A One Day Mini Vacation.....

This morning Walter and I went to the Mini Time Machinehttp://www.theminitimemachine.org/visit-us/ . It was his first time. He was impressed. He had seen the old, much smaller museum at Pat's house, so this one was a surprise to him. It is huge compared to the old one.

It doesn't seem possible, but tomorrow is the one year anniversary of the opening.

We are not allowed to take photos, but I did purchase three postcards for you to see.

This first picture is the rotunda in the center of the museum. It has a domed ceiling and the stars in the sky twinkle. It is really beautiful. From there you get to the other rooms of the museum.

People go in there and just stand looking into the ceiling. It's amazing.

The second postcard is of a German Kitchen that I restored for Pat. When it was shipped in, it was not in good shape. It had been stored in a damp place and one end of the floor was about three inches off of the table. Can you say "Warped!"? I managed to get it back to level with a lot of work. Some of the wallpaper was also water damaged and I had to re draw whole panels of the paper because there are no papers like that around anymore.

It is a beautiful little working kitchen, about Barbie scale.

The little sink on the left side has a reservoir on the outside wall and when filled with water, the sink works.

The stove is the real prize. It seems that they used to let kids put candles in the oven and actually "cook" things. There was still melted candles in the oven the had to be carefully removed. There are quite a few of these kitchens that have survived. We found out, in our research that, as a general rule, the children were only allowed to play with these at Christmas time and then they were put away for the rest of the year.

The last house that I will show you was the oldest and hardest to restore. It is called the Daneway House. It is from England and was built in 1775. It's a year older than the US of A!

Unfortunately, when Pat got it, it had 8 layers of various kinds of paint on it. They all had to be taken down, one layer at a time. I spent a lot of time with my head in rooms full of paint remover.....No comments about brain damage and talking to five inch witches. Please?

We did find out that the nanny in wealthy families used to hand the kiddies a can of paint and a brush and tell them, "Go paint the dollshouse." That would keep them busy for a while. The thing that kind of makes this sound like the truth is.....The newest layer of paint in the kitchen was lemon yellow poster paint. That stuff is the worst to remove!!! Who knows how long that had been on there. Milk paint was farther down in the layers. That was like iron. It took forever and a lot of elbow grease to get that off. When I got to the bottom of the story, I found that it had once been stained a mahogany color, so that is what we went with for the restoration.

The two fireplaces had traces of faux marble on the surrounds. I put that back where it belonged.

Everything that you see in the house came with it. The dolls are probably a bit later than the house. They are made with carved and painted wooden heads and the bodies are wire, wrapped with thread. Even the individual fingers are wrapped.

The silver on the second floor side table is just that. And it even has maker's stamps on it. It is contemporary with the house.

You can't really see them,but there is a full set of miniature volumes of Shakespeare in the left room downstairs. The paper is tissue thin and they can be read!

Anyway, that was our morning. We took separate cars and I went to the miniature store from there. Walter just called me. He went to the top of Mt. Lemon. No snow....No skiing either.

I knew that I was going to be in trouble when I got back....I was right.

Tessie is in a snit. "Why didn't I get to go to the museum?"

I answered,"Tessie, you have already been to the museum. I didn't think that you would want to go again." OK. So I lied through my teeth. And, "I did stop by the mini store and I brought you a gift."

"It's a mouse with prickly skin!" she wailed.

I had Zar explain hedgehogs to her....I am not sure that she is convinced that there is such a thing. She is warming up to it......Slowly.

I think that she is going to foist it off onto Zar to take care of. She's going back to Geraldo. He is more her style of pet.

I am going to go see what's what with the lights in the townhouse. Enough stalling.

See you tomorrow.

Vacation Time for Walter...And Thank You Kathi

I may not have as much time for minis this week. Walter is taking time off for a stay at home vacation. We plan to do movies and go to the Mini Time Museum this week.

I did manage to finish the zebra rug this morning. The trick to getting it straight is to have a T square or a 90° angle handy. I use my plastic T. Tessie and I pulled and pulled on diagonal corners until it was pretty square to the T.

Then I ironed it, face down on a soft pad. I didn't want to mash the stitches.

After that I smeared Fast Grab on all four edges, making sure that the edge stitches were covered, as well as the bare canvas outside. I let it dry and then cut off the edge right next to the outer row of stitches.....The first time you do this it is terrifying, but after a few times, you are still somewhat terrified, but know that the rug will lay better if you don't have to turn the edges under.
I still need to press it once more and make sure that all of the ends of canvas threads are blackened with a sharpie. I think it is going to work out quite well.....Now I am debating the ribbon chair. Trying to decide if it is too much zebra for one room.....Too matchy-matchy?

Meanwhile, when Walter and I got back from the movie, there was a package waiting. Kathi over at Beautiful Mini Blessings http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/ sent Tessie and I a care package. Just look at all of the goodies!!!

There is fabric, lace paper, beads and all sorts of goodies. Tessie is particularly thrilled because she now has a baby giraffe for her menagerie. She even got out of the new chair to play with him. She named him Geraldo. She has a thing about alliteration

What Kathi didn't know was....Mookie was the most thrilled of all! His favorite thing is a shipping box, especially one that is filled with plastic packing bubbles. As soon as I got everything out of the box, he spent 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get his whole body in the box.... He still hasn't succeeded.

I had trouble getting the last photo. He managed to get all of the bubble wrap out of the box. Then he decided that half a hiding place was better than none at all. The box is now under my chair and he is sleeping in it....Or I guess that I should say that half of him is sleeping in it.

After I am finished, I am going to go play with all of the new toys that Kathi sent. Thank you Kathi!!!!!

See you tomorrow.

Back to Square One......

I did accomplish one thing yesterday. I finished the stitching on the zebra rug! The only problem is, Mookie thinks it belongs to him. I am going to have to fight him for the right to block and finish it. He seems to think that it would make a good cat sized pillow.

This morning, I finally realized what is bothering me about the townhouse. NO CURTAINS! I am one for putting curtains in houses and so far, I have obliterated the available curtain space. Something is going to have to give.


Maybe that is why the bathtub ended up with a fancy curtain around it. The kitchen has those rounded windows. I made the poly clay surrounds for them....Now I really don't like them at all. They have to go. It needs curtains.


I did plan on curtains in the bedroom, but that is really the only other place that you can see them. They are way at the back of the room in a bay just like the kitchen. There are two long walls before you get to the bay.

Both of the halls have windows, but they will never be seen from inside the house. That makes for some pretty sterile rooms. Back to the drawing board.....In case you are wondering, Tessie says the same thing. At last we agree on something!

A couple of hours ago, I started installing the bathroom ceiling fixture. I hooked it and the hall spotlight to a transformer. All was good. There was light. Unfortunately, I decided to hook the workroom fixture into the mix. I forgot that there was a problem with that one the last time I tested it. I now have three lights that no longer work. I am afraid that I am going to have to replace all three bulbs. I tested the transformer with another light. It worked. I then tested each of the lights that formerly were working. Nada! Nothing! Zilch! This is the state of the top floor at present. I am tearing my hair, growling under my breath and stomping my feet a lot.

I was having a perfectly good day up to this point. I just looked over to the side as I was typing this. I am going to take a page from Tessie's book.

I may not have an Eames chair, but there are other places to put your feet up and relax. It is not noon yet, but I quit! I have had enough aggravation for one day.

I am officially going on strike for the rest of the day. I will start over tomorrow.

See you then.

If It's Not Mookie, It's Tessie.......

Look what I found this morning! No. Not Mookie. The house.

I was doing the garage sale routine this morning and found this bookcase for three dollars! I don't know what I am going to do with it, but I couldn't pass it up. It is really well built and maybe I can use it for storage somewhere, even if it doesn't become a mini home.

Mookie immediately moved in and made himself comfortable. Hmmmm.....Cat Cottage?

At another yard sale, I found an early 70s sewing box. I had one of these in avocado green back then. That's how I know the date. I have run onto a couple of them lately for ridiculous prices, but none had the original tray in the top.

I took the stuff out of the inside(I think that is what they were actually selling.) and cleaned it up. It is in good shape. I can use it for storage somewhere....

What was inside? Tons of copper wire! I use a lot of this in jewelry making and some in minis as well.(see the Steampunk ice box)

There was also a lot of striped telephone wire. I have been wanting some of that for real sized baskets. Now I have it. There were also copper jump rings and some chains. This whole mess was three dollars.....I would have had to pay a lot more than that elsewhere. I realize that most normal people won't be excited about this, but even Tessie zapped in, chair and all, to ask what I was going to make for her from the wire....

She is still holding on to that chair for dear life. I think that she fears that I may box it up and send it back. I am not going to tell her anything different for a while. I am so enjoying the peace and quiet.

My last photo of the day is of all of the electrical that I purchased. I started working on the ceiling fixture for the bathroom. I had to paint the rim of the light. it was shiny brass and when I am through, I want it to become part of the ceiling design.

I am planning to alter all of the lights that I bought. I can't leave well enough alone. That would be no fun at all.

It is sheer torture, trying to work on the lighting with all of that new wire and a new little house staring at me. I know I have to behave, but I may leave the behaving to Tessie. I want to play with the new toys....Electrical is boring!!!(the six year old is whining and stamping her feet now, in protest....)

See you tomorrow.

Never Leave the Keyboard.......

I went out shopping this morning, since I didn't really want to start working on the townhouse yet. Did I mention that the lighting got here yesterday afternoon?

First I went to Michael's where I picked up a few findings to replace the ones that I have pretty much used up. I needed to use the 40% coupon before tomorrow....

Since I was already in the neighborhood, I stopped at the 22nd Street Antique Mall. Not one mini in sight, or even anything that I could turn into a mini. I did find a couple of tatting shuttles for my collection though.


The black one and the white one in the center row are the ones that I found. Probably early 20th century. I thought that I might as well show you the rest while I had the box out. The top row are just plain run of the mill shuttles, each a little different from the next. I usually pick those up for about a quarter a piece at garage sales. I like them because I can load each one with a different thread and don't have to keep looking for another shuttle. With those, the bobbins slip out for winding.

The second row consists of other purchased ones. They are of various materials and most are early to mid 20th century.

The bottom row is my pride and joy. the first three are from my Grandma Daisy, the fourth one is my great Grandma Mary's and the last two are some that April brought me back from Russia on one of her trips. They are about twice the size of the other ones and hold twice the thread. I don't think that the Russians like to wind bobbins any more than I do.

Anyway, that was the sum total of a couple hours of shopping.

Now for the rest of the story......I told you that the lighting got here yesterday.....I didn't tell you that there was a little something extra in the box.....

To my surprise, when I opened it, there were two extra boxes in the shipping carton.

Tessie was perched on the edge of the box and seemed to be overly excited about the lighting contained inside...... She jumped down into the carton, grabbed the two smaller boxes and ran.

Meanwhile, I checked the shipping list and made sure that all of the lights that I ordered were there.....They were.....Then I spotted, at the bottom of the list, two added items. The first line said Eames Lounge chair......The second one said Eames footstool.....I didn't order either of these.

I thought a minute or two and then remembered. When I was ordering, Tessie was looking over my shoulder and pointing at things that she wanted. I showed her the Eames chair and told her that I had always wanted a people sized one. I went on about my business and didn't think of it again....Until I saw the shipping list. Then it dawned on me what had happened. I had everything ordered and was ready to check out.

I had to stop and go check on dinner. I was only gone for a few minutes. I thought it was kind of strange when I got back to the computer that the page telling me that my order was completed and on the way. I thought that I must have pushed the button before I went to the kitchen.

OK. I am not crazy.....Well not completely. I didn't push that button! Piecing things together, I realized that Tessie completed the forms. She added in the Eames chair and footstool and then pushed the button to complete the order!

I went looking for her and sure enough, there she was ensconced in the chair with her feet up, chatting with Zar.

She turned and looked at me. Before I could say a word, she said, "Thank you so much for recommending this chair, Casey." And then, "I may never leave it again."

I know how comfy those chairs are. I sat in one a long time ago and I didn't want to ever leave it either. How could I take it away from her?

She slept in it last night. This morning she zapped it wherever she wanted to be at the time. She is now in the bedroom watching the big screen, as she calls it.

The chair was worth every penny. It is so peaceful around here that it's scary! I wonder how long this is going to last?

See you tomorrow.

Playing for Time....

I went into the workroom with the intention of working on minis this morning. I messed with some of the solid glass grapes and other beads and findings for a while. I made three bottles and discovered that I really wasn't in the mood.

It's cloudy outside and just dreary. I want my sun back. It's a good thing that the monsoon season is almost finished.

I am waiting for an order of lights, etc. for the the townhouse to get here. There was a 20% sale at HBS this week, so I figured it was a good time to get them. They should be here in the next day or two. As soon as they get here, I am going to get seriously to work. Tessie wants the house finished and I want to do something else. I realllllly want to do something else. Reallllly.

When I got bored with beads, I spotted the little lidded basket that I bought at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. That would be a quick item to make fancy.

It's just the right size to put a couple of mini rug projects in while I am working on them, so I went to work.

I stained it with provincial Min Wax the same day that I brought it home, so it was ready to work on.

First I measured the inside and lined it with black foam core. Nothing fancy because I will be the only one to see it. I just wanted to make it so that I wouldn't loose needles through the loosely woven outside.

Then I cut pieces of illustration board to fit the inner and outer recesses of the lid. I padded both pieces with one layer of bonded batting and covered each with some bright, happy material that Tessie picked out of the stash.....She says that the box would make a cozy place to hide when she wants to get away from Zar....She is now trying to talk me into padding the whole interior....For some reason, that gives me visions of a padded cell......

Anyway, here's the outside. The red button was meant to be. It was laying on the worktable under the Ott light, just waiting to be used.

I am thinking that I should do some more digging and see if I can find some ribbon or trim to cover the side edges of the top. They were not very well finished.

I have a feeling that Tessie is going to have some fun hiding in there and jumping out at me whilst I am trying to work....Not a Jack in the box...Tessie in the Box. I wonder why I have never seen a female person jumping out of a box before. Maybe she will start a new fad.....

OK. Enough stalling. I am going back to work now.....Unfortunately, I will be cleaning out the real refrigerator.....As they say, "Reality Bites!"

See you tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Business....

It's Wednesday once again. When that happens, I don't seem to get a lot done.

Tessie, however, doesn't take the day off. As part owner of the Witch's Warehouse, she has to be a part of cleaning up and getting ready for Halloween business this time of year.

It was really in deplorable shape this year. The cats tried to climb the vines on the side and pulled them all down. I found out that the battery pack on the big black tree outside no longer works. I guess I will have to take care of that. Tessie is electrically challenged.

There was a year's worth of dust and cobwebs in there and it had to be mucked out with a big mop. I handed a broom to Tessie and told her to have at it.

She started at the top and worked downwards.

She shoved everything out of the top floor and gave the wood a coat of lemon oil.

As she was working, she asked me, "Where did the chair and bed come from? It seems like they have been here forever."

"The chair is the very first wicker that I ever did." I said.

She patted it and said, "It's all scratchy. I don't see how anybody could stand to sit in it for long."

I explained that I didn't know anything about mini wicker at the time and I sat and unraveled Penelope needlepoint canvas to get the thread to make it....Hey! You make do with what you have on hand. It worked. A few chairs later, it evolved to waxed linen and even later, it evolved to fine crochet thread. I kept the first one to remind me not to do that again. It makes for Very sore fingers!

"And the bed?" she asked.

"That was a kit that was supposed to be for a child's bed. I bashed it into the witch bed that you see. It is simply made of three wooden blocks and some fat wooden spindles and beads. You can still get them at Michael's."

I painted the headboard block and spindles. I covered the two wooden blocks with fabric and glued one to the other for the bed itself and then made a spider quilt and a tampon bolster.

The second floor wasn't too bad. The gypsy tends to keep it neater, because she has to live there.

This is the transportation department of the warehouse and the private parking for the Wednesday Witches. Each of them have a parking place for their brooms with their names on them....Their area is not as neat and tidy as the rest. Some of them tend to drop their brooms wherever they land.

The flying carpet is a perpetual display. Nobody can figure out how to turn it off, so it just keeps hovering a couple of feet off the floor. At least we know that it works.

Next Tessie helped Esmirelda with the ground floor. As usual, the cat food(mice) is escaping from its crate. The "Things that go bump in the night" are rattling the door under the stairs. And the poison veggies are rotting away quietly....

The store is starting to look habitable and everything seems to be under control for the time being. Poke the photos if you want to see them larger.

They just tested the lights in the rest of the store. Everything but the black tree seems to be working.

Once again, Halloween can happen. The witches are ready and all's right with the world.

See you tomorrow.

Get Your Big Feet Off of the Sofa!!!

I finished the sofa. When you last saw it, it was all bare wood and ugly.....I covered it up. First, I put a layer of thin bonded batting on it, wrapped it around and trimmed it even with the bottom edge.

Then I murdered a Christmas red turtle neck jersey that was a much better color. It wasn't long for this world anyway.

I wrapped that around over the batting to the back, clipped it and glued it in place.

Then I made a piece to fit over the back out of card stock and covered it with jersey. Glued that and weighted it to dry.

I wrapped the bottom the same way, but instead of a jersey wrapped piece, I used black card stock for the bottom cover. The legs aren't stable enough when glued to fabric.

I carved five legs from walnut. Made them a cone shape and then slanted the tops just slightly.
Those were then glued to the bottom, in the configuration that you see in the next photo.

The real sofa had three braces on the back to stabilize the cushion. I did that with strips of walnut. After the legs and braces dried, I glued the pieces together.

As soon as I finished, the sofa was zapped right out of my hand! I went to look and Tessie had already set everything in the living room. And who tried the sofa first? Spike was way ahead of her. That's why the title....I'll bet you thought that she was yelling at Zar. Nope. He settled into the zebra chair. He knows what's good for him. He will not go near the sofa until Tessie gives him the OK.

The bolster pillow is simply one of those dreaded tampons covered with fabric and ends of index card, also covered with fabric. The cording is good old Perle cotton.

Now if I could just find time to finish the zebra rug. It's getting there. Slowly....I will keep plugging along on it.

See you tomorrow.

Strange Men In Pinstripe Suites....

I don't know whether to be honoured or scared....Nikki over at Witch and Wizard Miniatures http://nikkinikkinikki72.blogspot.com/ had given me the Strange Men in Pinstripe Suits Blog Award....It does say,"or in certain cases a Strange Woman.

I can't say that I have ever worn a pinstripe suit, but I have had a few people call me strange. Thanks Nikki.

The award originated with Cate Gardner whe is celebrating the pre-release of her book of the same title. Here's her blog link.http://www.strangemeninpinstripesuits.com/

She has some contest and prize give aways over there.

Now I quote my friend Nikki....To accept this award, you have to do some "strange" things...
"Go forth and celebrate the strangeness of friends(and strangers ,who are always allowed)by nominating seven blogs run by strange folks.

To take part, these are the roules and also how to enter the competition.

1. Add the logo of the award to your blog post.

2. Add the link to the person who awarded it to you(Don't mess with strange people.)

3.Nominate seven other blogs telling us why you think the recipient is strange enough to deserve the award.

4. Leave a message for those nominated on their blogs.

5. If you e mail catephoenix@gmail.com and tell her you've received the award for your strangeness, she'll enter you in the Strange Men competition. Details at the above link.

Now for the seven....However, all of my nominees seem perfectly normal to me....Perfectly normal.

1. Kathi at Beautiful Mini Blessings. http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/ She has a rabid hate for balsa wood....LOL

2. Ara at The Addams Family Mini Mansion http://afminimansion.blogspot.com/ Not at all strange. I love her mini Addams family....

3. Daisy at Antique Daisy http://antiquedaisy.blogspot.com/ She likes to dable and jumps from one project to another just like I do....No strangeness here....

4. Keli at iseecerulean. http://iseeblue.typepad.com/iseecerulean/ She is currently in love with a new saw.....If you go to her site you will see a photo of her hugging the saw in question.....Not odd at all...I understand hugging new power tools.

5. Kat at Kittle Thoughts From an Average Mind

http://minikatslittlethoughts.blogspot.com/ This is a paleontologist that does minis and fibre arts....I am still waiting for her to go into paleontology mode.

6. Tiffany at Mini Mischief http://minimischief.blogspot.com/ She has two beautiful dollhouses just sitting there waiting patiently to be worked on. Not strange at all...

7. Brae at otterine.com blog http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php She is a most original miniaturist. Never the same thing twice. Very strange? Nope. Just unafraid.

Ok, that's my seven. Time for you all to go out and find some other strange people.

The Shirt Off of My Back.....

OK....This is the sofa that Tessie wants for the townhouse.(the red one at the top.)

I started working on it this morning. I am using 1/4" balsa for the foundation. I never use balsa for wooden furniture. It won't stand up to the dents and dings. I do use it for upholstered
pieces because it is very sturdy for those.

I had to do this by guess and by gosh. I had no measurements. The sofa in the photo looks pretty long. I could fit an 8 foot sofa in the townhouse, but I think that it would look a bit crowded. I settled for about 7 1/2 feet.(") I do kind of like the teardrop shaped bench to the left also...

Anyway, I simply drew a 7 1/2" X 3" rectangle and then free formed the boomerang shape onto that until I thought it looked about right. I did have to trim a bit here and there after I cut out the basic shape.

I slanted the bottom of the back just a bit by sanding. Then I rounded all of the top edges of both pieces. It is all going to be padded, but it will look better without any hard edges underneath.

The next step was to see if it worked for Tessie. She said, "It will be satisfactory"....Glowing words for her...

She did insist that it be the same red as the photo. All I had was a small piece of red velveteen. That was just a shade too dark for her taste.

She rummaged around the workroom for a bit when my back was turned. When I looked back at her, she was perched on the new sofa with a pet bug in her lap....No not an insect. It was a red VW beetle. She petted it's back and cooed, "This is the exact shade I want....Hmmmm.....I seem to recall seeing a tee shirt this same red in your closet. You are going to have to make the sacrifice. I want it!"

The things that I have to do to make her happy are criminal! By this time tomorrow, I may not have a red shirt, but I am sure that, one way or another Tessie will have a new, completed sofa.

See you tomorrow.....Shirtless....Er, I mean less one shirt.

Frippery, Gewgaws and Triffles.....

I promised to show you how to make a silk carnation without a needle and thread. Here it is. All you do is cut a 2 to 3" piece of silk ribbon. Then you put a dot of glue on one end so the the threads won't come loose. On the other end, you work one thread out of one edge with a pair of tweezers or a needle....OK so there can be a needle involved, if need be. Then you simply pull on the thread until the silk gathers into a rosette(carnation). Put a small dot of glue on the back to keep the thread in place. Cut off thread and there you have it.

Another interesting thing with the ribbon is to pull both edge threads. This gives you ruching. With this, I sometimes simply start with the whole bolt of ribbon and just pull the two threads until I think that I have enough. Then I put a dot of glue at both ends and cut it off. If you need to cut it anyplace in the center, be sure to put a dot of glue on the edges before you cut. Otherwise, you will loose all of the pretty gathers. You can tape it or pin it to a board and play with the ruching until it pleases you. It can be glued to clothing or furniture as decoration. Once it is glued, don't expect to move the pleats. Do that before you attach them to your project.

Last but not least, bow tying can be a nuisance. I am sure that some of you have already heard about the pin method, but I will include it for people that haven't.

Enlarge the photo to see the steps better.

1. Put two pins in a pinboard as far apart as you want the finished bow. In this case, I did them 1/2" apart. Thread your ribbon on a tapestry needle. I find it easier to work with the needle than fighting the flimsy ribbon. Starting with the end of the ribbon at the bottom right, leaving a tail as long as you want the finished bow, pin it to the board. Then loop it around the top left pin, across the back and around the right pin, crossing over the first tail.

2. Bring the tapestry needle up and under the body of the bow, between the pins.

3. Pull the tail on the needle down over the top of the bow, keeping the ribbon tight.

4. Loop the needle under the first tail from left to right. Then bring the needle back over the top of the first tail and loop it under itself. Pull the two tails up tight and you have a perfect bow. If you need to make several bows the same size, this comes in handy.

Go get some silk ribbon and practice. Tessie is tied up right now....Literally. She says "Help!" and "Get me out of this mess!" I won't show you a photo of this. It would be cruel. I have to go unravel things now.

I will see you tomorrow.

Bits and Pieces.....

Not a lot going on in mini land today.....Well there is, but it isn't that interesting.

First, I grabbed a pair of needle nosed pliers and some wire cutters and went to work on some old findings and earrings to make clasps for purses to put in the work box. Here you see some of the whole findings and the pieces that I cut from them. With some of the bell caps the have arms, I can get 7 clasps for purses. Poke the photo to see them more clearly.

I then went to work making silk roses. The basket that Tessie is holding has more than 40 roses in it. She says that's not enough and is demanding that I make this short so that I can make more. Slave driver! If you go to tutorials, there is one for making roses somewhere along the line.


The last thing I want to show you before I go back to work is glue....Yup. I said glue. Some of you probably have already found these. I looked at them a while back and this morning I decided that they would be perfect for the traveling work box....Not all at one time, but one at a time.

I found them at Walmart. 2.97 for five bottles. They are just the right size to fit in the box and there are four different types of glue. My favorite is the Fast Grab at the far left. It is the closest thing to the old Velverette fabric glue from years ago. Next is the Clear Gel. I kind of like that for paper, more than anything else. Then there are two bottles of regular tacky and last is one that I haven't used before. It is Quick Dry. I figured that this was a good way to try it out. If I don't like it, I can always fill it wit Fast Grab from my gigantic every day bottle.

I really don't have much else to tell you. Tessie is pulling at my sleeve and whining, "We need more roses.". I guess I should go watch TV and make more. Oh! Another idea. Have I ever told you about gathering ribbon into carnations without the benefit of needle and thread? I am such a tease. I will save that for tomorrow.

See you then.

Witchy Efficiency Expert.....

Yes. Tessie has claimed the title. Efficiency Expert is now on her business cards. They now read "Witchy Efficiency Expert" in big gold letters. I am not sure if she knows exactly what that means, but she has been telling me where to put things in the box, to make more of the space allotted, all morning.

First of all, she insisted that there be more than two colors of thread. I took the pins out of the matchbox. Then I padded the top so that I could use that to hold pins and needles. I found some tiny thread spools in my stash and wound thread around ten of them...They just fit inside.

So what does Tessie do? She uses it for a footstool and complains that the pins are in the way.

Here is all of the stuff that I made yesterday. By making these items, I found that the two colors of suede that I packed were thicker than I like to work with. The books that I made were kind of fuzzy looking....I replaced two pieces of suede with about 12 pieces of glove leather and lizard skin. Good trade.

I found that I needed some different colors of floss for the baskets. The floss that I had all but disappeared when on the baskets. So, I replaced those with some of the overdyed floss that I wound on cards. While I was at it, I added a spool of #32 covered wire so that I can also make coiled baskets. With the items that are in the box now, I can make all of the types of baskets that I show in the blog.

I made a hat and found that there was only one rose in the bag of tassels. That will have to be remedied. More rose making.

I found that I really didn't need a lot of cardboard, but thought that it would be nice to have more colored card stock and patterned paper. The exchange was made.

If I want to put findings on the stuff that I am making, I am going to have to do some cutting and bending before I put them in the bag so that I won't have to carry pliers and wire cutters. OK....Make roses and bend findings. Got it.

Instead of folding the fabric, I rolled it into tight coils and banded it with clear tape. Would you believe that I replaced 5 pieces of folded with 11 of the rolled pieces in the same amount of space. Tessie tells me that this was her idea, even though she was nowhere in sight when I did it. Yes. It all fits in that one compartment. I just pulled it out so that you could see some of the patterns.

I also added a couple of pieces of #24 rug canvas and some overdyed floss for some needlepoint rugs that will be about 4 by 6 inches.

I refilled the glue tube. As soon as I take the roll of fabric away from Tessie and coax her out of the box, I will be finished and ready to go....Unfortunately, vacation time is not until October, but I will be ready! Did I mention that we are going to be gone 2 or 3 days? I wonder if I packed enough.......?

I forgot to pack the findings and beads to make cat earrings. Oh well. Next time.

See you tomorrow.

Minis On Vacation....

This morning I found a new Plano box in the fishing tackle department of Walmart. I thought it would be the perfect size for a mini making vacation kit. I was right, for once.

The box that Tessie is sitting on in the photo is 7" by 11" by 1 1/2" thick.

If you can find room in your suitcase when you go on a trip, you can happily make minis for a week...If you have any spare time after the vacation part. I am going to show you how.


Here's the inside of the box. It has adjustable partitions. You can make the compartments the size to suit your needs. I use the larger size of these boxes for storing minis, beads and lots of other stuff that needs to be in a class by itself. Thank you Plano!

Anyway, I have all of the tools, glue, and materials in this one box to make lots and lots of accessory type minis. I will tell you what is in my box and you can make changes in yours according to what you wish to work on.

In the top lid, I have a few scraps of wallpaper....Remember the leopardskin purse from last week? Yup. You can make some of those.

Now. From top left to bottom right. First I have a small matchbox full of ball headed pins. Beneath that there is some Penelope canvas and some woodsies for making simple baskets. Oh and a needle and thread.(black and white)

In the next compartment, there are cards of bunka in black, white, green and pink. There are two cards of ribbon, black and white. One card of antique lace and a couple of cards of basket colored floss.The last compartment on that row has four kinds of fabric, about six inches square. They weren't measured, just hacked off.

Row two in the first compartment are strips of index card, cat food cardboard for various uses and white fun foam for books. The second compartment is more fabric.

Third row is a small plastic bag with silk roses and tassels. Next is a small bag of jewelry findings. Then there are some pieces of foam core and some tampon tubes for purse making. The last compartment on that row has several colors of thin leather.

The last row has a flexible 6" plastic advertising ruler, an Exacto knife, small scissors, a tube of Elmer's glue and an emery board.

The last compartment has bent nosed tweezers, toothpicks, several makeup applicators, a small mechanical pencil, some metal hair clips for clamps and a tube of Elmer's stick glue.

With what is in this box, I can make a whole list of minis.....Let's see.... Books, boxes, purses, shoes, aprons for Tessie, hats, note pads and earrings for the cat....I just wanted to see if you were paying attention....

Speaking of cats...Widget had to come and supervise the return of everything to the rightful compartments. I still have a little room in there. I am sure that I will think of something else to add to the mix. I will let you know what else goes inside.

Meanwhile, Widget and I are off to make lots of things with only what will fit in the box. Then we will show you what we did with it. This should be fun.

See you tomorrow.

A Quick One....

This is going to be a short one. It is almost 5:00PM and the Witches just grabbed their brooms and went on their merry way.

When I was with April on Sunday, she loaned me these three 1936 and one 1938 Better Homes and Gardens magazines. There were only four witches here today, so we amused ourselves by taking turns looking at the magazines and reading short ads, recipes and other bits and pieces to each other.

I couldn't lay them out flat, front and back, because I didn't want to break the spines, but I did lay the fronts and corresponding backs out on the floor and take a few photos. I thought that you could shrink them and piece them together. The size is 8 1/2" By 12" in real life. Have fun reducing them. The one on the top right is the 1938 issue.

One of the ads that had us all in hysterics was this one. It is for a paint cleaner....I think it was the silly name that got us. Well maybe it was the text of the ad also. Anyway, poke the photo and take a look.

I will be back tomorrow with less nonsense and more minis.

See you then.