Christmas Pipe Cleaner Teddies

Today I decided to make little pipe cleaner teddies. I had some felt and some extra craft items that I could use for them. I'm glad I collect little things. :) I knew they would come in handy some day!! I am going to make these into tree ornaments somehow. And I think I'll make a few candy canes for some of them. Or some Christmas boxes they can hold. Or candles...hmm. :) I might give some away too.

Paris....

I recently went on a weekend trip to Paris. Second time for me and in the same year! I would consider myself very lucky. I wish I could go every other weekend! :) I love that city! Now I know why so many other people make Paris inspired miniatures. Here are just a few shots of my vacation.

French Breakfast that I plan to make in miniature as soon as I can get some miniature drinking glasses! 

Mmm. I didn't feel like buying a box of these for fear that I would never eat them. :) 

I have so many more but they are on my flickr set to friends and family only. If you wish to see more, let me know :) 

That's it for now...

~L

Halloween Miniature

Well, I must admit, this is my first Halloween miniature I've made. I don't think I got a chance to make many Halloween things last year for some reason. I had fun making this little piece even though it took me several days to actually finish it. I was just not motivated enough I guess. But I am sick today. I had originally planned to go out and about and enjoy my day but I feel like crud and am staying inside. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Maybe I'll feel better tomorrow. :)

Well the carved pumpkin was a bit of a challenge. I wasn't sure how to make it at first so I just used a piece of rolled up aluminum foil. It was a pain to get out. I ended up cracking the jack-o-lantern but I did not break it! Yay! So I can live with it. :) I also put in a small glow in the dark candle inside (made out of clay of course). I don't know if it's bright enough to light it all up but I will test it out tonight when my kids go to bed. I really wanted to make a Halloween piece though. I just love Halloween. It's my second favorite holiday. My first is Christmas. I really want to make a few more Halloween pieces before the actual day. I'll just have to see how I feel about it. This cat did not turn out the way I wanted it to but for my first attempt I'll accept it.

Dollhouses!

I have been wanting to blog something miniature related for awhile now. And since I am not making miniatures at the moment I had to come up with something! But I couldn't think of anything. Until a couple weeks ago. You see, every Sunday me and my little family here try to go out and do something fun. And lately it has been museums. I don't know why we didn't do it sooner. But we have been having fun doing things every weekend and I always look forward to the photo opportunities. Since this is the last year I'll be living here I figured I'd enjoy it and play tourist a bit. Well at least that's what my husband calls it. According to him only tourists go to the local museums. So, I ask myself, besides visiting family on the weekends which I take it not many people do that here, what is there to do for fun? Especially on rainy days? I'm still not so sure. I've never lived in a big city before! :) I'm a small town girl where all there is to do is tend to your garden, clean house, go shopping, find creative ways to entertain yourself either with a rented movie and some popcorn, or go to the movie theater and watch a movie you've already seen once or even twice, or go shopping...did I mention go shopping? And of course there's visiting friends and going to the local bars which are usually not that great but a nice time out regardless. And the only museum in town is one semi large room full of the history of the town...or something. Nice but not fun for the kiddos.

A couple Sundays ago it was actually a nice sunny day! Those are rare around here. I keep telling myself that this town, this country, would be perfect for Edward to live in. He'd really enjoy the cloudy days! :) Anyway, on this sunny day we decided to go to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. Now, let me tell you, my kids had a great time! They passed out in the car on the way home and that's usually a sign that they had fun. They must have gotten worn out from all the running, and of course all the playing at the cute little playground they have there. :)
Toward the end of our little outing we went into the room where they have a lot of old toys on display. Wow! I love old toys. I wish they still made toys like those. Everything is plastic and bright colored these days. But these toys were just amazing! Then, I found the dollhouses. It didn't really occur to me that there would be dollhouses there. So, being into miniatures and dollhouses now, I was excited! I took lots of pictures but a lot of them didn't turn out the way I was hoping. But these ones were the best ones. I love it! I honestly can't wait to make my own dollhouse. I think I'll probably end up making two though. One just for me...and one for my daughter. I hope she'll love it as much as me! I never had a dollhouse growing up and I always wanted one. I sometimes wonder if that's the reason why I love them so much now....at my age. I'm almost 30 and still playing with toys! :)  These dollhouses were just really fun to look at. Thought I'd blog about it before I forget. I finally had time to catch up on things these past couple of days.

And speaking of miniatures and dollhouses... I hope to blog about my most recent *warm up* creations once I am done with them. I am so rusty! Need practice! I'm sure I'll get back to my old creative self in no time. :)

~L

I'm almost ready!

I promised myself I would organize my little closet that I work out of before I started making minis again. Well, I got about half way done. I wish I had more room to organize a lot better! But I have to use what I have for now right? :) It works! I have a small closet with three shelves that I store my things. I use to have decorations in here and other junk but I moved all those upstairs to the storage room/office just so I could make room for my tools and clay and stuff. I'm glad I did! It gets super warm in that office since its suppose to be a storage room but this house is so small we had to make it into an office instead. And because of that I have storage boxes underneath my beds. Well, except ours because no box is small enough to get under there! But anyway. I now work downstairs at my dining table *i know i know...lame huh* ... So needless to say, I have to clean up after myself each and every time I make something. *sigh* Sometimes if I'm not done, I put it off to the side and hope my husband doesn't mind. :) It's just us and there's no need to have the table all pretty for dinner right? But regardless, I try to have it all cleared off by evening. I usually spend time with my kids in the evenings and I'd hate for them to get into my things like my tool box with lots of not so safe objects! So I wait until they go to bed to finish my projects sometimes. Or until morning depending on how I feel. :) so here it is!

Top shelf: I have my toolbox with lots of little things I use. I still need to clean it out. On top I have my clay stored in a plastic container. In the middle I have paint and mediums and triple thick glaze and some brushes. On the very right I have some books on miniatures (and a couple photography books in there). And I have my baking dish ..where I bake all my minis. Umm yeah. I still don't own a tile. Someday perhaps!

Middle shelf: On the left, two medium sized stack-able basket things. On the bottom I have more clay (unopened) On top I have a bunch of crap. Ok not really but just things like fake grass, my pastel chalks, clay extruder, a few other things that didn't really fit anywhere else because I was in a hurry. I had to go pick up my kids at school. :) In the middle a couple small stack-able baskets. The bottom one has a bunch of tiny miniatures like silverware, cola bottles, soda cans, a basket, and a few other cute minis I bought downtown or ordered online. :) On top I have my TLS, some glitter stuff, and I forgot what else I have in there. lol Right by it I have another plastic container with clay scraps. An empty wooden box that I plan on turning into something eventually! In front I have some empty jars and plastic containers I kept from when my son was eating baby food :-P I like to keep stuff like this. Never know when you'll need a small jar! On the right side there I have my organizer thing that I bought at the hardware store. It's neat! I love it! I love having different little containers to store things. I have small already made minis in the top two sections. Stuff like knives, cutting boards, cups, plates, place mats, fruit, and other goodies. On the bottom section I have all my clay cookie cutters. My homemade ones too! I made room today and I'm sure i'll be filling those parts in with molds that I plan on making out of the amazing putty that i bought this summer! Can't wait to use it! In the middle sections I have jewelry stuff, a bit of it, not much..yet. OH yes, I also have, on the far far right, my working mats. I think I might need some new ones soon. I just bought those really cheap chopping mats that you use in the kitchen. I use the flat side and well....hey it works! :)

Bottom shelf: Pasta machine, acrylic paints, glue, resin, amazing putty (yay!) and a pink box full of junk that I use on and off depending on what i'm making. I have sand paper in there (i have cut up small pieces and put them in my organizer above it), umm flat marbles and beads, glitter, material, papers, paper punches, and other stuff. Right on top of that I have a plastic container with canes that aren't baked. I have such a hard time cutting thin pieces when they are baked so I keep them raw (unbaked) in this container. It has different little sections so I can separate them. I wrap my canes in plastic wrap and store them in here. I have so many that are just BAD! I need to work on my canes! :) On top of that I have another small plastic container with just failed jewelry pieces. They don't look so bad but I wouldn't wear them out in public lol

So that's it! This is where I go when I want to work on miniatures! (how embarassing! lol) It's out in the open now! I don't have my own workspace but it's totally fine! At least I have somewhere to keep all my things. :) I still have more things that aren't even in here that I bought this summer! I will be cleaning this little closet out more later on I think! This is nothing though...you should see all my scrap-booking things. :)

~L

No Longer

I have been thinking a lot lately about making miniatures. I can't wait to get started again making things. =) I have lots of ideas! I just need to sit down and make them! Practice. I think I am going to need some warming up at first. I haven't made anything since April or something like that. I have lots of things to work with too. Can't wait!

I have a youtube channel where I have posted videos, some tutorials and such. I honestly don't think I'll continue to make videos. At least not tutorials. I'll probably continue to make picture videos though. I think I'm going to delete all my previous videos, or at least most of them. I'm not quite sure yet. I have created a different account for my minis. I think I'll try to move everything over there. I am moving on to a different audience so to speak. At least I hope. We'll see what happens. I know I want to change it though.

For now though, my house work is calling. Ugh! It will never end. =)

~L

Michaels!!!

I just love going into Michael's. I've only been able to twice since I arrived here in Colorado though. It is one hour away and with two little ones it is a bit hard to buy everything I want or need =) But I bought lots of goodies today and a couple weeks ago! I can't wait to start using them! I am so excited to go back home and start experimenting. I really want to get started making lots of American food mini dishes this fall though in time for Christmas. I go to a monthly American Women's meeting and in November we are able to sell our homemade items if we want. I have to start organizing my things. I have started making a list of popular American foods to start making when I get back. I am going to be ordering lots of mini plates and dishes when I get back home too. It will save me so much time if I just order some and make them that way. I plan on mostly making individual dishes as well as little place settings (like my miniature breakfast tray) and pies! Definitely pies! After watching a movie (Waitress) I was inspired so I've ordered lots of little bottle caps since those are quite nice to make pies in. =) I would sell them as fridge magnets. I also want to make some necklaces and earrings. I'll be quite busy I think! And this would be a good time for me to figure out how much each piece is going to cost to make and how much I am going to sell it for. I hate figuring out that part! Ugh! But I'm sure once I get the hang  of it, it will be easy as pie. =) I'll take a pic of all my goodies later on. I love shopping at Michael's! I didn't get a chance to go to Hobby Lobby but I like Michael's better. =)

~L