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!

I Found Them!

Last night when I was thanking my grandma for her help with the pillows (some very weird synchronicities happened throughout the day), I also asked if she could help lead me to my missing window trim pieces for the living room window. This morning, I suddenly knew exactly where they were. I went right there, and voila! Understand, I looked everywhere for them. Thanks grandma!

With pep in my step, I set about happily making little details for the living room. Did I mention how much I love and am addicted to the feeling that comes over me when creating? Minis or anything else my mad mind comes up with? Madness in the name of my blog is completely apropos.


I save the leaves and flowers and branches from silk and plastic flowers I use in other projects. Lots of times they can be used to make 1/12th scale plants. In my pretend mini world, they are legitimate species. :o) One time, when I was working on CannaBliss, I ordered way too many little bags of the rubberized brown mulch from HBS. This works perfectly to camouflage the stems and glue in the container. I just squeeze some Tacky Glue into the pot, trim leave stems, arrange  the stems to look "natural", then sprinkle the mulch on top. After it dries, I shake the excess off back into the bag. I still have one full and one partial bag left. It goes a long way!

This is the lamp shade from the little bead lamp I made in July. I decided to cover the shade in the same toile fabric I used on the sofa pillows.I didn't have a pattern, so I had to make one by tracing the lamp shade onto card stock. I made a couple of these before, but with full sized lamp shades. The mini lamp was definitely harder to roll while holding onto the pencil, but I made the pattern close enough to work. It's times like these that I really wish I had taken drafting classes and had fancy drafting tools. In my house, we really try to make due with what we have.

I needed a little lamp table for the lamp to sit on. I wasn't sure what I'd make it out of, so I did what I always do when I need inspiration: I went through drawers and boxes until something sparked an idea. I had a couple of these unfinished trays and some legs. I knew I'd use them "someday". Today was the day!

Here is the finished table with the lamp. I added a book, a jar of fresh picked flowers (not), and a plant basket. Looks like I need to tie up that lamp wire a little better! Also, maybe it is time to mop the floor...

Here is the other little table, all dressed up with tchotchkes. I have two shelves full of real sized tchotchkes. None of them are really useful, but I do like to look at them a lot!

Here is the table in its new home. The room is still far from complete. I have pictures in frames to make, the coat rack, a shelf filled with junk curtains, and I think it still might need a rug and an ottoman. 

Those projects will have to wait a few days. It looks like I'll be car shopping with Ande! The Jeep he's been driving since he was 17 is no longer fit for daily driving. This time, he's looking for fuel economy rather than lift height and tire size. He's really all grown up now! :0)

Lessons and Blood

I am just shocked at how quickly the month of September has gone by! So many things have taken my attention, but finally, two days of working in the creative process and I am happy again!

I have the entry way, living room, garage, roofing and exterior still left to do on the barn project. I had been feeling a little uninspired lately, and because I didn't have a burning idea where to go next, I kind of stalled out.

So Tuesday, I just had that itch to get creating again! Oh how I love that feeling! I decided the next logical place to continue was the living room, and I should start by making the sofa.

I had purchased a House of Miniatures sofa kit from eBay last spring, and thought I might just bash it a bit. Since this is my first sofa kit, and my first sofa EVER, I decided to just stick to the script and follow the kit instructions. I definitely had to use my own material, though. That blue stuff that comes in the kit is hideous! Even for the 70's when the kit was made, it is hideous!

I have a chair kit, too, but the space in the living room is only going to fit the sofa and a couple small tables.

I purchased the fabric on eBay. It was only a couple of dollars and the pattern was small enough for 1/12th scale. Also, it is very barn-y. I tried to keep the pattern straight, sort of. It worked out better than I planned for, since I know only that I know nothing about a fabric bias etc...

The instructions were easy enough to follow, but when I have a hiatus from crafts for any length of time I get nervous. I checked and double checked all of the pieces. I carefully thought about the reverse pattern and which side was outside. I marked the patterns and in the end, glued the fabric to the wrong side of the arm pieces. Luckily, since the left and right sides were mirror images of each other, I was able to swap them.

Thank goodness for gluing jigs!

With the pieces of the sofa finished, now it was time to make throw pillows! I purchased this little Singer Stitch Sew Quick on Amazon for around $10.00. I thought it would be perfect for little mini projects, and not take up as much space as my grandma's full sized sewing machine that's up in our attic.

I honestly tried to learn how to use it for 2 hours! I watched YouTube videos! I really, really tried. It is worth about what I paid for it, if only for the extra bobbins, thread, and the reminder that you get what you pay for. I'll soon be dusting off grandma's machine. Then, I'll be calling to her somewhere in her eternal paradise to please, please come help me figure it all out again. It's been a long, long time since I made Ande his Super Ande cape. He's 26 now. He was 3 then.

These little sofa pillows are going to have to be hand sewn.

I actually enjoyed the hand sewing part. I had forgotten I used to spend hours cross stitching in my early married days. Before we had TV and it was a 45 minute drive to "town". There were only five, so no big deal.

As the piping was drying on the pillows, I started to assemble then stain the sofa base. I was almost not going to use it, opting instead for legs of some creative sort for a barn. I found, though, that with the red gingham fabric, I actually liked the old fashioned look of them.

I am very happy with the finished result. You can hardly see the blood stain. Another lesson; Don't clean glue off of you new and razor sharp fabric scissors with your thumb. Blessing #1 - it's not white silk. Blessing #2 - If anyone ever needs my DNA...

The rest of the day was spent on finishing the little side table, making books and magazines, and gathering up the other little decor details I'll need to make. I'll post photos of the finished room when it all comes together. Now I just hope I find the window trim pieces I misplaced!