used nail polish to coat these metal pans.  I used the brand:  Essence Color and Go because it is inexpensive and it gives a great gel-like coverage where the brush strokes disappear when it dries.

I bought some belly button rings at a store at a discount because I liked the unusual beads.  I was going to throw away the plastic connector of the belly ring when I realized that the ends would make perfect food coloring bottles.  I cut them to size, colored them with marker and tipped the tapered end with gold paint and placed them on this baking counter.  The rolling pin was made with a wooden bead and then I glued nail polish covered belaying pins on the ends.  The air dry frosting was colored with acrylic paints and placed in these tiny blister pack bowls.  The milk was made with Scenic Water resin.  Three jump rings made the round cookie cutter.  

My 16 year old daughter Sage painted the flowers on the tea set, plates, cupboard, and blue canister.  She is very talented!

To make the cupcake garland, I used the silicon mold and frosting from Stewart Dollhouse Creations.

Hanging from the edge of the cupboard is this angel ornament, designed by Sherrill Jenkins, and I just had to make one also.

The stack of inexpensive plastic bowls were painted with nail polish to give them a porcelain look and they were found at the plastic animal section of Michael's.  The jelly jars and tea box are a kit from Lisa Engler.  The wonderful pink hydrangeas were a class taught by Nancy Gaiser.  

Zinnia was so pleased with herself for buying me a strand of the blue and white beads at the crafts store and she just knew that I could use them in my miniature scenes.  So, I made this decorative bottle with it and used jewelry findings that she also gave me as a gift.

I bought a small pocket watch from Hobby Lobby with the intent of putting a little kitchen scene inside.  However, after I put this 1/144 scale cupboard in the case, it ended up taking so much room that I decided to make a collage of it instead. 

Again, the metal mini teapot, sugar and creamer are painted with maroon nail polish and accented with acrylic paint.  I am not 100% satisfied with the display on top of the green crate so, I may eventually change it.

Sitting on a 1/4 inch scale plastic chair, is this delicately painted doll that I found at my miniature store, Dollhouses Unlimited, and then dressed her with a fine linen cloth and lace hat.  I painted the candle with bright pink nail polish so that it would tie in with the same colored teacups and saucers on the dining table. Iced Enamels is what I used to paint this white scrapbooking architectural piece.   I purchased the pink porcelain sugar and creamer and my daughter Sage painted the flowers.  The tiny wreath is made with railroad tree greenery and tiny paper punched flowers.

I love these chubby metal mini birds that I believe come from England.  After I sprayed them with a white primer and washed with an antiquing medium, I colored them with scrapbooking chalk and brushed them with acrylic gold to give them a little gleam.  This metal mini teapot was painted with nail polish, then I painted the roses with acrylic paints.  

Beaded stars are a gift from Paulette Svec and the pink paper flower was a class taught by Sherrill Jenkins.  Books are a download from Casa de Bonecas da Eloisa.

A tutu party dress in case Zinnia wanted to play dress-up.

This triple stacked round box display was another fabulous class taught by Paulette Svec.  The teapot was any inexpensive charm that I painted with green nail polish.

Another puzzle:  What to put along this back wall since there was no room for furniture and I had already done pictures and a shelf on the other two walls.  Well, on my work station was an empty crate given to me by Nancy Gaiser for a flower class she had taught.  I put it against the wall and it reminded me that I had wanted to do a miniature display using different style crates.  Great!!  This gave me an opportunity to display more teapots and kitchen goodies and each crate acted like it's own shelf--much easier to decorate.   

When I spotted Noreen Sand's  half-inch scale Romantic Hideaway class offered through the NAME 2014 On-Line Show, I knew I had to sign up to be a member of NAME.  I had always admired Noreen's work on the internet and wished that someday I could take a class.  This was a perfect on-line class and I was thrilled with the way it turned out.  I was doubly pleased that I could incorporate this baby house into my room box in such a way that I could appreciate  the delicateness of the 1/144 scale furniture and accessories.  I added a few extras to the scene including the chair, paper dolls and tiny rabbit made by Barbara Meyer of Mini Gems.

It was such a puzzle for me to figure out what to do with the back left corner of the box to balance out the fully decorated kitchen cupboard in the right corner. Should I put a door, a window?   Then I remembered this kit by Noreen Sand.  I had wanted to incorporate it into the room box but I did not think that it would fit.  Oh, perfect!!  I could cut a hole in the wall for this baby house instead of a hole for a door or a window.

Welcome to Zinnia's Tea Party!!  I collaged this picture print that came from Bumble Button Blogspot.  I flocked the bunny, then added glitter, no hole beads, a bow, leaves and flowers, a butterfly, and trims.  

I had to add a picture of the Zinnia fairy flower by  Mary Cicely Barker.  The lower picture comes from The Rustic Victorian on Flicker.  

On the left wall hangs mostly vintage pictures of little girls playing tea party.  The large print with the girl in the blue dress comes fromBumble Button Blogspot.  The small print on the left comes from Little Ideas Studio on Etsy.  The other pictures come from pins on Pinterest.

Right side of the box.

Center of the box.

Left side of the box.

After I had made the sweets table in my last room box, Barn Wedding Photo Shoot, I knew that for my next project I wanted to experiment with making more miniature food.  Then my 10 year old daughter, Zinnia, asked me when I was going to make her a room box since she was the only one among my 4 children who had not, yet, gotten one.  I then decided to make a tea party.  I had wanted to make a party scene after I had read to my children, years ago, a book called Sybil and the Blue Rabbit by Jane Johnson. In the book is an elaborate drawing of a girl with her many stuffed animals sitting at a long banquet table filled with all kinds of food and drink. Besides making miniature food, another challenge for me, was to learn how to make needle felted stuffed animals. I figured, that if I wasn't successful, I could always buy them.  However, with the shared talent of wonderful people through the internet, watching YouTube videos and reading tutorials, I was able to make some animals that met my standards of acceptance.  Needle felting turns out to be very forgiving and easy. I imagined for this box, my daughter Zinnia, putting together a tea party for her stuffed animals and dolls and there was no limit in this child-like dream.  Box completed in September 2014. 

Zinnia Had a Tea Party


Room Boxes by Denise Morales

Top down view of the party, below.

The bitty dwarf straddling the top of the chair was purchased at the miniature store.

Three more needle felted animals--a mouse, cat and tiny bunny.

The inspiration for using a jewelry clasp finding to make this jewelry case came from a very talented miniature blogger, Elizabeth Slinn of Studio E Miniatures.  Pink and brass beaded necklace and earrings were another group project and the tutorial can be found at Michaela's Miniaturen.  I placed the earrings on a gold framed black flocked paper so that they could pop against the pinkish rug.  Girlie footstool is made with a fabric covered metal button and a gathered pink netting.  Resin shoes,  painted with nail polish and embellished with a chain part and rhinestone, and pink silk chiffon scarf round out the dress-up ensemble.

The strawberry sundae is made with a Japanese air dry clay and strawberry sauce.  I discovered how to make the straws by accident.  I had just finished making some Neopolitan candy with chocolate, pink and cream Fimo clay. Absent-mindedly I began rolling the extra stacked clay between my fingers and when I looked down at my hand, I noticed this wonderful striping of the clay.  I thought these would make great straws and stick candy.  (Of course, the experts are already familiar with this technique but it was a Eureka moment for me.)  Pound cake and pink cake are made with Fimo clay but the blue frosting is made with tinted air dry frosting.  I made the pink candy flowers that are on the frosting with my  3-D nail art molds from China (that I purchased through Ebay).  I filled the molds with Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos that was tinted with scrapbook chalk and then placed them in the sun to cure.

The pastel crocheted pot holder was a gift from the ultra-talented Paulette Svec.

I covered a wooden round plug with air dry frosting and added Fimo sprinkles to the small cake that is under the dome.

Instead of flowers in a vase, I opted to make a paper doll arrangement that better suited this playful childlike theme.

Sage painted the flowers on the mixer and the Rabbit Tea box was part of a Lisa Engler kit.  

Hard candies that are glued onto cards were made similarly to the lollipops described above.  

I used paper plates made by Classic for each place setting.  Once again, I coated each one with a different color nail polish so that it gave the plates a ceramic look---and they were very inexpensive.  The napkin rings are made with faces that I cut out of millefiori flowers and then added pink bunka for the petals.  The napkins are made with silk bias cut ribbon.

Candy fills a blister pack bowl.  To make the lollipops, I filled a mold, by Stewart Dollhouse Creations, with Magic Glos that was tinted with scrapbooking chalk, I, then, placed it out in the sunlight to cure.  The yellow pot of vegetables has been in my collection for over 25 years and was made by Donna Smolik.   

Lady teapot, on the left, was a show purchase and was made by Valerie Casson.  The stacked porcelain teacups and saucers were painted with, you guessed it, nail polish.  The stacked teapots are metal charms purchased at Michael's.  

A needle felted large white bunny and brown bear.  A Victorian doll made out of white Sculpey and lace.  A country angel purchased at the miniature store.

These whimsical flowers were made with millefiori faces that had been coated with Lisa Pavelka's Magic Glos.  In a Joanne Swanson tutorial, she used Christmas tree bulbs to make kitchen glasses and I used one to make a vase for this S-shaped arrangement.

To guide me in making the brownies, although this is not a good photo of them, I watched SugarCharmShop's youtube video.  She is a very generous and talented miniaturist and demonstrates a lot of food making techniques on her youtube channel.

Needle felted gray bunny and giraffe.  White clay doll.  "Fabric panel"  soft cloth doll.

The doll on the left is by Ethel Hicks and the napping doll on the right is made with white Sculpey clay.  

I was thrilled that I won this doll kit for $6.00 through a silent auction at a miniature show.  The packaging was so old that it looked like it had been in some lady's stash for at least 30 years.  I glued the arms and head with pipe cleaners to the porcelain body, dressed, wigged, repainted her face, then glued her legs inside the dress and to the chair.  I think she has a sweet innocent look to her.

Please see the remaining photos on Zinnia Had a Tea Party 2.

I purchased a bag of millefiori fruits and vegetables on-line a few years ago and used them to decorate these tarts.

The pink cake under the dome was my first attempt at making a layer cake.  The cake with  Fimo candles is a wood plug covered with air dry icing and no-hole beads.  The red cheesecake and heart cake on the left were show purchases. The Chrysnbon goblet's stems were tinted with Sharpie markers and the rims were tipped in gold paint.

This tiny clay rabbit was flocked with white flocking.

I modified what was a shabby chic dome class taught by Sherrill Jenkins into this more party-like theme display so that it would compliment the tea party room box that I was working on at the time.  The teapot was a kit from Patty Caster and the flamingo was made by Barbra Meyer.  This piece is 1 1/2" in diameter and because it took up so much room on the table, I decided to give it its own place by sitting it on top of a stool.  

This needle felted elephant was made with a rougher textured wool roving.

I painted an inexpensive plastic top hat with nail polish then covered it with glitter.

So . . . . . what is on the menu?  Sweets and treats, of course!