My beautiful daughter

Here she is in her current "bedroom." So far she's managed to keep herself entertained but I know the next few weeks are going to be tough. I'm just not that entertaining, lol.

I've got one more night of needing to get up every 2 hours and then I'll just need to get up every 4 hours for pain meds. She's beginning to hurt a lot now that the anesthesia has completely worn off. I don't want to miss any doses.

Once things settle down a bit I'm hoping to start my next project. I'd like to make a New York City contemporary apartment in the wine crate I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I need to get some foam core board but I'm mentally working on it now. :)

Back from surgery

Everything went well with my daughter's surgery. She has the biggest cast I've ever seen on her foot so she'll have some very strong thigh muscles by the time she's healed. :-) Thanks for all the prayers and good thoughts!

Just a few more garden additions...

I added some flowers around the sundial this afternoon. I used moss for the foliage and dried flowers for the blossoms. I used a bit of yellow glaze to add color to the beige tried flowers.
The tall, airy plants at the back of this corner garden were a shopping find today. I purchased a 1:1 scale artificial plant today that will give me many, many mini plants.

My daughter is having foot surgery on Monday so she and I are trying to cram a lot of fun into this weekend. She'll be completely off her feet for 2 weeks and will not be able to be very active for most of the summer. I will check in as I can through the next couple of weeks.

I just can't stop making flowers!

I made these two garden urn arrangements this afternoon. The "stone" urns are some of the wood finials I purchased last week at the garage sale. I painted them to look like stone and then planted tiny flowers, ivy and gladiolus in them. They are available in my etsy shop.
They do look nice in the garden, though. :-)

It's just not right without some people

I know there are many people who feel that dolls take away from the realism of mini settings. While I respect that opinion, for me a mini scene doesn't come to life unless there are mini people enjoying it. Bailey is visiting her Grandpa Harry for the day. One of her favorite places in the garden is the bridge.
She loves to stand and watch the water fall over the rocks and count the fish as they swim by.
Harry was up early weeding. For now he's content to watch his granddaughter and relax on the patio. (BTW, Harry is for sale in my etsy shop, at least for the moment. I rather like him in the garden.)

This time the garden is really finished!

I made some gladiolus and daffodils to add color to this corner. I don't have the punch that Doreen used so I used my star punch to make the glad petals. Doreen's flowers are much more realistic. I was going for the illusion.
I sanded the chairs down and started over this morning. I'm happy with the soft white and the cushion fabric.
My friend Brenda made the flat of pepper plants and Tina made the compost bin. I added the vine growing up the side.
The bridge made by Gary was a little too new looking. I hated to do it but I sanded a path in the middle where it would naturally be worn down. I also added the small bushes and the vines. There are also some grasses growing near the stream now.

I don't know where I'll use this now that it's finished but come next winter it's going to make me smile every time I look at it. :-)

And the winner is....

I put all of the names in a hat and drew out....
Congratulations, Jody! Please email me (mdtritch@hotmail.com) your mailing address and I will get your suitcase on the way. Now you just have to get your hubby motivated to finish that cabin! ;)

Welcome!

Please welcome Blue Kitty Miniatures to the party! Stop by BK's blog or etsy shop and you will find beautiful mini cakes, cookie jars and more.

The finished garden...well mostly anyway

Here's an overview of the whole thing.
Cattails by the waterfall and you can just see a fish swimming near the bridge.
It's spring in the garden. Tulips and hyacinth near the bridge and lots of hyacinth in the corner flower bed.
A closer look.
And still more hyacinth in the larger corner bed. I made little corner decorative fences from craft sticks.

This garden would be easy to set next to a dollhouse and it was so quick and easy with items I had on hand. I'm going to have to stock up on landscaping supplies, though, as I've used up nearly all of my manufactured flowers and leaves. I may make some daffodils to add a pop of color - those would be handmade.

Contest reminder and welcome

Today is the last day to sign up for the suitcase giveaway. Rules and prize information can be found here: http://delightfulminis.blogspot.com/2010/05/official-150-followers-giveaway-rules.html

Also, please help me welcome Marleen and Cat. Stop by Marleen's Miniaturen to see her beautiful chair makeover. I was unable to find any information about Cat.

Time for gardening...in mini

I spent several hours working in my real garden yesterday so today I was too sore to go back to that, lol. So instead I started a new mini garden. I used the lid to the wine crate I purchased at the garage sale last week as my base. I wanted a stream so that I could use this wonderful bridge made by a friend in one of my forums. The potting bench was made by Gaye of My Small Obsession.
The patio pavers are made from an egg carton (the gray ones) and a piece of packing cardboard (the tan ones.) The chairs will be painted a solid color, probably white, like stackable resin lawn chairs.
The glue isn't dry yet in this photo but I'm very happy with how the stream turned out. The base was painted tan and sprinkled with sand. I built up the sides of the bank with paper mache and the water fall at this end falls over stacked stones. The water is a piece of plastic wrap pinched and pleated together. There are even 3 little fish swimming in the stream. The concrete bench was made from pieces of the egg carton.

Obviously, I still have a lot of work to do as there aren't any plants in this garden yet. There will be some cattails near the waterfall. The garden beds will be filled with a mixture of flowering and green plants.

Welcome!

Please help me welcome Melissa, Iris, and Alienora. You can visit Iris at Iriksen nukkekoti. You can visit Alienora at Miniatury Alienory.

Garage Sale Finds

My daughter and I had a wonderful afternoon checking out area garage sales today. We fired up the GPS and went exploring! This stack is the stuff I purchased with mini purposes is mind. The wine crate will become "something" once I get inspired. I found windows and various wood pieces. The little black and white lighthouse has a red and white twin.

I also purchased some books, a pair of baskets and a new Swiffer to replace mine (it's been held together with duck tape for a long time, lol.)

My daughter found a blender, some shoes, drinking glasses, antique canning jars to use in her bathroom, a board game and a large 2 section crate to use as bathroom storage.

We took a break to enjoy some ice cream, too. It was a perfect day!

Welcome!

Please help me welcome Tom of Turnings in Miniature (and more).

Also, please welcome Kikka of Pieni Sammakko.

Also, don't forget about the contest for the mini suitcase. Sunday is the last day to comment. Good luck to everyone!

Welcome Friends!

It's time to catch up on my welcomes. It's still very exciting to me to log on and find new blogging friends. Thank you all for following my blog and sharing so much in yours.

Sonyait68 - Sonya is the only one I found a blog link for. Her blog is called Cannella e Melograna. She has some lovely minis and at least one dollhouse in progress. She's also currently having a contest for her followers. Please stop by and say hello.

I was unable to find blog information for any of these followers. If you have a blog and would like a link here, please let me know. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Kreattiva

Sara Carlson

Tinystuffs

Effie Zuberer-Davis

Official 150 Followers Giveaway Rules

This mini suitcase and matching makeup bag are the prizes for my giveaway. The suitcase design has been altered so that it will close. The exterior is a beautiful distressed tan leather.
The interior is lined in pale blue and there is one pocket inside the top.
This is how the case looks when closed.

Now for the rules. They are very simple. To enter this giveaway you must
1. Be a follower of this blog and
2. Leave a comment on this post telling me where your mini people plan to travel if they win the suitcase and makeup bag. :-)

Good luck everyone and thanks so much for following my mini life!

PS I just realized that I didn't give an end date for sign up. Sign up by Sunday, May 16. I will draw the winner on Monday morning, May 17 - my time - Indiana, USA.

A welcome and some wonderful news

Please help me welcome Chris P. Thank you so much for stopping by!

And now for my wonderful news: hubby had a heart catheterization today and the doctor said everything looks good. The pain he's been experiencing is apparently spasms of the esophogus due to acid reflux and not heart pain. It's been a long day but I am so relieved!

150 Followers!

I'm so excited to welcome my 150th follower, Dona, of Altafulla Miniatures. Thank you Dona for following my blog. And number 151 slipped in this afternoon - please also welcome Brujita of Brujita Minis.

Thank you both for joining the party!

The 150 follower milestone calls for a new giveaway. I'll be thinking about the prize and post later. Stay tuned!

Fairy Photo Shoot

I took the Spring Green Fairy outdoors into the spring green for some new pics today. Here's one of them. She looks really cute in the tree and the new photos brought several new views for the etsy shop. Yay!

Today was a long day - hubby has to have some more tests, including a heart cath on Friday. I spent the afternoon and evening at the hospital for my MIL's surgery. It went well but she's going to be uncomfortable for awhile. I will let you know DH's results after Friday.

More doctor visits tomorrow. This time for my daughter. Next week should be much calmer. :0)

Welcome!

Please help me welcome Wendy! I don't have any link information for her but I am so glad she's stopped by and joined the party.

A crazy week ahead

A few weeks ago my husband was experiencing some chest and jaw pain. He was due for a physical so he talked the doctor about it. This led to a stress test. The treadmill part went really well but the scans showed some damage. It looks as though he's already had a small heart attack. Hubby is not yet 50. He's currently working hard to lose his belly - 13 pounds so far! Tomorrow he sees the cardiologist for the first time. And later that afternoon his mom is having surgery. Tomorrow's gonna be crazy. Please keep my husband in your thoughts and prayers.

Since he's watching his diet I'm trying to turn some of our favorite meals into lower fat and calorie versions. Tonight we're experimenting with pizza. I found a fat free crust recipe that looks really good. It's rising at the moment. I'll take some pics of our pizza in progress and let you know how it tastes. :-)

I wish you all a wonderful week full of blessings!

Update: Here are photos of the pizza before and after baking. It tasted great! Hubby's already said I should make it again. :-)