HBS STARTS A CONTEST

In 1994 Hobby Builders Supply started a contest. The company would pick the basic box and the miniaturists would create within that box. There were no real limitations on what could be done, but there was a deadline at the end of December and the company requested that entrants purchase their supplies from HBS, although other sources for materials could be used.


I thought the contest sounded like great fun so I entered. My entry was a Victorian shop and garden. It was made from a basic box from HBS and adapted to resemble shops I had seen in the small town of St. Michael's, Maryland. My husband, Tom, made the roof because the shop I wanted to build has an unusual front roof overhang. The lady in the garden was from The Doll Lady in Pa.


The dog is a limited edition by Gail Morey. He is cute, but naughty for chewing up that plant!! The side wall of the shop appears to have a window, but it is not real. I painted it to seem like a window into the shop. The shop opens on the opposide side. Another interesting addition was the sunflower in the back of the garden. I added that for a special reason. The area of South Miami Dade where we live was hard hit by Hurricane Andrew in August of 1992. Strangely, every yard around my area had a sunflower growing after Andrew; just one sunflower because when it was gone, there were no more. There are two little girls sitting in the garden; one on a bench near the front and the other in the arbor in back. They were sculped by Luci Criswell and they are adorable. I did all of the landscaping in the garden as landscaping and flower making are two of my favorite things in this delightful hobby. Now, let's go inside the shop.


Inside the shop is full of little girls' dresses, lace, flowers, hats, masks for masquerades, hat pins, lots of pictures, decorated plates and all sorts of things Victorian....as many as I could think of anyway. Inside the shop is a Persian cat who is perched on a chair in order to stay away from the mouse on the floor beneath the chair. The cat and Gail Morey's dog in the garden, added that bit of whimsy that I always try to include somewhere in every project. I loved this project; had great fun making it....and by the way, it did not win the big prize, but it did come in third. Good luck to all those entering the current contest which is about to end in December. I look forward to seeing all of the entries!!