Tasha's Kitchen - Spring Planting

This was an exciting week of work on Tasha's Kitchen because I was finally able to begin working on some of the accessories! Hooray! I thought since I had one last exterior task - filling the flower box, that starting with the mini plants and flowers made sense.

Tasha's favorite flowers are all the blue ones, so in the flower box I made delphiniums, hydrangeas and forget-me-nots all from kits by SDK Miniatures. I think I have mentioned a number of times over the years how much I love Susan's kits!

I had enough hydrangea parts so that I could make up some "fresh cut" stems to display in the kitchen, too. Since the stems are going to show in the vase, I made an attempt at making them look more like stems and less like floral wire. I did this by making Tacky Glue bumps where cut off branches and leaves would be, thickening the stems with Mod Podge, painting the stem green and then adding a glazing medium with a little brown over the top. I'm still a little gun shy with the epoxy, but I'll find my bravery and add "water" to the vase soon enough.

Every home chef loves fresh ingredients, so it's pretty handy when you grow fresh herbs right in your kitchen. I had left over leaves from SDK Miniatures Herb Kits that I'd gotten when I did the Storybook Cottage's kitchen. I colored them with several shades of Ranger Alcohol Ink and then glued them to 30 gauge floral wire.

I had some tiny and cute Braxton Payne terra cotta pots but thought an herb tray would be a nice way to display them. I couldn't decide between making a set with it's own uniquely shaped pots or using the terra cotta pots and making just the tray. I decided to design and print both kinds!

In the end I went with the terra cotta in the Herb Tray to introduce more color and texture into the kitchen. Blue and white will only take you so far. :O)

Not sure yet if I'll paint the tray, glaze it or leave it be. What do you guys think?

Mint, Rosemary, Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Sage

The final detail I worked on this week has another family story behind it. Since about 2012, Brent's (Tasha's Fiancé) dad Shawn has lived nearby and become a regular member of the family, attending holiday gatherings and the like. He is so sweet, and so thoughtful and never arrives empty handed. One year, he brought me a beautiful orchid. Now, you'd think I would have been so happy but I was petrified! Me + Plants = certain death! I was so worried that I was going to kill Phyl (that's what we call him)! But luckily, Tasha agreed to take Phyl, learn all about what he needed and keep him alive. She has done this beautifully for years now! Here's the most recent photo...

Isn't he pretty! Well, Tasha's kitchen project just wouldn't be complete without a mini Phyl. SDK didn't have a Phalaenopsis orchid kit, but Mary Kinloch did! It came with a laser sheet of the three kinds of petals that it takes to make the orchid's blooms. The instructions tell you what other supplies you need such as floral wire, embroidery floss, matte gel medium and Japanese rice paper for the leaves. I also looked at photos of orchids online to try to make mini Phyl look more authentic.

Sample Orchid Found Online

Here's my Phyl. I think I did a pretty good job. Though I did not have as vibrant a pink as the real Phyl, I did make a bamboo stake using a toothpick and air roots made with some weird moss, paint and Mod Podge. I am pretty proud of my mini Phyl and the best part is I don't think he's at any risk of my murderous ignorance or neglect!

I hope all of you were able to get your hands in some soil this week, too! Whether the mini kind or the real thing, it's wonderful to enjoy a little nature! 

Back next week with more accessories! Yippee!!!

xo xo,

Jodi

Tasha's Kitchen: Just Read The Signs

It all started with a need to cover the wiring on the back of Tasha's room box and a need to store all of the tiny décor and seasonal items that go with her kitchen when they are not in use. A menu board sign seemed perfect, especially if I could find a way to attach a few spice tins. They would provide a safe storage solution and fit great with the theme.  I wanted to make the entire back surface a framed magnet sheet, but none of the magnetic sheets I tried were strong enough to hold the tins. :o(  Instead, my solution was to epoxy magnets to the spice tins and affix corresponding ones to the menu board. Not completely ideal, but still a good, functional compromise.

Unfortunately, I made my first attempt at a menu board with scrap oak that Russ brought home for me. Waste not want not and all of that. They were 4" widths, so I just cut them to length and then laminated them together. 

It looked fine with the frame painted blue and a chalkboard finish for the main body. I added Cricut Vinyl lettering to make it look like a chalkboard sign. Things were going well until I decided to seal it by pouring epoxy over it. This was not my idea - I learned about it on a YouTube video. I should have known not to trust it - they only talked about using the epoxy and did not show a demonstration. That should have been a sign.

At first, I poured the epoxy over the top of the sign and tried to move the board around to spread it. That was not going well because it was pretty thick. I got out the blow dryer and tried heating the epoxy to help it flow better. It still didn't want to cover the whole board evenly. Attempting to get it into the corners, other areas spilled over the frame. By the time I admitted it was a disaster, I was a sticky mess! Sticky and frustrated. :o(

I let it sit to cure overnight hoping for a miracle. But no. When it cured, areas of the epoxy separated and left big gaps. It did not pool evenly, and the menu board was fit only for the trash bin. What a lesson to learn the hard way: pouring epoxy is just not my forte! 

This is how it looked after it had cured.

Meanwhile, during the drama, Tasha mentioned over the phone that she needed a coat rack by her front door. She loves the one that Russ and I made when we bought the house. I got the inspiration for it from the Pottery Barn catalog, although mine holds family photos and no coats. I needed a non mini distraction to lick my sticky wounds, so what a wonderful opportunity to make something for her!

She loves all things octopus, diving and sailing, so her house has quite a few décor things with a nautical theme. I found this inspiration coat rack online and then asked Russ to find and cut some scrap lumber for me.

Inspiration Photo

Russ always has the perfect scraps! That's one nice thing
about being married to a hoarder, lol!

It was also lucky that I had a couple jars of chalk paint in my stash that hadn't dried out. They were the perfect beach-y colors for the project. I painted the boards, then sanded to make them look weather distressed.

I found some cute boat cleat and ship anchor hooks on Amazon...

And then added vinyl lettering made on the Cricut. It's about 30" wide.

We're going to deliver and hang it for her this coming weekend. Since it's nothing like mine, I hope she likes it anyway! If not, I'll just have to make her another one, more like mine. :O)

Ande just happened to be here when we were finding the materials. He and Lex made dinner for us - homemade chicken enchiladas! So delicious! I asked him if he needed a coat rack, too. He pointed out that in their loft condo, they really didn't have much wall space. Glad I asked! But he said they did need a place to hang their keys. Apparently, they forget where they set them and lose them quite often! So for them, I made a key holder. :O)

Lex likes fall colors, and I had a lot of them on hand to choose from. Luckily, I was also able to find every piece of wood and trim I needed from my scrap bins. I guess I'm a bit of a hoarder, too!

The wall where their key holder will be hung is painted with chalk paint, so I included a set of liquid chalk markers and a space to store them. Now they can write reminders or love notes to one another!

I added some Cricut lettering, too, with a message and their names. Thug Rose (Rosie) is their puppy. It's so wonderful to be able to make something that will help the kids in some small way!

Believe it or not I am working on yet another "sign" project, This time with our address. You see, when the builder for our development was assigned addresses for the lots, our house was intended to face the cul-de-sac on 200th. Because of the model of house we chose (more wide than long), they turned the house clockwise to the west to better fit the lot. Even though we are on the corner, the front door faces 19th. This leads to much confusion, especially for Door Dash drivers. Even a FedEx driver was so confused that he returned a package back to the distribution center.  We have lived here for 13 years, but this has only recently become an issue. What to do? Create a sign for the side of the house where the front door should be. We need to assist these poor, overworked but very appreciated delivery folk however possible! Russ constructed the boards and trim, and I printed the numbers with the 3D printer. I have already primed the wood, but this weekend I will put a few good coats of exterior enamel on it. Then I can epoxy the address to the sign and hopefully get it hung. I should probably order Door Dash, too, just to make sure it's working, lol! 

And after these successful attempts at sign making, I was ready to try a second menu board for Tasha's Kitchen. This time, I used a solid piece of plywood and Patricia Nimock's Matte Varnish spray instead with perfect results.

I also had a little time to make a flower box for under the window. It attaches with magnets, as well, so it can be easily changed out. I hope to make more of them in the future with flowers for every season. For now, I'll just work on having this one filled with Tasha's favorite flowers for her birthday in July. 

In spite of the disaster, the week turned out to be fun, productive and successful. And we were able to give the kids a little love! Life is good if you just read the signs!

xo xo,

Jodi

Tasha's Kitchen - Wired and Ready!

It's truly a delightful feeling when you finish something complicated! At first, the task seems overwhelming. There are so many things to be done, so much could go wrong! And yet, step by step you go forward, slowly making progress until, finally, success! I'll start with a photo of Tasha's Kitchen with the lights and roof on. That was a big part of this week's goal, and in spite of a major setback to one aspect of my plan, this part came to pass wonderfully!

To get to this milestone moment, there was a lot of chicken or egg decisions to be considered. The plan was to have all of the wiring meet together under the house in the crawl space, then be joined together to a plug receptacle positioned to be accessed in the back of the room box.

Cabinet, under cabinet and fridge light wires.

Cabinet & Fan Light Wires

Receptacle Plug

All of the can lights and the three pendant lights had the wiring running up through the roof. Before they could be joined to the others in the hub, the roofing had to be finished and then the roof attached to the room box. All nine wires were consolidated into two strands which ran through a hole drilled between where the fascia board and back room box wall would be.

Can Light and Pendant Light Wires

Consolidated Wires Coming Thru Holes Between Fascia And Back Wall

Ceiling Wires All Tidied Up And Taped Down

Here's a photo of what the hub looks like after all the wires had been run, spliced and joined to the plug receptacle wire.

With the ceiling lights tidyied up, I was able to start the roofing. The kit came with strips of shingles that were made out of some very nice wood. This kit has been such a treasure and so enjoyable to work on! I was two strips short - the instructions said there should have been 30 and I only had 28. Luckily, because of the skylights, I ended up with 1-1/2 extra strips! The kit also included the ridge cap.

I applied the strips with hot glue. Some of you might gasp, but today's hot glue formulas are not the stuff of dollhouse horror stories from the 80's and 90's. Modern hot glue has a lot more holding power, and unless you are going to lift a dollhouse by it's shingles, it works amazingly well for dollhouse roofing. Your shingles will likely break before the hot glue fails. It makes shingle application so fast, as there is virtually no drying time. Other benefits are that it does not curl the wood, excess glue is easily removed and so staining post application is possible (unlike with many wood glues if any gets on the shingles) and there are no health risks from noxious fumes.

Once the strips were on, I painted a couple base layers in black.

To add a little asphalt texture, I mixed a small amount of regular beach sand with black paint. I applied a little to each shingle with a paint brush. The finer the sand, the finer the final texture. 

Once the shingles were finished, I was able to attach the roof and finish the wiring. I had 5 strands of wires running down the back of the room box. I drilled holes into the foundation to the crawl space where they met up at the hub.

And here you see the transformer wire plugged into the receptacle where it sits in the foundation.

It was such a joy to finish the wiring job, plug in the transformer wire, press the button for power and have every single light work as intended! Here is the inside of Tasha's Kitchen lit up and ready for her to begin "cooking"! Well, as soon as I put all of the cooking equipment in, of course. :O)

I did make some tremendous progress on the back panel, but the last step ended in disaster. I was truly  disheartened overnight, but realized the next morning that everything I'd done could be done again. And I learned a valuable lesson about what not to use epoxy for, in spite of YouTube recommendations.

Next week, I have optimism about how I'll share that, in spite of a major setback, the back panel came to a successful conclusion!

Have a wonderful and creative week, my friends!

xo xo,

Jodi