Jean Day Miniatures

Some of My Valentine Miniatures and Robin Betterley's Valentine's Party

2012-02-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

Valentines is soon going to be here so I thought I would share some Valentine Miniatures I offer through either eBay or our Website. The above photo shows some of my Queen of Heart books and Valentine books. Hanging on the cabinet is a Newborn Valentine Kit. Below that is a Newborn Queen of Heart's Kit that comes with the book cover as well. The image I used in my design is from my original Queen of Hearts book.

Miniaturist Robin Betterley's Blog is having a wonderful Valentine's party and I thought you should all here about it. She has projects for crafts and miniatures, recipes and other very fun ideas. If you enjoy Valenines you will love this party. Party on!!!

The photos below are more of my Valentine kits.

Half Scale kit

Baby Kit

Apron Kit

Shows two of my Quarter Scale Fabric Furniture Kits.

New free AIM Projects Magazine issue!!

2012-01-31T14:20:00.000-08:00

AIM Imag Issue 39 Special Project supplement...

Free Printable Miniature Doll or Baby Quilt and Bag

2012-01-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

While I was going through my files, I found a Mother Goose quilt and bag I designed, as you can see in 2003 and never did anything with the design so I thought I would offer it to you as a free printable. You can take this image into a print program and print it out for a one twelfth scale dollhouse quilt of whatever size you would like. I designed the quilt pattern and the Mother Goose image was from my antique children`s book. Print it onto an iron on transfer and then iron it onto fabric. Stitch other fabric as a backing and put a piece of flannel for the padding. The bag is simple, fold, glue or stitch to gussets, add the image to make a pocket and glue on either one or two straps. Sorry I don`t have a photo, if I can find it, I will add it soon. I should also mention I have a 30% off some of my fabric kits in my Ebay, Hugs, Jean

How to Help your Children Be More Creative or My Mother Let Me Make Mud Pies.

2011-12-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

I was so lucky to have parents and grandparents who really encouraged creativity and were very creative themselves. As an junior high Art teacher, I used to give creativity a lot of thought to as well. Some of the ideas are so simple but they really worked for me.

* My mother used to make pudding in individual bowls for desert for us a couple of times a week. She would always put a design with her spoon in the top of her pudding and she would pour cream in the spaces. The designs were usually geometric and she would encourage my sister and me to do the same. Some people might think of this as playing with their food but it is wonderful sharing all of the designs.

* Dad used to treat many of his meals as landscapes by hollowing out his mashed potatoes and putting in a gravy lakes with vegetables arranged like a forest. He would encourage us to do the same.

*When we were in the car my grandmother always played "I spy with my little eye", where grandmother would see something of a certain colour or other description and I would have to guess what it was.

*Dad would have a piece of paper and draw some lines as part of a shape and I would have to finish the picture using that shape, then I would do the same for him. Very creative but it also showed a good starting off point for a sketch and that sketching doesn't always have to start off looking at something to sketch.

*Dad made a very large chalk board for us (he actually painted a board with chalk board paint) and we would spend hours at it. I remember just drawing intersecting lines and I found that all of the lines made such wonderful designs.

*Mom used to come home with bags of end cuts of fabric for quilting and there were so many designs and colours, each was a small square. I did so much with those fabric pieces and especially enjoyed pretending I had a fabric shop.

*When I was a teacher I would not let my students throw away a picture they had painted or a drawing just because they felt it wasn't good enough. I used to tell them it was theirs and theirs alone. No one else would make that particular image at that time. Sometimes children are much too critical of their own work and need to realize it is the process that is the fun part and whatever they do is important.

*Children don't need lots of toys to have fun!! Better to have them making things with all sorts of odds and ends around the house. A blanket over a table makes a great tent. My youngest son used to make fabulous houses out of cardboard.

*Mom used to have a large stack of decorating and craft magazines that I would pour over for hours, Surprising how much you can learn from old magazines and it helps you decide what you really love and want to make, even if you are too young to make it at that point in your life.

I will try to add to these ideas as I think of them.....

*When I was very small my mother actually played out in the dirt with me and showed me how to make mud pies. She was never bothered by me getting dirty and really encouraged it.

*We moved to Victoria and had a beach across the street, dad and I would go for walks and he would love writing and drawing in the sand. It is such a lovely sound too, when a stick scrapes the sand.

*Sometimes my dad would ask me to close my eyes and describe a scene I had just been looking at with him. He would do the same when we were walking. He really said how important it is to actually look at your surroundings and look remembering details. Sometimes life must be overwhelming for children and just watching tiny bugs can slow everything down and be really beautiful.

*When we lived in Regina Saskatchewan, we would get a lot of fabulous snow in the winter and mom would get me bundled to play. I spent hours stomping down the snow in puzzle patterns and looking for fairy caves provided by icy melting in the hills of snow against the fence.

*Mom didn't believe in a lot of lessons when I was young but wanted me to find my own interests that I loved.

Hugs, Jean

Christmas Idea, Knot Theory Ties on Kick Starter

2011-11-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

If you have a special someone that you just can't figure out what to buy them this holiday season my fried Tanya Huang of Knot Theory has the solution on Kick Starter. John has the black tie shown above and people are always interested in it, so unique. Looks really good with a black shirt or his tuxedo.

To quote Tanya on Kick Starter "It took one year, but Knot Theory has finally launched a project on Kick Starter! Would really appreciate that you forward this email to friends.

Kick Starter is a creative project funding platform. It is the biggest of its kind. Check out Knot Theory's project on there:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1246741503/knot-theory-revolutionary-ties

Knot Theory needs a boost to continue its innovative vision, and your help is deeply appreciated!!

Pantone Colours for Fall and Winter Fashion. Great inspiration!!

2011-11-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Please click on the share link below to see Pantone colours for fall and winter.
Wonderful inspiration for every craft. These colours are used by so many manufacturers in their new products. Fabulous web site.

share Pantone Colours

Quarter Scale Free Printable and Quarter Scale Baby Shop

2011-11-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is part of a Smaller Scales article I wrote for AIM magazine last year. There was more in the article as I added other AIM members but for copyright purposes I have just added the part that included my quarter scale shop. I thought you might like to have a look too. Many of the baby furniture and outfit sets as kits and books on the shelves are available through our web site http://jdayminis.com or eBay if you are interested. I hope you will enjoy the free printable, if you print the above printable at 6" in height it should print out to scale.

Hugs, Jean

Happy Halloween, Scrapbooking for Halloween too!

2011-10-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

I've been having so much fun creating scrapbooking pages using commercial papers and my digital downloads of altered art I have been making that I enjoy selling on Etsy. I've been doing digital scrapbooking for a number of years but I hadn't tried real scrapbooking very much until a dear friend of mine invited me over with a small group to do scrapbooking at her house. The first week we made a gift card. This time we did Halloween themed scrapbooking so I bought these small backing papers. It was a wonderful time and she showed us many of the techniques she had learned on line and through experimenting. It is really nice to use old lace I've had for a long time and bits of odds and ends to make these pages. Everyone in the group supplied things. The pages are not the traditional size but just 6" x 6". I really like working in this size (closer to miniature) and hope to attach the pages together, probably with a hole punch and ring or I could make covers from the heavy board which might be more interesting.

The background papers were from a company called Authentique http://www.authentiquepaper.com

The pad of 48 papers was called "Glowing". The diamond paper went with my diamonds I added to the background of my altered art witch. Also found the damask paper went perfectly with the damask table cloth of my Mad Hatter altered art. The Mad Hatter was from an antique 1863 photo. I did not change the table cloth but just lightened it up a bit. I thought the table cloth was an amazing design for 1863. The music background also was funl with the haunted houses, I can just hear the music that would be coming from them...

For some of the small signs I used a paper from a Martha Stewart Halloween collection. The wonderful ribbons were supplied by my friend who had so many things for us to use. All of the papers are printed on the backside as well so it means I could add more scraps to the back of the papers too.

I reduced the sizes of my digital downloads for this project from over 5" to about 3" in height and printed them on glossy inkjet photo paper. I first tried the watercolor paper on the laser printer but because of all the dark colours I found that the colour was rubbing off and white was starting to show through. The photo paper worked fabulously.

Have a wonderful Halloween, Hugs, Jean

Georgia Murray, My Son's Partner, "Cover Me Canada" invited her back for last episode!!

2011-10-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Georgia Murray and the other eliminated singers from Cover Me Canada have been invited back for the final episode of Cover Me Canada on Sunday CBC 9:00 in November sometime. Looking forward to looking after Artie if Georgia decides to go.

I didn't mention before that Georgia has a new EP out and available through their web site http://georgiamurray.net

The above photo is Artie, their French Bulldog, listening to Georgia on the phone when they were competing in the show. He loved it when I played her videos too. He seems to be a natural music lover!!

Here is a sample from Georgia's new EP, I love it!! Sounds reminiscent of the 50's!

Georgia Murray, Tony Day & band meeting John Mann on Cover Me Canada Set.

2011-10-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

I was very excited to see Georgia, Tony and their band in this video of their visit with John Mann from the band Spirit of the West. They had a short visit with him last week as he explained how his song "Home for a Rest" was inspired. Very good story and so funny!

Cover Me Canada was a good show last night and I enjoyed all the performers but really missed Georgia Murray and her band performing. They have tremendous energy! It was also sad to see another band being removed from the show but there will be a winner!

This video is Jordan Knight, one of the judges on Cover Me Canada as he answers questions he has been asked about the show. With his years on stage he has been good at giving advice. Pleased to hear that Georgia surprised him on the show with his suggestion to up her style or as Jordan would say she "flipped her steelo".

Hugs, Jean

Free Offer to the 500 th follower on my Blog!

2011-10-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Since I have 499 followers, as of this blog post, I would like to offer a free Victorian Lady in a Presentation Box kit to the 500 th follower of my blog, if they would like one. If my 500 th follower would please email me your address, we will send out the kit as soon as possible!! I still remember when I had 3 followers of this blog for the longest time and Debbie Wright suggested I bite the bullet and add the gadget for followers, I'm pleased she did! Thank you so much to everyone who is a follower, I have enjoyed looking at all of your blogs, if I can find them through your link. Mini Hugs, Jean

Georgia Murray's Thank you!

2011-10-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

A short thank you from Georgia Murray that she posted on Youtube. You can see our son Tony and Artie too. I would like to also thank everyone who supported Georgia by looking at her youtube and voting for her to keep her on the show. You are the best!!

Georgia Murray and Tony Day (my son's) "Silver Lining" on Cover Me Canada!

2011-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

Georgia singing Sunglasses at Night

Aside from the very obvious benefits for Georgia and her band being chosen to be on a Nation wide show, when reviewing Georgia's elimination on TV again and in particular the comments that were made by the judges, I found something I had overlooked.

Ron Fair said to Georgia "Who are you... Georgia and Kytami or are you Edith Piaf? and in and earlier comment he mention being like Mick Jagar and Keith Richards. I took these as compliments for Georgia.

Since I've always tried to be a positive person, I got to thinking that most likely Ron really thought about what he was going to say to Georgia for quite some time. What a great choice... I've always been a fan of Mick Jaggar and Keith Richards! Edith Piaf is my favorite singer of all time!! If you have not seen the movie "La Vie En Rose" you really must!!! What a tremendous voice and I remember mentioning to Georgia years ago that Georgia reminded me of her in the way Edith loved to sing for the sake of singing and so soulful...what a soulful crooner, very much like Georgia!! What a choice.... of course I hope she continues to be the Georgia we love!

Georgia Murray and Tony Day (my son's) Last week on Cover Me Canada!

2011-10-10T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the song the producers of the show chose for Georgia and her band this week before the judges voted them off the show.

Thank you everyone who watched their videos for your support the last four weeks.

It was really difficult for me to watch members of my family and other band members being voted off the show. It has been such an interesting experience for them and probably has helped fix in their minds the exact direction they want their careers to go. Since Tony is a producer, I do think they already know what they want, this just was not the venue for them to express themselves. Georgia is such an amazing singer, writer and performer.

I have enjoyed other reality shows and I usually agree with the judges but not with this show. Many of their comments about the various bands have sounded like they were not talking about the live performance at all. This is very strange... and wouldn't happen on America's Got Talent for example. Ron Fair mentioned Georgia had an attitude? I didn't see this in her performance. I understood the team of judges were going to be encouraging to all the bands but they really haven't; far more criticism than effort to motivate the singers. Every band is unique in their own way and this uniqueness should be encouraged. The songs the show chooses for each band should enhance the singers and bands to bring out the best talent imaginable for each group. One of the judges sounded surprised to hear Warren Dean Flandez rapping.... very creative and what I thought the show was supposed to be about. If a group has come this far to be on the show, they already know what genre they prefer and there are a lot of Canadian covers to choose from that better reflect each of the band's various styles.

I loved Georgia's version of this song, although I had never heard the song before; each of the songs the other bands sang were very familiar. Please listen to Georgia's performance of "Home for a Rest" by Spirit of the West. Georgia was very gracious at being eliminated, in spite of the fact the song they chose for Georgia really sounded like she was going to be sent home....

Hugs, Jean

Georgia Murray and Tony Day (my son) "Cover Me Canada" week 3 TV Immunity Yeah!!!!

2011-10-02T22:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to those of you who watched Georgia's video last week. She won immunity for this week, which is so awesome!! Georgia and her band performed Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night" and they were so fabulous. Georgia sported a new hair style and upped he game with a very cool dress.
Georgia actually got to talk to Corey Hart on the computer and he says he will be watching! Our son Tony actually had his hat off tonight.
So.... we get to have Artie, their one year old French Bulldog, staying with us longer, yeah. They are really missing him. We love taking him for walks to the beach, except he ate seaweed today! It might be healthy except for all the added sand, but that might be just added roughage. He lays down under my blanket while we watch TV. He is such a sweetheart. Our cat's noses are a bit out of joint... they are very old and quite set in their ways but they do seem to be tolerating him.

Hugs, Jean

Georgia Murray and Tony Day (my son) week 2 TV show competitor, very exciting!!.

2011-09-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone, LAST DAY for this week...you must be tired of me but I am begging again. This is the last day to vote and look at Georgia Murray's, my son's partner and their band performing during last Sunday's TV show Cover Me Canada's performance on youtube. Your looking today might allow her to get immunity for this Sunday's show. Thank you everyone, Jean

The video on the bottom is an acoustic version of the song that Tony taped one night in Toronto. I love it!!

Georgia Murray and Tony Day (my son) TV show competitors, "Very Exciting News"!.

2011-09-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Georgia Murray singing "Up" on the TV show Cover Me Canada.

Georgia Murray, and my son Tony (D Whiz) were one of eight bands of over 3,000 bands that were chosen to compete on Cover Me Canada. John and I are so very proud of their achievements. The winner will win $100,000 and a record deal with Universal Canada. Pretty awesome so if you can vote and feel you want to, please do.

They have worked so hard on their music creating a very unique style. We really wish them the very best and respect all of their hard work. It must have been difficult to Georgia who loves Hip Hop and R&B to play Shania Twain's "Up". It couldn't have been farther away from her genre and comfort zone. I thought Georgia was fabulous and the rest of the band really ripped.

Artie, their adorable French Bulldog is staying with us while they are in Toronto, we really enjoy his company so much. Artie is sending photos of his adventures with us each day to Tony and Georgia because he knows they miss him terribly. He saw geese the other day and has many people petting him. He went out past farms with pumpkins to a garden shop which he also enjoyed.

Their talented band includes the awesome violinist Kytami who wasn't scared to jump off part of the stage while performing!!
David Parfit on lead guitar with Jayme Langen bass guitar and Travis Nelson playing drums. Our son Tony is a producer and works the turntables.
This show is very different than other talent shows in that the judges have mentioned in their bios that they are interested in Creativity!!! To me uniqueness and creativity are really so important. The show and voting will also depend quite heavily on social media which seems really fair compared to when shows depended on multiple phone calls from viewers.
Tony and Georgia also released a 6 track EP called "Just a Dream" in June.

A Mini Miniature Show on line this Weekend! Awesome!!

2011-08-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make sure you have all heard about Shelly Norris' Miniature show on line that ends today.

Shelly is well know for her MOA Miniatures Only Auction Site.

The show is so amazing, there are so many artisans represented and selling their miniatures that I still haven't seen them all. I saw many dealers with quarter scale as well as twelfth scale represented.

Please go have a look.....at the show today....here is the link.
A Mini Miniature Show

I'm offering all of my kits at 25% discount through the show as well as my digital downloads for miniatures are on sale.

Above is a photo of a new digital download I'm offering for sale at the show. It is an altered art miniature Paris themed Album. I also sell it through my Etsy. I tried to make it creative for customers so each album can be very personal and you can add your own mini embellishments and you can make as many copies as you like.

Hugs, Jean

Free Printables, Slumber Hold Me

2011-07-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

I loved this image from one of my antique children's book and thought you might like it too. Just click on it to enlarge it and right click to save it to your computer. It is also shown in black and white. If you would like to use it for miniature just reduce the image in a print program. Might be nice on the wall of a nursery. Hugs, Jean

Free Printables from a 1909 Life Knowledge book

2011-07-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Free Printables for July.

It has been a while since I have offered any new free printables. Here are a few you are welcome to use, as with all of my free printables these are for personal use or may be used after or to be used after they are added to your own piece of tangible art work you might sell.

To save just click on the image to make it larger and right click to save to your computer. I liked these images which are from my antique Life Knowledge book from 1909 that is about pregnancy and raising babies. I also have a Collage Sheet digital download that shows wonderful images of the anatomy of pregnancy available for purchase through my Etsy. You can find the image here.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/69956321/digital-collage-sheet-life-knowledge

Steampunk Article

2011-06-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

June 14 will be International Steampunk Day!!! I've recently joined Steampunk Canada's blog. It is very interesting and got me thinking about the article I wrote about my miniature Steampunk Inventor's room that was published in the September 2010 AIM online magazine. It also was wonderful to see my Steampunk photos and contributions in two other miniature magazines as well, Dollshouse Miniatures Magazine and American Miniaturist Magazine. I was delighted to be included in the wonderful articles and Galleries by Martha Puff, thanks so much Martha! You might enjoy reading Sally Watson's introductory article to miniature Steampunk in the August AIM magazine.

Here are jpgs of the article I wrote and formatted for September's 2010, AIM Artisans in Miniature online magazine magazine. You can find it in the archive of the magazines here, I have also included my project for that magazine as well about making a steamy ceiling.
I have not included the page I also formatted in my article of other miniaturist's work since I do not have their permission to republish it. Have a great week everyone, Cheers, Jean
PS I've added two more photos on top that I took recently.

AIM Artisans in Miniature free Magazine is out for June/July! Life of an Artist theme

2011-06-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Since we have just recently come home from a cruise where we visited the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Louvre, I was excited to format the Smaller Scales and Gallery for this month. What a wonderfully talented group the Artisans in Miniature members are and their contributions to this months magazine are fabulous. I've embedding the magazine in case you have not had a chance to read it yet. Great projects and articles to keep you reading for quite a while.

I'm hoping to get some photos up in my blog of some of the places we visited on our cruise that crossed the Atlantic and landed on the Azores, then went around Great Britain. We visited Ireland, Scotland, England and France.

Mini Hugs, Jean

Aim Imag Issue 35 June July 2011

AIM Artisans in Miniature free Magazine is out for May! Castle's Issue.

2011-05-02T03:55:00.000-07:00

This month, with a Castle theme, there were so many fabulous contributions from the AIM members. Castle stories, projects and features, each so inspiring. John and I really enjoy our being part of the Editorial team and working towards such a great on line magazine. It is 140 pages this month that you can view below or through the AIM web site. http://www.artisansinminiature.com/ You can download this magazine as well. Through this link you can also view previous issues of AIM.

Thanks for looking!! Hugs, Jean

AIM Imag Issue 34 MAY 2011

Patty of Mini Babies is having a Contest

2011-04-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

Patty of Mini Babies is having a contest to celebrate one year of blogging. I've always enjoyed her posts and love her hand sculpted babies. You could become a mother to one of her babies.
http://patty-petit-orphelin.blogspot.com/

Hugs, Jean

I've been designing more digitals for Etsy

2011-04-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

I've been having a great time scanning and designing digital collage sheets that I sell on Etsy.

Since I have a tremor that has been bothering me more as I'm getting older, sad to say, LOL, I'm finding real pleasure with designing on the computer. I have such fabulous vintage images from my antique books and postcards. It is wonderful to find a way to share them. These make great gift cards, good for scrapbooking and other art crafts. The top image was from the cover of my French antique book La Maison De Lili that I have also made into a miniature book. The bottom two images are from an antique children's shaped book called Jumbo, I love them so much. The lady's holding the young girl are my photo shop art collages, very fun. Hugs, Jean