Another Great Giveaway!

Talented Eva from Spain makes darling minis and is offering a fantastic giveaway for one very lucky winner. Check it out! 

http://www.mini-escenas.blogspot.com/

Fun Giveaway to Enter

Hop on over to "Honey, I Shrunk the House" for a chance to win her groceries giveaway!
http://audrasminiatures.blogspot.com/2011/11/groceries-for-holidays.html

Making Cookies

A family tradition all my life has been homemade mincemeat cookies. We even make our own mincemeat (a vegan version). After making a batch for Thanksgiving, I realized I had never made them in miniature. Like writing, I think artists best work in "what they know" so here's my mini mincemeat cookies. Yum!

This is what I've been up to lately when not making minis. Oh those oak trees provided abundant shade during the summer, but there is a price to pay. I did get some great exercise. The dog likes lying in the piles of leaves!

Scrambled Eggs or a Turkey & Swiss Sandwich?

Hooray! My order of mini plates arrived from Thailand. I love them! And I had some dollhouse foods ready to plate up. 

First, I present to you a hot breakfast with scrambled eggs, toast and a half of an orange. The eggs are okay; I've been thinking of better ways to create them. Or maybe next time I'll just go for an omelet. 

If you're still hungry when lunch rolls around, have a fresh turkey submarine sandwich with swiss cheese, onions, lettuce and tomato. I've added some chips and dill pickle spears. Everything was made from polymer clay with the exception of the chips - they are dried bell pepper seeds.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend. Today I celebrate my 55th birthday but I'm still a kid at heart!  My husband and I will celebrate tonight at our favorite Indian restaurant (he turned 58 last Friday).

Toodles for now!

Special Commission Piece Arrived Safely At Its New Home

This is the special commission piece I did for a wonderful lady in SC.

Her dollhouse bathtub is slightly larger than 1" scale; I worked from a photo of her tub, her measurements and her color request.  Everything is clay with the exception of the posts holding the faucet pieces togethers. (They are made from common straight pins.)

I am pleased with the results though for a time I wondered if I would actually get it done. The faucets themselves were a challenge. But if we don't challenge ourselves once in a while, we'll never accomplish all we can.

Toodles!

Getting Settled In

I'm finally back!  The move from GA went rather well. According to Jim, the cats "sang" the entire trip. I just had to listen to the dog snoring in the back seat!  We weren't able to move into our rental house until the end of July - it was a long, hot month of scrubbing, painting, electric work, cleaning, etc. We've since gone back to GA twice since June for more stuff. (And could easily repeat the trip several more times...) The best part about the new place is I have a small room to use as an office/craft room!  I have shelving and peg board so I'm actually organized. It's great having my own private space to work in.

I have a new office to hang my Realtor hat in and I'm so happy to be part of the Fonville Morisey team! There's been extensive training and even though I'm not a brand new agent, it's been fantastic. I have learned a lot! 

I have a commission I'm working on - bath tub faucets and spout for a tub slightly over 1/12th scale. It's coming along. I'll post photos soon. It's a challenge! I've also signed up for my first swap in many months - potted flowers! Looking forward to doing this one - I love making mini flowers!

The hot hot summer weather seems to be leaving;  Fall weather is starting to settle in here.  I love it! 

Toodles!

So Many Things Going On!

Since my last post, a lot of things have happened. I changed offices to one where I'm much happier. I spent far too long hanging on at the last office; what's the point really, when you're not happy and you're not appreciated?  There's so much paperwork involved when you change real estate offices.

The biggest event will be in less than 9 days when my husband and I hit the road, caravan style, to move to the Raleigh NC area. Yes, we're moving! I am excited and nervous! We found a little house to rent at an agreeable price, we've got St. Joseph buried in the front yard (taking every little bit of help we can get in selling this place!) and we're taking the plunge. The job market while not perfect is much better than the dismal reality here.  He's driving his big work truck towing a trailer and I'll be driving the Subaru towing a small trailer. I need all the best wishes I can get having never really towed anything before.

We've been acclimating the dog to riding in the car. Other than the vet, we've never took Bluebell anywhere before; she's been getting a crash course in the past couple weeks. Bluebell is a big girl and she nearly takes up the entire back seat in the Subaru. My house is crammed with boxes - I've got the majority of the packing done. Jim has been getting the vehicles ready, and crafted a portable house for the cats.

Meghan, in the meantime, has just begun a summer job of house sitting. It includes an elderly dog and a cat so she's in heaven. We'll be joining her there for a week or so while the rental is gotten ready. Our heartfelt thanks to Roger, Silvia and family for this great opportunity. When we get up there, the first order of business will be moving her out of her apartment. So I won't be relaxing any time soon.

Sadly, the Spring Fling project has fallen by the wayside during all this. It will be done - my husband and I are still committed. It just won't be in time for judging in July. I'll be taking the project with us.  My clay is all packed already.

This is the lovely peninsula haven we're leaving behind in GA.

Toodles for now! Cyndy