The Mouse Market

Sketching on a Bumpy Road

Yesterday, I mentioned that I had a number of changes I’d like to implement in my booth display, and hopefully in time for my next show in a couple of weeks. These ideas are specific to my jewelry table, and not really applicable to my dollhouse show display, which will make sense once I explain what I have in mind. I sketched out a rough draft of the idea on a napkin while driving back from Knoxville–well, I wasn’t the one driving, as that would have been pretty impressive (or incredibly foolish, depending on how you look at things)–but since it’s about as intelligible as hieroglyphics, a little explaining is probably in order.

Summer in Paris Macaron Necklace

First off, I’m going to continue to use my blue table risers (which you can see in this picture), but I won’t be using my cork display boards, at least for this next show as I experiment with things a bit. The risers take up two-thirds of my table length-wise, and the remaining third typically serves as a spot for my mailing list sign-up, business cards, and other odds and ends. This time, I’d like to construct a simple wooden earring rack, and what I’m envisioning looks much like a book, propped open with shelves lining the inside (think science fair display, but with only two panels). My plan is to take two rectangular pieces of wood for the “pages” and one strip of wood that will serve as the spine of the book. Each rectangle will be attached to the spine with hinges so that I can fold the shelving unit up after each use. The inside will be lined with little wooden strips that will become ledges for my earrings, and I’ll stagger the strips so that the “book” will close easier.

Makeover: Fauxstess Cupcake Earrings

This wooden display will completely open up my table risers, and I plan to construct a few t-bar style necklace and bracelet stands out of wood scraps and collect random bowls and plates from the thrift store to create a more varied jewelry display on the risers. Ideally, I would like to have little “clumps” of products, such as a bowl filled with Parisian pastry earrings propped up in colored sand accompanied by a t-bar bracelet stand with similar accessories (and possibly a small selection of related dollhouse minis). That way, my table isn’t just a huge sea of earring cards, something that I think is a bit overwhelming for many shoppers, and I’ll also be able to fill more space with less product, something that will be helpful with the massive amount of room I have at this next show.

Poorly Lit View of My Tutorial CDs & Flyer

That leaves the space on the table surface in front of the wooden jewelry display. I’ll continue to use that as a spot for my mailing list and business cards, and I also have a set of CDs with my Summer Berry Tart tutorial that can be displayed here. The holiday custom order flyer that I brought to my last show was a huge hit, so I’m going to showcase that, along with a new flyer featuring custom jewelry options for the holidays, and these items should be more than enough to fill that space.

Pastry Shop Plan

I allowed myself some time to play yesterday, and in addition to spending an hour drawing, something that I haven’t done in ages, I also sketched out some ideas for finishing my miniature kitchen, as well as a basic plan for my next roombox, a mini pastry shop. Some of you may be wondering why I’m making a new pastry shop, and the reason is that I’ve decided to alter the basic layout of my roomboxes to enable them to fit into my show display (discussed in this post). I’ll be reusing many of the components of my first shop, but I also plan on making the new one much more colorful and eclectic.

If you’re interested in coming along for the ride, click on the pictures in this post to see a larger version of my plans. (You’ll need to click on them once to go to a separate page with only the image, then click on the photo again for the full-size picture.) I’ve combined images from the dollhouse miniature catalog I’ll be ordering from with some notes here and there, as well as a few snapshots from books or websites that I’ll be using as inspiration. So…let’s get decorating!

For the new pastry shop (see image above), I want to create a shop lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with jars, boxes, and bowls of colorful sweets. There will be an L-shaped display counter in front of the shelves, and at one end I’ll situate my white pastry case (albeit a new one, as this case is for sale). Then, in the center of the room, I’ll have a brightly painted round table piled high with a beautiful display of desserts. This table might be a rotating display, depending on whether or not I decide to sell the individual table as a dessert set (the rest of the shop displays will remain in my personal collection).

Kitchen Plan

For my miniature kitchen, I’m going to line the white “wall” section that is above the countertops but below the upper cabinets with a brightly colored paper to add a little visual pop. Then, I’ll make stacks of polymer clay disks to place in the cupboards to give the appearance of plates. Interesting wallpaper and perhaps a modern drop-style light over the kitchen island will add more color, and then it’s just a matter of buying/making little accessories here and there, such as towels, a toaster, dish soap, hanging tea cups, etc. I’ll work on this room before I begin the pastry shop, since I have most of the appliances and furniture already, and I hope to pick up a few pieces of wood on Monday to construct the actual roombox.

Once these two rooms are completed, I’ll begin work on a miniature gourmet market (think Dean and Deluca or Fox & Obel) and a cocktail lounge. For the latter, I can’t decide if I want to go for a traditional dark, mahogany wood or a more mod, trendy bar with bold colors, lots of plants, and white furniture. Hmm…

Pekin Duck with Plum Sauce

My camera has been getting quite the workout over the past few days, and after taking roughly 100 pictures this week, I still have about 150 pieces that need to be photographed with each one requiring 3-5 different shots. Slowly but surely, I’ll get all of these pieces listed in my shop. Something that occurred to me last night as I was thinking about my schedule during my “down time” until my next show in August is that, technically speaking, I don’t really need to make more than about twenty items to restock my table, particularly with some clever rearranging. Part of the reason is that I made too much stuff for this last show (again), but I also want to leave more room for my pricing signs and Nutmeg family photos, because my table felt a little scrunched and cluttered.

Assorted Sushi on Cherry Wood Tray

What’s wonderful about this is that I’ll have more time to work on new jewelry lines and holiday pieces, both of which are a top priority, because a couple of weeks after my miniatures show in August, I have to be prepared for my biggest show yet in terms of space that I’ll have to fill: the outdoor festival with a 10 by 10-foot space, which, in my small world, is downright gigantic. Of course, I’ll still be creating new miniatures, because I’m starting work on the hotel project, which will require loads of foods for the garden restaurant, the cafe, the martini bar, and perhaps the beach side cafe, if I’m able to pull that section off. (I talk more about the hotel in this post.)

Vegetable Eggrolls with Sweet & Sour Sauce

I also have a few smaller projects that have been living on my to-do list for longer than I’d like, so I’m going to do my best to scratch them off once and for all this summer. Off the top of my head, some of them include making silicone molds for cupcakes, Jell-O desserts, and other treats (and possibly selling the molds in my shop, as well); experimenting with resin to make a new line of jewelry pieces featuring glitter, beads, collage elements and other fun stuff; finally make stitch markers and garment buttons for my shop; and last but not least, printing up stickers, greeting cards and calendars featuring the Nutmegs in action. Bring it on, summer!

Hamster Welcoming Party in Full Swing

Yesterday’s post seemed like more of an overview of the entire weekend, and I realized that I didn’t spend much time talking about the show itself, so here goes. To start, it was a bit smaller than I had envisioned with perhaps fifteen vendors total, but there seemed to be a fairly good crowd nonetheless. I didn’t do quite as well as I did at the Gateway Miniatures Fair, which was considerably larger, but I brought in roughly the same as I did at my very first show, the Beaux Arts Bizarre, and, considering that the Bizarre started on Black Friday, the supposed busiest shopping day of the year, I guess that’s not too shabby for a smaller show in the middle of June.

Using Blocks to Make the Benches Hamster Height

Nonetheless, I’m going to have to get as many things listed in my Etsy shop as soon as possible and keep my fingers crossed, because I need to find room in my budget to start stocking up on supplies for my fall shows. Plus, I need to lay out about $120 for a tent before my September show. I have to admit that it gets rather tiresome to essentially live from show to show, even though I’m on a very strict, careful budget, and my idea of a shopping spree is splurging on a $6 dress from the thrift store, but hopefully the holiday season will bring more lucrative events that will allow me to put a more substantial chunk of change aside. (The pictures accompanying this post are of the Hamster Welcoming Party, which I’ll be writing about in greater depth tomorrow. In the meantime, party items will begin popping up in my Etsy shop.)

Tasty Treats--What to Eat First?

Speaking of putting money aside, thanks to a few very generous wedding gifts from family, Jake and I are a little over one-third of the way to a down payment on a piece of land. That is, if we’re able to find a suitable piece of property in our desired price range, which, judging from the available land listings in Tennessee, seems very possible. Even though we’re still a few years away from making such a purchase, this does accelerate our plans by a year or two, so I’ve returned to my steady reading diet of housebuilding and homesteading books, devouring everything from plumbing guides to rainwater catchment how-tos. Pretty exciting!

Eyes Bigger Than Their Stomachs

Before I get totally sidetracked, I’ll say a few more things about the show. The Moo Cards were a huge hit again, so to fellow sellers, if you have nice pictures of your work that you’d like to show off, these cards are a great way to do so, and customers love them. As for accepting credit cards…that ended up being a bust. A week before the show, I still hadn’t received my free card reader from Square, so I sent a message to support. A few days later a very courteous rep got back to me and explained that, due to high demand, the readers were back ordered for 6-8 weeks. Now, had I not sent an inquiry I doubt I would have received any notification, so while I’m still excited to use the service, it would have been really nice to get a heads up on the lengthy delay.

Yummy Brunch Spread

The most popular items this time around were breakfast dishes and breads, and I need to remind myself to make more individual pieces for my next show, i.e. loaves of bread, pieces of fruit, vegetables, bags of candy, etc. I forget that people often like to combine things in their own way (perhaps they have a picnic basket that they need to fill or a spot on a kitchen shelf that calls for a small item), and my complete meal plates or more elaborate preparation scenes are not always what they’re looking for. I also want to find a better way to organize things on my highest riser, because once it’s situated at the back of the table, it’s often hard for people to see what’s on it without leaning too far over the rest of the display, and I noticed that those items didn’t sell as well.

A Banquet Fit for...Hamsters?

Be sure to return tomorrow for the inside scoop on the Hamster Welcoming Party, along with details on the Nutmegs newest addition to the family, a feathered friend brought by Jellybean’s visiting cousins.

The Real Martha Buffet

I went a little nuts yesterday with the mini making. I’m determined to stock as much of my display table as possible, so I filled in a few gaps in the meat sections with two bowls of lemongrass Sichuan chicken with rice, one platter of lamb saddle (yeah, I had to look that up, too) with crisped potatoes, and a chicken pot pie, plus one glum lobster in a pot of boiling water.

In a burst of motivation, I then decided to tackle a Martha Stewart buffet, pictured at left. I didn’t recreate every last dish, because I wasn’t sure how well some of the random bowls of dips would sell on their own, but I got pretty close. I also changed a few things here and there to suit my personal taste, but otherwise, there’s very little difference. It took me most of the afternoon and evening, but I’m really pleased with it. (I still need to iron the cloth table runner that I’ll be using, so the blue patterned paper will be changed.)

Nutmeg Family Buffet

So, what’s on the table? Well, there’s a selection of cheeses: Petit Basque, baby Brie, Gorgonzola with apples, and baked goat cheese with pecans. The main course is a honey-glazed ham accompanied by roasted Yukon potato wedges with chipotle mayonnaise dip, green beans with maple-cured bacon, and a bowl of homemade angel biscuits. Sides and appetizers include hummus with pita wedges, a bowl of mini gherkins and cocktail onions, tri-color olives, assorted grapes, a crudité platter with dill-spiced ranch dip, sopressata with crackers and bleu cheese dip, and two bowls of soup: navy bean and Parma ham, and sharp cheddar and broccoli.

Salmon with Creamy Leeks

Then, right before bed, I decided to do just one plate of salmon for a dinner table scene…and I ended up making the entire table’s worth of food. : / The main course is sautéed salmon fillets with creamy leeks accompanied by red onion and dilled rice, zucchini squash and chilled salmon salad, and raspberry gelatin cups for dessert. If I can make the same amount of food today as I did yesterday, I’ll have the entire dinner section finished, which leaves only one breakfast table, some assorted breads and cheeses, a few taco plates to replace pieces that sold on Etsy, and a few outdoor dining/picnic dishes. I’m definitely in the home stretch!

Lobster in a Sorry Predicament

A little update: After writing the previous paragraphs, I started working on a table of Swiss cheese and pancetta burgers with white bean, tomato, and basil salad, crisped potatoes, and a tray of bleu cheese and red onion condiments. I didn’t think I’d have it finished in time to take pictures for today, but I managed to complete everything, so you can check out pictures in my Flickr gallery (along with a ton of photos of the other pieces mentioned in this post).

Swiss Cheese and Pancetta Burgers

Also, I used Scenic Water for the first time this morning, and it was much easier than I had anticipated. Granted, I wasn’t coloring it, which is what I’ll be doing for the pitchers of iced drinks that I hope to tackle today, and I’m guessing that will be a bit of a challenge. I’m not entirely sure which container I want to use to melt and color the water in, because it will have to be something that I can easily pour the water from into a relatively small pitcher, but also something that can withstand being submerged in super hot water. Hmm…

Large and Small Pizzas To Go

I was on a total pizza kick yesterday, and I printed up a bunch of little to-go boxes with “The Mouse Market Ristorante” emblazoned on the tops for my new mini pizzas. In addition to being really popular at my last show, the pizzas have the added feature of taking up a considerable amount of space, so my display is looking significantly less “gappy.” With the completion of these pieces, the Italian foods section is totally done, and as I was going over my progress before bed last night, I realized that the breakfast section is full as well. Hooray!

Plans for My Booth Layout

One of my wooden stair step displays has been divided between Asian and Mexican foods, so I think I’m going to call it a wrap on those, and I just need about five pieces to fill out the beef/pork/poultry sections, which combined, take up two entire stair steps. Not bad. I’ve also finished a turkey dinner spread and a roast beef dinner table, a seafood section (although I still want to make a few platters of roasted fish, as those sold out at my last show), a huge sandwich display, two tables of assorted soups, and an entire cardboard riser section of desserts. All in all, I think the booth is shaping up quite nicely, and if I can make roughly thirty more pieces in the next week, I’ll be feeling quite good.

Visit my Flickr galleries to see a larger photo of the booth layout, as well as an image of my cardboard risers with the dessert display.

Ginger-Peanut Somen Noodles w/ Miso-Glazed Cod

It’s getting to that point in the pre-show preparations when I need to start organizing my time a little bit more, and at the risk of taking up even more space in my room, I’m going to put together one of the new cardboard stair-step displays that I recently purchased so that I can set up all of my desserts, which are currently lumped in with the rest of the foods in my booth mock up. With everything together, it’s hard to tell how much more I would need to make to fill out, say, the pastry display or the world market section, so a little rearranging is in order.

Surf 'n' Turf Pizza w/ Grilled Sirloin & Smoked Salmon

I’ve also decided that I’m going to organize my booth by color, and the pastry section on the cardboard risers, which will be on the far left-hand side of my table, will be pink/red, and I’ll move through the colors of the rainbow in each section of the table from left to right. Now, the foods themselves won’t necessarily be matching in color, but any table coverings, party decorations, signage, etc., will be, and while I’m not sure how it will look once it’s all said and done, I’m excited about the experiment, because I always find myself drawn to color-grouped items.

Pop Rocks Pink Ice Cream Earrings

In addition to the foods and table settings, I need to start mapping out little gaps in the display where I can prop up photos of the Nutmeg family, i.e. a picture of their family picnic in the BBQ/picnic section, birthday party photos in the dessert section, that sort of thing. In addition to adding a touch of cuteness to the table (something the mice seem to excel at), the photos will also take up a little space, easing some of the pressure to make a bazillion more pieces between now and June 11.

Bittersweet Chocolate Fondue Spread

Speaking of a bazillion pieces, as my fall show schedule starts to fill out, I’ve started thinking about the logistics of filling a miniatures table in August, filling an enormous tent in September, creating strictly dollhouse pieces (no jewelry) for another show in October, making enough for two huge shows in November, and who knows what for December, all while keeping my online shop well stocked, particularly as holiday shopping season rolls around. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining–it all sounds rather exciting in a way–but after my show in June, I’m going to have to be very wise about budgeting my time and planning ahead, or I’m guaranteed to go completely batty this fall. Well, battier than usual, that is.

Custom Ordered Coconut Cream Cake

My last two shipments of ceramic dishes and a small box of miscellaneous kitchen accessories (pots and pans, silverware, pie tins, etc.) arrived yesterday, and I started setting up my minis on the balsa wood stair steps that I built over the weekend–I’m getting really excited about this display! Since I’m being significantly less neurotic about how many pieces I make for my next show, I’m feeling more inspired to concentrate on little details, like interesting place settings and other visuals, and I’m really eager to see if some of the pictures of beautiful party spreads that I’ve bookmarked in old issues of Martha Stewart will be something I can recreate.

Peach Berry Mimosa Cake

Speaking of projects, I am super, super stoked about an idea that popped into my head yesterday. The inspiration came to me in a rather roundabout fashion when I stumbled upon the website of the Raleigh Hotel in Miami, and I was completely thunderstruck by the amazing decor, which kind of looks like the set of a Wes Anderson movie if it was treated to a swanky makeover. After my friend, Becky, gave me the idea to turn a bookshelf into a dollhouse, I’ve been waiting for just the right project for an extra set of shelves that I no longer use, and I am now totally obsessed with the idea of creating a multilevel world in the style of the Raleigh. Perhaps an outdoor dining section modeled after their Garden Restaurant or a beach side cafe with summery desserts–the possibilities are endless!

Tartlettes on a Heart Shaped Platter

If I remember correctly, the bookshelf has three shelves, including the top, so I’ll probably have to add additional levels, but I can create indoor and outdoor spaces, spiral staircases connecting different levels, the whole shebang! And, I can finally experiment with small scale lighting, which I’ve been itching to try after one of the vendors at the Gateway Mini Fair gave me an incredibly helpful lesson in dollhouse electricity (the gist of it being: it’s way easier than I thought it would be).

Tropical Tartlette Trio Adjustable Ring

I’m also feeling pretty good about the work I’ve done over the past couple of weeks in terms of my overall branding. I’ve tidied up my shop banner, and I’ve made sure that all of my online outlets (Twitter, this blog, Flickr, email signature, etc.) use the same typeface and illustrations for a consistent look. I’ve also gone over all of my packaging, including the pink jewelry boxes that I package my pieces in, the Mouse Market sticker that goes on every box, the address label stickers, the design of the invoice, my business cards, the jewelry cards, and any other supplementary items that might go into an order, and I’ve given them a little touch up with new typeface and colors. Signage for my booth is being designed to match as well.

Summer Cooler Fruit Tart Ring

I’m going to start adding a logo to all of my jewelry cards (see the USDA Organic label in this picture), such as “Ice Cream Parlor,” “Chocoholic Collection,” “Mix ‘n’ Match,” and others to give each piece a more unique feel, and I’m also looking for a print company where I can get round photo stickers printed up featuring images of the Nutmeg family in various scenes so that I can include them as gifts with every purchase. Down the road, I hope to start printing greeting cards and calendars with Nutmeg family photos, an idea courtesy of a fellow Etsian who emailed me the suggestion a few days ago.

Deluxe Sushi Tray

I noticed that there was a mini, plate-sized hole on the Asian foods table of my display, so I created a deluxe sushi platter to fill that spot. I had fun making different styles of sushi that I’ve never made before, most of which I have no idea what they are…but I like the way they look. I also finished a custom order for three scoop, ice cream cone bobby pins, but I still need to put the finishing touches on a custom 1/12 scale coconut cake.

Sketch of my Booth Plan

Last night I built a series of wooden stair steps and counters for my booth display. First, I sketched out my idea in Illustrator, thinking that I would save the actual building for another day, but I was feeling pretty inspired so I pulled out my bag of balsa wood and starting measuring and cutting. I managed to finish all of the pieces in the sketch: six stair steps that can also be used for tables or counters in the future, if I decide to rearrange things again, and two long countertops with little display shelves on top. After the pieces were finished, I realized that I must have been influenced by the Japanese pub cookbook I had been flipping through that morning, because they’re reminiscent of some of the sushi bars featured in the book. To the left of the large, blue risers I’ll set up the cardboard display that I ordered from Gershel Bros, transforming it into a sort of multi-level pastry shop with pretty scrapbook papers and the like. I can’t wait!

Visit my Flickr page to see photos of the actual wooden pieces that I built, and if you haven’t paid a visit to my Etsy shop in awhile, drop by! I’ve listed loads of new dollhouse minis and jewelry pieces.

Peep Presiding Over Potato Salad

Well, good news: I was able to put a deposit down on another show, the Three Blind Mice show in Louisville this August. I’m doing the Chicago version of that show next month, and I’m looking forward to having an excuse to take a little road trip in the fall, particularly when the excuse involves miniatures. As soon as I can scrape together a little more money this week, I’ll be applying to one more Missouri show that may or may not already be booked, and then I’ll have to put the rest of my show applications on hold until after my June event, barring a really phenomenal sales month in my Etsy shop.

Proposed Booth Changes

Yesterday, it occurred to me that I haven’t started planning my display for next month’s mini show (duh), so last night I sat down with all of my magazine clippings of food photos and my inventory list from my last show, which tells me what I have left, and I started putting together a little map. After planning out the top riser of my booth I started feeling a little overwhelmed by the abstractness of it all, so I think I might bring one of my risers out from the garage, set up my little tables, and put out my leftover foods, just so I can clearly visualize exactly what I’m working with. With many of the meals I’ve sold some of the side dishes, or one of the main courses, etc., so it will be helpful to see where I have gaps to fill. Also, I want to focus more on the table settings this time, creating little place mats or table decorations to create a more cohesive look.

Pippen Prepares the Picnic Table

Last but not least, in a week or two I’m hoping to order a box of cardboard risers from Gershel Bros. A number of vendors were using them at the last mini show I did, and they seemed to work really well. I should be able to fit one, and maybe even two, of the cardboard risers next to my longer, wooden risers (the blue pieces in the above photo), and this will greatly expand the amount of room I have for my dessert section, which is always a good thing.

P.S. I’ve decided to open a DaWanda shop, which is targeted at European shoppers. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be slowly but surely adding new items to the shop, so stay tuned!