My Small Obsession

The reason for my disappearance...

2018-10-25T19:56:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone out there in miniatures blogland! This post is about what I've been doing for the last 2 years. I never intended on abandoning my miniatures but that's basically what I did.

I left the work force over 18 years ago to stay home with my four children. I was an Administrative Assistant and Program Director for an Adult Day Health Care. The agency I worked for also paid for me to go to college so I could finish up my degree. I walked away from all of it, my career and education to be a stay at home mom and wife.

I started miniatures in 2005, that same year I created my website, My Small Obsession, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures in 2008 and this blog in 2009. All three have been successful, thanks to my loyal followers. By 2016 all of my children had moved out and started their own lives. My husband of 21 years and I were all alone and we had problems. I diligently began trying to work on those problems...my husband, not so much. In March of 2016 I decided that I needed to get back out into the world so I started volunteering at the local homeless shelter. I volunteered in the Resource Center full time, from 7am to 2pm Monday through Friday. After finishing up in the Resource Center I would go volunteer in the kitchen and help to prepare and serve food until 6pm. After I was finished helping to clean up from dinner I would volunteer for Guest Services and check in the guests each evening and a variety of other tasks, until around 9-10pm. I was spending on average about 14 and a half hours a day.... I was avoiding being at home with a man that I felt no longer loved me. I would head home each night and find my husband sitting on the couch texting or gambling on his phone. I tried to get my husband to work on our marriage but he gave up and I decided to leave. It was the hardest decision of my life,,,,23 years together, four kids and 2 grandkids. I moved into my own place last December. I was hired by the shelter to work in Guest Services in August of 2017, running the women's part of the shelter as a Guest Services Assistant. Three weeks later they made me the Case Manager for the shelter and now I run the Resource Center. I love my job!

My husband and I are still legally married but we haven't lived together in almost a year. I have had a great deal of difficulty moving forward. This June I landed in a psych hospital for a week because I was having so much trouble accepting the loss of my marriage. It has been a difficult process and I discovered that I was not married to the man I thought I was. I spent a lot of years in denial. I had surgery in August on my neck and I'm still home recovering, I am scheduled to go back to work in December. I am finally well enough to get back into miniatures and I am still working on moving forward with the rest of my life.

This next month I will be updating my website, both blogs and all social media. I still haven't unpacked my studio so that is also a goal for the next 30 days. I really need to create again! I was working on a project when I started volunteering and it's still not finished. I hope to complete that project also.

I plan to start posting again on a regular basis on my blogs, website and social media. I have missed this part of my life so much and I am very eager to get back into it.

Thank you all so much for all the support these past 13 years, I wouldn't be here without you!

Mini Regards, Cassi

Easy DIY Miniature Christmas Trees

2015-12-14T20:25:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone & Happy Holidays! I needed some "easy to make" mini Christmas trees and this is what I came up with. Follow the link for this tutorial and many more Christmas tutorials and printables! DIY Miniature Christmas Trees!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2015-11-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

2014-12-25T18:59:00.000-08:00

Miniatures From Nancy Adair

2014-09-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

At the end of January 2014 I was contacted by a very nice lady named Nancy Adair. She was looking for a home for her large collection of Nutshell News magazines, some wood furniture kits and a few other items. Nancy started out in miniatures in 1980 and no longer has the eyesight or the steady hand to continue with her beloved hobby. I live way up in Northern California, and she lives a few hours south of me but a friend that lives near Nancy was willing to pick up the magazines and kits for me. I had to wait a few weeks before my friend traveled my way, but it was worth the wait. I received more than I ever expected.

The photo at the top of this post is the kitchen you see in the video. I didn't change anything in this little room box, it is just perfect the way it is. I did dust it off and glue down a couple of loose items. It fits in with my kitchen so well, it seems as if Nancy custom made it just for me, right down to the picture of the rooster on the wall. Below are photos of some of the sketches that were in one of the boxes.


Nancy's Sketch Of The Gazebo


Nancy's Sketch Of The Magic Room

Nancy's Sketch Of Planned Aerobics/Workout Room

Thank you again, Nancy!!!!!
xoxoxo

I'm Still Here....And This Is A Really Big Post!

2014-08-31T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, I'm so very sorry for being gone so long. I have had an overly eventful year including moving to a new house, my husband having a second knee surgery during moving into said house, one daughter got married and the other is having her first baby, and the baby is our first grandchild. That's only a very small portion of what's been going on around here. Last August I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which finally explained a lot of mysterious pains and other maladies I had been suffering from, for the last 6+ years. So, since I apparently have no control over my life, I promise nothing! =)

We moved right before Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.......all celebrated at my house with my friends and family. I also have 2 children with birthdays on the 17th and 20th of December. Needless to say it took me a while to put things away and get the house in order.....a long while.

New House

New Studio Before and After

New Son-in-Law


New Baby Girl

Before I could post this post, my oldest son graduated from high school, in the top ten of his class. That's how much has been going on in my life....when I started writing this post, my son had just started his senior year, now he has already started college.

New Graduate

At the end of July he moved into an apartment with his high school sweetheart. They wanted to get settled before school started, August 18th. The picture is from Senior Prom, which was in May.

New Empty Room

Right before my son moved out I found out that we had to move again. I can not begin to express how unhappy I am that I have to pack up and move again after only 10 months. Long story.

New Move

On the 16th of July I lost my grandpa, Les Cassingham. He would have been 95 in December. He had Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Disease and living in a rest home for the last 4 or 5 years, his quality of life was poor. He was a World War Two Veteran and a Barber by trade for more than 60 years. He will be missed.

R.I.P Grandpa

My birthday was July 26th, and I got three Monster High dolls from my husband and finished decorating for my daughter's baby shower. The two girls dolls are Zombie Shake Venus McFlyTrap & Rochelle Goyle, and the boy doll is Freaky Fusion Neighton Rot.....don't ask. Lol.


New Monster High Dolls

July 27th was my daughter's baby shower. She received lots of fabulous gifts and a good time was had by all. We just cant wait for her to get here.


New Momma To Be

Since I posted pictures of all of my other kids I thought I'd post one of my youngest, just so he doesn't feel left out. He is the only kid left living at home, he's 16 and just started his Junior year in high school.

New Only Kid Left At Home

We began moving on Sunday August 10th and it took 5 days to move everything from one house to the other. My dollhouses, Monster High dolls (somewhere around 100 dolls) and all my miniatures & miniature "stuff" was a very large part of the move. It's going to take me a while to get it all together. I don't have a "studio" at this house, I have an extra bedroom to try to fit it all in.


Other New House ~ temporary.....moving again in a year.

Seriously....I have to move again in a year!

I did not update my website in August because of the move, I plan to update it for September, most likely over the next couple of days because our granddaughter is due September 9th and I don't want to miss updating again.

New Granddaughter's Sonogram ~ 8/29/14

My next post will be sooner and about miniatures!

The Arthur Dollhouse ~ Carrol Elf's Christmas Cottage

2013-12-04T12:30:00.001-08:00

Carrol Elf's cottage is next door to Santa's house at the North Pole and he is in charge of Santa's Elf Choir. He also makes toys and loves baking sweet things to eat.

Follower Appreciation Giveaway Winner!

2013-02-10T22:49:00.000-08:00

Thank you to everyone that participated in my blog giveaway! There was a total of 15 entries, one person commented twice and one after the winner had already been drawn.

Each entry was assigned a number according to the order of the comments posted and I used random.org to choose the winning number.

Congratulations to Francesca! Please email me your address so I can get your prize in the mail!

Once again, thank you to all of you that participated and thank you to all of my followers! I really do appreciate the time you take to visit and comment.

Follower Appreciation Giveaway & Quick Update!

2013-02-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

It's time for a giveaway! January was a very busy month for me with minis and real life. Make sure to stop by my website, My Small Obsession and take a look at the new video projects.

I appreciate all of my followers and like to show it with a little giveaway every now and then, especially because I'm so bad at making regular posts here. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you can get more frequent updates to my website and video blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures. I have recently started using Pinterest but I don't have much there yet. Now that I've started using it I realize why I was reluctant at first.....IT'S ADDICTING!

The rules to enter this giveaway are simple, you must be a follower of this blog and leave a comment on this post.

The Prize
(click on the photos for a better look)

I will draw the name of the winner on Saturday, February 9th 2013 and post the name of the winner on Sunday, February 10th 2013!

I'm holding a giveaway on my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures, so if you are a follower there, please be sure to stop by and enter!

Good Luck and Thank You for Following!

Keep Calm and Make Miniatures

2013-01-08T12:32:00.000-08:00

Hello and happy new year! The title of this blog post is my new mantra for 2013. I've had a lot stressful things going on in my life and I don't handle stress very well. For the last few months I have really been trying to focus on making miniatures instead of focusing on stuff in my life that makes me crazy. Keep calm and make miniatures!

Ok, moving on. I have a lot to share so I'm going to get to it. First, The Dollhouse of the Month, I'm going to temporarily stop The Dollhouse of the Month. Quite a few people that participated in The Dollhouse of the Month had their photos hosted at Webshots. As you may or may not know, Webshots shut down their site and because of this the photos that were posted on my site that were hosted by them, are missing. I don't quite know what I'm doing about this yet or when I will start it back up but for now I have a mess of missing photos to clean up. I also have to figure out what to do about the fact that about half of the Dollhouse's of the Month no longer have pictures. It will take quite a bit of time to contact every person and find out if they are willing to send me all those missing pics, if they even still have them. I really like having The Dollhouse of the Month section and I will get it back up and running again, as soon as I can.

If you have been to my website recently you may have noticed a few changes. The menu has been expanded and there are more drop down buttons on the menu. I added a search bar at the top near the menu so you can search my site from any page. I moved all of my social networking icons to the top near the menu also.

I made some printable wine and liquor labels for the bar in O'Leary's Irish Pub, you can find them here. I have added to new projects donated by ElaineMinis.Com.

I completed Carrol Elf's Christmas Cottage, you can view photos of it here.

I updated my progress on my Monster High Dollhouse, (there hasn't been much lately) you can read about it here. I added a link to a very cool DIY Three Ring Binder "Dollhouse" Tutorial, created by Kendra of the blog, Southern Disposition. She has also included tutorials for furnishing each room.

I will be moving my Monster High information from My Small Obsession to it's own Monster High Doll/1:6 scale website. The Monster High Dolls are very popular and I don't want to dominate My Small Obsession with the Monster High stuff. I will be launching the new site soon so stay tuned!

Here is a sneek peek of my progress on O'Learys Pub.

My other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures is celebrating an anniversary this month! I started the blog in January 2008 and my first post was two videos of my mother's dollhouses. Five years later there are more than 750 videos and 869 Followers! I will be hosting a giveaway over at Creating Dollhouse Miniatures sometime this month, more on that later.

Welcome to my new followers here! Thank you to all of you that have stuck it out and hung in there with all of my off and on posting to this blog. I will be having another follower giveaway for this blog soon and I will be holding a giveaway on the Monster High website, after it's launched.

If you haven't already, please "Like" & "Follow" on Facebook and Twitter, for all the latest updates to my websites and blogs.

Here's to a bright new year, and a fond farewell to old. Here's to things yet to come, and memories that we hold.

Remember......Keep Calm and Make Miniatures!

Happy New Year!

2012-12-31T21:16:00.000-08:00

Mini Christmas Tutorial Links!

2012-11-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Christmas Countdowns

Head over to my website, My Small Obsession, and take a look at tons of links to mini Christmas tutorials and printables! If you know of a tutorial or printable that I should add, please leave a comment.

The Beacon Hill Dollhouse

2012-04-21T23:04:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! This evening my husband came home with a Beacon Hill! He found it on Craigslist for $85! The shell has been put together, I will have to put in the stairs, windows, trim, shingles and finish the exterior and of course the interior. The seller also threw in some wallpaper, carpeting, some books & magazines about miniatures, wood glue, everything needed to electrify it and a small box of furnishings. The Beacon Hill has always been my favorite and on my most wanted dollhouse list! I'm a very happy camper tonight! I can't post a picture yet, I still can't find the cord to my camera, I might have to break down and fork over the money for a new camera. In the mean time I will share some links to a few of my favorite Beacon Hills.

Mary's Dollhouse Nook ~ The first Beacon Hill I ever saw and one of my favorites.

The Beacon Hill by Gina of More Minis ~ Tour each room and read the story of this dollhouse's resident.

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Back to Back Extravaganza created by Linda of Linda's Miniature Musings ~ 2 Greenleaf Beacon Hill dollhouses.... built so they are back to back to make one huge enclosed mansion.

The Beacon Hill by Deb's Minis ~ One of many dollhouses styled by Deb Roberts.

The Beacon Hill by Tracy Topps from Minis on the Edge ~ Tracy Topps is known for her fabulous dollhouses, don't miss this one.

And last but not least ~ A Beacon Hill Dollhouse Video Tour created by Angela of Minis by Angela.

The Queen’s Dolls’ House Collection

2012-04-20T16:19:00.000-07:00

The Dolls House Emporium has been given an exclusive license to reproduce an authentic collection from The Queen's Dolls' House.

The items were carefully made to look just like the real thing and launched to collectors in April 2012.

The Dolls House Emporium is crafting miniature furniture, accessories, decor and architecture, authentically reproducing those designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Queen Mary in 1924, which is on display at Windsor Castle.

The Dolls’ House Emporium had several meetings with officials at St James’s Palace to demonstrate it could achieve the highest quality and was given access to Royal Collection photography of the Dolls’ House to ensure the new products would be perfect replicas.

The first selection includes reproductions from ‘The Queen’s Bedroom’ - from the unique décor to the finely upholstered furniture and decorative ornaments and plants.

You can see the full range from The Queen’s Bedroom at www.dollshouse.com

I Think Twitter Has Been Hacked!

2012-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Boo Twitter! I have received over 50 messages from my Twitter followers about people saying nasty things about each other. These messages all had similar wording and included a link. I got the first message around 6 pm this evening and I happen to know the person that supposedly sent the message so I contacted her on Facebook. She had received a similar message from a well known miniature artist, so at this point I figured that Twitter had been hacked. By 9 pm I had received over 50 of these messages, all saying basically the same thing, all from reputable people in the miniature world and I'm assuming that many of my Twitter followers received a similar message that appears to be from me (@MiniMakerCA). I tried to report to Twitter but not having any luck. I followed Twitters instructions on changing my password and revoking access to apps but I don't know if my account is safe.Thinking of deleting my Twitter account.

Dollhouse of the Month ~ April 2012

2012-04-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! No April Fools here! Head over to my website, and check out the gorgeous Dollhouse of the Month....The Shabby Cottage created by Mercedes of Liberty Biberty! Don't forget to "like" it if you have Facebook! Also don't miss the Tudor swap photos and the Shabby Chic swap photos.

I'm still trying to find the cord to my camera.....not having much luck. I want to show you the fabulous little pillows I got from Dale over at Dale's Dreams and I can't until I find that darned cord! If you haven't checked out her Etsy shop, Dale's Dreams Designer Decor for your Dollhouse, be sure to stop by and have a look!

I'll be back with a tutorial for a hanging lamp, some new printies and more!

Until then, Enjoy the Little Things!

And The Winner Is...

2012-03-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Marilyn from the Tarnished Rose! I will be contacting you by email to give you the information you will need to download your free copy of My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software. I took a photo when I drew the name but I can't find the cord to my camera that connects it to my computer. :( I have pictures for a tutorial on my camera too so I really need to find it!

Don't forget, I am also offering a special coupon code for EVERYONE to use. Receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com Store, for a total of $20 in savings! Please use coupon code STMMMS21110 for your discount.

I'll be back with a tutorial when I find my camera cord!

Dollhouse Canned Foods Tutorial

2012-03-20T13:19:00.001-07:00

This tutorial was created using My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software! I am giving away a copy of this software to one of my lucky followers! Click here to enter the giveaway!

Click here to view the PDF. ~Dollhouse Canned Foods Tutorial

Or view it in pictures (click to enlarge)

Later this week I will be adding a version of this tutorial to my website that can be translated into other languages. Don't forget to enter the giveaway for My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software!

Links to printable labels:

Sherree's Printables

Jennifer's Printables

Jim's Printable Minis

My Memories Digital Scrapbook ~ Review & Giveaway

2012-03-19T16:44:00.002-07:00

Recently I was given the opportunity to review the new My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software and I am completely hooked! My Memories is rated the #1 digital scrapbooking software for a reason. It is easy to download, easy to use and you can create beautiful scrapbook pages in minutes! The program also lets you create cards, calendars, gifts and photo books with just the click of the mouse. Simply drag & drop photos, embellishments, backgrounds, and layouts. You can add video, music and narration too! There are over 1,500 papers, over 1,000 page elements, and over 30 album templates for you to create your very own scrapbook or photo album.

I love how the My Memories scrapbook software can be used for more than just making scrapbook pages, the possibilities are endless! I have had so much fun creating projects using freebies I downloaded from the website. You can customize the size of your album to dollhouse size and print tons of dollhouse projects! I made a cute miniature scrapbook of my miniature dolls, and I have so many project ideas that I can't fit them all into this post!

Free Paper Tulip Tutorial Download Click Here!

I will be adding a free printable version of my mini scrapbook and more free tutorials soon!

I am giving ONE lucky follower the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software to create your own designs!

My Favorite Digital Paper Pack!

The rules:
1) You must be a follower of this blog.
2) Go to MyMemories.com and choose your favorite digital paper pack or layout
3) Come back to my blog and leave a comment on this post to tell me your favorite digital paper pack or layout.

That's it you are entered for this fabulous giveaway!

This giveaway will be open until Monday, March 26th, 2012. The winner will be chosen at random.

FOR EXTRA CHANCES....

Head over to...
Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/
Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite
Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite
And leave separate comments letting us know you're following or subscribed to My Memories.

(I would go for the extra chances if I were you, they offer special freebies just for followers!)

I am also offering a special coupon code for EVERYONE to use. Receive a $10 discount off the purchase of the My Memories Suite Scrapbook Software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com Store, for a total of $20 in savings! Please use coupon code STMMMS21110 for your discount.

Coupon Code STMMMS21110

Creating Dollhouse Miniatures First Giveaway!

2012-03-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

I'm holding a giveaway on my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures. Click the link below to find out more and how to enter!

Creating Dollhouse Miniatures First Giveaway!

Dollhouse of the Month ~ March 2012

2012-03-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

My Small Obsession's Dollhouse of the Month

March 2012 ~ The French Chateau created by Linda of Linda's Miniature Musings. Be sure to stop by Linda's Etsy Shop, Linda's Littlies Handmade Dollhouse Miniatures.

Please click here to view!

Updates, Technical Stuff & A Give Away!

2012-02-29T22:36:00.002-08:00

Hello everyone! Just a quick post to let you all know that I am still here! I have been working in the background making preparations for few "design" changes to my website, and I've also been busy with some upcoming tutorials and preparing to have a big give away.
I just finished adding the latest swap photos & two new video tutorials.

Technical Stuff: The "design" change to my website involves moving the website menu from the left side of the website to the top. I don't want to bore you all with the details, this change was necessary. Things might be a little messy for a few days but I should have the majority of the changes made by the end of the week. I also just recently realized that Google translator is only translating my home page, it doesn't work site wide, so I will be moving the translator to the top of my website so my visitors will have the ability to translate all pages.

The Give Away: I'm not going to say too much about the Give Away, yet....just be sure to watch this space!

I'll be back tomorrow to post the Dollhouse of the Month for March!

New Dollhouse & Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T19:27:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope the new year finds you all happy and healthy! My year is already starting out great....my grandma gave me her dollhouse a few days after Christmas, along with some furniture and a box of other miniature odds and ends. Grandma just turned 85 years old in December, she built the house around 20 years ago....she doesn't know the name of the dollhouse but it is from Real Good Toys. It's in excellent shape, other than the missing front porch (Grandma gave it away), not a scratch or speck of dust or missing shingle. Grandma decorated every room in some shade of pink.....bless her heart, pink is my least favorite color but I would like to keep as much of what she did as possible. This is where you guys come in. The pink is throwing me......I don't know what to do, who lives in a huge pink house?

Living Room

Den

Dining Room

Kitchen

Second Floor Master Bedroom

Bathroom

Second Floor Bedroom

Office

Third Floor

Be sure to visit my website and see Dollhouse of the Month, The Brookwood by Lena of Miniatyrmama.

I haven't finished my Christmas themed dollhouse yet but I'm close! I will add pictures soon. I will be back later this week to welcome my new followers!

Dollhouse of the Month & Updates!

2011-12-06T10:07:00.000-08:00

My Small Obsession's Dollhouse of the Month

December 2011 ~ Four Days Before Christmas ~ Created by Kathy Centracchio

Please click here to view!

This month I added some Holiday Spirits Labels, to the free printables section and 2 new video projects, Danish Christmas Dinner Tutorial by SugarCharmShop and How to make miniature Christmas lights, by The Crafty Crow.

I recently began working on a Christmas themed dollhouse and I hope to get some pictures up soon. I haven't forgotten the follower giveaway, I've been so busy I just haven't had time. I will be back later with more about that!

Dollhouse of the Month November 2011

2011-11-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

My Small Obsession's Dollhouse of the Month

November 2011 ~ The Country House created by Kim Saulter

Please click here to view!

I also added the assembly instructions to the Front Opening Shop by Real Good Toys & 2 new video projects, how to make polymer clay bacon and egg canes!

I will be updating My Small Obsession all week, and I will be posting about my Follower Give Away just as soon as I figure out what I'm giving away! =)