The blue hutch acessories.

In real life, I also enjoy making jewelry, mainly to sell at craft shows in the summer.  Using some of beads and finding that I have an ample supply of,  I made perfume jars, bracelets and necklaces.
Making the perfume jars went very fast and I made lots of them.  First, I made little balls out of poster tack and mounted them on a small box lid. (This is were I put the perfume bottles till the glue dries.) Next, I strung the cap onto a very thin floral wire followed by the bottle part.  Keeping them slightly seperated, I added a small amount of glue to the top of the bottle part, waited till it was slightly tacky, and then slid them down the wire.  At the same time, I pushed them onto the poster tack for drying.

 

Til next time!

My Hutches

I have had a very productive week.  I started out by re-arranging my craft closet and re-sorting my mini supplies.  After taking inventory I decided I needed more stuff...lots more stuff!  Then I went on to take apart one of Michael's hutches and acessorize another.

The first picture reminds me of a 60's style coffee table.  It will go in a den that I have plans for in the near future.  The second picture shows the only thing I added on the next hutch...just some hanging pegs.  I did this in a blue wash but the grains of the wood did not show up in the picture.  The last picture is the completed hutch.  I have plans for this one also.

vignettes

It was shortly after we moved to Florida in 2006 that I did an experimental vignette using some of the new-to-me natural materials.

This is actually a bird feeder I got at Walmart and I consider it more like a half inch scale and decided to make a little gazebo.

 We have large pine cones about 6-7 inches and it's not unusual for pine needles to be 8 inches.

I used hundred of pine needles for the floor, laying then down one by one.  A unique process but time consuming.  For the roof, I seperated the sections of the pinecone and really like the effect.  But be careful . Each little section has a very sharp barb at the tip and that hurts.  Had to cut them all off with scissors.

The starfish and seahorses are all real.  I bought them at a place call the Shell Factory.  They have a lot more shells and gifts that are not listed on their website  http://www.shellfactory.com/.  Last time I was there about a month ago, they were really low on the smallest stuff.

It is interesting to note that when the seahorse are preserved and dried, their tails are all straight.  I fixed that by soaking the tails in hot water for 4-5 minutes then pinned them in a curved shape on a piece of styrofoam.  Seahorses just have to have curly tails!

The Ashley

This is the first dollhouse I ever put together- the Ashley by Duracraft.  I was even brave enough to do some kit bashing by moving the staircase to the opposite side and adding a room divider to the top floor. I made it into a flower shop and was very pleased with the results.

Since I also enjoy quilling, I was able to make most of my flowers out of paper but also used small artificial flower findings.  I also made some of the vases out of quilling paper but most were large beads.

Some of the other decorations were printies and items I received in some swaps.  I must have impressed someone because when I entered it in competition, I got 2 ribbons!  Call me Happy!