Helping Hands

I was fiddling with something very tedious and very, very tiny this afternoon. I thought to myself, "I could use another pair of hands, smaller ones!"

Then I remembered the little gizmo I had purchased at Harbor Freight. Helping Hands with LED Light. Maybe it will help?

Of course there is some assembly required. I started reading the instructions. Yes, sometimes I do read the instructions.

When I got to the part that said, "Do not assemble this tool when you are tired," I had to stop. I don't think I've ever read that particular warning in any other instructions I've read? I am tired, so I had to stop.

I'm almost finished with my gifts for Faby's Christmas Swap. I know I'm late. I just keep thinking of more little things to make.

I promise to get up bright and early, assemble my helping hands, and get back to work! Promise.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! I did. I made minis for four days!  :D

Chilly Morning

It's chilly here this morning so I thought I would build a little fire.

Close up photos are a good thing. I see a few corrections I need to make. Maybe I should go put in my contacts. That might help...

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving Day. Will you be shopping today or making minis?  

I won't be going anywhere except to visit my grand dogs and grand cats. I'm sure they are hungry right now!

We Need A Little Christmas

Yes! We need a little Christmas. Right this very minute! We need a little Christmas NOW!

I can't tell you where these will go. But I can tell you, they were a lot of fun to make!  :D

Playing For Keeps

I've been playing with my mini retro ranch house all weekend. This one I'm going to keep!

I started cutting out the house on Friday evening. I put a piece of plywood on my lap then laid my cutting mat on top of that. That way I could watch TV as I worked. With two dogs very close by, I cut all of the frame and window openings. I estimate that this took a little over two hours. I cut out two houses. :D

Saturday I decided that my little house would not be a Christmas house. I want it to look more like a real retro modern house. I painted the house using Folk Art Coffee Latte. I also added my siding and brick.

Today I added tissue paper to the windows inside. I scored all of the tabs and glued the house to a 2 inch by 6 1/2 inch base.

Now I'm working on the roof. I plan to add a light inside. I want to make a new front door too. I'm not happy with this one. I also plan to add some landscaping around the house. That will be fun. :D

I think this little house is going to be so cute. I may make the second house with clear glass windows and decorate the inside too?

I want to thank Kate at RetroRenovation for sharing her pattern and tutorial!

Mini Retro Ranch

When I found this little house at RetroRenovation.com I just had to try to make one! 

I re-sized Kate's pattern to approximately 1:144 scale. Then I went to Jennifer's Printables and found all of these cool paper printies. I shrunk them too.

Guess I will be cutting a pasting for a while!?  All I have to share with you today are lots of links and lots of little pieces of paper.

Hope you have a happy day!

Maybe?

I thought I would try to make a little glass block window. I'm using some acrylic "blocks" that are meant for scattering on wedding tables or filling vases.

I built a frame the size I wanted out of 1/8 inch wooden trim. I also emailed MicroMark this morning to ask them to add a 1/4 inch grid to the bottom of their gluing jig. That would really help line things up and keep them square!

I wallpapered two walls of the bathroom this morning. I can't do the rest of the room until I decide about this window. Two steps forward. One step back.

Somewhere around here I have some real 1/2 inch glass tiles. If I can find them, I will try those too. Finding things here right now is next to impossible!

Hope you have a nice day!

Morning Mission

My mission this morning was to finish several projects. All at the same time! I had painting going on in the kitchen. Painting going on my work table. More painting on my desk.

This is what was accomplished since I woke up at 3 AM.  :D

✔  Applied second coat of peanut butter glaze on ceiling beams

✔  Painted third coat of pineapple upside down paint on upstairs ceiling

✔  Spackled downstairs ceiling where needed

✔  Finished bathroom basket weave tile. Applied first, second and third coat of spray varnish

✔  Finished palm pendant light

✔  Painted first coat of pistachio green on downstairs ceiling

Now I have to get ready to go to work. Real work.

Hope you have a productive day!

Basket Weaving

I love the tile I found at This Old House. I'm working on the floor for the garden center restroom.

I'm not sure why this is taking so long? Maybe because I need to take a basket weaving class?

I'm also making a pendant lamp. This will also go in the restroom. It's not finished, but coming along nicely.  :D

Hope your day is filled with happy mini making!

Peanut Butter Glaze

Peanut Butter Glaze Recipe: 

1 cup Sherwin Williams clear acrylic glaze.
1/3 cup Behr Fudge Truffle flat acrylic paint. 
I used a glass measuring cup.
Mix well and pour into an empty peanut butter jar.
Do not eat or drink!  :D

This is just one coat of glaze. I'll add another. Like on the door frame below.

I thought I would try one of my outdoor lights. I'm using LEDs from Evans Designs. Here I'm testing the light using their coin cell battery that has a switch. Love these.

I will need to make some minor adjustments. I want the light to be in the center of the lamp. I may add some "glass" too? The lamp will be attached to the wall with a piece of copper tubing.

I found a great tip at RCgroups.com for cutting small metal tubing with a razor blade. Worked well and did not crush the tubing. I just need to file the ends. :D

Hope you have a wonderful day!

A Long, Long Process

Most, if not all of the decisions have now been made for the garden center. From top to bottom there is now a final plan.  :D

Getting here has been a long, long process! How many times have I tried different roof ideas? How many times have I changed my mind? How many times have I painted the building?! This project has gone from a coffee shop to a garden center to a coffee shop and back again. 

I don't think I have a chance of finishing before the Creatin' Contest deadline on December 17th.  I'm going to try, but I know I have too much to do. I'm going to just relax and enjoy the process.

I also have two Christmas swap gifts to finish and mail. Kikka and Julia if you are reading this please email your address to me. Thanks Fabiola for organizing this swap and for all of your sweet comments here.

I really don't have anything to show you today but I feel good knowing I can now move ahead with some confidence. I may have some light fixtures to show you in a few days?

Hope you had a good weekend. Welcome to my new followers and all of my faithful friends! I appreciate each and every one of you. Thanks for following my blog. Even if there aren't any minis ❣

This Is The REAL Deal

This is not a dollhouse. This is a real house that is for sale in Jensen Beach Florida.

Very near the beach and close to my youngest son.




I can see myself sitting here with my feet in the water after a swim. There is even a glass block outdoor shower!

Yes. I can really see myself here!

I can see myself here by the fire pit in the evenings. Planting more flowers along the top of the wall. Bougainvilleas to climb on the fence.

I can see myself planting hibiscus along this wall.

You do see the palm tree, right?  There is plenty of room for more!



Do you think I would replace the light fixtures?  I
would. Would I change the mosaic backsplash?
No! Paint the cabinets? Probably.

Would I love to drive up to these colors every day?

Yes. Yes. Yes!

Dream a little dream with me.  :D

Stucco Stenciling

I've been thinking about adding some stucco designs to the exterior of the garden center. I had this flower stencil in my stash. It is too large for what I have in mind, but a good one to use for practice.

I mixed up the colors I wanted using lightweight spackling compound and acrylic paint. Then I taped the stencil on a scrap piece of plywood. I used a stencil brush to apply the stucco.

Here is how my stucco flower turned out. Not bad for my first try.  :D

I like this idea. Now I just need to find the stencils I'll need. I probably already have some. I just need to find them! Here is a great site for ideas and real life size stencils, Victoria Larsen.com. Mini Stencils has stencils that are just the right size.

Hope you have a lovely day!

$ Shopping $

I found these hand made 2 inch wooden flowers at Save On Crafts. The listing said they can be strung together. I think they might make perfect hanging lamps? 

I'm not sure where I will use this?  I just thought it was beautiful.

 

My orders from Earth and Tree Miniatures, Miniatures.com, DBJ Miniatures, and Ebay arrived this week. I bought shutters, a cute wire window box and lots of miniature garden and woodworking tools, etc. etc.

I also found some palm tree wallpaper that I like, but the color is too bright. 

Any ideas on how I can make it fade or lighten it with paint or glaze? I may try putting some out in the sun today to see if that works?

I will be working on my lights this weekend. I hope that all of the emails I received from Shelly at Evans Designs will help me. Thanks again Shelly for all of your great advice!

It's going to get crazy around here! Stay tuned...

Mini Spiral Wreath

Sometimes you find really great tutorials for real life crafts that you can make in miniature. Today I found Michele Made Me's blog. I tried her tutorial for spiral notebook ornaments.

I used 28 gauge florist wire and wrapped it around a 1/4" straw to make the spirals. For this one inch wreath I wrapped the wire around the straw 40 times. From there I followed Michele's instructions. Cute, huh?

I thought I would try adding beads to another one. You know how I love beads!

As I wrapped the wire around the straw I added a glass seed bead to every third turn.

I slid the wire off the straw and stretched the spirals to about three inches. Then I threaded 1/8 inch ribbon through the center.



When you pull the ends of the ribbon together it will form a circle. Then you just tie a little bow at the bottom and you have a mini wreath.

I may go back and add a drop of glue to place the beads where I want them?  I like how they turned out.

Thanks Michele! I see lots of other things on your blog that I'd like to make in miniature. :D