New Friends...

After reading and lurking for months on several different blogs, I finally subscribed to several and summoned up the courage to reach out and introduce myself on The Greenleaf Miniature Community forums. I shared the story of my miniature journey and received many warm and friendly welcomes! Incredibly, one of my favorite and repeat customers, from back in the online miniatures store days (2002-2003), is one of the community admins! It was so wonderful to reconnect with Tracy! It is so wonderful to connect with kindred spirits and see where imagination has taken them! Really incredible work to see there!

Speaking of new friends, I often check in on what's for sale on eBay. Now, usually, this can get me into trouble. It leads to chronically persistent ideas for incredible new miniature projects. That leads to starting a new category in My Collections. That leads to "oh crap this auction is about to end! This item is so unique and I really need to bid!". That leads to starting to collect items from other places for future projects (trust me, I have everything I need for the next two ideas already). That leads to boxes coming in the mail, which leads to my husband shaking his head, which leads to me feeling really guilty about all of the cardboard I recycle (god please let it be true that it really does get recycled into new boxes so people just like me can not feel so bad getting boxes delivered because they really are just recycled from ones we've already gotten stuff in). You see, there's always trouble when I 'check in' on places...

But this time, I swear it was different! I saw this poor woman, and just couldn't leave her in that situation! The humanity! Sometimes you just have to be the one to save somebody! If you can, you must! And I had to.

I'm not going to make formal introductions until my new "rescue" arrives (and until after I've explained the whole thing to my husband), but I am sure you will all agree. It had to be done. There was no choice in the matter. Hopefully, she'll arrive safe and sound sometime in the coming week.

Meanwhile, I perused so that I could catch up on the many wonderful miniature blogs out there, I came across Kris Compas' tutorial from July on How To Make A Mini Ottoman From Faux Vinyl. What luck! It just so happens the little barn living room needs an ottoman! Hers tells you how to make faux vinyl by painting silk with acrylic paint! And it's pulled right out of the pages of an old catalog. It's really cool!

It didn't occur to me to start to chronicle the project from the beginning, and most of you will probably be inspired to go to Kris' site and make your own anyway. Even for those of you who aren't into minis, the idea can be adapted to make an adorable pin cushion or something. Think holiday gift giving...

My space is not Mod, but more traditional/contemporary so I opted to make a rectangle version. It's got to be easier than the round one, because mine won't have any sewing (yes, even a simple running stitch counts as sewing in my book), I'll use the same fabric from making the sofa  and I won't have to make cording.

Here are a couple photos I finally remembered to take during the construction. It's just foam core, card stock, mat board, batting, fabric and glue. The only tools really needed are an Xacto knife and some scissors.

And here is the final product:

What a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, after such a lovely morning making new friends.

And my list items are being struck through one after another!