Hyvää Runebergin päivää! - Runeberg's Day

Today many people in Finland are enjoying Runeberg's cakes to commemorate our national poet Johan Ludwig Runeberg who lived in the 19th century. Apparently he had quite a sweet-tooth; he loved the small cakes baked by Lars Astenius, the master confectioner in his town. It is said that the poet enjoyed some coffee, punsch, and this delicious cake for his breakfast. He ate the cakes so often that they were named after him.

In addition to usual ingredients like sugar, butter, and flour, the cakes are made with crushed gingerbread cookies, almonds & sweet almond extract, milk, molasses, orange juice & zest, cardamom, and rum. The small cakes are decorated with sugar icing and raspberry marmalade. And yes, they are overly sweet.

Here they are in miniature, 8 mm in height and 4 mm in diameter (made by another miniature enthusiast).

Räsymatto - Rag rug

Kerho toimi aktiivisesti koko viime syksyn ja viimeisellä kokoontumiskerralla ennen joulua teimme räsymaton langanpätkistä. Mukavaa puuhaa.

Our club was very active in the fall. During the last meeting before holidays we made rag rugs from short pieces of yarn. It was fun doing this.

Koruja - Jewellery

Koruja ei voi olla koskaan liikaa, ei minimaailmassakaan, eihän?
You never can have too many pieces of jewellery, not even in the miniature world, can you?

Nämä ovat syksyn kerhoillan tuotoksia. / These were made in our club meeting in the fall.





Korukokoelmani kasvaa mutta se ei ihan vielä riitä koruliikkeen perustamiseen.
Although my jewellery collection is growing, it's not quite big enough for a shop yet.

Nukkekotien asukkaat voivat myös käyttää näitä koruja.
All the jewellery is wearable.



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Diorama, vignette, or room box?

During the holidays, I was reading the December issue of DollsHouse and Miniature Scene and noticed that the articles in the magazine used only the words diorama and vignette when referring to a miniature scene created somewhere other than in an actual box. I found definitions for both the words in Wikipedia and indeed, diorama is the more approriate choice for a mini scene.

When I've talked about my hobby to native English speakers who are not a miniature enthusiasts and know nothing about the subject, they often ask me to describe what a room box exactly means. I've thought it's about them not knowing much about miniatures but maybe I've been in the wrong all along. Perhaps I've been the one using the wrong term.

What do you think - should the use of room boxes [as a word] be entirely discarded and diorama used instead?



Would you call this a diorama? By the way, you can see the snow lantern received in the calendar swap in the upper right corner of the scene.

Regardless of what the correct term is, dear readers, this is definitely a fun and creative hobby. Let's enjoy it and keep on making minis and sharing ideas, tutorials, and photos of them also in the coming year.

A Happy New Year 2023!

Viimeiset swappien sijoittelut - The latest places for the swap minis

Melkein kaikki kalenteriswappitavarat on nyt sijoitettu paikoilleen. Ruokia "säästelen", koska en itse osaa tehdä niin hienoja kuin mitä swapista sain.
Almost all the calendar swap items have now found new homes. I'm still "saving" the foods I received as I'm not so talented in creating those.

Maljakossa oleva yksi ruusu (sinisen lasin takana) sopi hyvin Menneen maailman pienoishuoneeseen kuten myös norsukukkaruukku.
The single rose in a vase (behind the blue glass) and the elephant plant holder suited well into the Gone World roombox.





Piknikkori kaksine pikareineen ja viinipulloineen sijoittui Puutarhaan. Sen pöydällä on jo yksi samanlainen, kullanvärinen pikari.
The picnic basket with its goblets and wine bottle is now located in the Garden where there is already a similar golden goblet on the table.

Swappiminien uusia koteja - New homes for swap minis

Käsityöliike on oiva paikka kudontakehykselle.
The Fabric & Fibers shop is the perfect place for the weaving loom.



Sydämenmallinen säilytysrasia ja peili sopivat hyvin 1970-luvun talon peilipöydälle.
The heart-shaped box and mirror are like made for the dressing table in the 1970s house.



Grilli löytyy 1970-luvun talon pihalta. Se on tehty pullonkorkeista ja jalkoina on joko grilli- tai coctailtikkuja.
The barbecue is now placed in the yard of the 1970s house. By the way, it's made of metal bottle caps and the feet are either barbecue or coctail sticks. Very clever use of bottle caps.



Myös pakki löysi paikkansa saman talon eteisestä.
Also the toolbox found its place in the foyer of the 1970s house.