Surprises in Storage

I have dug out the box of my hoardings for the Witches shop. I have fabrics, felts, painted bat shelves and the little Jack-O-Lantern I made years ago. I am not as happy with it as I was then, I must do it over or make new ones!
It's still cute, but seems very ORANGE to me, I like it lit up though.

Can you feel the Magic?

I have been making mini books to go in my Witches shop, they are turning out better than expected. My fingers are covered in glitter and glue and I couldn't be happier!

Feeling Creative again....finally!

So I have this wonderful little room I can work in, but I wasn't. I was feeling so uninspired and lethargic!
It was another blogger, Grimdeva of Cauldron Craft Miniatures, that helped inspire me. Her stuff is amazing, but it wasn't just her amazing miniatures, it was her comment about my Blue Witch's shop and that I only have a picture of the outside....what IS inside? It really got me wondering, as I haven't a clue. But here is a start. How about a dragon skin spell book for your record keeping?

Thank you!

I have 25 followers! I appreciate you so much for this, even though I have been a slacker in the crafty department.
Dixie (iPod) is fully loaded, but I am stumped creatively.
Where to go next with my little Michael's dollhouse exterior is a mystery to me, so I have started painting the furniture for it.
My weekends for April are busy with the last of Sledge Hockey...and all those regular sized domestic duties won't do themselves, sigh.

I will make time, darn it! I must!

A wonderful but busy week!

Well, my birthday vacation week is almost over. Alas, I didn't mini as much as I could have, but here is what I have done:

Stones glued in place

 

Pastel chalk used to tint them:I also put on a coat of varnish, I recommend 2 coats especially because the polyfill part is messy (or was for me as I added way too much water!)  

Mortar between the stones: I tinted the polyfill with black paint as it dries really pale compared to the rock effect, and because I didn't put enough varnish on, the pastel chalk wasn't protected enough and some of the colours came off.

  

What I have learned from this little experiment:

1. After putting on the "rocks" and painting them gently with pastel chalk, always put on at least 2 coats of varnish to protect them.
2. More is better, the polyfill dries so light thtat if you want a darker effect, use a bit more paint than you think you do.
3. DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH WATER TO THE POLYFILL. Mine was like melted chocolate...not good.
4. I used a bottle with a nipple top, don't cut the hole too big or you will have a mess. If you can get one, use a medicine syringe with a very small hole in the tip.

 The over all effect is what I wanted though. I am pleased, but I have a lot of paint touch ups to do!

Happy Birthday

It's my birthday today. Every year I give myself the same gift, a WEEK to myself, to do nothing but work on miniatures. This year there is one day that will be an exception, Antiquing in Nanton with my lovely Mom!

Clean AND Organized and Audio Books!!

Well, I have finally done it! The Sanctuary is now an actual Sanctuary. Good bye chaos. Now there is space to create and hopefully I will be able to finish projects now. I can even open my sewing cabinet to access the machine!!
This feels great!
The best bit is, I will have a whole WEEK at the beginning of March that will be nothing but Miniature time for me. I have found new audio books to listen too, currently I am listening to  Tana French's "In the Woods"
, while I create. I consider listening to books on my iPod (her name is Dixie LOL) and doing everything else to be joyful multitasking. I feel so guilty when I sit down to actually READ a book. I still love to read, this just makes more sense as a GOLD METAL PROCRASTINATOR, which is obvious if you see the date on my first post regarding the chaos room!

Organized doesn't mean Clean

Well, after hours in the sanctuary (new one/small one) it looks messier and more disastrous than when I started.
BUT
I have separated my mini-project bit'n'pieces into categories and they are on separate shelves, Sculpting, Construction/Woodworking, Dolls, Paint's & Finishes, Decorative Details, Flowers (including kits bought 3 years ago!! YIKES!) and all Sewing is in one area, and Fabrics are neatly binned.
It feels good.

Helps to take the before pictures, then I can remember how far I have actually come and feel like I have accomplished a bit!

Well, it's getting there.

The Micheal's dollhouse is starting to look better and better. Sadly though, the floors are a bit saggy. I should have primed it better. Here are some more photos:

The floors are a real challenge. I think next time, I will use stir sticks for all the floors. The veneer was easy to cut, but curled when I glued them down, curled when I painted/stained them...I have 3 rooms with curly floors.

These pictures are before and after the staining/painting the stir-stick hardwood. The stain was Much darker than I wanted & thought if I washed it down with a white paint, it would age/crackle and finish nicely. WRONG! They look like pickled wood. Guess I will work with what I've got now.

I will get back to more finishing this weekend, while listening to Pirate Latitudes, by the late Michael Crichton!

The Thrill of it all!

I was just perusing the Imagination Mall and I get giddy! All the amazing artisans out there, doing this for a living, I can only dream about it. Perhaps I am too chicken to take the leap. Some day I would love to sell miniatures. For now, I will settle for finishing the houses I have and NOT buy any more, 6 is quite sufficient for a 900 square foot apartment.
I would like to learn to make miniature dolls one day as well.
Please try not to laugh, this is a fairy doll I made in July 1994, she's not to scale, her face is kinda scary, but she was my introduction to the amazing stuff, POLYMER CLAY.

Good Start to the New Year

I have slapped some paint on to the Micheal's dollhouse, when I say "slapped" I mean, very splotchy first coat. But it gives me an idea of the look of the finished product and it looks much better without my glasses on.
Here are some pre & post paint photos.

Happy New Year...New Decade!

Well, I have decided on my New Year Resolution. This year, I am going to work harder on my Mini Projects....and complete them. The big one is the Christmas Dollhouse. I have had a Greenleaf Mckinley kit hiding in my closet for 4 years!!! I have loads of the exterior & interior bits and pieces. There are evergreen trees and shrubs with working lights, mini stockings, web pages book marked with printies for the wallpaper, kits for the Christmas tree....now I just have to do it!!!! Wish me luck!

Last year, my resolution was Buy more Shoes....and that worked out just fine!

I have found that if I make a commitment to myself for something that will bring me Joy everyday, everything else seems to fall in place as well.

Cheers!

Christmas Angel

Now it feels like Christmas...sort of, there is snow, it's cold...... My decorations are buried somewhere in my storage room.
*sigh*

This is my parents' tree last year. I made the angel on top.

Shingle bells, shingle bells, siding all the way!

It just doesn't feel Christmas-like outside yet. We are having amazingly unseasonal weather for November, high today was 14 Celsius, or 57 degrees Fahrenheit. and surprisingly not too windy. Yet, here I am indoors, shingling all the way! It's still 8 Celsius outside (46 Fahrenheit)!

Shingles and siding, Michael's house part 2

I have finished the siding, it's gaping in spots but once painted will give much character to the house.
I have begun the shingling, very labour intensive, each one is hand cut from a business card sized veneer.

I have space!

Happy to report that I have swam through the sea of clutter and procrastination and have arrived at the work table! I have finished the siding on my littlest doll house. Now I just have to figure out what I want for a roof. Perhaps a trip to LeeValley is in order, they have great maple veneer business cards that can be cut with scissors into the perfect shingles.

Puttanesca, evil temptress!

My sister, Janay, the queen of cooking, gave me this recipe and it's now become an obsession, we have eaten it twice this week already!
She decided after reading "Belong to Me" by Maria de los Santos (Excellent book!) that she need to try this.
Love it!
Fantastic over angel hair & must serve with parmigiano reggiano cheese

Still here!

Life has been busy, unfortunately that leaves little time for mini stuff. Also, the clutter has accumulated around my work space, it's like an island of calm in stormy seas! Unfortunately, I can't seem to swim (aka procrastinating)
Happy though that it's Hockey season & my Patrick is getting his game on:
http://www.calgarysledgehockey.ca/

Most recent Project: 1/24 Scale Play house

I am terrible for beginning projects when others are not yet completed. This is why I dare not take my McKinley kit out of the closet.

This is a puzzle dollhouse from Micheal's that my best friend, Allie, got me for my birthday. There is also a furnishing kit.

I have primed it with metalic primer, put it together and filled the gaps with wood filler and sanded. Now to spray with white primer. After that I will decorate! It's the perfect size for my child dolls to have as a club house.

 

Bit's and pieces of past work...until I get a new camera :o(

This is a picture of what I made for my Mom on Mother's Day one year (2006??) She's an avid gardener and has a beautiful yard.

This is my first "commission" piece. I made it for a friend of mine for his wife for Christmas. He was trying to get her the last piece they needed for their wedding china and it was on back order and wouldn't have arrived in time for Christmas. So I offered to make it in miniature so she would have something to open on Christmas. She loved it and now hangs it on the tree every Christmas.

Chickens in the chicken run. I built the chicken run from plans in one of my bazillions of dolls house magazines. I can't remember which one though. The Bantam hen and Rooster were part of my childhood playthings that my grandmother had in her "Toy Box" for when we would visit. I asked my mom if I could have them for minis, she thought my Gran would have liked it. They were plain white chickens, so I had to paint them up to look like the Bantams I grew up with on my parent's acreage.