I would like to introduce you to our May Member of the Month, Gina (Butterflyex). Gina has been a member of the Greenleaf Community since May 31, 2006. Gina is a wonderful person to chat with as well as an exceptional miniaturist.

Gina has been working on miniatures for 12 years now. She has also been happily married for the same amount of time. Gina found her husband Juan when she found her very first dollhouse. They met through a dating service and have been together ever since.  They are the proud fur parents of Tak and they have about 12 wood kids (their dollhouses). Gina says that she suffered greatly all of her life from anxiety and the best therapy she ever had is her miniatures. She says it gives her self-confidence, pride, and self esteem. It has given her something to live for that has meaning. She says she never felt like that before miniatures. She finally has something she can do and share with others.

Gina always wanted a dollhouse as a child but never received one. One day she walked into a hobby shop and was stopped dead in her tracks. She saw a fully constructed Willowcrest. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her heart told her she had to have it. At that very moment she didn’t have the cash to purchase it. So Gina drove across town to borrow the money from her friend. That was how desperately she wanted it. She got back to the store right before closing and purchased the Willocrest.

Gina classifies herself as a jack-of-all-trades in the dollhouse world. She is not just a collector even though that is what drives her. It is the building and decorating aspects that are bigger influences in her owning dollhouses. It wouldn’t be interesting to Gina if the houses were already built and decorated for her. She loves the whole building process of a dollhouse. She likes to see when those sub-assemblies come together from smaller pieces and then transforming that into larger parts until it is finally a dollhouse. It is a wonderful feeling that cannot be beat. It is like magic. You are taking all of these raw wood pieces that mean nothing by themselves but when you put them together it makes something beautiful. Gina feels that dollhouse building is truly an art form in it’s own right. I totally agree with you Gina!

As for any cons for this miniature hobbyist, Gina would have to say that she truly hates siding and shingling. She is lucky that so many of her houses look great without siding but shingling is a necessary evil.

I asked Gina to tell me about her first experience in building a dollhouse. Her first words were that it was a horror story. When she brought the box home she thought like it would be the easiest thing in the world. She had assembled furniture and lamps before. She was always the handy person in the family so this should be a piece of cake. Right? WRONG!

She didn’t know a thing about dollhouse building. When she opened the box and saw all the pieces that were in there she got a bit terrified. She didn’t know where to begin. What tools do I use? Where do I begin? She was even overwhelmed with the instructions themselves. You would be surprised how innovative Gina became. She hand cut real vinyl to make miniature tiles for the dollhouse floor. She also used contact paper with a small print for wallpaper. In the end, she was never pleased with the results. That first dollhouse was a mess to say the least.

One of Gina’s miniature dreams is to take a road trip with Greenleaf forum members to the Greenleaf Company. That would be the best. It would be an emotional trip for Gina because this hobby has changed her life and given her so much. Gina would love to learn how to really kit bash. She has never significantly bashed a dollhouse and she is still a bit scared to do it. She is sure one day she will get up the nerve.

I asked Gina if she could only keep one of her houses, which one and why? She said it would definitely be her Beacon Hill. It is so grand and it is her dream house of all time. She even decorated it like she had always wanted as a little girl. Gina had always stared at the house in the catalog, longing for it but too scared to try and build it. She finally got the nerve and she says it was the best plunge she has ever taken. The Beacon Hill is also the house that awed her father and he gave her the first real compliment ever in her life. It was a very special moment and she will never forget it.