A new style of Easter basket

These little baskets are made of polymer clay. They have moss "grass" and are filled to the brim with a chocolate bunny, colored eggs and jelly beans. These are just two of the five I made today. They will be listed in my etsy shop later today.

I succumbed to peer pressure

Every online group I belong to has been talking about the Hobby Builder's Supply 50% off sale. Tessie convinced Casey to purchase a new kit. Kathi bought the travel trailer. Several Small World friends purchased new kits...so I couldn't resist any longer. I've been wanting to try a 1/2 scale kit for a long time and this seemed like a good opportunity. I bought the RGT Colonial 1/2 scale kit. We shall see how patient I am when it comes to making furniture and accessories in such a small scale, lol.

Spring is coming...really!

To remind myself of that I made this spring themed hutch today. The hutch itself is a sanded, painted and glazed Michael's hutch. It's pretty but what I think makes it special is the hand painted "china" displayed in it. The plates and platter started life as those plastic seals that come out of milk and juice cartons. I painted the yellow flowers and green stripes and then sealed with a scrapbooking dimensional product to give them a china like finish. On top of the hutch is a glass bead vase of hand made daffodils and a ribbon trimmed basket of rocks "collected from vacation spots." I also added clear plastic "glass" to the upper doors. I love the warm and sunny feel of this hutch.

Well, those didn't last long, lol

Thank you, Kim! Kim, over at Flowers & Art purchased two of the little baskets almost as soon as I listed them. All that's left is the oval one. Maybe I should make more?

My next project is a hutch with a spring time feel. Even I'm getting a bit tired of winter and it's my favorite season.

Have a great weekend everyone!

After the Easter Bunny stopped by

Filling these little baskets was fun. The square one has a chocolate bunny, some chocolate eggs, some brightly colored eggs and a take-apart egg filled with jelly beans.
The rectangular basket is new today. It has a chocolate bunny, the bright eggs and another take-apart egg filled with jelly beans.
The oval basket has loose jelly beans but also has the chocolate bunny, chocolate eggs and brightly colored eggs.

All three are currently listed in my etsy shop. The little jelly beans make me crave some real ones. :-)

Think spring everyone!

Easter baskets

I really like how these turned out. They were made with aida cloth, embroidery floss, glue and a woodsie base.

I am excited!

My etsy shop has been doing fairly well these past couple of months and so I decided to treat myself to a few items for my log cabin. If rustic decor is your mini style, I encourage you to check out miniaturecabindecor4 at etsy.com. I just purchased a butter churn, a wooden treenware bowl and a lovely earthenware style jug. I will post photos of them in the cabin as soon as they arrive. :-)
Also, I now know how to knit and purl so I've started a skinny scarf for myself - knit about 4 rows, purl one just to add some texture. I love the colors in this yarn - there's green, a couple of shades of blue and a soft white all on the tan background. This scarf is my practice opportunity - a close friend just found out she's expecting and I want to try knitting a baby afghan rather than crocheting as I usually do. Wish me luck!

Sunshine Award!

I received this award from Deborah over at Deborah's Daily Dish. Thanks, Deborah, I was in desperate need of a little sunshine. :-) The difficult part is now passing the award on to 6 other blogs. It's been making the rounds and I don't want to give it to someone who's already had it.

I do want to give it to:
my daughter, Meg, at Inside My Head. She could use a little sunshine.
Hanna at Hanna & Leijona
Glenda at Peppercorn Minis
Jocelyn at AiClay
Norma at Make Mine Mini
Teresa at This and That Miniatures and Life

Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Welcome and some good news

Please help me welcome Glenda of Peppercorn Minis. Stop by her blog and say hi! Glenda makes some unusual miniatures and I'm amazed at what she can do.

My good news is that my Magnolia Way cottage is in the Last Word article in the March issue of American Miniaturist. There is also a lovely feature article on Julie Campbell's (Bellabelle Dolls) beautiful work area.

Have a great day everyone!

Last details

I'm taking the cabin to our church Talent Night tonight and I wanted something to put on the shelf over the bed before the public display. I made these two Shaker style boxes to give Rebekah a little more storage and to add some color to the cabin. The tops and bottoms are just oval Woodsies and the rest of the sides and lids are made of brown cardstock. After gluing everything together, I dry brushed the paint over the top.

I'm not a "knit-wit" any more!

I been working on a new swap project for the past two days so I can't share photos of minis today. I can, however, show you that my knitting skills have improved. Now that I've kind of got it figured out I decided to make myself a scarf. I figure by the time I finish it I'll be more confident and can move from knit to purl, lol.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Welcome follower number 125!

Please help me welcome Rittah Kassia.

It really does look like a tree!

Well, here it is. I have a dead car battery and am stuck at home so I had to improvise the leaves and smaller branches but I like it. Here's how I made it - I started with 6 pipe cleaners twisted together at the base for the main trunk. The top third of the pipe cleaners I spread out, then twisted 2 sets of 2 together about 1/2 of the top section. That gave me 2 long main branches and 2 forked branches. Then I covered the entire assembly with aluminum foil to give it bulk and strength. Next, I covered all of that with thin sheets of polymer clay. This is a good opportunity to use up those miscellaneous scraps because it's all going to be painted anyway. I used a pointed tool to add bark-like texture and baked the tree. I propped the branches up with clumps of foil to keep them spaced correctly. After baking and cooling, I painted a first coat of dark brown glaze over everything. The glaze is thin enough to get into all the crevices of the bark and give it depth. Then I drybrushed various shades of brown, gray and black over the whole tree. I drilled holes around the branches to put the silk leaf branches in. Then I glued the trunk to my base. It is also supported by a thin dowel and a large screw - both through the base board. I had some silk ivy on hand so I cut each leaf down to scale, painted the branches to match the rest of the tree and glued various sized branches and numbers of leaves into the holes. It all sounds much more complicated than it was to actually just do it, lol.

A tree, I hope

Well, hopefully, the next time you see this thing it will look like a tree in the log cabin yard. I'm adding layers of paint to give the bark some texture and tomorrow I'll pick up some silk plants with small leaves. More pics to follow...if I'm successful, lol.

Something new

I finally made something that isn't for the log cabin. My etsy store had been seriously ignored. :-) This started as a Michael's hutch that I took apart. I turned the base upside down, added a desktop to the new top and put the hutch back on top. The chair is a Chrysnbon Duxbury.
The book covers and folders are printables. I made the pens and pencils from colored paper clips. The laptop is made from fun foam and pictures from the internet. I made the candy, candy dish and mug of tea from polymer clay. The bulletin board is aida cloth and the thumbtacks are just dabs of paint.

I really like the black and brown finish. I wouldn't mind one of these in my real house. Too bad it isn't so easy to make one in 1:1 scale.

Play time

After a busy day, James and Rebekah finally sit down for supper. The stew simmered all day and is very good.
Now that everyone has received their garden swaps in my Small World group, I can show how I used a few of the items in and around my cabin. Brenda made the basket of beautiful heirloom tomatoes and the carrot. The loaf of bread is the best mini loaf I've ever made. :-)
Gary made the flowers. They look great in Rebekah's heirloom vase (made from a bead.)
This is a much better photo of the wood chopping area. I weathered the tree stump a little.
This little bunny was also made by Brenda. I showed a back view earlier. Isn't he cute? Even if he is nibbling on Rebekah's plants.

Welcome!

Please help me welcome Teresa of This and That Miniatures and Life. Teresa and her husband, Jeff work on dollhouses together. She also shares stories of her real life house decorating. Stop by and say hello!

Welcome!

Please help me welcome Roz and Aidy of Lilyelf Miniatures. Stop by and check out all of their amazing dolls.

It's kind of hard to see in the photo but James has been busy chopping wood. There's a stack next to the cabin and he's started splitting some next to the tree stump. Nothing is wasted. He's put the wood chips in a bucket to use kindling.
During his break he stopped in the house to check on baby Emily. She's sleeping soundly in her cradle.
The jars of vegetables on the shelf over the window are some of the fruits of Rebekah's labor last summer.

A little humor for the day

Could I please have some privacy here?!

I love my mailman!

Today was a great day for mail - I got all three packages I've been waiting for. The first was the kits to make these chairs to go with the table I made for a customer. The Chrysbon Duxbury chair looks just like her real ones. I'm really happy with the finished chairs and now I can get them mailed to my wonderfully patient customer. :-)
The second package was the order from HBS that I used my birthday money for. Part of it was this outhouse. It came unfinished but I gave it that silvery, gray finish that wood ages to when exposed to the elements. The Jensons are very happy to have their "necessary" ready for use.

The third package was the Small World garden swap. Not everyone has their package so I'm only gonna share this adorable little bunny. It looks like he's knocked down one of Rebekah's precious plants so he'd better be careful.

Last post of the day

This was my last project for the night and I'll be heading to bed soon. Rebekah's lace trimmed nightgown is on the left and James' plain muslin nightshirt is on the right. Emily got a new quilt and she's bundled up in it on the bed. I found one box small enough to stay on the shelf. I'm still thinking about what I want to put on the shelf. I'll probably pretty the box up a bit, too. Oh, and the door latch is now stained to match the door.

Inside additions

James has also been busy inside, adding storage to their tiny home. (I guess that's why he hasn't gotten any wood chopped yet!) First, there's the shelf over the window which holds the home canned goods. (The liquid in the jars isn't dry yet.) The jars have rounded rims which look like the glass jars with wire bails to seal them. I added a clear plastic punch out lid and made the wire bails from thin wire. When dry you'll see 2 jars of green beans, 1 of carrots, and 1 of beets.
Then there's the peg rack by the fireplace. The broom hangs there.
And, finally, there's a shelf/peg rack combination over the bed. That gives storage for nightwear, boxes, etc. (All still to be made.) You can also see the inside of the door latch. When the latch string on the outside is pulled, the latch lifts so that the door can be opened. When you are inside and want to "lock" the door, you simply pull the latch string inside.

Have a look around the yard

It's chore time at the Jenson home. James just came back from milking the cow and Rebekah is feeding the chickens. On the left you can see the tree stump and ax that James uses for chopping wood for the fire. Looks like he needs to get busy - there's no wood pile!
The chickens seem to be enjoying their meal. :-)
At this end of the house you can see the wagon wheels James is repairing. You can also see the latch string on the door. It's actually functional. The outhouse will go at this end of the yard.
I would also like to add a large tree to the front corner of the yard at this end.
Rebekah planted some flower seeds that she brought from home. It looks like everything is coming up.

More birthday gifts

The beautiful card was from my husband and all the minis for my cabin are from my son. I won't see my daughters until the weekend.
Some of the new minis go inside. I'm planning to fill the glass jars on top of the cupboard with vegetables. Instead of the corks, I'll use paper fasteners for the lids to look more like home canned goods.
James is using a new bucket to feed the chickens. The rooster is also new. Eventually, I will get everything set up on a base and landscape it.