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

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?