A better photo

I think you can see the detail more clearly in this photo. I set the plant on my back porch and I really like it there.

Pansies take two

This time I painted a coffee filter with more realistic colors. The colors are softer and the coffee filter paper texture is more realistic. You can just see the last pansies I made under my thumb in the photo. I couldn't get a really good picture of the two side by side. Poke the photo to see everything more clearly.

Pretty Little Pansies

I was looking through an old issue of American Miniaturist (June 2007) this afternoon and found a tutorial for pansies. It didn't look too difficult so I decided to give it a try. The pot on the right was my first attempt. I used the heart punches at full size but the flowers are too large for 1:12 scale. For the pot on the left I hand cut all of the hearts down a bit. These were really fun to make so I think I need to look for a smaller heart punch. :)

It isn't my tutorial to share but I can tell you the basic shapes if you want to play around with these. There are 3 yellow hearts, 1 purple heart and a small green circle for each flower. The leaves were cut with an oak leaf punch. The buds were made with one heart and one circle. This tutorial called for regular colored copy weight paper but painted coffee filters would give a more realistic texture. I just used the colored paper today since I just wanted a quick project.

The Beauty of Spring...and a New Book

I love the way the redbud branches look against the sky. I started this tree from a tiny little twig nearly 20 years ago. I was so excited the first year it bloomed!
Creeping phlox are so pretty. I have both the pink color...
...and the pale lavender color.
This plant looks nice year round but it's rather invasive. I have no idea what it is - my mom gave me some starts years ago and it's almost taken over in my rock garden. In the spring it has these yellow blossoms that last into summer. By autumn the blossoms turn a really pretty burnt orange/rust color. The stems ooze sticky milk colored sap when you break them. Can anyone identify them for me?

The book I just read was given to me by my husband. He knows how much I like the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute in Chicago. The book is called The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone. It was written for children or preteens and is about two kids who find a way to shrink themselves down to 1:12 scale and explore the rooms. It's a very good story.

This wedding scene demanded to be created!

I woke up with this idea in my head this morning and then spent the entire day working on it. I made everything - the vanity and stool, the dressing screen, the wedding gown, veil and undies, the flowers, and all of the accessories. I think the only thing I forgot was the garter, lol.

Oops, a correction. I didn't make the flowers but I did arrange them.