A couple of spring projects

I know I've been absent for several weeks but I haven't been completely idle. First of all, thank you to all of you bloggers who aren't as negligent as I am - I have been enjoying reading your posts, for sure.

First, for those of you who aren't aware, after the Montreal show had to be cancelled ( I am SO disappointed!) I had a few emails back and forth between myself and Bev Lunn and Michèle Castonguay of the Montreal Club. I mentioned that one of the things I was going to miss the most because of the forced cancellation was the exhibits from their club members. As a result - we all get to see them. Michèle has provided a "virtual exhibit room" on the website for the Miniature Enthusiasts of Montreal where we can get all get a chance to see examples of the fabulous work done by many of their members. Be sure to pay a visit - such great projects and so inspirational.

So, I have spent my "isolation time" trolling through other people's blogs like Elizabeth's at Studio E, Jodi's at My Miniature Madness, Marijke's at Pulchinella's Cellar...okay, too many to mention you all individually but I just want to say, thank you for the joy and inspiration you have all provided with your posts. Incredible work is being done by very talented people.

As for me, the 15th of March was my friend, Louise's birthday. She had mentioned a few times that she would like to try making miniature wicker furniture. So - I gave her a kit for her birthday and one for myself. Then, with the covid-19 isolation rules, we set a date and time for a Skype call and worked on our chairs together. We both really miss our regular Wednesday mini meeting times but this virtual option was way better than nothing! Here is the chair I was working on.

I used this kit from Barbara Richmond:

It came with a pre-drilled base and pre-cut wires as well as waxed linen thread for weaving. Some kits have larger wire for the 4 corners and smaller for the ones between. This one required you to use 4 wires together in each corner then the single ones for the in between ones. It's important to note that the holes on the corners are, of course, larger and that the back and two sides are drilled all the way through while the holes for the front are drilled partly into the bottom - not all the way through.

I followed instructions to a "T" - not one of my usual strong points as we all know but I thought it might be important for my first wicker project. Turns out I was right. *smile*

I started by weaving the upper level first, regular weaving to start then followed a different pattern for a few rows for a decorative accent. At that point the wires on the sides were to be bent to almost a 90 degree angle, gradually straightening toward the back, and the weaving continued.

When I finished enough rows for the upper part of the chair, I followed the instructions for the lower section, matching the decorative section under the seat as well. To finish off the legs, I added a few wraps to the bottom which were not mentioned in the instructions. Any wicker furniture I have ever owned always had a little "bulbous" wrap to end the legs so I took the liberty of mimicking them. I then cut off the extra wire and made a braid to go around the upper and lower edges to hide the wires and make a more finished look. I made a double braid to go around the edge of the wooden seat.

Now, the kit came with a fabric, already pre-cut for the seat cushion. However, it was a flowery blue which just wasn't my style. I dug out an old silk tie that my husband had thrown away (I have no idea how it could have ended up in my fabric stash) *grin*. It had a dark blue background but had all these really neat squares and rectangles with really attractive designs on them.

Much better! The original blue fabric is next to the finished chair. I really like how it turned out in the end and, with such easy instructions I can see myself doing more wicker furniture in the future. It was really fun.

So, speaking of fun, I was also thinking about a real-life spring arrangement I had seen online and decided I wanted to try to make a mini one. I didn't have any real measurements so just used my usual "fly by the seat of my pants" technique. I cut two ends, a bottom and two sides for the container. I first folded a piece of paper in half to draw out the shape for the ends because I wanted to make sure they were symmetrical and the same size.

Then I put the container together and used some "dirty water" to make it look a little aged. Using a really cheap white facecloth (the thinner, the better), I covered a medium sized bead with glue and stretched a small piece of the terrycloth from the facecloth around the bead. I took a small bit of cotton batten and rolled it with a little glue to form a tiny white puffy ball and glued it to the covered bead. Then I cut two tiny shapes from thin white felt and put three pink dots for toe pads and one for the main foot pad on each little felt foot and glued the little feet on either side of the little bunny butt.

I put a small amount of floral foam in the bottom of the container, glued in the bunny butt and tiny bits and bobs of floral material and Easter eggs I had lying around. I just adore how it turned out. I think I'll make more of these because they are just so cute! I know, I know, we're not supposed to use the word "cute" to describe our minis but hey, I calls 'em how I sees 'em!!!

Here are my two little projects together. I am happy with both of them.

But, if you'd like to see something bigger...I actually have accomplished something else you might be interested in. Of course, you will have to wait a few days for my next post to see! In the meantime - stay safe, stay healthy, work on minis!! TTFN - Marilyn

Keeping busy in these strange times

I hope everyone is keeping safe and well while we try to weather this health scare together - while still remaining separate.

Luckily my DH and I returned from Ireland just before all this broke loose on a global scale. We have remained healthy and are limiting activities outside our home. My DH is doing any shopping needed - but then he usually did anyway so that's not such a big change. It's the almost emptiness of the grocery stores that is so surreal.

In the meantime come all of the cancellations. While I didn't mind having my dental appointments cancelled, I was disappointed to have my haircut cancelled as the length of my hair is really starting to bug me. Cancelling our St. Patrick Week festivities was one notch up on the disappointment scale but, the biggest disappointment?? - the cancellation of the Montreal Miniature Show! I so look forward to this show every year. Even though it is an 8 hour drive each way for me and my friend Louise, it's a weekend of pure joy when we hit the sales and exhibit floors.

The members of the Miniature Enthusiasts of Montreal do such incredible work. I love spending hours looking at all of the projects they have on display. Also, the ability to shop at so many different vendors is such a treat for us since the closest miniature store to us is a seven hour drive in the opposite direction (Freedom Miniatures in Kentville). Luckily the owner, Shelley, has a great website so I can still purchase anything I need between her shop and my other favourite - Grandpa's Dollhouse.

I know I have lots of mini tasks that need to be done but, rather than actually making minis, the last several days have been spent trying to sort and organize my craft room. Even though my craft room is all about minis, the task itself is Herculean! The good news is, while I'm mourning the loss of this year's Montreal Miniature show, I came across some of my favourite purchases from past shows. Once of my favourite vendors at the Montreal show is Janice Crawley. Here are some of the things I have bought from her in the last couple of years:

A teapot and two vases in the Jasperware style:

Here are the two vases next to a life-size one I own. The life-size vase is not terribly large as you can see by the Sharpie pen behind it. That gives you a sense of how tiny the two vases from Janice are. Beautifully done!

Here is a gold tea set with a rose design which is much prettier in person. I love it!

Next is a casserole dish in what I think looks like a Belleek-type finish, and a set of pottery beer mugs.

I love these Santa pieces and I'm sure they'll end up in one of my Christmas-themed projects in the not-so-distant future.

Next, I have two of Janice's china figurines. The one on the left looks very like the full-size Royal Doulton dolls my mother used to own. On the right,the porcelain-dipped lace skirt reminds me of the lovely Dresden pieces of my mother. The little china bird in front is a mass-produced piece from one of the other Montreal vendors. I just thought is was so cute.

The last two pieces of Janice's that I am showing you today are so beautiful. Take a close look at the jug on the right. The top of the jug and handle are actually a lovely swan. Janice then used blue on the body of the jug right under the swan to indicate water, with green leaves of water plants below. How gorgeous is that?

I have a few more pieces of Janice's that I haven't come across yet in my craft room clean up but I know they're in there somewhere! Janice - I sure hope you will be at the 2021 show in Montreal! I will have my wallet full and ready to be emptied!!

One vendor I only saw once at the Montreal show was silversmith Greg Matusovsky. His work, as was his father's before him, is beyond words. I was lucky enough to purchase this pair of candlesticks from him a couple of years ago. I would so love to buy more but the website on the business card I got from him does not seem to be active anymore. I hope he is still making as his work is exquisite,

So, after several hours of sorting and rearranging things in my workroom, I decided it was time to quit. Okay, I was greatly encouraged to quit when the two trays of small wooden letters I had set at the edge of my table were knocked off and went everywhere!

I didn't take a picture of the disaster on the floor - I decided to shut the lights off, close the door, and go back to it tomorrow. *sigh* The good news is that I will be sure to find many exciting pieces of eye candy that I totally forgot I had. With that in mind - I will actually look forward to tomorrow's work - even if it means starting off by picking up a couple of hundred little wooden letters and sorting them alphabetically again. Take care everyone and be sure to stay active and safe. TTFN - Marilyn

Back on Canadian soil...

It was wonderful seeing old friends in Ireland and the wedding was great - loud and raucous as could be expected, in the middle of Storm Jorge, which hadn't been expected. The wind was unbelievably high, making the rain fall sideways for a time but, they do say rain on a wedding day is good luck. As such, I'm sure the happy couple will be together for eternity, given the type of day it was. Then, the day before flying home, we got to see the one-week old baby boy of our young friends, Maria and Sean. The little guy is absolutely gorgeous. I forgot how tiny new born babies are!

It was a long trip home, leaving Dublin Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. Ireland time and finally arriving at our home at 3 a.m. Wednesday, New Brunswick time (7:00 a.m. Ireland time) having a 3.5 hour drive from the Halifax airport. We slept until almost noon then, when I checked for messages I found one from my SIL letting me know my uncle (the last one!) had passed away Tuesday night. So, I hit the road for Prince Edward Island early on Thursday for another 3 hour drive. I stayed around for a little while after the funeral then took another 3 hour drive back home to New Brunswick. Tomorrow I have a 3 hour drive to Bathurst to pick up a display for the Irish Association before taking the 3 hour drive back. I should become a professional driver! For the rest of the week I think I am just going to sleep - and do minis of course!!

Speaking of which - not much to show you since my last post since I have been away but, I had mentioned how much I was praying for an early spring. So, I thought I would take a peek through Pinterest to see what spring-related things might show up. One of the real-life trends I have always liked was farmhouse-style signage used to decorate a front porch. So, I decided to make mini ones.

I started by drawing out what was in my mind, then gathering together some Popsicle sticks and lettering I purchased at Dollarama.

After cutting the sticks to size and gluing back cross members to them, I painted them burnt sienna and I painted the letters in a cream colour.

Once the dark brown colour had dried, I covered them with an ordinary white school glue and immediately covered that with a peacock blue colour acrylic paint. After a few minutes the cracking began to show up. I left them to dry overnight to achieve maximum "crackling". Next, I sanded the edges then dry-brushed them with white to age them a little further.

I wanted to add a couple of tiny details to the sign so I glued some small green leaves to the letter "I" and I fashioned a wee tulip out of the pieces from the plastic leaves. The centre portion of the leaves reminded me of a tulip bud that had not yet opened so I painted them yellow and glued it, along with two longer leaves, to the signs.

Then I glued the letters and decorations to the boards, used a fine black Sharpie pen to write "Welcome" across the top. So, I now have four "Welcome Spring" signs just waiting for front porches to lean them against. They make me feel like spring may be a little bit closer.

On a last note, I was sorting through a box of books that we intended to get rid of and I found this one. I forgot I had planned on throwing this out - okay, truth be told, I forgot I had it in the first place. It had the instructions for knitting real-life-sized patterned sweaters but I couldn't help but wonder if I could adapt the patterns to mini sweaters. Mini knitting is a skill I have always wantd to try my hand at. Perhaps this book will inspire me to start - - - after I finish all those projects I said I was going to complete, of course! *smile*

So, I will try to keep myself on track. You all know how difficult it is for me. TTFN!! - Marilyn

Time to put my big girl panties on....

...and finish what I started!!!

And, oh, that list is long. With the limited time I have to work on minis, and the fact that I am so easily distracted, I took the time this week to step back and come up with a plan, which should last at least as long as it takes before another squirrel runs into my sight-line or a butterfly flits past me. But, I promise - I will try.

I am desperately wanting to start work on my "North Pole Postal Service" project that I have been thinking of for a few years now but I have made a decision - I cannot start a new project until I clear up the many I have partially completed. Whenever I start a new project I go full tilt for a short while then something else take my attention and I'm off. This has got to stop!

So - I am going to work my way backwards and finish some things. But, of course, I know I will need to take short detours throughout so I can keep my enthusiasm up.

I will be concentrating on two of my old projects for the time being and insert some little real-life inspired minis in between. The two last projects I had started and not finished are up first:

Dorothy's Corner: Hopefully you remember this little project from last spring. I named it Dorothy's Corner after the poet, Dorothy Frances Gurney, whose poem "God's Garden" is the source of the lines seen on many garden signs and plaques "...One is nearer God's heart in a garden, than any place else on earth..." I even placed a copy of her poem on the arm of the garden chair and the famous lines in a wall plaque above the bird bath.

Well, here it still sits, almost fully complete. Almost is the operative word here. So, to finish this project here is what I will be reporting progress on until it is done:

1. fill the bottom of the hanging basket with moss so the fern isn't "floating" in the basket (easy peasey)

2. paint the handle of the faucet a brighter colour so it doesn't blend into the wall (super easy peasey)
3. add water to the bucket and water and birds to the bird bath (takes a little longer because I will have to make the birds, paint the birds; mix the resin for the water, wipe up the spilled resin...you know how it goes)

4. FINISH the d**n hydrangea tree!!! Honestly, I don't mind doing it, it just takes so long for each flower head, then I will have to paint the flower heads, cut and glue on all the leaves, "plant" it in place.. (not so easy peasey - okay, easy but time consuming) Here is the spot where the tree will go and below that is the tree in place with more than half of the flower heads done (the pink cones are the base to which I am gluing 70 to 80 tiny white flower cut outs for each bud).

I will let you know how it goes.

The second project I have chosen to concentrate on is the "kitchen n a cupboard" from last year's Camp Mini Ha Ha. I have lots to do to finish that one before Camp rolls around again in September. I have the main body done (in the picture below it doesn't show the decorative stained top and bottom of the cabinet). I have 2 coats of paint on the cupboards for the inside but I now think I will remove the bottom right cupboard and the slider next to it and replace them with a little stove and cook top. I am planning on putting the cupboard on a base and turning the whole little scene into a shop that makes and sells honey products. In keeping with the honeybee theme, I am toying with what I will name it. I had thought perhaps I would call it "The Honey Pot" but my mini friends loudly nixed that idea - I wonder why???? So - maybe "The Bees' Knees"??? Anyone got any ideas??

For this project then, I have to:

1. finish the honeycomb floor (easy peasey - only the edges left to make)
2. remove the cupboard and build in a stove instead (getting harder)
3. Install all cupboards
4. finish running wiring for the lights in the cupboards
5. install counter top and backsplash
6. install faucets
7. Make all of the honey products that the shop will be selling
8. make shelves and accessories

Okay, a much longer list with this one but I am determined! Again, I will keep you updated.

And finally, to keep my mini spirits up - I am pining for spring in this frozen tundra known as the Atlantic coast of Canada so I have been looking at all kinds of spring decor items (real life size) to decorate my real house with. I may just pick one from time to time and miniaturize it to make me feel closer to the day when the warm spring air starts flowing again.

Until next Friday - when I will be posting from the Southern coast of Ireland - have a great week! TTFN! - Marilyn

It's been how long?????

I cannot possibly believe I haven't made an entry since last June!!!! Yes, that's when I had my knee replacement done so took some time away from most of my computer stuff and, truth be told, also from most of my mini activities as well!

Well, I haven't been completely idle during that time period. I admit - there's been nothing terribly exciting going on with my minis but, for what it's worth, here's a glimpse of the few little things I did work on. I checked back through my not-so-consistent postings to see what I have and have not posted in the past. First, a few things I made for gift items:

I don't think I've shown you this one yet - here is my inspiration photo for reference:

I saw the above photo in a Christmas decorating magazine and I fell in love with it. If you have followed this blog at all, you will know that I love all things Christmas so, for a gift for a friend, I copied this and put a Christmas spin on it. Here is my version:

It was so easy to make and I still love the design so I imagine I will make one for myself at some point in the future.

On a completely different note, I have mentioned my friend Louise in postings before and her obsession with all things flamingo. Well, many years before Louise and I met, my husband and I found a cartoon in the newspaper that we just loved. We cut it out and, for decades, kept it posted on the side of our refrigerator. I always thought I would love to replicate the picture in cross stitch. I had never gotten around to it but, with Louise's birthday coming near I decided to combine my love of that cartoon with her love of flamingos and our joint love of miniatures. Here is the cartoon that we kept for so many years:

I stitched the back picture in black and tried to emulate the foreground. At first I was concerned that Louise might think I was being very rude by giving her a picture with a roasted flamingo but, thankfully, she thought it was hilarious and really loved it:

For "Gifties" last fall for Camp Mini Ha Ha, I made market stalls. They were rather large for Gifties, but I hope those who won them make good use of them. I made them from 1/4" MDF. I scored all the pieces at 1/2" intervals to make them look more like boards than solid walls.

I glued the back to the floor, and the sides to the back and the floor with Quick Grip glue. I find it works very well on MDF. I made faux doors for the market stalls using two pieces of Bristol board (I think some people call it poster board?) Once these were ready, I painted the structure, the door pieces (2 for each stall - one for outside, one for inside) and the remaining pieces black on both sides (except the floor which I stained brown on the top side only, and the faux door pieces which I only painted on one side each). Then I dry brushed over the black with a different colour, including the doors with a colour different from the bodies of the stalls. Once these had all dried overnight, I dry brushed everything with an off-white colour to age everything further. Once these were well dried, I glued in two shelves to the long back wall for holding market stall merchandise. Then I attached the upper and lower front walls, the counter and the canopy. I drilled holes in the front underside corners of the canopy and the inside corners of the counter in order to better connect the canopy poles. Here they are lined up and ready to go.

For the hinges and door handles on the doors, I used black Bristol board cut to shape, painted black again so they would be a little sturdier, and glued them in place (hinges and handle on the outside door, handle only on the inside). I played with a few ideas for the roof, realizing that, once covered, the interior could be quite dark. I ended up using a very thin wood, cutting out a rectangle in the middle where a "skylight" would be placed, and used strips of thin wood to make the roof look like metal. I painted them black, then silver, then dry brushed them with a rusty-brown colour to make them look -- well -- like rusted metal, of course!

At the time my hubbie cut out the pieces for these market stalls, I also asked him to cut out enough for 5 additional kits. Out little mini group will get together at some point in the future to do a group project with these market stalls with each of us using a different theme. It should be a fun project. The stalls go together very quickly. The most fun will be filling them up with all kinds of tiny things. As usual, I have two or three ideas in mind for my own so perhaps I can settle on one before we start building them.

Okay - what else???? Hmmm.... well, at Camp this past September, the actual project we all started working on was a kitchen in a cabinet design (from a plan that Connie Sauve generously shared with us). I'll talk more about that one in upcoming posts.

So, coming around to Christmas again, our little group got together for a Christmas potluck and gift exchange. I used an idea I had seen online and thought was really cute. If I remember correctly, the one I saw online was not a Christmas theme but the idea can be adapted to any theme really. I started with one of those little metal boxes with a see-through top you can pick up at Dollarama when they have their Christmas stuff out. I think they're meant to fill with cookies or chocolates or the like for small Christmas gifts. The trick here is to pick up solid colour boxes if you want to use them for something other than a winter/Christmas scene. I also picked up a string of those tiny battery-operated lights they carry. Back at home, I cut a small square hole in the bottom corner of the box bottom and wrapped the edges with masking tape in case there were sharp edges. Then I carefully fed the string of lights through this hole to the inside of the box and taped the battery box to the back of the box on the outside. The covers of these boxes are held on with a ridge of metal that pushes out from the body of the box to hold the cover securely. What that means is that there is a "channel" on the inside of the box in order to form that ridge. You can then use this channel to put your lights in the box. For the size of the box I used, I think the light set wrapped around the channel about 2 and a half times. I applied scotch tape to hold down the wires and secure the lights in the channel. Then I took a winter scene I found on line, printed it from my computer, and cut it to fit the back and curve around the sides of the box so the whole scene would be snowy (and also hide the wire from the light string). I glued down a small piece of fibrefill to the "floor" of the container to look like snow. Then I headed to my stash to see what I could fit in. I added two small evergreen trees, a little snowman, a bright red mailbox and a small park bench. Once all were securely glued in place, I dusted the scene, the mailbox and the park bench with some fine white glitter, after brushing the area with glue. All in all, a very easy project that, I think, turned out really nice. We had a wee bit of fun with a "Chinese Auction" drawing for gift choices then stealing them from other people - always a laugh.

Here is the box with the lights off (my apologies - you can see my hand and camera in this picture with the lights off), then with them turned on:

My friend, Louise, actually ended up with this box, took it home, and immediately added a flamingo to it! I have to be honest, I had actually thought about adding a snow flamingo to it instead of, or in addition to, the snowman that I used but, not knowing who would end up with it, I decided not to. I shoulda figured!!!!!

I ended up with this beautiful centrepiece made by my good friend, Marijke H. I just love her work! You may have seen it under construction on her blog "Pulchinella's Cellar". She does such amazing floral pieces! I know I will use this in a White Christmas room box in the future.

So, more about Christmas stuff!! My good friend, Louise, and I always exchange Christmas and birthday gifts. Louise has a couple of big, longer-term projects she has in various stages. In the "dreaming and planning" stage she has in mind a replica of her family's ancestral home in Ireland and in her preliminary stages is a rather large doll house she bought last year at the Moncton miniature show. So, I decided to make something that could be used in either project.

Yes, I cheated and started with a couple of House of Miniatures kits I had in my stash. After sanding well and putting them together, I painted the dressing table green and the mirror gold then started dressing up the table. I painted a round woodsie gold and added a rim of perforated ribbon, also painted gold, then made all the perfume and lotion bottles from unique beads I had on hand. I had a thick cotton trim which was exactly the width of the table so worked well as a dresser scarf. Then I printed off some letters, a picture and a postcard from a file I downloaded from Everafter Miniatures on Etsy. I left an open letter on the table, put the other letters in one of the drawers, stuck the picture into the mirror frame and slid the postcard between "bottles" on the tray. I also made a little stool to go with the dressing table but really didn't like the way it looked so, after Christmas, I used the instruction for Kris Compass's Parson's chair to replace it. The chair looks much better with the dressing table.

And here it is with the slipper chair (a.k.a. Parson's chair) - much better!

One of the projects I have in mind for the future is a very detailed "Santa's Workshop" room box. Knowing that, here are all the wonderful little things Louise gave me for Christmas. I love them and they will look so great on the shelves in that workshop, for sure! Please take a moment to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see all of the items: a large basket of baseballs and baseball bats, sleds, little carts with building blocks, animal pull toys, xylophones, abacuses, hammers and peg boards, small Santa dolls, soccer blls, nutcrackers --- wow, what a lot of work she put into these tiny things! I love them! Thank you so much, Louise.

I would like to take a moment to assure you that no animals were injured during the process of this particular photo shoot - although one nuisance feline did try to push the boundaries of my patience!! She continues to rely on her cuteness to give her a free pass in life.

So, until next week I will leave everyone with one message: for all my gal friends out there in the blogosphere - Happy Galentine's Day!! For all my guy friends - Happy Guyentine's??? Somehow that just doesn't work - but you know the message is there, right? Big hugs all. TTFN - Marilyn