If You Can't Stand The Heat...

Don't work on the kitchen!!!

Hi Guys! What a week! Summer always seems to pull me away from minis, but add heat to the equation (anything over 85 degrees), and my productivity plummets! If I am plopped right in front of several fans I can reasonably cope. But when temps get to a certain point there's just no relief from the heat. Call it my reason, or if you prefer, my excuse, but due to an increasingly common (and unwelcome) PNW heat wave, I have little kitchen progress to share. I do have a few good things started, though!

At my desk with 3 fans blowing in the room.
That's 36 Celsius, my friends. 
At 12:34 AM Wednesday, it was still 88!

I did try to tackle some items. The first thing Roz's kitchen needed were groceries. I had Grocery can blanks to make labels for, so I decided to make a few other common food labels/packages, as well. Some products I already had perfect digital images for and only had to resize them. Some labels were readily available with Google searches. And some things I totally made up on my own. Fairy Beary Godmothers should use products like "Nice Flour", "Sweet's Sugar" and "Friendship Coffee", don't you think? 

And I know Rozario, like every growing dragon, loves to eat his Chari-O's for breakfast! 

It's easy to measure for how large to make a label when your grocery item is a box, but what about making a label for a dowel or canned goods? If you're lacking a bendable ruler with enough small increments, it's a challenge. Luckily, we live in modern times when Google makes it almost like cheating! Finding out how long to make a label for a simple oatmeal container, for example (and all your cans), is only a few keystrokes away. The number you need is is the Circumference. If you're like me, it's been a LONG TIME since you had to remember that factoid! 🤯

First, you'll need to find the Diameter of your dowel. Measure across the widest part of the circle. Or to find the Radius, measure half of the circle (the results will be the same). Enter the Diameter (or Radius) into the circumference calculator and you will know the Circumference (the minimum length in inches you need to wrap a label completely around the dowel).

In my case, for my Rolled Oats canister, my dowel is 5/8" or a .625 Diameter or a .3125 Radius for a Circumference of 1.9635 inches. That means if I make my label around 2" long, it will leave just a little extra to overlap. 

Thanks Google! That was easy!

I also wanted to include a few glass canning jars and some honey. Polymer clay canes, alcohol ink and UV resin made quick work of this task! 

Last fall I made 3D printed egg cartons and little separate eggs to go inside them. It was fun to finally use them, though the "brown" I mixed up for my eggs needs a little more adjusting. Next time Tasha brings me her farm fresh eggs, I'll use it for reference and keep notes!

I worked on some cookbooks for one of Roz's shelves. Some will open and some are "just for looks". Though she could totally whip up a delicious meal with just her wand, she actually enjoys the whole cooking process! 

I made a ton of aprons (actually, only 8 😊), figuring I might as well do some for Goldie while I had all the stuff pulled out. I still need to make them hang in a natural looking way on their hooks (they're not for Flat Stanley, after all!), and to add the bows to the ties. But they're just as cute as I'd hoped for! At some point Roz and Goldie will have to have a fitting, too.

One very special thing I worked on will be a surprise for Roz. Shhhhh! Don't tell! She misses the old gang back in Germany so much! She'll be delighted when she sees this framed photo of her, Rozario, Fluby and Rosey taken by Birgit just before she set sail (or wing?) for America! It will be hung so that she can see her dear friends as she starts each day at the breakfast table. There will be lots more "family photos" in various places throughout the trunkhouse, too.

Fluby, left. Roz, center. Rosey, right. Rozario, front.

You all know by now how much joy I get from minis, but the most unexpected and precious thing I have received from being involved in this passion is the opportunity to meet and connect with so many kindred spirits! It is because of Birgit's kindness in creating Roz for me that I get to work on this wonderful trunkhouse. And because of the trunkhouse, I have received another amazing gesture of kindness from a longtime reader and friend, Sharon. You see, Sharon's talented husband and son made a gorgeous epoxy river table for their family game room. When Sharon saw it she thought a mini version would be perfect for someplace in the Fairytale Treehouse project! She shared the photo and asked me if I thought so too. After I got up from falling out of my chair I said "Yes! YES! Yes, Please!!!" 😄😄😄

Here is the table Sharon's husband and son made for her... Incredible, right?!?

And Sharon's pretty toes! 😍

And here is the mini version made just for me!

W~O~W! 😍

So beautiful!

Isn't it absolutely jaw dropping?!? It is hard to tell with my wacky lighting, but the resin is the most beautiful soft lavender color! It's so perfect for this dwelling! Sharon has even placed the epoxy river table top onto a House Of Miniatures Tilt Top Table kit that she beautifully finished for me! 

Thank you so much for your kind thoughtfulness and generosity, Sharon! 💗 And a special thanks to your incredibly talented husband, too! It must have been quite a challenge to perform this kind of craftsmanship at 1/12th the scale he's used to! Mini people really are the nicest people there are! And so talented, too! The entire treehouse gang LOVES the table so much that they are currently debating where it can be best appreciated. I think, to be fair, every room should get to have a turn with it!

And that, my friends, is the sum total of all I could do in the heat this week. This weekend the kids et al will be here to help us with a backyard project. My job is to keep everyone fed. Yep - it's the hot kitchen for me no matter what it takes. At least I'll have great company!

Back sometime soon with, hopefully, better progress!

xo xo,

Jodi