Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Projects

In this case, it's even a miniature project.  Before you ask, no, the craft room is still a natural disaster.  I've been blissfully ignoring it in favor of taking a few things upstairs to the dining room table.  The weather has been too nice to spend all day in the storage room, storing fabric to de-stash.  That has to happen before the craft room becomes livable again.

Anyways, back to the minis!

Remember when I showed you my lamps?  Well I was given a really good reason to finish one recently, bumping it ahead of the Panda Nursery in my queue.  The Peoria Area Stitchers' Guild General Meeting always consists of a fun program in addition to sweets, show and tell, and the business portion.  Three of us have been asked to do the program on miniatures and miniature stitching.  My part of the program will focus on "Miniatures Aren't Just Dollhouses," and will feature a bag room, a converted trophy case, and one of my lamps.

I could only finish one for two reasons.  One, the second lamp's metal bits have fallen apart.  Remember the toy animals made of plastic that only stood up when you pushed a button and they fell over again?  Yeah, well the lamp's metal bits looks like one without it's button pushed.  The most important reason for not getting both done is I'm still looking for bits to fill the second one.  I had everything to fill the first.

So here's the finished lamp.

The bottom picture doesn't do the inside true justice, as there are layers upon layers of "stuff" stacked everywhere.  For some reason my camera didn't like trying to get photos of this scene.  For example, that big teddy bear is sitting on two old maps and there are books and records under his chair.  And behind the old Christmas tree is a croquet set an old cigar box filled with Confederate money.  Just some of the oddities and odds 'n ends found in this particular attic. There's plenty of room to stash other little things as I acquire them as well.   If I can ever get better interior photos, I will post them.
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Also for those of you keeping up with news about my dad, he's being released from the hospital to a nursing/rehab facility for two weeks or so.  Then he will be doing outpatient rehab. 

General Plans for the Panda Project

It's Tuesday night/Wednesday morning and I'm thanking my lucky stars I haven't had a moment to sit down and order things for the nursery yet.  I completely changed the basic structure of the interior.  The colors are still the same, as is the theme, but the painted mural on the inside is out.  Instead I found an awesome panda mural to put on the outside of the roombox.

On the inside I'm going to use white wainscot around the base of the walls and paint a pale blue above it.  That way I can hang green, black, white, brown, or whatever-color things on the walls and not a) make it look too busy or b) cover up a hand-painted mural.  My friend who offered (as a last resort) to paint the original mural is happy she doesn't have to now.  But she's not getting off that easy.  I'm going to ask her to paint some bamboo on the bashed Michael's hutch that I'm using as a shelf.

The floor will likely be hardwood, either real wood or some of that nice hardwood look paper from the UK. 

The dimensions of the roombox kit I'm ordering are 15.25"w x 10.25"h x 9.75"d.  Plenty of room for furniture, toys, and other accessories.

And speaking of those things here's a list of the plans for those things:

Furniture-

cradle: I've chosen the mahogany version of the Lincoln cradle at miniatures.com; I'll be placing the order for it, the roombox, and construction materials after I'm done typing this post

changing table (with some accessories):- I received an email from a wonderful lady (I will call her N.W. here until she gives me permission to use her name or her blog alias) who has offered to make the changing table.  I can't find a blog for you, N.W.  If you have one please let me know.

child's bench: Kathi at Beautiful Mini Blessings has offered up an adorable bench that she's decorating

bookcase/toy shelf: I'm kit-bashing a Michael's hutch from my stash

rocking chair: I have one in my stash I can use.  I think it will look nice once it's repainted

high chair: I don't know if I'll use one in the scene, but I have one in my stash that will look nice once it's repainted... it's the same "dollar store red" as the rocker

*edit-I knew I forgot someone! Sorry Sans!*
Sans of The Dollhouse Diaries: My Maharaja's Palace was one of the first people to offer to help.  Not only is she on the lookout for panda beads, buttons, or anything that will become a mini, but she's sending some furniture items all the way from Singapore!  Talk about above and beyond the call for help.  Thank you Sans! 

Decorative items-

I'm planning on doing several things myself: lamp(s), the height chart, a few stitched receiving blankets, some toys, framing a picture of the baby for the wall, crocheting a crib blanket, and I found a punch needle kit of a panda in my stash that might look like a latch hook wall-hanging if I can figure out how to make it work without stabbing myself

I have a few baby bottles in my stash that Katie sent me a while back for my own nursery projects.  Somehow I doubt she'll disown me if I use one or two in this room.

Again some changing table accessories are being made by the wonderful N.W.

A.Wright from Every Little Thing has offered up some spare things from her own nursery project. 

 I'm on the lookout for various things I can't make like bottles of baby shampoo, lotion, tubes of diaper cream... those sorts of things.  I'm also looking for more children's books.  I have a few, but I think more would look better. 

There will be poly-clay pandas being sculpted soon, in various sizes.  I'll have the car on Thursday so I can go look for little bear-shaped buttons to paint or regular ones to use as part of a lamp base.

I apologize if I've forgotten someone who's offered to contribute.  Just email me and I'll amend the list.  Also if anyone else would like to contribute, please send me an email.

I saw my friend on Tuesday morning and told her about all of the wonderful ladies who are making minis, on the lookout for items, and coming up with ideas.  She was overwhelmed with emotion.  Quite frankly I know many of you ladies via your blogs and I'm still overwhelmed.  Thank you again, this time from both of us.

***edit***
Debie from Piskies and Poppets is making one or two panda bear toys.  This way all the bears won't look the same.

Kim from Flowers and Art has volunteered to try and make a panda bear rocker.   

Some of the Current Panda Ideas

I spent a couple of hours trolling the internets for nursery ideas.  These are a few items for real life nurseries that I found.

This is just awesome.  I'm not sure if I'd sculpt the parts in clay and then flock them or use fabric and sew them.  He looks so hugable!  I wish I had one big enough to fight me.

 I'm not sure I like this rug.  It looks more like panda roadkill.  But maybe doing something like this and filling it with stuffing to have a panda bear that a child could nap on?  I've seen stuffed toys like that in catalogs before.

Before I show the lamp ideas I want to mention the roombox I chose has a clear top, which takes away the need to electrify the room.  Not everyone is wiling to rearrange their homes so a "toy" can reach electricity.  I might look into a couple of those new LED lamps on the market, but only if my friend wants to go that route.  So for now all lamps would be non-working.

 I think this is the better of the two lamps.  The panda and ball could be easily made from polymer clay or even beads.  A bit of paper or fabric with trim for the shade...

 This lamp idea could be cute if I found the right bead or sculpted a more cartoonish panda from clay.

What do you think folks?

I should have the trial run height chart done and have pictures Tuesday.  I wasn't sure which fabric to use so I'm doing one on each and I'll see what fits the room best.

Why I Couldn't Say No-Letting Off Some Steam

A few of my real-life friends already know about this, because I had to vent my frustration and get some creative input on this mad scheme.  I haven't pounded my virtual head against the proverbial wall on Facebook yet either because I've been so busy with guild things.  This will be a very brief description of a project I find myself in the beginnings of that I really, really don't want.  But I couldn't say no.

I took Serenity's Nursery to a Guild meeting on Monday to show her grandma, who just happens to be a fellow stitcher and someone I'm trying to bring over to the mini dark side.  Everyone loved it and many "oohs and ahhs" were crooned.  Until one particular lady saw it and burst into tears.  Her first grandchild (a girl) was born in December and has a rare condition (I don't know the name and will not share the details) that will give her two years or less to live.

In a wash of tears she asked if I would take a commission to build a mini nursery for her granddaughter.  She also spilled all the sad details about the baby's health, which I had already heard from other Guild members.  This woman is my friend.  She has a heart of gold bigger than Texas and life is being unfair.  I could not say no.  I was wishing I'd left the room at home though.

I figured, ok... I have lots more pink things around.  Another cradle is easy... I can make it a bit bigger than Serenity's...  I was figuring I could go home and get one done in about a week, then get back to my other projects.  You know... the ones with deadlines.

And then she dropped the other shoe.  Could I make it in greens and blues with panda bears?  Because that's what her room is done in.  A room she doesn't get to use and may never use.  Oh hell.  Right.  Yeah I can do that.  Whilst I'm rapidly thinking, yeah I can do that if given weeks and months, not days.  Hmmm....

So I thought fast and said if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right and that it may take time since panda-themed things are impossible to find.  She was find with that.  Then instead of working on Rose Cuttings while it was in my hands my mind was racing, coming up with ideas for this room.  All the details that I had put into Brenna's Nursery would be a must.  

That night any hope of making my own wallpaper borders were dashed when I could not find anything that would work online.  Then I started thinking about a mural on the walls instead.  I found a really cool example in a real life child's room.  But I am not 2-D artist.  Ok so I'll make a background and find rubber stamps of bamboo and pandas.  Then I can paint inside the outlines.  That how I painted the potato and onion bin.  

I ran that idea by a friend the next day (who is a 2-D artist) and she's offered to paint the mural herself.  Yay!  She is a mutual friend of this Guild member and hadn't heard the sad details yet.  Ok so that problem was solved.  Then we moved on to the room structure itself.  The three of us at the table all agreed that perhaps I should get an actual roombox instead of using a bag.  The bags are great but if she wants to move it around and even take it to her son's home in a different state it might not hold up too well. 

I think it dawned on all of us that I wasn't making this room for a dying infant.  I am making it for a grieving grandmother as a keepsake.  My head started buzzing with more ideas at that point.  I'll need to crochet a blanket....  I can resign the growth chart in Brenna's Nursery as pandas...  The teddy bear ornament Cathy taught me to make!  I can just do a head and turn it into a hobby horse type toy...  I'll need to dig out the polymer clay and start making pandas; maybe flock a larger one and make tiny ones for decorations on things.  I could put a tiny one on a lamp!  

So now while I should be finishing the Guild website, finishing Rose Cuttings, finishing FH's Black Bear cross stitch, working on my Porch, and doing a few small stitching projects for the upcoming Judged Show in April, I've got pandas and a sick baby on my mind.

Sorry for the rant.  I really needed to get that out.  That being said, if any of my mini friends around the world have ideas, suggestions, panda themed minis for sale... anything that will help.  Please let me know. 

One More Addition-Reviving A Long-Forgotten UnFinished Object

And I think that the Shabby Chic Shop it completed (for the moment) now.  I found a forgotten, neglected, and unfinished Chrysenbon clock kit in my stash.  I had painted it pale yellow and tried (valiantly) to paint ivy on it.  Needless to say that failed miserably and it sat in my stash for the better part of a decade incomplete and unloved.  The brass cover for the pendulum had vanished somewhere in that time.  Apparently I had decided to no use the brass piece that the clock face is supposed to sit in.  Instead that sticker was directly on the plastic.  Happily it came back off and the brass clock front had not joined the pendulum cover.  Here's what it looks like now.  I must apologize for not taking a "before" picture.  It was late at night when I finally found it and by then the plan just took over.

When I found it again I rubbed a light coat of gesso over the original paint and then wiped it off.  I only wanted to tone down the previous colors.  Then coated the whole thing in a thick coat of crackle medium.  After ten minutes or so I slathered on some white paint.

When that was dry I dry-brushed a little bit of pink onto the sides and decorative edges.  Then I reattached the clock face in the brass cover and glued it in place.  A rare stroke of genius told me to glue a sea shell in place of the brass pendulum cover. 

So now it is finished, loved, and in place.

 Once I finish catching up on real housework I'll get back to the Porch.  I'm waiting on an order from miniatures.com with some necessary bits in it but there's still plenty to do without it.  My mom was here for four days, so I'm running behind with getting things back in order.  She's an enabler... I pointed at a roombox kit in the HBS catalog and told her my idea for it and she handed me money to order it.  *sigh*  One more project in the pipeline now....

Hopefully I will have something to show you tomorrow or Thursday.  See you then! 

The Snowpocalypse is Upon Us

Snow is falling, the wind is howling, trees are cracking, and I'm shocked we still have power.  Last night we got about 5" of accumulated snow over the course of about seven hours.  Today we've had that much again in half that time.  The wind is really violent and there is little visibility.

FH and I have agreed that our usual plan of shoveling as snow falls just isn't going to work this time.  We're staying inside until tomorrow sometime.  He's been home all afternoon, working via the desktop computer.  The plan for tomorrow is the same.

For anyone interested in statistics the current rate of snowfall is approximately 1-3" per hour and the temperature is 22F (-6C) with a wind chill of 6F (-14C).  The wind is blowing at 30 mph.  We can expect anywhere from 13" to 19" of snow before the storm is over.

 While FH is working I've been playing with minis.  I'm laying slate tiles on the porch.  I've never done this before, so I'm not too sure I'm happy with it.  Time will tell though.

I'm using the same method that Casey used for one of her current projects.  Follow the link over to her place if you would like details.  I'm using larger "pieces of slate" though.  Every slate porch I've ever seen has large slate slabs instead of small ones.  Plus it makes the work go a bit faster.

While I'm at it, here's last night's progress on "Rose Cuttings."  I should finish the small rose and the buds tonight.  I might even get back to the stems and leaves.

I'm going to go back to work on the porch.  Hopefully the slate will be finished tonight.  I also need to put up the remaining interior trim.  It's painted and should be dry by now.  Tomorrow I will finish up any final details on slate and then start the stonework along the base.  I should see about making some steps too. 

I hope everyone in this line of storms stays safe and warm!

Sneaking In A Project

I decided to help someone learn how to make simple jewelry earlier this week.  We had a great time with a fast and highly rewarding project and I thought I'd share my half of the deal.  I cannot show the other half since a mutual friend (who might read the blog) is receiving the pretties for Christmas.  However once the gift is given I can fill you all in on the rest of the story.

I neglected to take step by step photos, since I didn't even think about it.  But here's the finished products.

I bought the snowman beads at a semi-local bead shop.  I just love snowmen.  We used Swarovski crystals to keep the headpins from slipping right through the bead.

My little guys were done in about five minutes, accounting for me stopping what I was doing to give instruction to my companion.

I picked up some other shapes while I was shopping.  I plan on turning them into earrings and stash them for gifts next year.  Less stress by planning ahead.  I'll see how many I can put together with the supplies I have on hand, perhaps yet this weekend.

For now I must feed Castor, since he's currently between me and the laptop, and crash for the night.