22 Followers?

I found a "new" blog this morning. Fabulously Small. I am amazed by Monique's miniatures!

She started her blog in May 2011. As of today there are only 22 followers, myself included. I have NO IDEA why there are not hundreds of followers!?

Here is a photo from Monique's most recent post. Hope you will go say "hello" to this very talented artist!

I suggest that you start from the beginning and read every post!

Thank you Monique for sharing your work! It really IS fabulous! I will be following you, hope many others will too!

Real Progress

This is what I have had in my mind for a long, long time!

It was fun to dry fit things together this morning. I'm building an atrium on the left.

Here is the upstairs with holes drilled in the floor for LED lights. Thanks Pepper for your great tutorial!

I'm excited to see my project coming together. There has been some real progress made!  :D

Hope you have a wonderful day. Thanks for all of your sweet comments!  

Some Progress

I've made some progress. I repainted the interior again. I'm working on a new door for the small restroom upstairs.

I want to make a mirror and maybe find some pretty wallpaper for the walls?

I cut a new second floor for the loft.  Right now I am trying to figure out how to cut the inside corner of my crown molding. Good thing I bought three pieces!

Mostly I've been thinking and making design decisions. I have something in mind that I am excited about. I just need to do some more research on how to build it.  :D

Hope you are having a good weekend!  It's cold here today. Cold for me anyway. I think I'll have to go turn on the heat!

Four Day Blitz!

The Doc I work with is going out of town today. He won't be back in the office until Tuesday. I asked him if I could have some "time off for good behavior" and he said, "yes."  Now I have four days off to work on my projects!  :D

This morning I decided to try to make a pine tree. This great model railroad site that has lots of tutorials and photos of trees for inspiration. I decided to combine some techniques I found and try to make a pine tree with a bamboo stick and felt.

After I cut the circles out of felt, I covered them on both sides with fine turf using spray adhesive.

One of the railroaders used green Scotch Brite pads instead of felt. Very effective. I didn't have one of those so I used what I had on hand.

When the circles were dry, I cut little slits in the circles for branches and then glued them to the trunk.

My little tree doesn't look real, but I think it's kinda cute.  :D

Hope you have fun today!

I hope to actually get something done on my garden center!

Beep Beep!

I don't know what got into me this morning? I woke up with so much energy and motivation!

I cleaned off my work table. I put all of my paint away, except what I need now. All of the paper and punches went back to their place.

I put bottles of glue in the drawer where they go. I gathered wood trim and sticks and put them in cups. I found most of my clamps and pencils and pens. 

I found the walls and the roof for the building I need. I found flooring and stucco and the recipe for stone. I even found things in the "coffee shop box" I can use for the project at hand. I found things, lots of things, I had forgotten I made!

I put flowers and plants, dollhouse dirt and pots, into a box where they won't distract me right now. Flowers take time. Time I don't have. I need to start building. I need to start now!

I'll need to remodel. I'll need to repaint. I can see it all finished, but I've got a long way to go!

Cahaba River Rocks

My daughter and I went to the Cahaba River right here in Birmingham yesterday. It was a beautiful day. Perfect for gathering river rocks.  :D

I will have to get back to you on this table project. It is going to take a long, long time! 

I have a building to build. Plans to accomplish. Rocks to wash.

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Not A Potting Table

This is not a potting table. It's a table with pots. Lots of them.

Guess you know what I will be working on for a few days!

I'm off to find rocks. Little rocks. Lots of them.

Remember This?

I've been thinking again. Thinking about entering the Miniatures.com Creatin'Contest. There are only six weeks left until the deadline!

I tossed my originals ideas a long time ago. Now I'm reconsidering...

Do you think I have enough time?  Do you think I can do it?

Stacked Stone

I made some stones a while ago, planning to use them on the exterior of one of my buildings. I used handmade paper clay.

Today I set up a little rock quarry and went to work painting my stones. Casey makes stones with egg cartons and colors them with several different shade of paint. Thanks Casey for your great tips!

There is a place, called Pebble Junction, near where I used to live in Sanford Florida that sells an incredible variety of stone. If you want stone for your landscaping in Florida, you have to go buy it.

Here is my mini version of stacked stone for sale.

In Birmingham, there is stone everywhere. I'm going to go find some stones for the second section. I could buy some at Michaels, but I want real stones from Alabama.

I'm planning a short trip this weekend to gather some tiny rocks from the river at Peavine Falls in Oak Mountain State Park.

Hope you have a lovely day!

Pallet of Sod

Some of you guessed what I was working on yesterday. No Troy, they were not brownies! :D

I used a piece of brown felt to make the sod. I glued coffee ground dirt on one side and Woodland Scenic grass on the other side. My garden center will sell sod by the piece for $2.00 each. 17 cents in 1:12 scale.

This is how I made the wooden pallet.

I used craft sticks and 1/8" x 3/8" balsa wood strips.  I wanted a natural finish but not one that was shiny. I mixed up a slurry of watered down Folk Art coffee latte paint to stain them.


















The hard part was waiting for the paint to dry so I could glue the pieces together. The pallet is 1 3/4 inches by 4 inches. That is about half the size of a real pallet. I want mine smaller so they will be easier to display.

I'm working on another one now.

Any guesses as to what that one will hold?

Coffee and ?

Can you guess what I am working on this morning?

Here's a hint. It will go outside the garden center.

Scrap Wood Tree

I was looking for unique display ideas for the garden center this morning. I found this post at Retail Details under "display ideas."  If you are making any kind of store, go see how they do it!

I loved this display in particular. So cute!  It was designed by BlaBla dolls.

Photo from Retail Details - Visual Merchandising Blog by Swirl Marketing

I think something like this will look great on one of the walls in my garden center. I gathered some scrap wood (chop sticks, skinny sticks and match sticks) and used my Easy Cutter to make this practice layout.  

I will stain the "tree" and finish the wall before I glue the pieces in place. I like it. 

Can't you see some little birds in the branches?  :D

Hope you have a wonderful day!  

75 Packets Of Seeds

I just finished making 75 packets of seeds to sell. 75 packets of seeds. Take one down...
You know the rest...

I will need to glue them in place so they don't fall out when I hang the display on the wall. Thanks to Joann @ DIY Miniatures for your colorful flower packet printies!



I think I have finally decided on what to do with the garden center walls.  I will have to force myself to clear off my work table. I'd better get started. My mother used to tell me, "If you never get started, you'll never get done!"


Hope you have a lovely day!

Antique Seed Display

This is the first time I have tried to make something look old and rusty. It takes a lot more work, believe me.

Below is my little shelf in progress. I used folded copper card stock for the shelf supports and cut little notches in them to hold the shelves. The trim is cut with scalloped scissors and embossed with a knitting needle.

I just had to add a little whimsy with a butterfly. :D








I guess you know what I will be doing today? Making 45 little seed packets. That should keep me busy and out of trouble for a while...

Hope you have a beautiful day!

Seeds

Every garden center needs seeds to sell.  I found Joann L. Swanson's great tutorial for building and decorating a potting bench. Part of Joann's tutorial is making seed packets. Joann even shares a great printie for the seeds. :D

Then I found this adorable real life antique seed packet display at Country Anthroplogy on Etsy.











I'm going to try making one in miniature.

I saved and printed Joann's seed packets. Then I used the measurements from the Etsy listing and cut my wood to scale.  I hope this will go together correctly?  We'll see....

My alarm is going off, so I have to stop and get ready for work.  I always wake up about two or three hours before the alarm time. That is my time for minis!  Hope you have a good Friday!

Pink Petunias

When I saw IGMA Fellow, Era Anderson Pearce's tutorial for making petunias, I just had to try it.

I found a Gelly Roll 08 white gel pen at Michael's. It worked great for drawing the lines on the flowers. Poke the photo to see them better.  I wish I was a better photographer.  : p

I really like Era's idea of putting a drop of glue on your thumb nail when attaching leaves and flowers. This is much easier than trying to dip them into a puddle of glue!

Thanks Era for such a lovely, detailed tutorial. It was not easy, but I like the results.

As you can see, I'm making progress! There is still much more to do...

Hope you have a great day!

Pink Pot

I spent a good deal of time this morning making this pattern for a hanging basket flower pot.  It is part lampshade and part bowl.  

I used a pink file folder. You could use any card stock; textured or plain, or a patterned paper you like. I wanted mine pink.

Here is how it looks when glued together. 

Tomorrow I will show you the plant I've made for this pot.  Here's a sneak peak.

Hope you have a beautiful day! If you make one of these flower pots I would love to see it!  :D