Sixteen Succulents, Three Baskets, Two Days and A Whole Lot of Fun!

In my last post I shared both the joyful anticipation and the trepidation of the arrival of a new PC. Thank you all for the luck and good wishes sent. Most of the process was flawless, and the couple things that were a little less cooperative gave in soon enough. I am up and running and can't believe how ~F~A~S~T~ the new computer is!

By Sunday afternoon I was on pins and needles to start on the succulent and basket kits from our wonderfully creative and ingenious mini community member Nancy Enge!

I had ordered a set of sempervivum with green leaves, but Nancy was very kind to include an extra set of white leaves in case the green was a little too dark. This was very serendipitous; because I would need to color the leaves myself, on her blog recommendation, I ordered a set of Winston & Newton Promarker alcohol based markers. These things are ~F~A~B~U~L~O~U~S~! Just wait until you see how the pink blended into the green on my leaves! I vow to never be without these markers the rest of my whole life! (a bit dramatic, I know, but they are just that good!)

Do you know how many varieties of succulent exist in the world? Me neither! But I found this photo and suddenly realized that I could go with pretty much any color combo I liked! In miniatures, we are the creators!

I got my leaves all colored and stylus-ed (a great time to space out while one is stylus-ing) and began assembling. With each step, as I saw these little succulents become, I became more and more giddy!
They~are~just~so~adorably~beautiful! I suddenly KNEW exactly what colors I'd use for the baskets and accessories!

Have I mentioned that these markers are amazing?

I can't say enough good things about the kits - the paper is a perfect weight to work with, the kit instructions are packed with great step-by-step directions with photos, they go together like a dream and Nancy must be the fastest Etsy shipper I've ever experienced! If you haven't gotten the kits already - Go Shop Now! If you have and are waiting to dive in, Do Them Now! Just look at how wonderfully they turn out!

These are the first set of display botanicals for the flower shop, and getting to enjoy them so much has reinvigorated my passion for the project as a whole!

Thanks, Nancy! We are so lucky to have you in our mini world! Now get busy on the Hen & Chicks! I Want! :O)

Veggie Tutorials

Some of you may recall that for the HBS Creatin' Contest 2016 I made a vegetable garden. I used a combination of kits, loose pre-made vegetables and some good old mini ingenuity. I was contacted by American Miniaturist and asked if they could publish some of the tutorials. I was delighted but I wanted to see, if using only common craft supplies, I could make a vegetable garden all my own. I was able to pull it off using mostly office paper, toothpicks, glue, paint and Mod Podge. I am happy to share the success, so if you've got some basic craft supplies then you can make all of these for yourself!

Rather than putting everything into one gigantic post, I decided to make the How-To's available in .pdf format, as well as have the entire tutorial available as a separate page on the blog. There are six parts to the entire project, including four different vegetables and an easy raised vegetable planter.

To view, download or print the tutorial, use the link below:

How To Grow A 1/12th Garden In Just One Weekend

To see the dedicated blog page see: Easy 1/12 Scale Vegetable Tutorial

The tutorials are intended to publish in the April issue of American Miniaturist. I am super excited and hope the tutorials will be handy!

I was hoping to be finished Tuesday night so that I could start on the flower shop - no such luck. In addition to the tutorials taking a bit longer, my seven year old PC has been randomly shutting down. It is a long and technical story, so I'll just say the new PC arrives tomorrow. And we have a new wireless router. This all means I'll be spending the next few days using some colorful language, pulling my hair out, and in general being intimidated by technology. Flower shop, I'm getting closer my darling! Until then, air kisses...

Christmas Dammit! And Other Good Things...

Remember that flu I mentioned in my last post? It just kept coming around - again and again! My poor mom ended up in the hospital for 5 days with the stuff, and still felt terrible for another 5 days after they let her out!  I was back down for three days, and my dad had to have 2 rounds of antibiotics to quash his resulting sinus infection. Just a mean and nasty bug that I hope we have finally beat for good!

Due to all of the sickness and the hospital stay, we had to postpone our family Christmas celebration again - for another week. There has been so many obstacles to all of us getting together that I started referring to it as Christmas Dammit! Because in spite of all the road blocks, WE WILL HAVE CHRISTMAS DAMMIT! Festivities take place tomorrow (God willing), and then life will resume as "normal" again (she says with her eternal optimism firmly installed).

In the meantime, some really wonderful things have been sprinkled into the mix. I was contacted by a miniature publication and asked to write a few veggie tutorials for an upcoming issue. Of course I said yes, even though the level of confidence I have in my mini abilities is not a truly comfortable one. But, I know that challenges are how we grow, so I welcomed the opportunity. It will cover how to make an easy raised planter and include four different (paper craft) vegetables. It's been fun to work on, and I am about half way finished!

I hope to start the next project just as soon as I finish the tutorials - it feels like my mini life stopped when I got sick in December, and I am looking so forward to delving into projects and the community once again. I get so cranky otherwise! :O) I'll be using another chipboard kit from Alpha Stamps as the structure for the flower shop. I really enjoyed making cooking scenes in the secret book kits that are offered from them! The chipboard kits are:

1. Affordable.
2. Easy to assemble.
3. Easier than wood to alter.
4. Small enough to finish (and enjoy looking at) pretty quickly.

I also love that I can use scrapbooking sets to paper and coordinate both the inside and outside of the structure. It's really like miniatures meets collage art - so much to get creative with and enjoy! I hope that it will inspire you to branch out, as well!

I am using the Gilded Lily papers from Graphics 45. They are wonderful!

Monday I'll work on the Swiss Chard (for the third time - my leaf veining really stinks!) and lettuce, then hopefully turn to the floral side of mini botany - speaking of which, the working title for the flower shop is Botanique. A little French, you say? Oui, oui!

Have a wonderful and healthy weekend!