And what goes with green?

Red geraniums of course......

I've spent quite a bit of time over Thursday night, part of Friday and tonight, doing some geraniums for the front of Gooseberry Cottage.  I had two long pots - or rather troughs - from a Templewood kit of pots, and these ones I painted the same green as the doors to the cottage and the scullery kitchen.  They are the perfect size to sit one at the front of the main cottage and one at the front of the kitchen.  And I'm thinking that a hanging pot on the front wall might be a nice touch too.

Here they are so far:

Aren't they cheerful? and really appropriate for that 'cottagey' feel too, I think.  I have the new charger for my camera now and I am much more comfortable using it than I am using Peter's camera.  I tried taking a photo of the kitchen with the light on and the front wall in place and it certainly looks homey and welcoming.

A lot of people have indicated that they are intimidated by the thought of doing quarter scale flowers.  I do use kits for all of my flowers, because the punches for the tiny petals are so expensive and the range of punches required for the variety of petals is quite large.  So I thought I'd show you how they are made.  I'll use the geraniums, which are not the simplest of the flowers in the range but they are the ones I'm doing at the moment so it is convenient to use them as the example.

First, here is one of the petals on my finger:

Yes, they are tiny.  In fact the most difficult part is separating the petals - they come pre-coloured and several layers of paper are punched together, so the petals tend to stick together.  It can be fiddly seperating them but rubbing them with the ball of a larger stylus helps or sliding the point of a scalpel between them does the trick.

After they are separated, they are rubbed firmly with a small stylus on a bit of old mouse pad to make them cup-shaped.  When enough of them are done they are glued to the end of a wire which has previously had a tiny bit of glue added to it to form a tiny 'bead' and allowed to dry. You can see the importance of very, very pointy tweezers for doing these!

It takes between 8 and 10 of the petals to cover the 'bead' and once they are all on, it can be moulded into the proper shape with one's fingers if they have become a bit distorted. 

The leaves have a tiny 'stem' on the end, and this is bent over and attached to a wire stem. 

After trimming the wires to a good length - slightly different for a bit of variety - some air drying clay is glued into the troughs.  This is topped by a more glue then bit of 'soil' is sprinkled over that.  The stems are dipped into glue and arranged into this clay, and it is all left to solidify and dry.

And there you have it - quite straightforward really, just requiring a bit of patience and fine pointy tweezers.  And of course some good kits from sdk miniatures or somewhere.



Hi Carmen, welcome!

It is really nice to see your name added to the Followers list - hope you enjoyed your visit.  Please come often and feel free to leave comments.  Don't forget to watch out for when the celebration give-away opens (when we reach 100 followers) and let me know whether you would like to be in the draw for the 1:12th or the 1:48th present - or both. 
Mini hugs
Sandra

Progress on Gooseberry Cottage Kitchen

Did some more 'bits & pieces'

I've been working on accessories for the kitchen and it's starting to look more 'lived in' now.  It all looked too bland around the top of the upper cupboards so I started there by adding some colour.  At first I wanted to make an Arnotts biscuit tin - Arnotts is an iconic Australlian brand of biscuits and has a great picture of an Eastern Rosella, one of our colourful parrots, as it's trademark picture. People often have decorative tins on top of their cupboards and I thought that an 'antique' tin would look nice.  I googled images of their biscuit tins and made printies but ended up not having enough room up there after all, so I'll keep it for something else.  

A nice place gave a touch of red contrast so that was next.  And two containers are actually little bits retrieved from the motherboard of a computer - have no idea what they are.  But painted green and with a bit of floral printie around them, they fill the space nicely.

There were enough leaves left over from the philodendron that I made in the hanging pot for the pergola (see the post 'The competition that wasn't) to make another smaller plant, and I put it in a plastic pot which I painted green.  I must say it looks rather as though it is reaching out to grab the plate that is also on top of the cabinets vbg.

The space above the fridge still looked bare so I made a small shelf to go in there and printed off some covers of cookbooks to sit on the shelf.  One of them is the Australian Womens Weekly Cookbook - another common Aussie kitchen iicon, and the one at the right hand side, obscured by the light, is the Commonsense Cookbook.  I had to have that one, as a nod to my first ever cookbook in Grade 7 - the first and only year I did cooking at school, before our grade was divided up and I was made to do Chemistry and Physics instead.

On the bench there is one of the set of 3 chopping boards I bought from......, and an 'electric kettle' that isn't in the photos because I forgot to put it in.  It is really a metal kettle with the knob sanded off then painted green, with a black strip down one side to mimic a cordless kettle.

I made the kettle after spending a long time this evening assembling a coffee machine from a kit by..... It is one of five kitchen utensils and I am really impressed with the result.  But after making it I found it was too tall to fit between the cupboards. 

The table between the kitchen bench and the sink unit is a kitchen worktable kit by.....I am really pleased with how this turned out too.

The oven mitt on the Aga and the one hanging on the fireplace are printies.  The little mat on the floor in front of the fireplace is also a printie.  the cat dish on the mat is made from Creative PaperClay left over from making the cat basket that is tucked in between the fireplace and the wall - look carefully and you can just see it.  The cat dish is filled with 'cat food' made from a bit of broken terracotta flower pot that I ground into tiny pieces!

It looks so nice with all the rest of the lights off and just the light on in the kitchen - really cosy.  I have tried and tried to make Peter's camera take a decent photo of the room with the light on but the flash keeps going off and making the scene bright.  However I will keep trying to work it out to show you.



Kitchenalia.....

 I have been working on kitchens, and have made good progress, especially on the one for Gooseberry Cottage.  The name 'Gooseberry' suggested green to me, so when I was assembling it I chose green for the door and window ledges and I am going with green for the main colour scheme. When I did the lean-to greenhouse I was thinking of putting it with this cottage and hence I did the door to that green as well. 

First step was to decide which  of the kitchen kits from Debbie Young to use.  I had made up both of them to try them out.  In the end I decided against using either of them, and instead chose a cheap plastic set that had smaller items in it suitable for the layout.  I felt that the ivy green aga I had (from Virtual Dollhouse, it is made by Jenny Wren) would be perfect for the colour scheme, and give the room a real lift.  So the whole layout changed.

Using the aga called for a fireplace and since I want a door from the cottage into the kitchen through the wall the fireplace needs to be on the left wall (which means the chimney has to be changed).  Some pieces of balsa wood and some cardboard and a lot of fiddling and I had the basic shape.  I have some Elmer's  Wood Filler left over from doing the StoryBook Cottage - I love this stuff, wish I could find it here in Australia!  I am trying to use it up before it goes solid in the tube; it is starting to become difficult to squeeze it out now.  I used some of it to go over the wood and cardboard frame of the fireplace for texture and strength.  I closed in the top part to try and make the shape similar to the shape of the wall, using a piece of paper.  Then I 'plastered' over that as well, using the wood filler.  When that was dry I plastered it inside as well to give it strength.
 

I have some 1:12 scale tiles that have the ivy green that is on the door and a reddish-terracotta colour that goes well with the quarry tiles on the scullery floor. Printing them out in a reduced version, cutting and pasting and I had the perfect tiled back for the fireplace.  sorry the photo looks a bit washed out - I had my magnifying light on as well as using the flash.  The green is actually a dark ivy green.

The walls are cream and after briefly considering doing the cabinet doors in ivy green but deciding it might be too dark, the cabinets are cream as well. The benchtop, which is a piece of cardboard, is painted in various shades of green and some white.  Printing out a reduced version of the border tiles to match the tiles I used for the fireplace and more cutting and pasting and I had the perfect splashback for the bench and for the sink.  I finished off the top edge of the sink with some of the terracotta border from the

un-reduced copy of the tiles so the white plastic wouldn't show.  I tried painting the handles of the cupboards in green but it didn't look any good so it was back to the cream again.  I will try with gold tomorrow.

It still needed more colour, so the fridge ended up ivy green as well.

 I think It would be nice to have a border right around the top of the room or something, the top cupboard area is a bit bland,  but I haven't found anything suitable yet.   Ivy would be perfect.  Meanwhile some pots, a plant, something along those lines would do the trick I think.  It certainly needs something!

Still to come - the door of course.  Appliances - I have made a clock for the chimney above the stove (its a printie folded around a piece of cardboard to give dimension).  There are some shelves in the kits, but they look too bulky so making a smaller set for above the fridge might be the go.  A shade for the light, some dishes, Maybe a small dresser if I can work out how to fit one in.....

I'm quite proud of myself tonight. I  did some electrifying as well!  I've been putting it off - partly because I can't make up my mind about the kind of light shades to use. I know where to put the lights and how I want to go about it, but a simple thing like light shades had me marking time. I have wired the kitchen for the cottage (which is actually a side scullery) and also the house itself. Photos of the lighting tomorrow when I put the shade on - as you can see in this last photo I took some tonight but left the magnifying light on and the LED lights don't show up well.

Welcome Narina and thank you for the suggestions so far.....

Good morning - sorry for the delay in posting, I have a couple ready to go and just waiting for the things to be completed or photos to be taken.  Hopefully later today (Sunday here in Aus).
Narina I am so happy to see you here - thank you for signing on as a Follower :)  I went to have a look at your lovely blog - the translate function doesn't work too well sometimes and it didn't make it easy to read unfortunately but what I could understand was so charming.  I read that you concentrate on 1:12th scale, and so do several of the other followers so I have given that consideration when thinking about the draw.

I think that I will do 2 draws, one for 1:12th scale and one for 1:48 scale.  Everyone can choose whether to be in either of these or both if they like, once it opens.  I will give more information later on - but I have time to prepare the items yet, since we have a few more followers to go lol.

So I'd better get moving and finish off one of the items I am working on for my quarter scale cottages so I can take photos - more to come later, after finishing and after I go to visit my mum.

Welcome KayJay and Sue

I need suggestions please.....

It's very exciting to see the numbers of Followers slowly growing.  So welcome KayJay and Sue - it is lovely to see you here, and I truly hope that you enjoy your visits and leave lots of comments.  I don't get much in the way of feedback from my family.  Like so many of our families, they don't 'get it' so I particularly enjoy being a member of a miniature community.

I notice that other bloggers often have a giveaway when their followers reach a certain number, so I was thinking that if I reach 100 I will have one too.  If I do reach that number of course lol!

So - I need suggestions please, about the kind of giveaway that you would like me to hold.  What would be good to have for prizes?  What scale?  As you know, I do mainly quarter scale at the moment but I also do 1:12th scale.  Perhaps a draw for 1:48scale and one for 1:12 scale?  I do petitpoint in 1:12th scale only though.

Please offer lots of ideas because there's not much point in having a giveaway if no-one likes the prizes!  And if you want to encourage others to sign on as followers, we will reach 100 all the sooner lol.  And if you are one of those who read but haven't signed on, then now is your opportunity so you can enter the draw as well.

Mini hugs

Sandie



Flower Power

Well, I was a teenager in the sixties after all lol!    I thought I’d start to do a bit with the greenhouses, so started with the leanto one.  It looked so nice all pristine and clean but of course it had to be dirtied up so I got busy with a very dilute wash of water and dark brown.  Soon the glazing was grotty and the paintwork was patchy.  Suitably grungy, I figured.

I retrieved the staging from the demolished wooden Templewood greenhouse, and cut one of them down to fit along the side of the lean-to one.  Some of the flats from the same source, including the one I had in the pergola (with the little hand spade in it) are on the bench.  Two have been filled and have ‘labels’ to show what has been planted.  Also on the bench are empty seed flats, a watering can, more labels and some packets of seeds.

A shelf above holds snail bait, two boxes of fertilizer and some more seed packets.  The shelf is made from part of the piece cut off the staging when I shortened it. The boxes are printies. Under the staging is a large wooden box (made from offcuts) with newspapers and a gardening magazine (more printies – from the pergola).  In front is a bag of seed-raising mix (printie again, stuffed mainly with a bit of tissue topped with 'soil').   A spade is sitting near the door. I think a broom is needed too, to sweep up the soil that has been spilt over the floor!

Two 'tomato' plants are growing in the raised garden bed at the end.  the leaves are actually from a half-scale rose kit from Templewood Miniatures (Fine Flowers in Miniature) - I just used the smallest ones, on a framework made from bits of wire from flower kits.  The 'stakes' are slivers of timber I shaved from a tongue depressor.  I will probably add another thinner bench along the open side of the green house, with a row of seed flats with more 'advanced' seedlings in them.

then I moved on to Rosebud Cottage.  I had a sheet of fine metal rose leaves from Suzanne & Andrews, which I have been saving to use on the verandah trellis here.  These are lovely delicate and lacy leaves, very special.  I used some of the straight edging as the stem at the bottom of the climbing rose,

and cut some of the little branchlets off the four strips of petaIs that come in the sheet. These little bits I could add to different places to get a pleasing effect.  I used the half scale roses from Templewood – itseems impossible to get large quantities of quarter scale roses, which is surprising. 

 The suggestion was to make up the roses leaving off the last two rounds of petals so that is what I did.  I also used some of the second last round of petals to make buds, and found that the sepals were fine to use for them.  The roses came in a bright orange-red, but I painted each one with burgundy for the smaller ones, and each of the larger ones with burgundy in the middle and randomly in places on the petals to give a closer colour to the house and also variation in shading.

The metal takes a while to glue into place, so it took a while but it was well worth it, I think.  I love the way the burgundy of the roses goes so well with the trim on the cottage which is Folk Art colour 754, appropriately called 'Rose Garden'.

Thank you!

Still can't post a reply to your comments!

I'm so sorry that I can't add a comment in reply to your comments - don't know when Google will get its act together, it's been ages now.  However I do want to say Thanks all for your messages - I know you understand!  And your suggestions are all great.  I feel much better this morning, and the idea of a neglected greenhouse is perfect, as is yours Chris, of ordering a new one.  And yes, I am grateful for a husband that wants to kiss me goodnight (and hello) - I couldn't have a better man in my life, believe me.

Also I want to welcome another new follower - Gemma, I am so pleased that you came to visit and signed up.  I hope you enjoyed your time here, and that you come back often and leave comments too :)  It's always so good to receive feedback from others who enjoy minis. 



Well - at least I have the photos!

It's totally wrecked :(  !

My greenhouse from Kathryn of Templewood Miniatures has been destroyed.  Totally by accident, but very thoroughly.  It was in a partial box on the lounge beside me, and my darling husband brushed by it to kiss me goodnight as he was leaving for night duty this evening.  He stepped back and we both heard a crunch then another crunch.  Looking down I saw the remnants of my greenhouse under his foot!  He was suitably apologetic but doesn't understand how upset I am. 

For ages I couldn't bring myself to look to see what damage was done.  When I finally did, things were just as bad as I feared - pretty well all of the glazing bars on the sides are broken in at least one place and pieces are missing in lots of places.  It didn't even occur to me to check the soles of Peter's sneakers before he left the house for little pieces - I was too shocked.  And it's been raining for several days so any little bits that were caught in the tread of his shoes has probably been trodden into the mud. 

 I have scoured the carpet thoroughly and can't even find all the pieces to fill in the breaks, .  I have found the little decorative bit that was broken off the top but there are still lots of pieces gone from the sides. The bench supports are broken off and in several pieces, and the roof has gaps in it everywhere.  I rang Peter and asked him to check his shoes but I think it's too late. And I think the damage is too extensive anyway so at the moment I can't think want to do. I am so upset and sad. 

Happy Birthday, Your Majesty

Queen's Birthday Holiday in Australia

Australia is celebrating the Queen's birthday with a public holiday weekend.  So - Happy birthday Your Majesty!  I admire our Queen very much indeed, and hope her reign continues for a long time yet.