Christmas

If you want to work in healthcare - don't pick the week before christmas as a time to try it out!!  I've been so busy at work and my blog has been shamefully neglected.

Christmas decorations
- I made a christmas tree by folding the pages of the John Lewis christmas catalogue, also a miniature one by making spiralled pipecleaners and then a slightly larger mini one where I glued green pompoms to an upside-down shot glass
- I also have miniature paper chains, a real labour of love I can tell you, they took forever to make as I had to use a mini bulldog clip and wait for the glue to dry on every single link!!
- I made some miniature holly leaves, cut out of green foam and tiny red beads as well to link them all along a string
- small bits of green pipe cleaner, trimmed into tree shapes, sit on top of a white bottle cap which has a ribbon round the sides of it: a perfect christmas cake!
- incomplete snowman decorations; I saw a tutorial which I adapted.  Take the cotton wool off a cotton bud (very gently), tie some red embroidery thread around to make a head and body, add a black sequin and black bead on top for a hat and then put dots with a fine tip pen for eyes/mouth/buttons
http://www.miniland.ca/SnowmanClass.html

Christmas gifts
- my oh so lovely boyfriend found a stall selling miniatures at the christmas market he visited in Germany (he's there for work) and bought me some lovely little bits and pieces
- firstly a rabbit hutch with doors that opened and three cute little bunnies and some nibbly carrots.  he was worried that it would make me cry but the rabbits don't resemble my Charlie Bunny so it was fine and I just think it's cute
- secondly a fuzzy wuzzy furry polar bear (little bit random!!) which reminds me of frozen planet.  Absolutely amazing series by the BBC, if you haven't seen it go back and do so NOW!! Penguins and polar bears are on my list of top 10 gorgeous animals that I want to keep (see also the film ' Mr Popper's penguins')
- thirdly a little mannequin with a corset on and a drapey skirt.  this came with a shuttered mirror which is in a completely different scale

Plans for the coming year
- decide which scale I'm going to work in rather than having a mish-mash of various sizes.  I absolutely love working in teeny tiny weeny but it's so fiddly and you can do so much more so much easily if you just stick to 'ordinary' dollhouse scale
- make some miniature paper corsets, using up pretty papers and trims, I can make a worktable with all the bits and pieces laid out and expand it into a project of a craft room as well as finishing my friend's sewing room/quilting shop (inspiration: http://miniatyrmama.blogspot.com/2011/09/redecoration-of-paint-shop.html and picture above which came off flicker several years ago)

- carry on visiting my new favi=ouvirte website PINTREST every day for loads of inspiration and ideas on allllllll sorts of different things - my pictures folder is rapidly expanding with some great pictures that make me smiley!!

Apologies

I haven't blogged for ages, I know, and I'm sorry.  My internet is terrible, work has been hectic, my headaches bad - and I'm slightly self conscious about my latest project.

I have built a house, a two-storey, roombox type house - which sounds fairly impressive until you realise that it is made out of nutrigrain boxes and covered in wallpaper samples from homebase!

To be honest I'm quite impressed with my "fireplace surround" and the "carpet".  I'm working with limited resources here as I don't have my craft box and can't get to craft shops particularly easily either.


The "bookshelves" are made out of boxes of meciations which I cut up and stuck together and as I think I'm going to turn this into a christmas theme I started by making a wreath out of reindeer moss and some ribbon - very simple but surprisingly effective.

I really enjoy other people's work-in-progress pictures so will try and be good about putting up my own too but please bear with me on this one....

Shopping

I like having annual leave :) It meant I got to spend some time with my lovely boyfriend and part of that was going craft shopping.  There is a garden centre/cafe/craft place near his Nan's called 'Squires' which we visited.  I was very restrained and only bought a couple of scrapbook pages which I though I could use to brighten up my walls.  They're double sided which is a bonus and have glossy/glittery accents too.

I also bought some wrapping paper for a friend of mine who isn't feeling great; we tend to look after each other and I have a funny feeling that pictures of guinea pigs, wrapped up in wool and skiing, will be right up her street!!

 I saw a set of cardboard boxes, laid out like a printers tray as well and had a fisherprice moment ("oh the possibilities") as that would be a much cheaper and easier way to do one of the projects I have brewing in the back of my head.  There was also a house shape made of wood. 3D, with shelves or floors in.  It was only about 9" tall and I'm sure I could have found something to do with it but didn't feel like trying the patience of my slightly bored boyfriend any longer.

The cross stitch is most definitely underway - I started with a colour I was very confident I knew what it was and as this was only half cross stitch I've managed to get a fair bit done.  having started filling in my first couple of leaves tho I'm discovering that I may not have followed the pattern quite as closely as I should have done and I appear to be a couple of stitches or rows 'out' - but not consistently. Bizzare!  I shall 'careful construct my own interpretation of the pattern' and if you don't tell, no-one will ever know!!

WIN!!

As I said in my last post I have some very exciting news - and now there's even more!
I have The Miniature Garden (http://theminiaturegarden.blogspot.com/) saved in my bookmarks as one of the blogs I read (I haven't quite worked out how to follow blogs although if I went away and looked at it I'm sure I would suddenly find it very easy) and entered the giveaway that Georgie offered.  You can probably tell where this is going... and yes, I have won her giveaway!!!  I was so surprised as I can't ever remember having won something like this way.  It said that the winner was Miriam and I went and checked to see if there was another Miriam in the list - although it isn't a common name - before I emailed Georgie asking if it was really me.  I was so excited I forgot to tell her my details in the first email and had to send another.

This 1/12th scale shabby/beachy table and shutter is what I have won - and isn't it beautiful?!  I was amazed at all the lovely comments people had left congratulating me; they really touched me.  As soon as I go back to my parents or they come to visit me I will be taking photos and posting (something like this is too precious to try sending to hospital accommodation). So thank you Georgie, thank you so very very much, I am truly delighted - as you say I'll have to get that glass dome now!!

Secondly I logged on today to create this post and it told me I had a follower - my very first one!! Again, huge excitement and guess who it is? Yes. it's Georgie :) Thank you again, you've made me very happy allllll over again.

Thirdly, today is pay day and for the very first time I have paid off some of my student loan!  It may only be £10, I may be accruing interest because of this but it's a day that makes me feel proud.  I'm so thankful to have finished my degree and to have this job (for however long it lasts) and it makes me feel good to be able to see something that acknowledges how I'm getting on in the world (even if it is paying the government back).

There is no current craft news as work, sleep and migraines take priority but I shall get started on that cross-stitch ASAP.  Possibly even tonight......

I have moved...

Posts have been sadly lacking as last Friday I was offered a job by my agency.  This meant travelling approximately 175 miles across the country into hospital accommodation and I have now completed the first week of my new job.  It has gone well, which is good, and I'm here for up to 3 months - it's lovely to be working again and to have a little bit of work secured as well.

Obviously there has been less going on on the crafting front as I've been a little busy but here goes....

1) latch-hook rug/cushion: my older sister was going to find me out an old UFO cross-stitch but couldn't find it so instead presented me with a brand new but slightly dusty latch-hook kit of Eyeore (she likes him, i'm muuuuuch more of a Tigger person myself!!) I was super organised and remembered to pick up the special tool out of mum's sewing machine and have managed to do about half a row.  Sadly I have managed to bend the moving bit of the tool and so it doesn't really work properly and is pulling the wool to pieces.  Does that count as 1-0 to Tigger?

2) candytuft fairy cross stitch: however, my boyfriend's lovely mum had also unearthed a couple of unfinished cross stitch kits and offered them to me as I'd spent all that time completing my own UFO at her house so I have a very pretty 'flower fairy' project.  I spent about an hour this afternoon sorting through the threads and separating them by colour (it's about an a4 sized project and very tonal) and I think I have got them all correct.  The window in my room is kinda small and it's very difficult to distinguish between white/off-white/very pale flesh under artificial light.  My next job will be to work out which group of thread corresponds to which symbol on the chart before I can begin stitching.  Usually with a project this size I'd have an embroidery hoop but strangely this wasn't at the top of my list of things to take to Bournemouth with me - does anyone have any advice or know if I can get away without one?

3) pop up card:  whilst looking through my pictures folder (which always makes me happy - so many pretty, crafty things) I rediscovered a template that was free on someone's website to make a pop-up St. Pauls cathedral.  I'm going to go with "disastrous" as my adjective here.  Firstly it would have been better to have used card rather than paper and printed the template out rather than tracing it off the computer screen.  Scissors - however sharp they may be - are also no real substitute for a cutting mat, craft knife and good solid ruler.....

To round this post off I'm going to present you with a few pictures of my successful mini-making instead.  I managed to get these off my camera finally but a camera was not on my list of things to pack either so we will continue to have problems!

That's all for the time being but I should be back very soon as I have more exciting news :)

UFOs

Well it's been a long time since I posted.... I've had a sickness bug and my very first Band 5 interview!!!
Finally finished the knitting for my 'Souffle' cuddly duck toy and am starting to sew it together (translation: mum is doing it and I'm helping) but the head looks very cute. 

Also dug out a half-finished cross-stitch and have completed that too - what a busy bee I've been.  Yesterday I bought a frame and so I just need to iron the fabric and set it in, not entirely sure what to do with it now as I don't really want it, don't know anyone who might and don't have anywhere to sell it either.  Oh well...........

The cross-stitch is in this style only with the letter 'M' - and my camera is still broken.....

Shed

My shed is nearly finished, although with a little hiccup.  I had to put some extra wood behind the top part to provide extra stability.  The door hinges are made with wire and were a little tricky to do but I'm really pleased with them.  All that is left to do is find a spare piece of roofing felt to cover the top in and work out something to use as a bolt for the top of the door.
The bean poles are also progressing as I started playing with a pack of air drying clay I bought from the range.  Effectively it was a 'free' purchase as I returned the bag of unopened rabbit food that I bought two days before Charlie's untimely end.  There are a bunch of different sized and shaped runner beans sitting next to me, their green paint drying.  I made some cake and macaroon components too and will make them look pretty later.
I spend a lot of my time struggling with headaches at the moment, they really are getting in the way, and it makes me miss Charlie too as I used to go to him to help.  I feel deeply sad, mourning how everything changes and nothing is permanent even though I don't want things to stay the same anyway.  It seems that life moves on and I stay still, disconnected from it and I want to be that loving and vital person I know is part of me.  It seems so distant from me tho when I sit and stare.  Making miniatures is supposed to be my 'sparkly' time and it truly is, along with my lovely engineer and so many other things.  Life is full of the pretty and lovely and I celebrate these things and twirl for the joy of it.  Yet it always comes back to sitting quietly, by myself and feeling so so sad.

Ravenwood Fair

Unemployment sucks.... really sucks...

This is another reason for making miniatures - to keep me occupied - however it has been less of a focus over the last few days as I have been to a wedding and on my first ever Ikea visit (my boyfriend even volunteered the suggestion that we go?!?).  However I have nearly completed a little tool shed to store the tools in as well as some stakes for ?runner beans? to grow up.

Perhaps of more concern is the amount of time I have recently dedicated to playing my new 'favourite' game, on facebook, that of Ravenwood Fair.  In my defense, at least I don't view the world in tetris shapes because of this!!  I am reasonably proud of my little fair and will continue to use it (and my other strateies) from going stir crazy whilst I search for another job

So many things

I've been away for the weekend which has been lovely and involved conversation about the penguins from 'Madagascar'.  Did you know they were in a 'short' all by themselves? It is well worth (an)other watch and has got me thinking about penguins - from those I saw at the zoo last summer with a friend, to google pictures, to the polymer clay penguin I made my boyfriend as part of his advent calendar last year (it really is there in the middle of the third picture, between a cracker and a Christmas tree).

I'm really not very confident with polymer clay yet want to make some miniature cakes as I have two birthdays and a wedding this week - what to use instead?  I have seen quilled giant 3D cupcakes, quilled slices of cake and quilled tiered cakes as well so am planning to have a bit of a go with those.  I wondered whether foam might be a decent alternative but only have very thin sheets which would make such a teeny-tiny cake as to not be worth it (have started making macaroons out of these with my experiment-y bits instead) and have come to the conclusion that making a mold for miniature cupcakes, and their paper cases, may well be the best way forward.  I shall continue playing and hopefully have something nice, and well-made, by the end of the week!

Charlie Rabbit

No post yesterday as I was somewhat upset.  My pet rabbit Charlie had to be put down :(  He was only just over two and such a comfort and help to me so I am going to miss him hugely.  It was his own stupid fault for leaping out of my arms onto the concrete below and shattering his left hind leg.  There wasn't really anything the vet could do and they didn't think it would heal properly so suggested he should be euthanased.  I went to say goodbye to him and stood stroking him as they injected him so at least I was with him.  He's left such a hole in my life and it will be difficult to fill.

On the craft side I did a little glass painting yesterday.  I used acetate and a black 'peel-off' shaped like a mandala/star.  It is not yet finished but I'm hoping to turn it into an outdoor table.  I can't remember where I saw the idea for this but am hoping it will turn out well.

Today I have been playing with the lolly sticks.  I wanted to make a versailles planter having seen this one for sale over at www.matlockminiatures.com

Mine has turned out a little less ornate but still looks lovely :)  I used the ends of three lolly sticks for each side and glued them to a template which gave it structure and folded up to make the correct shape.  Currently it is held together with string tied round the middle but I actually think this looks quite nice.  I painted some paper spheres a green colour a couple of days ago and am going to raid the garden for some twig to use as a stalk and a bit of oasis to secure my 'tree' within it's planter.

Somehow I don't think my miniature is going to turn out quite like the 'real thing' (pictured above, a 4foot faux tree in planter) but I can always dream...

Shopping

Only just a short post today as my camera is still not working so I can't show you the things I have been making (which include a miniature bookcase).  Instead I have crabbed off Google photos of the things I bought today when I went to the Range with my Mum...

The mirrors are bound to be useful, the lolly sticks for construction and I just couldn't resist the tools! I already have a couple of trowels in the same style and will have to start creating a miniature toolbox soon to display them all.  These items cost a pound each, which I am very pleased with.


In other news, the rabbit is poorly and is going to the vet tomorrow.  It decided, somewhat stupidly, to leap out of my arms as I was standing up holding him and has hurt one of his back paws.  Hopefully all will be well but for the moment both of us are in shock!

A glass cloche

What particularly inspired to actually start making my own miniatures was a set of pictures over at http://une-petite-folie.blogspot.com/.  I love the idea of displaying minis underneath a glass cloche!  Not only does it keep them protected it instantly transforms them into an artwork - such a simple and effective idea!

It also means that I don't have to create an entire house to display things in - at the moment I have nowhere I could put it and, to be honest, a dollshouse is too big a project right now.  Being able to create odds and ends and bring them together under a cloche, such as this, makes the project much less daunting.

I have decided to create some garden related objects - fruit, vegetables, flowers, tools etc etc.  At the moment it is a slightly disparate range as I choose projects that are simple enough for me to attempt in my small work space and without having to buy much extra in the way of supplies.  However, I have no doubt that I will come up with a worthy collection and that putting it under a cloche will really help.

 Now all I need to do is find a cloche to buy and finish making minis for my first ever display

Houses

I have always loved houses and it is my dream to be able to own my own house one day.  I can't wait to be able to have a space that belongs completely to me and that  can do what I like with - creating, decorating and being myself.  When my Grandma was alive we used to go down to http://www.thecheapshop.ltd.uk/ every time she visited and she would often buy us a miniature house from their collection.  Unfortunately all the 1" houses seem to have disappeared years ago but I still have my favourite 2" house which has come to every property I've lived in.

(A picture will be inserted when my camera decides to behave itself again)

Recently I managed to acquire some Lilliput Lane houses very cheaply and am delighted with them :)

The Beehive Cottage is my favourite and I can see myself adding to this collection as I grow older - but in a sensible and limited way.  There are far too many things I'm interested in to allow one collection to take over and I think it better to be able to lovingly display a few pieces rather than just accumulate.

These houses for me represent hope - that I can have a home of my own one day, a place of safety and security to come back too where I will not be judged.  A home is such a personal thing and I would always want to have a corner where no-one else could be.  This runs very deep and so I focus on the nice things - enjoying the model houses I have and dreaming of the type of house I'd like to own and how I would decorae it, turning it into my home.

First Post!

Having spent a fair amount of time over the last few months reading miniature blogs and browsing the internet for craft ideas and pretty things in general I have decided to join blogland!  I've just started making miniatures myself and will use this to track my progress.  As well, there will be a multitude of pretty things and projects that catch my eye and the opportunity to explore my thoughts around all of this and my life in more specific detail.