Re-exploring Key West

Saturday, April 20, 2013

Kits and more Kits

I am one of those people who is aways afraid that a good kit will get away from me.   How do you fight that fear.   Buy the kits as you see them.   Well, even I was forced to admit that it was getting out of hand, so here goes my really good attempt at getting them worked out to a manageable amount.  

Pamela S. Junk did a clock kit a few months ago.   I blogged about it Here   As I said on that post, I already had furniture so I didn't use the furniture Pamela had included in her kit.   Well, I knew it would be cute, and I had to finish it.   Here it is.   I put a silver collection in the corner hutch.   I don't know where it will be used, but it will be used.  


 
I also bought a couple dolls from Pamela Junk through  her Etsy Store and with the little dolls came this little kit for little doll houses.   Aren't they cute.   The large one is slightly over 1 inch tall.  
The following little dresses on hangers were by Georgia Matuschak and I got them from The Mustard Seed.   Very cute.  


These are 3 kits for Party Dresses.     From Ginger Landon Siegel.   Very cute
 
These were in a package of 6 -  1/4 " clothing Kit and said it was by Georgia and copyrighted in 1996.   I only made up 3 of them. 



Now we are getting into one inch scale.   Everything before this point will be used in quarter scale scenes.  These were by Kaye Meldrum.   They are really cute. 
The back view.  
 
Watermelon Basket by Arlene Dennis.   Very cute and the picture reveals I need another coat of paint on the inside or fill it with stuff.   Probably will fill it with stuff, because I love stuff. 

 
Victorian Glove by Bonnie Lavish.   Very cute and very easy to make.  



Tea boxes by Stephanie Engeseth, SandSFurniture.com    I will use them in the tea shop I am planning. 


Butcher Block by Keith Long.   I've had this kit for what seems like forever.   I am planning on doing a meat market and this will be a central point.  
I can't resist anything Raggedy Ann and thought this yarn kit would be great in the Raggedy Shop I am planning.  This kit and the one that follows were by Dorothy Hawley of Monroe WA
Another knitting set for my Raggedy Shop


Bell Collection Shelves.   Two sets.   These are by Donna Jacques.

I bought these because my mom played in the bell choir at her church for many years before she was admitted to a nursing home.   I will probably use these in my antique shop.  

I've tried to give credit to all the creators of the kits.   Many of them don't have addresses, phone numbers or email addresses.   Some I've had for years, but I am making progress at getting them worked down.   Probably have several more batches to get completed.   

It's fun getting them ready to use.  

Friday, April 19, 2013

Aren't Birthdays Wonderful

I love birthdays, mine and others! I know many people who claim not to celebrate birthdays.   What a waste.   Celebrating birthdays sure beat the alternative.
 
Today is my birthday.   I participate in a Birthday Swap with Swap Shop Yahoo Group every year.   We get to list our first 3 choices of things we want and in what scale and all the other participants make, buy, deplete their stash with things that fit our requirements.   All swaps are mailed to a central point way before the end of the year and they are sorted and mailed back before your birthday.   I actually exercised some restraint to not open the box until today.   With my last cup of coffee, why don't you settle back and enjoy the celebration too.
 
Fern:
 
Ann:

 
Leslie

 
Joanne


Adrian


Wendy
 
Alicia

 
Linda


Barb


 Barb M
 Bonita
 Audrey
 Theresa
Nicole
 
 
I sure got a lot of great goodies.   Now I don't have to wait on some of the shops I want to do.   
 
Thanks to all the participants.   This was a wonderful swap!!!!

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Little Table Settings

I love setting a pretty table.   I like them in real life and I like them in miniature.   I talked Swap Shop miniature group into doing a table scape swap a couple years ago and blogged about it HERE.   Well I talked it up again and we recently completed another swap.   Unfortunately we had 6 sign up and only 5 participate, but a really great group of 5 finished projects.  

 The five finished pieces.  


 What a lovely spring setting.   Wouldn't this be great for a catch-up visit with an old friend.
 Ready to celebrate St Patrick's day.  
 I absolutely love the way the cloth is draped through the center of the table.  
 Lunch in the woods.  
 My six tablescapes.   I love the draped clothes and sunflowers are always one of my favorites. 
 Close up of the tablescape


Really a fun swap.   I have started doing lots of quarter scale.   Might have to try a swap of quarter scale tablescapes in that scale.  


All the above tablescapes are in 1 inch = 1 foot scale.   

Friday, April 5, 2013

Quarter Scale Market Stall - NAME Region E 3

Do you live in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina and Tennessee. Do you belong to NAME?    I do and Marie Bird asked me to be her swap coordinator for this region.   Not fully understanding how much work was involved, I said yes.   Don't regret it, and really getting into this.    I thought I would show you what I did with the items in the First quarter scale swap we did in this region.  
 
I thought we needed to do quarter scale in addition to 1/12 scale and had a really good response.
 
We had 7 participants and really interesting items.   I had purchased the stall itself on some online sale.    You will note baskets, pumpkins, cookies, cakes, flowers, fruit.  
A better picture for a different angle. 

 More pumpkins and a sale sign.
 A picture of the back.   The 3 golds jars were not in the swap but I thought they looked like canning jars.   Also lots of cakes.  
 Look at the dime.   That shows the scale of things.


Now you are asking yourself why am I photographing the bottom of the scene.   Because it is on clear plastic.   You can add or subtract from a bigger  scene.   It doesn't block the grass or brick that it might be setting on.   If you want to add more stuff, it is easy to take out of a scene to work on.      Really a nice idea for kids building blocks, and other things that make a mess if you have to glue each piece.  
 
The 1/12 scale market stall, coming soon.  

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Four Seasons in cheap frames

Besides miniatures, I love yard and garage sales.    Several years ago I went to a sale and the woman of the  house went inside and when I asked her husband what price for the frames, he said $2. (25 cents each).   Well, who can resist a bargain.   Didn't know what I was going to do with them but eventually I decided the rectangular ones would be fireplace scenes revolving around things that would symbolize the seasons of the year.

I built the boxes, applied the hinges and waited until real inspiration hit.   As I would find things I thought would be great I put them in their respective boxes.   This week when my inspiration is overflowing, I decided to finish up these projects. 

Here are the boxes  



 
Now building things is certainly not my long suit, but they looked pretty good.  
 
Here are the boxes with wallpaper and ceiling papered. 
 
 Spring:
 
Spring should be light and airy.   I believe this room conveys that feeling.  
 The bowls of Tulips was the inspiration for this room. 
 Summer:
 
Summer is red, white and blue.   Lazy Days of summer.  


 Fall:
 
Boo - fall is pumpkins and Halloween.  
 Don't you love the little trick or treaters above.   They are so cute.   I bet they get lots and lots of candy.  

 
 
 
Winter:   When I think winter, I think Christmas.   I decorate early and leave everything up for a long time.  
 
 

 
I've had absolutely no inspiration for the fireplace in the room.   Might fill it with poinsettias or build a fire.   Probably plants because the little fair haired boy is too close and his candy might melt. 

 
 
 I am so happy these little boxes turned out as well as I thought they would.   Generally that is not the case.   So much fun to have a project come together.