What did you do on Boxing Day?

I first counted my blessings.....miniature and otherwise.........

This blessing is a gift every Christmas, it belonged to my Pop who passed away in 1970, was cared for by Nanna till 1995 when it came into my care.  It must be well over 50 years old, I recall it being around when I was young.  I love the rich colour of the abundant blooms and treasure the memories they bring.



Then some miniature christmas goodies.

Meet Imogen Iris.

A special gift from my other 'arf, dressed in cream and old christmas red. 

She joins her older sister Isabelle Ivy, 

(sitting down)

in the Christmas Shop with Ambrose,

(the dog with the face only a mother could love but he is a precious memento of a dear departed friend) - where both girls dream of

Christmas Presents. 

Please don't look at the naked christmas tree, I promise I'm trying to make decorations..........

From a very dear friend who has a very new blog. 

I collect Depression Glass, now I have some in miniature!   How cool is that? 

The phone is a symbol of our legendary chat-a-thons ;)

That tatted doiley, handmade, gossamer fine.  Isn't it gorgeous?

It deserves a photo on its own to show off the awesome detail.

The bridle kit is again from 'imself and the totally grogeous silver trophy is from another lovely friend.  It looks like I'd better build my own stable soon!

After counting blessings I thought, since Grumpy is off his oats and on paddock rest, it would be appropriate to make hay while the sun shines............

OK, end of horsey puns, and the sun hasn't shone here for a week. 

Nevertheless, a large part of the day was spent making up that bridle kit.

I rarely have that much time to play all in one day, it was like christmas mk.2!

Shadow looks pleased with his new 'clothes' :)  Here he is visiting my grandsons horse who is as yet unnamed.  If I was a trifle younger, and a trifle smaller, I'd hop right on that saddle and take a wonderful ride but since I'm neither of those things I'll have to do the grandmotherly thing instead and spend some time with grandson making up his christmas bridle kit for his horse very soon.

A Furry Happy Christmas

Decorate the Christmas Tree with cute ornaments.

George.

What's the fuss?

Blonde Bomber.

Watching from a safe distance.

Freddy Frog and the Whinnying White Ninny.

Give me a break, I'm too old to get excited!

Jelly.

Bah Humbug!  I'll hide under a pillow till the fuss is over.

Flossie Flannel Drawers.

Happy Christmas to all who share the season and to their furry loved ones from me and my beloved fuzzbutts.

A Fun Pattern Review

The inhabitants of the toybox heard a whisper that there were some new toys on their way to join them so they all got together to share the gossip and form a welcoming comittee.  The bears were excited because they'd heard there were to be some more bears and little Gulliver, the smallest pink elephant, heard there was someone just the right size for him to play with.

Here they are whispering among themselves.

Dermot the Frog was disappointed the newcomers weren't green but he got over it when he found there was a blue bear - his second favourite colour!

Gulliver was thrilled to meet his new tiny playmate and Microdot jumped for joy to meet another pink bear.  Heffalump, the big pink elephant found a soulmate in the white bear and they can often be found whispering together.  The floor of the nursery is busy with toys!

I often feel sad that I can't make enough crocheted things to share with everyone so it's been on my mind to buy some patterns and do a review so you can try to crochet some things too. 

Mariella 

kindly agreed to allow me to make a post about her patterns.

These are the ones I chose.  They are so cute!

 Bear

Gingerbreadman

Not wanting to add yet more thread to my already impressive thread stash I decided to go with what I had on hand.  That meant I had to use different hook sizes to the ones mentioned in the pattern but when you are making toys it isn't important to have exactly the same thread as long as the hook size suits your thread.  I used a 0.6mm hook for the bears and for the gingerbreadman a 0.4mm hook.  I'm a self taught crocheter and often have trouble understanding patterns but Mariella's patterns were very easy to understand.  As with all miniatures, it's the finishing touches that make all the difference.  By changing the position of the ears and muzzle the bears each have slightly different faces.  My gingerbreadman is precisely 12mm tall and the bears are 18mm.

Thanks Mariella, I had fun with your patterns!

Another surprise and other things

I don't believe it, the postman delivered another surprise early this week!  I can't begin to tell you how amazed I was!!   There was a gorgeous shabby chic tray, a darling decorated coat hanger and a shabby style flower bucket.  My eyes popped out and my face smiled all day.  Surprises warm the soul.  Thankyou so much dear Carmen  Your gift was a much appreciated surprise and I absolutely love everything.

Right after sending a thankyou note to Carmen our internet dropped out so I couldn't post a photo to my blog to share my pleasure.  The 'Grumpy' old bloke came home a little later and said he'd seen a very large truck bring down the phone lines just around the corner from our street......no internet, no phone.  It felt like I'd had a lobotomy, cut off from blogs and all my friends who live in my computer! :))

Now I'm feeling all virtuous because I used the time to actually try to make something to display with those beautiful gifts from Carmen. 

Well, I tried..........

Carmens heart shaped shabby chic tray needed pretty ladies things on it so I made perfume bottles.  That pretty coathanger is perfect for a baby romper.  The lovely flower bucket needed flowers.  I'm not great at making miniature flowers but I thought lavender might be easy enought for me to try and it would suit the colour of the bucket so I searched my files for a tutorial - to no avail.  No internet, unable to search!  Ok then, I'll have to try to make lavender from memory.  I'm sorry my poor lavender doesn't do justice to this lovely bucket :(

Thankyou Carmen, your gifts are beautiful and you made me try to make something I never did before.

The second day, still no internet.  What to do?  Practise making lavender and see if I can do any better.  No, I'm afraid my second effort isn't any better than the first attempt :((  Well, I won't throw it out so, what to do with it?  There are some of those ugly little wooden pots in my stash but if I paint them they will still be ugly and look like painted wood because I'm not that great at paint effects either.  Hmmm, they're a bit on the small side too.  If I cover them with paper clay they'll look bigger so, out came the paper clay.  Just cheap stuff.  Glue and paperclay up to the elbows, paint in my hair, I forgot to make lunch but having a lovely time and in the end I like that little wooden flower pot now :))  And it's all thanks to Carmen for giving me the impetus to do something else besides crochet!

If anyone can help me learn to make nice lavender I'd be grateful!

Now I'm off to catch up with all the blogposts I've missed.

Trashy Treasure

Sometimes it's good to be forced into inactivity.  I can vouch that painting is good therapy and finishing up a small project is even better therapy.

 

These shelves were finished a long time ago but getting around to painting them was another matter.  They're made from icy pole sticks, tongue depressors and some oddments of scrap wood.  I tried to match the colour of the kitchen set, didn't quite manage that but who cares?  It's all about the fun!

I'm under orders to make a cabinet to fit the back corner on the right.  The 9 year old owner of this roombox also has a long list pinned to the fridge, of many more details to be made - curtains, pet dishes, dog basket, cat litter tray, plant, pictures for the walls etc.

Still taking a break ;)

Pet treat jars.
Simple trash to treasure, made from buttons, beads and card.



Just a little Something

I'm still unable to post or read much.  Here is a little something that has been 34 years in the making.  From the original concept when fine thread, fine hooks and fine linen were simply unavailable in the Antipodes, the idea remained in the back of my mind and occasionally surfaced for contemplation.  Recent enforced inactivity brought forth a linen doiley with silk crocheted edging, shown here with Pei Li's peonies.

More in the pipeline, as yet not photographed.

The Phantom Stable Update

Stable Mk2.  I guess this stable seems like a phantom, heard but not seen so here is proof it exists. 

 No.1 was discarded due to the effects of vinegar and steel wool bug juice warping the timber and the acidity levels remaining may have had an effect on the contents, particularly the horse. 

This project is slow going with real life interfering with available time.

With the acrylic front and roof in place.  Roof needs a skylight insert.

Overview.

Loose box.  Twisted wire forms the hinges on the gate.

Tack and feed room.  Inner walls are pegged for strength.

Feed trough.

Made and painted by the 13year old owner.  The only help he had was with inserting the wire in the rim which bends into hooks for hanging.

Tool boxes and crate made and painted by 13year old.  He had a tiny bit of help with the metal tin of nails.

A trifle in shock.........

Peeping out of my hermitage for a moment to share happiness.

Pei Li had a wonderful give away over at her blog.  I was stunned to win and so excited because I love Pei Li's gentle style and the shabby chic style in general. 

Life has been a little under par of late so when a knock came on the door this morning it was a surprise to open the door and find there is a parcel for me!!   That changed the complexion of my day/week/month completely :)  With shaking hands I opened the envelope and then began the shock.........

This little pot of peonies is so perfect I can't believe my eyes.  Every petal is fine and translucent like real peonies.

Here they are displayed with some of the macarons I bought from Pei Li a while back.

The tiny pink pot is only 1centimetre across!

Thankyou so much Pei Li, your beautiful gift is such a pleasure to my soul.



Miniature Treasure!

Aren't these beautiful?

The nutella came from

Oiseau de nim

The macarons in the beautiful jar from

Pei Li

who also included the pastries as a surprise :)

They are perfect in my modern kitchen.

I love buying special things sometimes, it seems like Christmas!

I love books!

I love Real Life books so of course miniature books hold a fascination too.

With thanks to

 Lize

Jean

and Ann Vanture at Paper Minis

For sharing their superb printies!!!

I enjoyed making these books so much, they all have pages inside, though some just have plain paper.

There should be some crochet to share in a few days :)

Toast anyone?..............

Levi needed a toaster so we made one.  School holidays are a specially busy miniature time round here!

Monkey see, monkey do, is me.  No imagination, but if I can touch it I can try making it.  I measured our RL toaster and we went from there.

Here is what you need.  Good old tongue depressors and coffee stirrers!  And a toaster to copy of course.

The upper part of the toaster with the slots was made as the three pieces shown bottom right, then all glued together.  Two tongue depressors glued together to get the thickness, split a coffee stirrer down the length to make the slot ends. Sand to shape.

The electric cord is made from thread with black card folded over and glued in position.  The wall plug was punched circles and the cord sandwiched between.  Tacky wax will hold it in position to make it look like it is plugged in.

Paint the upper and lower sections in your choice of colour and let dry.  Levi wanted Brushed Stainless Steel for his, mine is a retro/shabby green.  Glue top and bottom together and then add a timing knob made of a short length of toothpick.  Finally add the handle for lowering the toast.  We used black card again with a short piece of wire pushed into a drilled hole in the body of the toaster.

Addendum:- Second toaster makes its debut.

                     

School Holiday Project

What Levi and I made for his modern kitchen roombox today.

We made it from a piece of a worn out Woolworths recyclable shopping bag like this RL one.

And here it is in his kitchen.

It was fun to make and it's the cutest thing to hold in your hand!

Baby Shoettes

Two sizes.

Georgie is FREEEEEEEEE!!

Please excuse my enthusiasm and delight :))

George had patella surgery 10 weeks ago, all did not go to plan, there was an accident to her knee tendon during the surgery.  We were told 3 to 6 months before she can be declared completely recovered.  She has spent 10 weeks in a play pen unless I could be with her to keep her immobile on a lead.  As you can imagine it hasn't been an easy time for the poor wee mite.Great surprise this morning!  The vet was so pleased with her this morning when she went for a check that he's allowing her to slowly integrate back into the family pack.

And here she is a few moments ago.  The fur is growing back and George is a happy girl!  Not that you can tell from the photo, she doesn't like cameras up close!

Little boxes, little boxes..............

If you remember that song you are older than my children.

No new crochet to show, I'm catching up on repeat items.  Time out needed so I played with paper again.

Paper Miniatures

Playing with paper.  Rewarding fun :)  The jugs come from  Marlies of course!  Thanks Marlies, they are fun to make.  The map is of the Sydney area, it's to go in a drawer in my 3rd grandsons kitchen roombox.  Grandson no.2 made the flowers, aged 12.

How to make a Laundry Sink

This laundry no longer exists as shown, sad story....... 

Because I can't easily buy any miniature supplies I printed the wallpaper myself and, after breaking my heart over it fading within weeks and having to be replaced 3 times, each time trying more desperate measures to prevent the fading, I gave in and threw the laundry box away.  The contents now live in a clear plastic chocolate box and the printie dryer and washer have been replaced with 'real' ones! 

Apart from the sad story, the reason for showing the laundry is to show the sink unit.  It's made from balsa, earring oddments and a cheese spread container.

Jam production

I saw Sabs beautiful jam jars and followed her link to Karins

tutorial.  Thankyou both for sharing!