Trying something new

There had been a lot of talk about people making spiral staircases on the Greenleaf Forum and I thought, why not? I gave it a shot, and this is what I came up with. I will probably use it on one of the many many kits I have lying about. :) Or in the fling. Not sure.

Here it is: Houseworks ballasters, a dowel with straw spacers, basswood steps, fun beads for decor and tiny silver chain. It was a lot of fun and next time, it could use a little bit of tweaking...

Remember to tell me what you think!

Minis from Roma!!

I recently participated in a swap over at Dale's Dreams and I got my package from Sonya not long after Mother's Day. You can check her stuff out here at her blog. Too cute!

I was happy to get such a well packaged gift. I always worry about mini's traveling, but these made it quite safely. Sonya sent me a cute little blue and yellow basket with goodies in it that I totally love! The bottles are so cute and shabby, but totally realistic. I love it and I can't wait to eventually set them up in the Highland. ♥

She also sent me a Rome souveniour kit, that from what I gather, is based off of stuff from a movie? Correct me if I am wrong Sonya. :)

It includes a table poster, a box, a bunch of teeny postcards, a book and... a tiny VESPA!!! I love it! What fabulous little minis. Thank you so much Sonya!

Now check out this fabulously tiny postcard! I think they will all have to be pasted around a mirror along with other Italian memories. ;)

I used directions from Ann over at Amazing Miniatures to make a photobox to take pictures of these. Go over there to check out this awesome, totally helpful post about making your own box at home to take fabulous pictures. :)

Mini's mini's everywhere!

Since I can't share what I have been working on for the Spring Fling (Top Secret!) I thought I would share our littlest mini members of the family and the swap I did with Dale of Dale's Dreams. :) Don't want to leave you guys hanging forever!!

Please meet Thing 2 and That One. They are Cayce and Charlie's turtles- yellow bellied sliders, to be exact. They are teeny and great! We wanted to get them pets, but nothing that was really high maintenance or that involved a crochety nocturnal animal. We settled on these and figured we would work up to a dog later down the road. Cayce picked their names. On this particular day, we took them outside so they could stretch their legs and bask in the sunlight a bit. They are really quick for such tiny little dudes! As hatchlings, they are only 2.5" inches from nose to tail. Too cute!

As for the swap, I was to trade with Cecilia Colo. This was my second time sending something out of the country (she is in Mexico) and what a pain! The postal service here is quite redundant! I had to fill out a customs form with her name, address and declaration of contents which they then stick to the package. THEN I had to write it AGAIN on the package itself, even though they just stuck the sticker with it on there on the package. *Rawrg* It was quite aggravating. (Only because, I feel, foreign addresses are a bazillion miles long!)

So there was a rant.... unintentional, but there... I ended up sending her three things, two of which were mini and one thing that was life size, but still small by normal standards.

I sent her a 6x6 painting that I did and a mini replica of it, along with a pink and purple quilt that I made. I forgot to get pictures of that though. :/ Oops. For now, here are the paintings!

Jamming and Mudding

Last weekend, we took the boys to go see Monster Jam in Ocala, FL. They had so much fun, even though it was in the 90's and there were no clouds/breeze/shady areas. Cayce got his Grave Digger truck signed and we had the driver sign Charlie's shirt. They even got to ride in a truck!!!







Yesterday, we took the boys out to their great-grandma's house for Easter Sunday. They got to hunt for eggs, ride on four wheelers and play in the mud. So much fun!







I am hoping to get in a bunch of mini-time soon this week and some this weekend. Then it is back to the grind for two weeks as I prepare for my big boy to turn 4 years old!

Abstract Flinging

Here's a peek at what is going on with my Spring Fling....


How much do I love that paper?!?! A ton! But wait until you see what I did with it. :D

That's all I can share for that right now. The rest would give stuff away. I can say, that I built something for it for the very first time and I love how it turned out. It was a lot easier in some aspects and harder in others. Can't wait to share more when the deadline passes!!!

Lookie, Lookie!!!

So, yesterday, I managed to get a hold of a friends camera for a few minutes and I thought I would show you the explosion of inspiration I had last week. These paintings rock! A few of them need to be recreated in *real* life size for my house. :D I think painting in mini is so much easier though. Which is odd, since most people would think it's the other way around. I find I have an easier time putting detail into these teensy weensy paintings. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that my hands haven't been super steady since I had Cayce. Sucky carpel tunnel syndrome. Rawwwrrrrg!

Alright, so make sure you click on the photo so you can see the awesomeness a bit better. Her camera wasn't sophisticated enough to take good quality photos for etsy, so these will be going into a box until I can get a camera. :)









This one is my favorite. :)

Busy, Behind and Preparing to FLING!!!

I have fallen so behind on blogging! I do apologize to all of you. I know, when friends of mine don't blog for a while it can feel as though you are suffering from withdrawals. But when they finally do, OH THE JOY!!!!

Anywho, my time had been mostly taken up with the fact the my tiniest baby just turned one year old on St. Patrick's Day. *Cheers* This is a big deal for any parent, but I fall into that neurotic category where everything is HUGE and epic with the fun. :) This meant I ridiculously huge party with family, friends and playgroup pals. We didn't really do anything the day of his birthday, but hang out with one of his besties. Friday was spent doing last minute prep for the party that was on Saturday; this meant buying lots of green things. The only unfortunate event was that lots of our friends came down with what we referred to as The Playgroup Plague (more commonly known as rotovirus). It's a highly contagious GI virus and is just awful to witness in tiny one year old kids. Even with that going on, the party was a smash. Charlie got all sorts of fun outdoor toys to play with and he even got a picnic table. (There is nothing cuter than seeing two tiny little boys sharing lunch at a pint sized table!)

His smash cake was a ridiculous success! That winning shot you always want to catch the baby in-hands full of cake and icing smeared on their face-he was all over it!

So where are the pictures?! Sadness in my world of being picture-happy-Mommy and miniaturist extraordinaire, a child that is not mine busted my camera the week before. :( Until I can get a new one, there will be no new postings on Etsy, or fun mini updates, or pictures of my adorable kidlets. It's very sad. However, my sister was at the party and she took umpteen zillion pictures and is sending them to me on a disc.... actually, *discS*. And for the day after the party, when we took the boys to the zoo (eeeeeee!!!!) we borrowed one from James' mom. So, the important family stuff is covered. :)

The upside to no camera is that I won't be tempted to share what I am working on, which is good since I will be starting on my entry for the Greenleaf Spring Fling 2011, that is, if it EVER gets here!!!!! I ordered all my components a week ago and they have yet to be shipped... I wouldn't be so upset about it, but this is the prime time for me to get some work done on it since I have the week off (Spring Break). I am itching to get started on it! I even cleaned up the work room, which was no easy task since it had turned into a dumping ground of sorts whilst I was busy with birthday plans. Speaking of which, I need to get started on the plans for Cayce's birthday. He is getting a dinosaur theme and he is so excited!

I will share pictures of the birthday and zoo trip as soon as the discs get here (hopefully today). And if you hope to see pictures of mini's, you can always contribute to a new camera fund by buying stuff from my etsy shop!!!!! *hint, hint* And I take custom orders!

Later taters!