Eyes on the Prize

The Bay State African Violet Society annual show and sale was held this last weekend. As usual I participated, but in addition to bringing the usual potted, blooming plants for show and/or sale, I had signed up to do a design. This particular design is created within a 6" square niche, using very small objects; a mini design, you might say.
I have done mini designs before, (even before I realized I liked miniatures!) and I thought I would share with you a litle about my project this year.
The theme of the show this year was Heavenly Violets, and the design 'title' was Cosmic Dust. It was up to me and the other entrants of the class to create a small design within the 6" square that suggests Cosmic Dust. I must have done OK, because I got a blue ribbon. Now, before you get all excited about the blue ribbon, let me explain that if you have an exhibit or plant in the show, it can win a blue ribbon on its' merits alone; you are not competing agaist the plant/design next to you. However, once you have won a blue ribbon, the judges then decide the best design out of the blue ribbon winners, and award the 'Best in Class' ribbon. Finally, out of all the different design classes in the show, one design wins Best Design in Show. I'm happy with the blue ribbon; I was trembling in my boots while doing this design, because I couldn't get the flower to behave. Fortunately they judge very soon after the designs are completed, but the show goes on for two days, and by the time the second day rolls around, you're lucky if the violet blooms are not completely shiveled up!
Mine is the first one; the white design; I took this photo about an hour before the show closed. (That's why it looks so bedraggled.) The pink one belongs to another club member, and I believe this design won the Best in Class. It was just lovely, and that meshy stuff was real sparkly and really conveyed 'Cosmic Dust." I love mini designs!!!

Four Days Gone

Our annual Bay State African Violet show is coming up this weekend, and since I have plans to sell, show, and create a special 'mini' design with some violet blossoms, I'm not going to be posting for a few days. But you just wait, I hope I have something nice to show you next week. Meanwhile, I'm just letting you know I haven't totally 'disappeared' again!

Some Day Soon

This is weird. Did I ever show you this dollhouse before? I was sure I had, but I can't find any posts about it. Maybe I posted it on GetCrafty when I was blogging over there. I dunno...but anyway, pardon me if I'm giving you a repeat here!

This is a Fisher-Price dollhouse that BB decided I might do something with. He has the same dollhouse, only all of his lights/doorbells/sounds work. Only a few of mine do. The outside color scheme, it's kind of bland, don't you think?? Of course, a little girl isn't really going to be too concerned about the outer appearance...she just wants to play house with her dollies. Me, I want to gussy this place up on the outside; make it a real showcase. And yesterday, I had an idea....

I actually had mentioned to BB a while ago, when he first gave me the house, that I wanted to try to paint the outside, and he kind of pooh-poohed that idea.
( Will somebody puhlease tell me why all the guys I know pooh-pooh my ideas? Especially when they end up copying me in the end??? LOL )

The other day as I was cleaning out the drawer of furniture, I had an overwhelming urge to go get a paintbrush,mix a little paint, and to try my idea, just to see if the idea was feasible. I got a little carried away and painted the blocks of 'granite' on the corners of the walls in addition to the 'bricks', but quickly realized that I should leave the large 'granite' blocks white. It brings out the brick more, I think. I will eventually get to this a a full fledged project, but for now, I am content knowing my plan will work.
Oh, I'm also going to paint the roof a different color. Having a blue roof is bad Feng Shui..it denotes water on the mountain, not a good thing!

Today

The other day was sooo beautiful, and I definitely was in a Springtime mood. Here it is two days later, and I'm gazing out at the puddles forming in the yard. It is April though, so you gotta expect those April showers. April showers are a whole lot better than April Blizzard conditions! Besides, the temperatures are mild today, so I headed out to the GH this morning.
My goal out there today was to go thru the accumulation of furniture and other items that BB periodically gives me. A lot of the items are things I'd never use, no matter how many houses I build or buy. He knows this; in fact, he's prolly gone thru the stuff before he passes it on to me! lol. He just drops the things off like a little surprise bag every now and then - he calls them 'trinkets'- and I can pick and choose what I want and then send the rest on to wherever.
The first photo is the drawer where everything ended up together. I threw out some things that were obviously in need of a better/more interested crafter,and kept a few other things that are in the I-may-or-may-not-use-but-you-never-know category. That is the second photo, all the BB items laid out on top of my craft table.
I think today was a success. Not that I did much, but I was able to rearrange the drawers all my building paraphernalia were in.

Tiny Dancer

I think when I first started writing this blog, I decided to abbreviate some frequently used names that I use. I am going to start that up again.
The Gabby House = TGH... Addams Family House = AFH... and Billy Bob = BB. Oh, BTW Billy Bob's real name is Bill, not Billy Bob, lol. I just call him that. Sometimes he calls me Caitey Bob.

Ok, so here's the project I mentioned in a few posts, and never showed you. I have been fascinated with these teeny weeny houses...the 144th scale ones, and I finally bought one last year. OH, wow! I just realized where I got it. I think I got it at the mini show I was complaining about a while back. Hmmm. So Ok, there were a couple of decent dealers there!
I haven't really started the project yet,(obvious much?) besides popping a couple of windows out to fit one set together. I'm trying to decide if I want to paint any of it first. I've seen some really pretty photos of completed houses, but maybe I should just build it without trying to paint the thing.(?) I think it's going to be hard enough to just get it together, let alone figuring what to paint and where. Any advice, hmmm?

Do you Believe in Magic?

For the past few weeks I have been organizing my non-sport trading card collection. That meant I had to take frequent trips out to The Gabby House to get supplies for the cards.(I had moved my collection out there last summer.)The first photo is of the (front) of the cabinet I keep the binders in... bad, bad, photo. The second is of all the binders full of my card collection.
Seeing as how it was still cold on my trips out to the G.H, I didn't stay very long for the most part. However, during my frequent outings, I did find some time to clean up a couple of messy areas out there. I was getting ready to take advantage of the coming warm weather when I knew I would be out there quickern' a duck on a June bug! I didn't want to start a new season with old messes hanging over my head.
Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day...temps in the 60's, sunshine, and a sweet breeze blowing. How could I not just peek in the Gabby House, maybe check out the drawers full of furniture slated for The Addams Family house? I ask you, HOW COULD I NOT?
I tellya, it's Magic being out there. I'm out there 5 minutes and fall under the spell of the miniatures once again. Oh, I convince myself in the middle of December that I've lost interest; that I want to just get the Addams Family house finished in the far-away Spring...and then I'm done. I'm bored with minis. I'm going to give my waiting projects away. It's too expensive. And I tell myself those lies just to keep my sanity, because I can't bear to think about all those mini projects waiting for me less than 50 yards from my back door, and not being able to comfortably work out there. Whew! And that is also the reason I stop reading mini blogs; they inspire me way too much, and I can't do anything about it.
So I was out there yesterday looking around, and thinking how I really need to spend time going through all my acquired furniture and accessories, and how I also need to make a project list to help me decide how to proceed with the rest of the Addams Family.( This might sound like drudgery to many people, but to me, it just makes me salivate to get started.) It was just the start; just the beginning. Ahhh.

Desperado

I was just re-reading my last couple of entries, and I see that before I 'went away' for the winter, I had said I was going to tell you all about my big day at the Mini show I had attended recently. It sounded as if I was going to be gushing with delight over attending the show, but in reality, it was pretty much a bust.
The show was held in a convention room of a Holiday Inn off the highway in Dedham(Mass.) My friend Billy Bob and I have gone to a couple of toy shows (not mini) there, and they usually have a good mix of vendors.
This mini show was pretty lame. I have been to very few mini shows over the four or so years I have been miniaturizing, but enough to know that there should have been more dealers than there were.
I embarrassed myself in front of one 'dealer', because I thought he was a dealer with good prices, and I started picking things up to purchase, and he glares at me (glares!)and says "This is the childrens' table!!!". I didn't know. Maybe if I had really thought about it, him being in the corner with a small card table, and prices that were like, 10c for things, I'd have figured it out, but I was so bummed by the lack of real vendors, I didn't even notice.
I bought a couple of things (from the real vendors),including two 1/2 scale dolls, but they were waaay overpriced and I should have passed them by, but, you know how you get desperate sometimes to just BUY something...anything? That was me. I usually get that feeling when I'm clothes shopping. You should see some of the stuff I have come home with...and returned the next day. Either that, or I lose the receipt and then the item ends up in the Goodwill donation boxes.
The photo shows what I pretty much bought in the hour or so I was there (minus the two 1/2 scale dolls; I gave them away.) I even went around the room twice, hoping to find somthing I wanted to buy.
The items are a beautiful hat, and the hat stand for it. My sister says that she'd like to maybe some day build a room box and perhaps with a millinery theme, so I bought her the hat to get her started. I also saw this cute little Chinese Checkers board. I have to use some teeny tiny 'marbles'/beads to put in the holes! Finally, this cute jug that has a vey pretty painting of a large elm tree next to a house. That's it.
Oh, and pardon my photography. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, other than using my dopey digi camera (as opposed to the one I traded my son for.) No, wait. That didn't sound right. I would NEVER have traded my son for that camera. A better one, perhaps, but not that camera!!! lol