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Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mother's Day. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Good Works

Hello dear friends! I hope all of you are well and that those celebrating Mother's Day had a lovely one to remember! Just getting to be the mom of my two amazing kids would have been enough for me, but Natasha (33 in July), and Ande (31 in July), went out of their way to make sure I felt loved and appreciated!

Ande came by for a hug (the first one I've gotten from him since social distancing started) and brought these beautiful roses, gourmet cinnamon bears from Tacoma Brothers (a wonderful local grocery store), and let me keep my grandpuppy Rosie overnight.


My daughter Natasha, who is known to spoil me rotten, got me a 3D printer! The learning curve is going to require a lot of trial and patience, but I am so excited to get started actually printing my own miniature designs in the future! What thoughtful people my incredible kids have become! There is no gift greater than that!


When I last posted about the vanities, I had found a silicone mold making kit in my "someday" stash. I had a lot of fun working with the stuff and got great results with almost everything I tried!


The process is simple enough: Mix equal parts of an "A" and "B" liquid substance, place your model into a container, pour the combined mixture over the piece you want to mold (pot life 50 mins). and wait about 4 hours to demold. I used a couple Unique and Falcon Miniatures pieces that I had to experiment with.



The mold will end up the size and shape of the container you used to hold the model, so it is good to have one close in size to the item you are molding. It is recommended that you fill the silicone about 1/2" above the piece you are molding so that it is strong enough to handle many future casts. I used cheap dollar store plastic storage tubs as my model holder and they were wonderful! I need a little practice on my level filling skills, but it was easy enough to clean up the opening with my Xacto knife after the mold had cured.



I cast many brackets using the leftover colored resin from the tiny product bottles I was making. This is great because one of these brackets alone costs around $5. If you need a lot of them in a build, molding and casting is the way to go! With a coat of gesso and then paint you'll never know there is colored resin beneath. The detail is amazing!


Speaking of product bottles, I made a mold for those, as well. The mold has 5 bottles in three sizes.


I experimented with different mediums to color the resin including alcohol ink, chalk and paint as I have always done. But just to broaden my horizons, I'll be ordering a set of mica powders to try the next time I do resin work. The chalk was pretty good, but the paint and alcohol ink were difficult to get the exact color I was after. In order to achieve lavender I had to mix red and blue inks. If I'd had a purple it would have been easier to achieve, The mottled ones below were a combo of chalk with a little white acrylic paint mixed in. It took a lot longer to cure and not all of the bubbles came out. If you're going for a scrubbing body wash or a bubble bath this can work in your favor!


One mold did not work well at all. In fact, I broke the model piece just trying to remove it from the mold. This type of intricate and thin model may require a mold release agent, which I did not try this time. I think I can still use the mold, however, if it is in a setting where I want the detail to look as though it is old and has seen many layers of paint over the years.



These are what I ended up with the first time through with the bottle mold and colored resin. Not perfect, but not bad. I have some ideas to try out which I believe will perfect the method, and I will keep you posted! I found and ordered better bottle tops from Bindle's, too, so that should help the overall appearance to be more authentic. I need to improve the scale of the labels, too. Maybe use slide decals instead.



While I had the resin out, I took the opportunity to use the excess resin in an Architectural Flourishes mold I picked up from AlphaStamps a while back. These came out beautifully, and it makes me want to do a small project just to use them!


Now let's get to the other accessories for the vanity sets. You remember the candles and pillars (tutorial here)...



I also made baskets based on Casey's Very Easy Basket Tutorial, only adding some 1/16" silk ribbon to the top and bottom and painting in coordinating colors.


And filled them with towels I made up and printed on fabric. Here are the towels and rugs for you to use if you like.






Then I was on to the arrangements for the vases that will sit on the vanity countertops. I made eucalyptus branches from an SDK kit and lavender based on the We Love Miniatures tutorial on YouTube. I had enough left over to make up some heart shaped grapevine wreath hangings, too.





Next I made some framed art with the eucalyptus and lavender theme using free art found on the internet. I used the Cricut to make matting and back covers, then painted 1-3/16" x 1-7/16" frames in coordinating colors. Here's the art if you'd like it, too.




In looking at the vessel sink height, I decided to raise up the faucet unit by adding a booster piece beneath. Now the faucets are at a much better height to function. I finally added the mirror material too!



The sink itself is a bisque bowl painted and then given a gloss coat. For the illusion of the drain, I use a flat washer topped with a round nail head stud. This is supposed to look like the more modern 'push to toggle open and closed' type of drain plug.



Now it's back to work on the product bottles to see if I can make them better. I'll be back soon with the perfected vanity and accessories for the giveaway! In the meantime, I encourage you to see what ways you can help those in your communities. Food banks are great, making masks is great, or even bringing a batch of homemade cookies down to your local fire station. It'll make a difference, I promise! And it'll make you feel so good!

xo xo,
Jodi

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Happy Mother's Day!

In my post Changing Gears... Again, I'd shared how I was losing track of time and suddenly realized that it was only a couple weeks until a very important event. Some of you guessed that it was Mother's Day (May 10th here in the U.S.), and you were right! I generally send flowers, candy, gift cards to my mom, but this year, I wanted to give her something to play with! And that is how the southwest/Spanish style patio came about.


It had humble beginnings, being made from foam core and cardstock. But that is why this hobby is so much fun! A little dreaming, determination and some scraps and viola! Something from practically nothing!


After that first post about the project, I added a string of lights and floral vine to the pergola, and added a wooden base and frame filled with mini railroad gravel. I had a palm tree in my stash which had been slated for a different project that I was going to make for my mom a few years ago. I was excited to finally be able to gift it to her in this one!


I made several pots of flowers, a potted cactus, a rocking chair from a kit, a stool and tray table and a bunch of other fun accessories. Mom is not a "mini person" and wonders how I don't get frustrated working with things that are so small. She adores burros and makes pilgrimages whenever possible to find and feed them, so I had to include one of those - a tiny one. See if you can spot him!


She marvels at my patience and dexterity and says she would never have the patience. I think she would have the patience once she experienced the fun and thrill of each little treasure. So, I left most all of the accessories loose and packaged separately. I wanted her to have the joy of unwrapping many small wonders and then getting to arrange them in any way she likes. I included a photo of a suggested layout, some fun tack, tips on placing items and instructions on the lighting and battery box.






Mom got her package yesterday and called me right away. She was THRILLED, and so excited to unwrap all of the accessories! She said I had made her year and that it was like Christmas! My dad was pretty excited about it, too, and told mom he wanted to play with her! I hope she ends up enjoying it so much that she asks for more roomboxes to play with in the future! You know I'll enjoy making her plenty of them!!!



What more can you ask than to give a gift where the recipient loves what you've made for them, especially when it lets them know how special they are to you!!!

To all the moms and everyone else who has loved another human or animal selflessly, Happy Mother's Day to all of you and may that love come back to you sevenfold! I hope you get to celebrate together, whether on a screen or in person!

xo xo,
Jodi

Friday, April 24, 2020

Changing Gears... Again

I bet none of you were expecting to stop by and see something like this, this week! Me either! In fact, the idea didn't even hit me until Monday. This whole staying at home thing has a way of making you forget about what day of the week it is. That's why I totally lost track of a very important upcoming event. I can't say much more than that, right now, but I promise you'll know everything in a couple weeks...


Suffice to say that I needed to make a small project - Pronto! And what better than a Spanish influenced private garden oasis? I began by gathering scrap pieces of foam core. I had a piece that was 7-5/8" x 4-11/16 - a good size for the floor.


VERY rough drawing!

And then I had two full pieces which I could use to make a back wall and sides, and two half walls in the front.


I wanted a couple windows with wrought iron inserts, so as usual, I let the Cricut do the cutting.


Here I am using 3 rulers to help me place my frame exactly into position. Then it was easy to trace the opening and cut it out with an Xacto.



To frame out the corner fireplace walls, I made a pattern from scrap cardboard and then used it to cut the shape into my foam core - half on the back wall and half on the left wall. Where you see the "X"'s are the waste part of the wall.



I also cut a front strip that would join the two side walls and provide a structure for the round wooden beams. By Monday night I had a rough structure!
Amazing what you can accomplish with a major fire placed squarely under your buttocks!  :O)


Tuesday morning I was up and painting a piece of Canson Illustration Art Board for the tile floor before breakfast. I picked a few desert type colors and splotched them randomly on the board. Once dry, I cut them into 15/16" squares and began laying tile.


Tuesday evening I had the tiles laid and began to prep an egg carton lid for bricks. For this project, I needed the bricks to be very Rustic! So, I chose some more desert colors, this time darker for contrast, and splotched and pounced until I could not see any gray.

Wednesday began the brick laying. I was determined that I would have it completed by bedtime so that I could get a good, thick coat of varnish applied that would have overnight to dry. I did it! Just barely. And there were additional bricks that had to wait until all of the walls were joined later.



In the background you can see the groutless bricks just waiting to be nestled in some spackle. In the foreground, you see three random objects that probably don't give away what their intended purpose will be. The cardboard piece is a 3/4 section from a masking tape roll. They are perfect for ponds or landscaping - anything than needs a sturdy circular shape. On top of that is a piece of cereal box - Lucky Charms, of course! It has been cut to fit into the corner as the base for the fireplace. The empty gesso bottle just happened to have the perfect shape for the fireplace I envisioned. All I had to do was cut it down, then cut it in half, then cut an opening from it. The stove pipe is the one that I did not end up using for the New Orleans kitchen. It was meant for this stove!

The tape on the gesso bottle helped to guide my cut with the Zona saw.


At this point I cut the back part of the gesso bottle off
and also cut an access hole for the fireplace.
While I contemplated how I was going to attach the fireplace and at what point, I made what I think are called gussets for the pergola top logs. This was to ensure that my spacing and holes would be perfect. Again, the Cricut saves the day!


At this point, I had to start the grout. It was already Thursday and to be honest I was freaking out a little bit. I was wondering why I am always cutting things so close and why in the world did I think I could get this done in time and still remembering all the while that my faith has been rewarded innumerable times in my life and all I had to do was to keep focused and keep moving forward.

Taking in progress photos, however, was not my priority, so the next photo might be shocking...

Grout - check!
Fireplace installed - check!
Walls attached - check!
Window frames painted and installed - check!
Stucco texture (Mod Podge mixed with paint) applied and walls painted - check!
Gussets added to skinny foam core upper walls - check!
Holes cut out for beams - check!
Fireplace logs and fire light added - check!

And it was only Friday morning! Note to self: Go look at the plaque on your front porch, dummy. The one with Proverbs 3:5-6.

Before

Remember how I said "Rustic" earlier? Here's how you "Rustic" something up...
It's fun to flip to the before and after pics in the slide show - dramatic!

After
And with the roof assembled...





I am amazed at how much I accomplished this week and I have real hope that I will complete this gift in time! Now, I can turn my attention inside where I'll:

Make a chair
Make a table
Add more lighting
Make a multitude of flowers
Add a decorative base with minimal landscaping
Make a holder for the battery box
Pillow?
Rug?
Animals?

Aw darrnit! I better go read that plaque again!



Hope you are all safe and well, and with faith, are meeting all of the new challenges (opportunities) that are suddenly presented to you!

xo xo,
Jodi