Practice. Practice. Practice.

These are my first attempts at making some crocheted coasters. Real life size. I have NO idea how anyone, like Hanna, does this in miniature?!

Casey devoted an entire post to me yesterday to help me with this project. Thanks Casey!  I picked the simple pot holder pattern that Casey shared to begin. The problem I discovered was ME.  I'm left handed.  I got the chain stitch down but when I turned to make the single crochet everything looked wrong.

I went to YouTube and found this video. Then I started over. Again.

Not perfect. But a better chain stitch.

I kept restarting the video until I got to the part where you make the turn for the second row. This is where I messed up on my first attempts.

I watched this video again and came up with another mess.

I will never get to Carnegie Hall this way! Back to YouTube.

Here is another, and better video for left handers.



I cut my losses, literally, and started over once again. At least the chain stitch was quick and easy this time.
See. I am making progress!  :D

I know I've probably lost most of you by now? Especially those who are good at this or right handed.

Since I am neither of these, I'll continue. It's okay if you are bored and leave. I understand. Really, I do.

Below is the final photo for today. It looks like something, but not the something I am going for.


Maybe I should get back to work on my hanging baskets?

Hope you have a good day!

Now Ain't That Purdy?

I think I have lived in Alabama too long. I took one look at my finished hanging basket and thought, "Now ain't that purdy?"

They really do talk like that here in the South. Really. The girls at work always tell each other, "Ya'll be careful now goin' home."  I've even caught my self saying that.

Yep. Time to move back to Florida... I wish.

The flowers in this basket are lantana. It grows wild in Florida. It is poisonous to humans and pets. Butterflies love it!

Hope you like my little basket. I think it's "purdy."  :D

Beaded Plant Hanger

This is one beaded plant hanger pattern I started. I like the little daisies. If you want to learn how to make them go here.

I couldn't use the copper beading wire I had. It was too thick to go back through these tiny glass seed beads. I used one strand of DMC #920 embroidery floss instead.

I want to make more of these in different colors. One of my patients gave me a BIG bag of beads. Not sorted, but free!  :D

I hope to have at least one of these plant hangers finished later today. Have I ever mentioned, I love beads?

Hanging Basket

I'm sure you have seen Leslie Shepherd's tutorial for making dollhouse miniature hanging baskets. I'm making one using these things.

After I saw Peter Staples beautiful plant hangers on Etsy, I thought I would try to make a miniature one. I'm using copper beading wire and seed beads. The hooks are copper earring findings.

Here is one of three parts of the hanger and some flowers I've started to make. I may try another design for the hanger?

I will cover the styrofoam with moss before I add the flowers. Lots more work to do with this. No more time this morning.

Hope you have a beautiful day filled with mini blessings!

Garden Cart

I finished my little garden cart.

Then I filled it with plants.   :D

I am about one quarter way through the alphabet now. A for agapanthus, B for bougainvillea, C for coleus, D for daisy, E for elephant ear, F for fern (staghorn) and G for Gerbera daisies.

Maybe someday there will be a Garden Center for these? Maybe? Someday?

Hope you had a lovely weekend!

Garden Cart Progress

I'm making progress on my little garden cart. I made new wheels out of fun foam. The corrugated cardboard ones just didn't look right from the side. I could have saved myself a whole lot of trouble if I had purchased BLACK fun foam! 

I'm making the wheel axles using a black coffee stir stick, a piece of 18 gauge wire and fun foam supports. I think the wheels may actually turn? Not that it makes much difference, but I like that.  :D

Sewing the screen to the frame didn't work. Super glue did.

Now I have black paint and super glue all over my fingers. I hope it will come off when I take my shower?  My co-workers always know when I've been making minis!

Hope you have good day!

Reinventing The Wheel

The 3/4" wooden wheels I have are too large for the project I am working on. So I decided to try to make my own wheels.

I punched 1/4" circles in corrugated cardboard. Then I cut out 1/2" wheels and painted them black. I used a flower punch to make the spokes of the wheels. I painted some hole punch reinforcements and placed them on the outside of the wheels over the edges of the flowers.

Here are my little wheels with the project I am working on for the garden center. The frame is made with skinny sticks, matchsticks, 1/8" quarter round and spray painted window screen.

I still have more inventing and more work to do. Hopefully, my miniature garden cart will look something like this when finished?

Hope you have a good day! I'm going to go sew some screen now...

I can't stand it any longer. I have no space to work!

My desk and my work table are covered with "stuff!" Something MUST be done about this and it must be done today!

I cannot continue building the garden center until I make room to work!

The mess continues around the workroom. When I can't find things and can't close the drawers, it's time!

Don't show this photo to Grandpa. That is his unfinished garage sitting on the table. Grandma is buried upstairs in her sewing room somewhere. I hope she is okay?!

Even the Adelaide Beachy is piled with things that don't belong there. It is in the kitchen. That is yet another room I need to clean up! 

I have no idea how things go so out of control? Perhaps it is because I've been concentrating on the trees and couldn't see the forest?

If you don't see me for a couple of days, don't send my family to check on me. They already have concerns about my state of mind...

Caterina's Summer Swap Gifts

I have been waiting to show you the gifts I received and those I made for Caterina's Summer Swap. Today Caterina revealed photos of all the wonderful miniatures made by the participants in her swap. This was so much fun and I met two new mini friends! :D

Here are the things I received from Eleonora. I love them!

I admire anyone who can make miniature food. This little Italian picnic is so cute and so well done. The bread not only looks real, it feels real too! I love the lasagna and there is even a little piece cut for me! Just look at that little sandwich! Amazing! Thank you SO MUCH Eleonora!

These are the things I made for Kaisa.

Please poke the photos to see the details. :D

I had so much fun making my gifts for Kaisa AND receiving those from Eleonora! Thanks again Caterina for organizing another wonderful swap! I can't wait until the next one!

Paper Clip Shelf Bracket

I need some shelves, lots of them, for the garden center. This morning I found some 1 inch green paper clips. I thought they might work for shelf brackets?

I fiddled with them for a while and came up with these. I made the shelf with a 3/4 inch wide tongue depressor, then stained it with Folk Art maple stain. Who knew that tongue depressors have such a nice wood grain?

Sadly, my favorite Instant Krazy Glue was empty so I had to clamp the brackets to the wood with Tacky Glue. Here is the little shelf finished.

Hope you have a great day!

Two Mini Gardens

I finished my apple basket miniature garden today. Now I have two tiny gardens. One for spring and one for fall.  :D

I think I will wait to do one for summer and winter. I need to get back to my A-Z plants and work on building the garden center!

Thanks for all of your sweet comments. They make me smile and keep me going!

Update! Joanne's Minis at Creating Dollhouse Miniatures just posted a tutorial for making 1:12 scale apples. Go see!  :D

It's Almost Time To Plant

I still need to add the handles to my apple basket, but it's almost finished. These are some little things I made to "plant" inside.

Troy asked for an eggshell path. I will work on that next. Troy is celebrating his 100th post. Go say "hello" and congratulate him.  :D

I just passed the 1,000 post mark! Thanks to everyone who keeps following along here. I hope you find something you like and something that inspires you.

Have a wonderful day!

Making An Apple Basket

I purchased this roll of 3/8 inch white wood at Save On Crafts a while ago. I had planned to use it for flooring but it wants to curl. Today I am using it to make a wooden apple basket.

I cut strips about three inches long and then cut them in half lengthwise. I'm using a one inch woodsie circle for the base.

Last night I glued three of the wooden strips to the base of the circle in a star pattern. This morning I added more strips around the bottom of the basket.

I tried several stains, but this wood does not take stain well. I found some "Caramel Candy" paint by "Apple Barrel" in my stash so I used that instead. I added water to the paint to thin it.

To coax the wooden strips to bend into a circle, I wet then and painted them with red water color paint. Then I added a black wash to tone it down. These will go around the outside of the basket.

Now I'm waiting to the paint to dry...

This is all I have time for this morning. REAL work calls. Hopefully, tomorrow I can show you my finished basket. I may use it to make a little fall fairy garden?

Hope you have a good Friday!

Dollhouse Miniature Fairy Garden

This little spring garden is 1.25 inches wide and is 2 inches tall.  It is sitting beside a 1:12 scale plant so you can see how tiny it is.

I had so much fun making this! It sits in a wooden crate and has a styrofoam base. The picket fence was made with card stock. I used a piece of nadina that Casey sent to me to make the tree. Thanks Casey!

The little chair is made with part of a wooden fan, a 1/4 inch hole punch and has wire legs. I made the flowers with my 1/8 inch hole punch and hand cut the leaves. I glued them to a piece of sewing thread and wrapped that around a wire for the arbor.

The "grass" is felt and the hedge along the side is dried moss. The gazing ball is the head of a sewing pin.

I plan to make one for summer, fall and winter too. They will be "for sale" in the garden center. :D

Hope you like my first fairy garden.  I love it!

The Great Divide

I've decided to divide the walls of the garden center into sections of interest. This is one wall idea.

On this wall there will be an area for tropical plants and a birding center that wraps around the back corner.  These cute little bird houses were purchased from Katie at Katie's Clay Corner on Etsy. I ordered two more items from Katie today. Can't wait to show you. :D The bird cage was an Ebay find.

I will add shelves to display products that relate to each area. There will be a section for fairy gardens (1:144  scale) and one for garden art. I hope to have room for tools and supplies and space for pottery?

I'll be working on the tropical plant area first. Hope you have a great day!