I am surrounded by fairies!!!: Fairy gardens everywhere!!!!!

Good day good folk!!

Its just really starting to bloom here, the season has been so delayed that it is almost June and we are just starting flower bloom and full greenery. We had like 5 days of above 70 so far this whole spring..

I worry that it will not be a long enough season for my garden but each year I have to struggle with deer eating everything and trying to make my swamp look less like I live deep in the shticks...which I do.. and more like the crappy but nice'ish version of home and gardens.

Every year my daughter finds nooks and pots, places to create fairy gardens and they are always the pride of our yard..even if they are very small ;)

I have been looking about as I do spring yard work and have found little ruins of gardens from years past and took some shots of things about our little spot in the woods;)

There certainly is magic about..just have to look under things...

 

We purchased this large planter from our local store its a rectangle deck pot that I have started to plan out..you can see some ideas for it are churning.

 

I looked around my yard and found some old ruins of gardens under trees and some little critters still seem to be using them..life takes over where it will!

 

We created this little terrarium style garden in my house with the lovely little fairy from Lisa!

 

No garden here but my pond is in bloom!

 

I really need work on my vegetable garden space..but it functions fine for now.

 

And here is a quick shot of the lovely houses the children worked on yesterday, aren't they so awesome!!

 

I will be creating some things for our new big fairy "land" In polymer clay over the next week or two ..hummm maybe you folks can learn how to do it yourselves..somehow *wink*

 

How does your garden grow?

Playing with small-er scale: 144th and 1:48

Happy Memorial day folks!

Today the sun is shining and foods have been prepared for feasting! For those of you who do celebrate on this day have a wonderful time with your families and those who do not celebrate..have a wonderful time with your families!!

I thought I would post these photo's to you showing some of the smaller scale play I have been into lately. Ever since Hannah sent me her wonderful log cabin I have been just entranced by little..little things ;)

I am still working on these projects but here are a few shots:

As you can see I went the route of a old rustic cabin, these are my first ventures into this scale so I wanted to keep it easy on myself.

 

 

I am still touching up things but here is a shot of the interior, where I did a small a bed, bookcase, stone fireplace, bear rug, deer head and table and chair..I don't know if you can see but I added 2 mats, plates and silver wear..tiny tiny ;)

Just to remember how small this is here is my big thumb in a shot. The copper ball is a micro bead on the shelf.

 

Thanks again Hannah for this wonderful gift and sparking me on this tiny scale!!

 

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This piece I started to play with is also on my work desk, I decided to turn one of my Greenleaf winnings into a small bakery. this is 1/4, quarter or 1:48th scale.

 

If you remember I had all this 1/4 scale furniture for a Victorian era house..but no house.. so instead of letting it just sit forever I decided to use a few pieces for this shop and make a few more while using the size as a reference.

 

So here is a small cake display and open cabinet for cakes and cookies to be displayed...yes you can do a lot with tongue depressors!!

 

Happy, healthy and crafty day to you all!!!

 

 

 

 

Gifts from Sweden: Gåvor från Sverige

Google translate work??

Hello fine folks of the lands about!

I wanted to show you some beauties I received from Hannah of http://hannahsminiatyrer.blogspot.com/.

Hannah was kind enough to swap with me and sent me beautiful felted wonders, pieces from the sea, old time prints and a amazing hand made version of her fantastic log cabin!!!

 

As you can see Hannah sent me a couple printed books of her wonderful felted babies and these fantastic posters.

 

Here are the wonderful shells of the sea, Hannah sent me these nice white shells to use as containers and decorations and these tiny..tiny shells are just wonderful!

 

Now these beauties are some of Hannah's fine craft'ladyship in felting. The kitty is just too adorable with his little expression, you can see the three owls in varying sizes and the frog is juts superb with joined legs and arms!

 

Here is another one of Hannah's wonders..I have seen this sheep toy on her website but until you are lucky enough to get some of these beauties in hand ETSY!! you do not realize how tiny and intricate they really are. Amazingly tiny next to my..mottled finger ;P

 

And last the big wow..I already started to work on it and intend to do all kinds of tiny decorations for this wonderful log cabin!

 

I want to thank you again Hannah for such thoughtful swap gifts and amazing hand crafted wonders!

Big hugs, ~J

 

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Just wanted to update you folks on whats behind the scenes also:

 

My Polyform project is completed, they received the piece and it is scheduled for a June posting, this big reveal will go hand in hand with a few things I have planned for you all...shhhh *wink*

 

I have started on my garden outside and soccer is in full swing right now so my mini time is reduced but I will get back on track for the Tower/Miniatures.com and Fallout House ;P

 

The Fairy Garden class goes well we have three more sessions left. The children have been hard at work crating things for their gardens and today we will be decorating the houses with this array of items they can choose from.

 

Have a wonderful week!

~J

Age, rust and dust: Tutorial, printie and a project for you!

Good day folks!

So lets just jump in shall we?

I am going to show you a few techniques to try on objects to create a aged, antique or rusted look.

Now while you don't have to think about total destruction or apocalypse, maybe just a dab of rush on a watering can, bike, bucket or maybe you will go so far as to create a tin shed for your spring potting!

I have created this very basic wheel barrow pattern for you to use as you wish, add to combine with other things: You can use the pattern in card stock or use it as a trace pattern for wood or cereal box cardboard as I did. I have given you a doubled pattern if you want to just use the card stock. Obviously you can use a pre-purchased assembled object and do the same painting technique if you wish.

 

:Right click open in a new window: Save this pattern or you can print it at full page:

 

If you are going to use the pattern as a trace make sure to mark your fold lines with a bit of a line:

After you cut and fold you can assemble this with glue. You might have to trim the sides a bit since I did not spend a lot of time rounding corners.

As you see I put on the legs first and then put the handle bars between the legs as support.

You can go directly to putting on a base coat with paint if you like. I happen to use this textured spray-paint lightly on the surface as it added a little more dimension to it and firmed up the board.

I then coated the surface with a steel metallic paint. You can use whatever metallic color you like but the point of metallic paint is the sheen. Then the rust will be a mat or textured mat color.

If you choose a classic color then do a gloss paint, I did the other side as a red gloss just as a example.

 

The mix for your rust is going to be all mat colors: reddish brown paint, maybe a tad bit of dark orange. You can add sand to one part, you can add some cinnamon to another and also keep a dab of dry cinnamon to test out.

 

Take a look at rusted objects online. Your going to want to do tiny dry stippled patterns of rust along the lines of your object. Underneath where it would touch or rub surfaces. Along the edges.

 

As you can see I added different dabs of my sand mixed paint, my dry cinnamon powder and mat paint, with the texture....well you can see what you can do with..just paper and paint here!

 

Notice the sheen or shiny parts and the mat rust spots..yes..that is just cardboard!

again the classic coat color is the same..shiny spots and mat

 

So have fun with the pattern try different things with it yourself maybe add some flowers inside ;P.

 

I wanted to show you that..of course you can purchase miniatures.. I also encourage you to try using that mini eye and paint techniques to really create something unique and ..dare I say use them scraps!!

 

Here is a little shot of the project I am working on.. The techniques I showed you can make things as simple as cereal boxes and corrugated cardboard turn from paper to metal and weathered siding:

 

Yes...cereal boxes..and cardboard..paint..glue...sand

 

Try it out for yourself!!

 

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Ps..I have to show you this!! This is a real shot of a strawberry I got the other day...I don't think I have ever seen one this big before.

 

Any questions on the painting, feel free to ask and I will elaborate or explain further ;)

~J 

For Baxter: RIP Buddy

Marisa lost a big part of her life Saturday a fellow we have all come to love, please stop by and give your condolences and remember Baxter as the great character he was.

RIP Buddy
Hugs to Marisa.

Gifts from fantastic friends!! : Upcoming projects for you to try

Hello good folk of the blue water bubble!

Thank you all for your kind comments and interest into my Undersized Urbanite entry! I do appreciate your visits and your kind words. <3

I will go over some of the effects that were done in the build like rust, the coating I use for foam board and I am in the process of making a little printie to go with the tutorial in the next post or two, so not apocalyptic but just aging a object ;)
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I wanted to share a couple of the gifts I received over this last month from a few terrific ladies and fantastic artists.

First off here are wondrous goodies from Lisa over at http://miniaddictions.blogspot.com/

Lisa decided to send me a filled box of amazing pieces out of the kindness of her heart. I know a few of you were lucky enough to swap with her and know how amazing she is as a miniaturist and artist, others know about her being a thoughtful blog buddy.

 

So you see here she sent me an array of wonderfully crafted miniatures and a dainty little fairy!

 

The little stone fairy is gorgeous and of course my daughter has claimed her immediately so we are going to create a terrarium style garden for indoors to place this lovely gal in. The sign is just perfection with the writing!

 

You see Lisa crafted this beautiful gold treasure box and sent me this fantastic daisy pillow. The Green perfume set is just elegant. 

 

Here is a close up of the little set, it looks so regal! This is going in my Tower build!

 

And here is the pièce de résistance ! This amazing tart..I swear as I handled it my mouth watered and I really smelled bananas!!! Oh creamy delight. Now I must search this out and eat it in 1 to 1 scale ;)

 

Thank you so much for sending these amazing a gorgeously crafted minis Lisa it is so sweet of you..mmm sweet.. I really must find this tart to eat!!

Big hugs!

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I also wanted to show you some of the fantastical minis I got from my friend Kelly, she is always so generous and thoughtful ..oh and if you know her work she is the gal who creates mind blowing, paper clay, wondrous dollhouses in every scale...mind-blowingly awesome.

 

Kelly is one of the gals I have always been inspired by, she is just a amazing artist and builder of dollhouses.

 

Here are a few of the creations she recently sent me just to make me smile.

Kelly made this wonderful little side table with a tiny bunny underneath, some potted flowers and books to read! I love the drawer face and glass knob!

 

Here are a couple of the critters she makes and sells on Etsy. You can see the wonderful little dragon wrapped around a potion bottle and ...oh hippocampus!!! She is such a lovely little gal all sparkly and sweet!

 

Kelly knows these wonderful critters will be keeping my tower project full of life!

 

Thank you as always Kelly for your kindness and friendship ;)

 

Big hugs ladies! ~J

Undersized Urbanite Contest: Apocalypse Scene: Hastily unfinished.. but done for now *Photos***Loading time**

Good Sunday folks!

I unfortunately had to just stop working on the Undersized Urbanite contest. Although I did want to do more detail work with the build I decided it is as done as it is going to get for now.

So the entire build was done with scraps..I do like refurbishing my leftovers... but for this build particularly, new items were not suitable.

Foam Board: Building and broken cement pieces, mattress.
A type of homemade cement paste: Paint, sand, glue
Acrylic paints
Fake plant clippings at the bottom of my Bin O' Plenty: Fauna
The dabs of Rail Road foam: Moss and lichen
Plastic sheeting from consumer packaging: Broken windows
Wire clippings: Power line, Barrel BBQ
Jewelry jump rings and chain: Pull chain for floor seal.
Clay failures and basket failed weaves..
Cardboard tube and tape: BBQ Drum
Tongue depressors: Shelving
Free Printies from Jens Printable's
Reduced images from web.

Whatever else I had on my floor that was about to be vacuumed up..but I wanted to make sure I couldn't re-use..because its all good stuff... I ...I ..I am a craft hoarder...I admit it.

So the idea for this whole build was on the backs of a project I have wanted to do since I first got into creating miniatures scenes. Apocalyptic scenery..

***********I had to just quickly snap some shots here, they wont be very pretty but that is fine since the goal was to participate and I did !*********

As you will see this is a decaying building in which a resident decided to try to shelter in place but as you know......

time makes fools of us all......Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for having a looksee!

~J