A Nod to My Scottish Heritage

I had the opportunity to attend an online tutorial at CDHM yesterday - a kilt or skirt in 1/12th scale. I made the kilt out of a 2nd hand cloth napkin (a very recent find at a thrift store - I got three mismatched napkins for 25 cents!) After I finished the kilt, I got to thinking, I do have a doll who could model it. He's not exactly Rob Roy, so I decided to make him a shirt. Then a sash seemed appropriate. And what about the sporran? A fingertip from an old leather glove, a bit of tassell from another cloth napkin and one button later - ta da!  (Kilts lack pockets, thus the guys have a sporran.)  I'm pleased with the result. DH says I should make a tam. I'm still thinking about that... 

Toodles for now!

Cyndy

A New Scale for Me

I've recently started making half inch scale miniatures. Here are some half inch scale breads - bagged and unbagged. There's soda bread, Easter bread and a baguette.

I am still working in one inch scale as well - here's a selection of mini breads in one inch and half inch scale.

Hope your weekend is a good one - after some glorious sunny days, we've got rain...

Toodles! Cyndy

It's Here!

My Greenleaf Spring Fling house has arrived! I'm not sure what possessed me - surely not the abundance of time on my hands - but I ordered the house and will be attempting to complete it in time for the 4th of July deadline. Wish me luck - I'm going to need it. Toodles! Cyndy

Color Green Swap

I belong to Swap Shop, a yahoo group for miniaturists. And I was able to participate in another swap recently, the "Color Green Swap". I enjoy swapping; it's always fun to see other people's creativity. I made sanseveria plants (also known as Mother-in-law's tongue or Devil's tongue) and a set of perfume/nail polish bottles in 1 inch scale. This group also does 1/4 scale swaps, but I haven't gotten brave enough for that. This photo shows all the goodies we each received. Many thanks to Lynne, Barbara M., Adrian, Leslie, Barb K., Audrey and Anamari. I hope they all enjoyed this swap as much as I did. I think Santa will get the rug for his bedroom, and the quill pen for his desk. Toodles! Cyndy

Here I am!

My apologies - I'm an awful blogger! I do have my excuses - I was unexpectedly ill in January for a couple weeks which included fainting, a split lip and severe dehydration. My thyroid has kept me running to the lab for bloodwork all year (and then the drugstore for a new Rx every 6 weeks...)

Work got busy after that - very busy! Which is a good thing when you're a real estate agent. It's a bad thing when you want to be creating minis.

Now that my daughter is settled in grad school, I hope to be able to devote more time here. I miss my minis! For the record, I'm not liking this empty nest. And she's a zillion miles away. Ok, I exaggerate a bit but she is a 6 hour drive away.

My Santa house looks pretty much the same. Though it has collected enough cobwebs to be in the running for a Halloween set up. I do have a new Santa doll. Love my thrift store bargains! The old Santa looks eerily enough like my DH that he's going to be put in the workshop vignette I'm creating for him.

I hope this finds everyone well. Drink your water! Take care - toodles for now!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Santa's House rehab continues. This is the second story wall in place. Santa's bedroom to left; his office to right at the head of the stairs.

First floor wall in place - living room to left; kitchen behind the wall. Neither wall has ever been permanently attached and I'm not sure exactly why. It's always frustrating to get things just so and then have a wall fall over.

An exterior shot showing some of the caulking I've done. Now I see lots of sanding in my future. I have laid in a supply of paint and found some baseboard in my stash. All in all the work has been plodding along. Now that the holidays are over, I hope to get more done. The past couple weeks have been hectic but I did get to visit with my Mom and one of my brothers in that time - haven't seen them in over two years. It was great to see them again.

Toodles til next time!

Cyndy

Vignettes Created in 2009

Not sure why the top photo is so tiny. It is the first vignette I made in Jan. 2009. This is a 25th anniversary gift for my sister and her husband. The chair and table are kits; everything else I created by hand. The walls are decorated with wedding photos from their big day, as well as our parents' and Joe's parents' weddings. A photo album on the chair has photos from their wedding day to the latest grandchild. A six pack of Joe's favorite beer rests on the floor. I'd have to say the champagne glasses were the most difficult to create. I made them from clay. Now that I know the splendors of lite brite pegs, the next time I need champagne flutes I'll carve clear pegs.

This is the vignette I created to commemorate my Mother in Law's 90th birthday in May. She loved it! The chest and chair are kits though my husband had to craft new legs for the chair - the originals were lost in my moves over the years. Thanks Jim! The wallpaper I've had forever and the rug is a printie.

And last, but not least, I created this vignette for my Mom's birthday in July 2009. She loves to garden and has quite the green thumb. I thought with this she could enjoy a touch of summer even when it's snowing outside. There's an inchworm in there! That was my first tree and I'm rather proud of it. There's a nesting robin in the tree and a cardinal. Two chickadees are bathing. The birdbath bowl is the bottom of a bubble gum machine ball. The fence is made from wooden stir sticks (thanks for the cafe raids, Meg!!) I hand painted the background to match the paper on the sides. On hindsight, I wish I had handpainted the sides as well.

All in all, I was very pleased to get these projects done. They were lots of fun. I have several more in the planning stages.

Toodles til later!

Cyndy