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!

And Then The Flu Happened...

Uh huh... and it was all going so well! I won't bore you with the long and painful story. Suffice to say we are alive and breathing. Nearly three weeks have gone by but I am starting to resume normal life again... I truly hope that all of you had a much better ending to 2016 than I! I hope to be reassured of this as I go back and catch up on all of the posts and happenings that I missed!

Because the hubs and son were working out of town for most of December, and because The Flu Happened, we will be observing Christmas (and all fall/winter birthdays)with our closest family on January 14th. Hey! Better late than never, right? But party prep and planning are in full swing here, so the minis have been demoted to the end of the priority list.

 Let me just tease you with a few up-to-date photos of the cookbook projects and tell you that many new and exciting developments are afoot in my mini world and I can't wait to share it all! Soon, very soon!

Mine...

Tasha's...

Hope to see you all back here the week of January 16th! Until then, I hope you are all well and off to an exciting 2017, too!