Dilemma

Where to display my dollhouses and miniatures has never been a dilemma til this last year.  When we moved to Florida 6 years ago and I saw our house, I figured there would be plenty of space to set up a nice display area in a cental location for everyone to see my miniatures.   But three dollhouses and two vignettes later and I'm running out of room.  My floral shop is in my lanai where my plants are, my Bistro is in the kitchen where the food is and my lighthouse is in our livingroom which has a nautical theme.  My poor Wizard's Tower is stuck in my bedroom until I can figure something out.  The settings themselves are ok but I really didn't want them  scattered all over .   So, this is what my new poll is about.

Where do you display your dollhouses, vignettes and miniatures?    There may be more (or better) options than what I've listed , so please choose the answer that fits you best and as always, feel free to leave a comment.
 I will be back shortly to show you my hanging baskets along with a short tutorial on how I made them (so stay tuned!)

Fruit Bowl and Candy Dish

While I had my quilling paper out preparing for the next class, I took some time out to a made a few fruit bowls , baskets and hanging planters. I've made many fruit bowls over the years and used them for one of my first ever swaps many years ago. Here is how I did it.

The first thing is to, of course, get your supplies together. You will need quilling paper, glue, a blunt pencil and some type of quilling tool to make your coil. If you do not have a quilling tool, you can use a long dollmakers needle or even a toothpick.

This first picture shows a needle tool, a slotted tool and a toothpick

The small disc in the next picture is less than 1/2" while the disc tor the bowl is about 3/4"

For the base, I used 1 strip of 1/8 wide paper 18" long (next time I will use 1/16th inch wide paper for a more delicate look.) After making a small, tight disc for the base, I took a very blunt pencil and gently pushed out the very center about 1/4" high for the stem of the bowl. Be careful not to push out too far or the center of the disc will pop out. The tighter the disc, the better.  Once you're done, coat the entire bottom and inside the stem with a thin layer of glue

The bowl is 30" of quilling paper, in a tight coil.

Take this larger disc and gentlly push out the center to form the bowl.  Once done, coat the inside of the bowl with glue.  When dry, attach the base to the bowl.  You may have to hold this in place for a minute or so and be sure to view the bowl from all angles to make sure it is level.

Hopefully, you will have somethis like this.  Fill with fruit, veggies or flowers if you want. The smaller bowl will be used as a candy dish, as soon as I make fimo chocolates!

If you think you would like to try this project, there are several things to consider.  First,  my "tight coil" may not be the same size as your "tight coil" so experiment with different lenghts of quilling paper.  Second, altho scale is important, remember the bowls come in all shapes and sizes.  Third and last, do not get discouraged if things don't turn out right the first time around.  All of this will take a little practice.

Well, that's it for today.  I truly hope you enjoyed this tut and if you make some of these, please let us know how they turned out.  Next post will be a hanging basket!

Til next time!

Side Tables

Hello everyone!  I haven't given up on my blog but 4  months is a long time between postings and for that I do apologize.  Good fortune has come my way along with the new year so my minis have been very few.  First, I got a new job and altho it's full time now, it will be part time in June (which is what I really want.)  Then I was asked to teach several classes in paper quilling, my second favorite craft.  Preparing for classes has taken up most of my spare time but I did manage to do a few mini projects.

This first one uses 2 pizza box spacers as the base for a round table.  I'm not sure who came up with this idea but I have made several similar tables and they all turned out great.

In addition to the spacers, you will need fabric, Fray-Check, a 2" cardboard circle and a paint brush

First, I glued the two spacers together so the height of the table is about 3".  Then I cut a 2" diameter circle out of thin cardboard and covered it with  two 2 1/2" circles of fabric.  If I used only one circle of fabric, the color of the cardboard would show through.  But, before I glued the circles on, I painted the edges with Fray-Check to prevent un-raveling.



The fabric I used was a linen napkin that had a finished edge to it which also servered as a decorative hemline.  I then cut a 3 1/2" strip, gathered it with a basting stitch and glued it to the edge of the cardboard.

Lastly, I tied a decorative cord to hide the basting stitch.  This last picture shows a shorter table using only one spacer.

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and if you have any questions please, send an email or leave a comment.

Til next time!