My Wish List

Before I settle in to a regular posting schedule I thought I would provide a list of projects I have been thinking about tackling as I move through this journey of mini discovery. Here are my ideas at this point (as with all my ideas - subject to change without notice LOL):

1. Before we left yesterday to come over to PEI for a couple of days, I had DH build me a plain little box out of rough plywood. It's 12" long, 8 1/2" high to the inside, and 6" deep. I planned on making it into a Christmas vignette. Already I've changed my mind (see - I told you!). Now I think I'll make it a nice, panelled little corner of a den or sitting room that I can add Christmas decorations to but then change the accessories for the different seasons. I'll be posting about that in the upcoming week.

2. I have always loved this picture by Carl Spitzweg - "The Bookworm". I think it would make a great room box.

3. Remember the incredible Christmas window scenes at Eaton's, the Bay and Simpson Sears in Toronto every year. When our family lived in Ontario during the 50s and 60s we used to take a trip to Toronto around Christmas just to see the beautiful displays, usually with moving parts and fantastical scenes. I would love to do a series reproducing some of these in miniature. Anyone know where pictures of these might be available? One of the more recent ones was online last year so I did save that picture - I think it would make a great scene - including the little mouse household under the floorboards - wouldn't that be adorable??

4. Ah Paris - one of my favourite places. I have in mind a little corner bistro with a view of the Eiffel Tower in the background. I actually have this one fairly well thought out but before I start it I want to work on...

5. A little Irish pub (okay - another of my favourite places)on the ground floor with a residence above. I have two Buttercup houses that I am going to stack one on top of the other for this one - it'll be my project #2 after the room box I mentioned in my first wish list item.

6. A lighthouse and residence - I have scale architectural drawings for this that were actually provided to me by someone in the Canadian coastguard - they were so helpful.


I actually have so many more ideas but I think I'll leave you with these 6. Once I actually can prove that I am actually working on any of these above, I may confess all and list the rest of them. I have so many projects planned that I should be able to keep busy and out of trouble for however many years I have left on this side of the sod! LOL

[Okay - I don't know why but my pictures are not going into my post. I will post the text anyway then will try to figure out why these pictures are not being inserted. Please come back to see the pictures soon. MD]

My Journey begins....

Well, I have finally taken the plunge! After "lurking" around the fringes of the "mini" world for a long time I am not only going to start to actually build something, I have decided to write a blog about it as I go. I am actually a very busy person so will not commit to anything more than a weekly posting (on Tuesdays). Anything more than that will just be by chance. So - to begin with I will share a couple of pictures of the one and only mini project I have actually done - a representation of my good friends' B&B in Ireland - a place we have spent so much time sitting around their picnic table (which is actually at the back of their B&B, not the front) sharing a bottle of wine (or two) and thoroughly enjoying each other's company. The vignette was made in a regular size teacup.

The "stones" are torn apart egg carton, painted in several different colours to look like rock, and applied over the built up sections of floral foam that I covered in thin cardboard painted with a sloppy mixture of greys and slate colours to look like mortar betweent the stones. I built the picnic table from popsicle sticks, the little birdhouse (just like the one in their back yard) from a tiny scrap of wood. The small blue plant pots are small wooden screw covers that carpenters use. The little spikes of pink and purple flowers are made with tiny no-hole beads rolled onto short lengths of florist wire that have been dipped in glue. The leaves were made by cutting lengths of florist tape, doubling it back unto itself, fringing it with closely spaced slits and twisting it onto the wire under the "flowers". I then curled the tips to make them look more "leaf-like". I copied the style of my friends' front door and window and printed off their sign from the internet which I then installed using black stiffened thread and a painted piece of paperclip. I also installed a small interior wall with tiny pink-checked "wallpaper" since it was possible to see inside the window. Learnings from this first project?? (1) Take pictures during the construction, not just the finished product and (2) spray a fixative on your coloured papers - they fade over time!

So, I'll post soon with my "wish list" of projects I want to tackle in case anyone is interested!