Cover Star!

It's been nearly two months, but we still can't help smiling when we see the photo on the cover of "our" issue of American Miniaturist. And with temperatures around 32°C today (around 90°F for les américains), smiling is about all we can do without flopping over from exhaustion...

We just realised that the apple tart that we listed on Etsy yesterday was the very same one that was featured on the cover of the magazine...you know, the one where we're on the cover. Us. Our photo. On the cover. Of the magazi...well, you get the idea...

So if you want to own a slice (ho ho!) of Emmaflam & Miniman history, you can find it here!

We'll be listing a couple more pieces on Etsy in a few minutes, so watch out for those too.

Thank You Cherry Much!

Knock, knock, knock!

It's Saturday lunchtime and we're tucking into our chicken salad sandwiches (you see, we don't eat foie gras and snails at every meal...!). It's a slightly out-of-breath Monsieur de la Rue, our neighbour. He has a h-u-u-u-ge garden and generally when he knocks on the door, you can be sure that he has harvested something from his garden...apples, flowers, pears.

Today he looked a little stressed so we thought that maybe there had been some accident for which he needed our help.

"Non!" he explains holding out a large tub filled to the brim with cherries. "I have to pick the cherries today, there are far too many for me and they are starting to go bad on the tree! I don't have enough tubs for everyone. Now fetch something to put these into..."

You can be sure that come this evening, the majority of the village will have received their share of cherries. Guess which two miniaturists have cherry clafouti for dessert tonight...! Merci M. de la Rue!

But here's a cherry dessert of a different kind for the rest of you :-p

Cherry tartlet dessert shown with freshly picked cherries

Miniature cherry tartlet dessert

The miniature dessert is due to be listed on Etsy over the weekend...if we're not too busy pigging out on cherries...

Darkness Falls Across the Land...

A sucky day for showbiz...

So many great songs...

And poor Farrah...

SIMP 2009

So this is summer...we had a bit of a lie-in following yesterday's SIMP and on opening the workshop this lunchtime we were greeted with an oven-like waft of hot air slapping our faces. A quick check of the thermometer revealed that the workshop (basically a closed veranda) was baking in 46°C (115°F). So we closed the door and went and had breakfast...

It's the evening now and most of the leftover miniatures from yesterday's SIMP show are safely packed away.

So before settling down in front of the TV with some stuffed tomatoes (real, full-sized, edible ones - woohoo!) , we just wanted to give a shout out to a few people we met yesterday...

We arrived a good hour before the show opened which is unheard of for us. We have built up a reputation for always arriving the last, with a few minutes remaining before opening, but not this time! However we still weren't ready as the opening time arrived, no pieces were stickered up with prices, but we were delighted that Stéphanie (who is obviously much more organised for her first show than we are after 5 years!) took the time to come and say "Hi!" before the show got under way. It was a pleasure to finally meet face-to-face.

With that, the doors were opened and, braced for the rush, we were pleasantly surprised when our stand neighbour whipped out a thermos of hot water, some coffee and some delicious chocolate filled cookies and offered us some. Breakfast at last! Thank you MamiBlue!

Coffee and cookies behind the scenes!

We were also delighted to meet Christel Jensen who had a stand. Apart from a very small number of photos on the internet, we'd not seen much of Christel's work until yesterday, so it was lovely to see her romantic stand.

But star of the day has to be the completely crazy Rosanna, who made the round trip from Genoa to Paris in one day just to attend the show! How on earth she managed to be so bubbly and chirpy after a night spent on a train, I've no idea! That's a passion for miniatures for you!

We made a few purchases, of course. The one which surprised us the most is this miniature angel sculpture which measures just 2cm (3/4") high.

Miniature Angel Sculpture from Maria Victoria Heredia Guerbos

Not usually the kind of thing I go for, but I couldn't resist! (I can't find a site for this maker, so if anybody knows of one, please leave a comment and I'll add a link to it here...)

The day seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were on the way home, happy to have met new people, seen new work, and added a few more pieces to our own collections!

Roll on next year!

The Longest Day - Loads to Do!

It's 21 June...

There are lots of things going on today...here's a list!

1 - It's the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and the official start of summer. Time to dance naked around some odd shaped rocks!

2 - In France it's "La Fête de la Musique" a national music festival. There are thousands of concerts ranging from small events held in village hallls and churches to massive organised events under the Eiffel tower. Anyone can go out in the street and sing, play an instrument and generally make merry with music on this day.

3 - It's Father's Day! Treat your Dad - or if you are one, use it as an excuse to not help with the lunchtime dishes and stay on the sofa in front of the TV watching...

4 - ...the Formula One British Grand Prix! Button's not on pole position, Hamilton starts from 19th and Neil can't even watch it live on TV because he'll be away at...

5 - ...the SIMP! The fourth edition of France's largest miniatures show. We've no idea what to expect this year apart from the usual sore feet and aching calf muscles from standing up all day! Will the economic crisis have an effect on the French miniature scene...? Here's a photo of some of the pieces we'll be hoping to tempt people with.

Crisis or no, how can anyone resist that...?!!

Please click to enlarge

6 - The most important news of the day - TOP GEAR IS BACK!!!! The only motoring programme you can watch and thoroughly enjoy even if you don't give a damn about cars! Ask Emma...!

Whatever you're doing today, have a great time - remember that as from tomorrow, we head towards winter...what a depressing thought!