Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

Oh my! Time does fly! I'm not trying to jolt anyone into reality here, but - 2017 is 1/4 over already!!! It's been more than two weeks since my last post and I am literally shocked at how fast the time has gone by! What have I been up to? Well, I'll tell you...

Remember the garden shed I started before vacation? When we got home I thought I'd get it finished up before I proceeded on the flower shop. I was brimming with ideas and enthusiasm and wanted to strike while the iron was hot. It was small, so it would take only a couple days, right? Um, no. Although I have dedicated the better part of each day to it's many, many little side projects, it is still not quite finished. But I am sharing the progress anyway.

This is what I started with - an idea in my head which probably sprang to life after looking at loads of mini gardening photos online surveying for ideas on the flower shop. I drew out a rough idea of the framing and decided I'd figure out all the issues as I went along.

Rough framing and floor. Extra window from the 2013 Creatin' Contest kit.

The above photo is where I had to stop just before we left for vacation. It was a good thing because it gave me lots of "windshield time" to consider how I was going to do the roof.

At first I was going to just add a piece of corrugated cardboard that I had left from the Greenleaf Ashai Teahouse kit (now Alki Point). I figured I'd paint and rust it then glue it on. A little voice told me to wait so that I could more easily reach inside the structure. I'm glad I waited...

While that was marinating I turned my attention to putting together all of the kits and making the printies. I spent several days on that part of the project. It is amazing how much stuff can go into even a little structure!

I did a lot of ageing and rusting to everything using layers of chalk paint and antique wax. I experimented with galvanizing paper, rust techniques, and even added some tiny nails. I wanted the shed to look as though it had seen many, many years. I may have gone overboard, but I just love the way it turned out!

I had a package of these Darice Moon Lights in my electrical drawer. I got to looking at the battery pack, wanting to make it accessible but not take away from the look of the shed. Suddenly, I saw an electric meter box!

Just add rust, a straw for the wires, a cabochon and a meter printy and there you go! The lid snaps open for easy access to the batteries! I carved channels out of the wood beams for the wire to lay through.

The lights themselves were really bright LED's. I toned them down a bit by painting the bulbs with a little yellow Gallery Glass paint. Now the light looks more ambient and airplanes won't try to land on them. I wrapped them around an unfinished metal circus wheel and hung that from the ceiling beam with wire. It's rustic, but purposefully so. You can see I also changed my mind about the corrugated roof and went with the skylight windows instead. I'm glad I did because the extra light and being able to see inside is nice.

Here's what the outside/front side is shaping up to look like. I made some hanging baskets and more planters, and I still need to add moss in the floor cracks. But I'm getting close to Ta-Done!

As many of you are painfully aware, flowers and plants take a looooong time to make. And I made a lot of them. Some were cheater snips from larger "fake" greenery, two of them were kits, and the rest were made from punched paper petals and leaves. Knowing how long it took me to fill up the garden shed, I certainly have my work cut out for me on the flower shop!

Below are some of the interior photos. To make the decor I utilized a number of mediums: a lot of printies for milk carton seedlings, books, galvanized pots, seed packets, artwork for the walls, bulb paper bags and labels. I made a few things like a radio, birdhouses, planters, signs, baskets etc. with wood and precious scraps of what-knots. Every "store bought" piece was lovingly bashed, aged, dirtied up and rusted. It was so much fun to get messy!

See the mouse next to his hole?

If any of you would like the patterns for the milk cartons, galvanized pots, wall art, seed packets or book covers, I am happy to share. I am also happy to spill the beans on how I made the punched flowers and plants, what I used for rust and galvanized metal and any other secrets I know. Just shoot me an email: jodihippler(at)gmail(dot)com.

Now I need to clean up and reorganize my work room. The flower shop is calling, as is the as yet unopened Creatin' Contest kit and the advent calender I'd like to finish this year. Better get a move on - it will be December again before we know it!

Happy Spring!
Jodi

Coming Home...

We are home again, safe and sound, seven states and 4025 miles later! I need a nap!

We had great visits and adventures with family from three states, saw so many diverse and breathtaking landscapes, got rained on, got snowed on, spent 24 hours on a high dessert mesa with 50mph winds, enjoyed 70 degree days with sunshine, conquered a couple challenging Jeep trails, ate yummy food, car camped in campgrounds, stayed in comfy hotels, learned so much about southwest history and overall made the most of every amazing moment. Heck, my parents even bought a house in Lake Havasu, AZ! I see many more dessert vacations with my wonderful parents in our future! I even get to help mom decorate the new place - squeeeeee!!!


There is always both a happiness and a sadness for me when a great vacation comes to an end. Happiness to get back to the life I love and a sadness that the big adventure has ended. My sadness this time was nearly obliterated because I came home to this:

Fresh from the groomers smelling great! I missed them soooo much!


And to these...

It is far too easy to shop online for minis while traveling, but amazing how new minis to come home to can cure the blues!


While on vacation, I was fortunate to be able to spend a couple hours at Auntie Em's in Phoenix. Em was kind and helpful, and even stayed open late so I'd have more time to shop. Russ was fascinated by all the vintage toys her son Jack sells, so he was joyfully entertained, too!

I found some great items, but ran out of time with 1-1/2 isles left to peruse. The shop had a hearty selection of both mainstream minis and artisan pieces. I was overwhelmed by the choices, and could have easily spent thousands if I had it to spend. I did choose a few for current projects and some just because I know they will come in handy someday.

There were also lots of old kit stock to choose from. You know I can't resist kits! I got a couple fun and inexpensive ones, a very spendy sideboard kit and an old Carlson's bay window display kit. I really wanted to go back and see what I'd missed in the last isles, but could not convince Russ that it was a good idea to swing back by Phoenix on our way home from Moab. :oP

The packages I came home to made me excited to get back into the mini swing of things. I got some exciting kits from Jane Harrop, who kindly mailed them to me with no shipping charges...

I also have Nancy's Toto2 basket kit to look forward to...

Even travelling in the Jeep I was able to have some nice conversations with Brae, and place an order for one of her very special old time license plates. She helped me research to find the exact color for the year I'd requested - 1937. It is so perfect, and I am so excited to begin the project it's slated for. I had to have a feed sack and some cow cookies, too! How adorable are those?!?

I mentioned a little earlier that we'd learned so much about the history of the southwest. I found the Native American exhibits fascinating and totally geeked out on those. The gift shop at Grand Canyon National Park had a couple kits that I'm excited to start on. I may even attempt to make 1/12th versions as I go along!

The absolute best treasures I came home with were the kind that only us miniature enthusiasts can appreciate: dead branches! I can't wait to get creative - I've got plans for these... *rubs hands together*

And finally, I have to share the photo of these last boxes. One is the HBS Creatin' Contest 2017 kit, and the others contain the things I need to get started. I had such a hard time coming up with an idea, but my dad's visit here in late January changed all that.

He regaled us with tales from his unique and entertaining childhood on the old homestead in Butte, Montana. To say it was primitive is being very kind. The stories are funny, and in our modern and enlightened world seem a little barbaric. The next time I saw a photo of the kit, I did not see Craftsman, I saw log cabin. Weird, I know, but it'll be fun (and challenging) to see if I can translate the images in my mind to the project. I'd also love to turn this into an opportunity for our family to connect with my dads memories, and for all of us to travel back together to the old homestead - what still stands of it.

It's good to be home, it's good to be so excited about the future and it's good to know my beloved hobby is right here waiting for me. But first, I need a nap...

xoxo
Jodi

Farewell... Again

I come from a gigantic family. My maternal grandparents had seven kids, and my paternal six. And that's only my side! At times the holidays are insane. Sometimes you don't even get a chance to talk to everybody. This makes for a long procession of goodbyes all down the front hall. When it's cold it tends to speed things up a bit. There's nothing like cold air coming through the open door to send folks quickly to the warmth of their heated car seats. But mostly, goodbyes lead to more conversation, and when you actually enjoy the people in your family, the goodbye process goes through several stages. What's my point you ask? Well, I am bidding you all a farewell... Again...

You see, Russ wanted to build (yes - he is also a maker, but his toys look more manly. Like welders and stuff) a trailer to tow behind the Jeep on our anniversary adventure. Then he worked out of town from the Saturday after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve, eve. Then on January 2nd, he started another job that was supposed to last only two weeks. It turned into five (through no fault of his own - cabinet and counter top manufacturing delays). This left only six days to build a trailer, get it licensed, pack all of the camping gear, an oh - get new gearing put into the Jeep. Well, I may have asked him if we should have a contingency plan in case the trailer could not be finished in time. What Russ heard me say was "I bet you can't do it! Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! So guess what he did?

It looks just like his sketch!

Isn't it just adorable?

In only four days... Oh the power I yield over that mere mortal amazing man <insert evil laugh here>!...

So suddenly, I had all this garage widow time on my hands. I tried to use it wisely. I cleaned out my closets and arranged for a local charity to come pick stuff up. But then. that idea happened. You know, the one from the last post. I fell right into creating and it felt so good! So fun! So fulfilling! Like my whole life had been leading up to this moment!!!

Screech! Alright. It wasn't that good. But it was close.

So anyway, back to the whole point (if you are still here reading - thank you for your patience! I get so excited ((duh)))...

I made some egg carton stones for the floor...

With the gray set of Windsor & Newton Promarkers...

And they turned out so amazing...

That I had to tell you NOW! <insert Madeline Kahn singing "Sweet Mystery Of Life" from Young Frankenstein>  I could not let it sit until I got back from vacation! What if you are planning to make bricks or blocks or stones before I get back?

And then I Mother Nature'd some "clapboard" (1/8" x 3/4"), painted and installed...

And now, in the most bittersweet way you can imagine, I must leave my inspired yet unfinished garden shed and say farewell to you, kindred friends, again.

Until next time (which, truthfully could be sooner than you think).

xoxo,
Jodi