miniatures — Page 65

And Just Like That…

May 25, 2016 at 9:09 am by Claudia

And just like that, summer is here. Today the temp is going to reach 89° and the next two or three days will reach 90°. Plus, we’re headed into about a week or so of rain and thunderstorms, starting on Friday.

Not quite ready for summer.

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We went to our local nursery yesterday to buy our hanging plants for the porch. I also bought some geraniums for the whiskey barrels and the lantanas, sweet potato vine, and dracaena for the galvanized tub that sits on the Funky Patio.

Having gardened here since 2005, the perennial gardens are now well established and I don’t have to spend money adding plants every year (this is why I love perennial gardening.) The modest amount of money I spend is on a couple flats of impatiens for the pots (that I recycle every year) on the porch, some plants for the galvanized tub and the whiskey barrels, and a couple of hanging plants (scaevola) for the porch. I overwintered the hanging geranium from last summer, so I saved money there. I don’t change out my hanging pots during the summer – I buy plants that I know will last through the season. The scaevola is gorgeous and it lasts until the first frost, as do the impatiens, which I often overwinter.

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Getting the scaevolas from the nursery always seems to mark the beginning of porch sitting for me. They look so beautiful hanging on the porch.

Don: Stop Here.

In TSP news, a guitar that I ordered arrived in the mailbox yesterday.

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It’s the one on the right. The guitar on the left was given to me by Barbara. I liked it so much that I was determined to order another version by the same Etsy seller, LA LittleArtist, who lives in The Netherlands.

They are beautifully made.

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These look so much more realistic than any I’ve seen available commercially. And if I’m shooting for realism in the TSP, then there must be at least 3 guitars hanging around. After all, Don has about 4 or 5 of them upstairs in our office.

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We just moved this chair up to the office. We had to do some chair maneuvering when we bought the vintage chair on Sunday. At some point, we’d like an easy chair in this space, but for now, this will do. It’s actually remarkably comfortable. (The painting is an oil done by my father.)

Happy Wednesday.

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TSP: Cowboys & Chairs

May 22, 2016 at 9:16 am by Claudia

Don: Keep Out!

It seems to be a weekend for TSP posts. What can I say? Things arrive in the mail and I get excited. Kits arrive in the mail and I finally have time to make them.

First up, the item that I couldn’t photograph yesterday morning.

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It’s still a challenge, but here it is. This is from MiniMyEye on Etsy. The owner of this shop uses postage stamps as art and frames them. This is a Middle Eastern stamp with a lithograph by Frederick Remington: The Cavalry Officer. Perfect for the Top Secret Project. Don has a fondness for the westerns we used to watch on television when we were kids; Wagon Train, Bonanza, The Rifleman (my personal favorite), etc.

Cool, right?

I spent yesterday morning putting together two kits that I purchased for this project. They are from feYerwerks on Etsy. I initially clicked on the shop to look for something else (which I found) but when I got there, I saw these kits. And I had to have them. (I’m getting another one for Hummingbird Cottage.)

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Yes. Don is going to get an Adirondack chair/rocker in his house before we get a life-sized one here at the cottage. (I won’t even go there.)

Isn’t this neat? These kits are laser cut from MDF. This is an exact replica of the Loll Designs modern version of the Adirondack Chair – ferYerwerks is an authorized reseller of the miniatures.

There aren’t any instructions included, which left me wondering how the heck to put this together. But when I messaged the seller, he sent me photos of the steps involved and it all made sense.

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I also made the chair.

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Oh my goodness. These are adorable.

I’m going to paint them, but I haven’t decided on a color yet. In the meantime, here’s where they are going to reside.

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And another shot.

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Interesting view inside the studio: mini chair, life-sized chair and cabinet. When worlds collide.

I am so tickled by these chairs. I really love the chance to make something from a kit. It feels a bit more like my creation, though I obviously didn’t create and design the various parts.

The kits are very well designed, by the way.

Sigh. I had such fun making these.

We took a two-mile trail walk yesterday on a gray day, where it looked like it could rain any minute, but never did.

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Things are so lush and green around here.

Happy Sunday.

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What Next?

May 21, 2016 at 9:08 am by Claudia

I ended up being at rehearsal for most of the afternoon yesterday. I really appreciated the opportunity to speak to the actors one-on-one because sometimes distance or lack of time means I have to email my notes to them. This was much better! I got home around 7:15 and had dinner with Don. But I was really tuckered out after too little sleep the night before, so I hit the bed early.

A couple of things came in the mail while I was away: one for the TSP, one for me. I shot some quick photos this morning but I’m going to have to wait on a photo of the addition to the TSP because it was just too dark. Hopefully, tomorrow.

For me, for a future project:

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This chair.

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It’s from the Etsy shop of Alices Miniatures. It came all the way from England. Alice makes wonderful furniture and other minis and her work is beautifully done. I hope to collect more of it in the future.

Perfect little chair in which to read a good book, don’t you think? I’d like a real size version of it in our office!

Some of you have been asking me about what I’m thinking of for my next project. I have some ideas. It will be eclectic modern, I think. I’m not sure whether I will use the Loft that I got from Target – I tend to want to use that to stage photos of minis. I used it for the photos in today’s post.

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(Photo from MIAIMminiatures)

My dream is to buy one or two of the MiPads from MIAIM Miniatures in England. They are very modern in design and you can buy a floor at a time, so you can build your house slowly. Right now, Elaine Shaw, the designer, has four sections of the MiPad available. But they are expensive, so I’d have to save my pennies.

I love the idea of the MiPads and the clean white palette, which would give me all sorts of decorating options. Elaine’s story is very interesting – she had the concept for these individual pads and funded it through a Kickstarter campaign. You might want to check out her site. She also sells them on Etsy.

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(Photo from the Greenleaf site.)

The other project I have in mind is to tackle a Greenleaf kit that I’ve had around here for several years. It’s the Fairfield dollhouse which is in ½ scale rather than 1″ scale. I’m not especially enamored of the smaller furniture available for ½ scale – it’s hard to get believable and/or intricate detail – but building the house would be a challenge, much more complicated than the TSP, and I’ve been looking at a lot of finished Fairfields lately. Plus, it would take up a lot less room in this small cottage! I can only have so many dollhouses. I think that’s also why I like the MiPads. I can play with them and configure them and I wouldn’t be locked into one finished, permanently wallpapered design, if that makes sense.

I’ve been doing a lot of research online because I want to start a new project soon. The TSP just needs a few additions, and it’s done. Actually, it will be done well before the June 24th deadline!

Now you know what’s been swirling around in my head lately.

Happy Saturday.

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And Just Like That…

TSP: Cowboys & Chairs

What Next?

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

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