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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Recycle Containers to Hold Floral Sand

Chris from Canada wrote:
Use a container from powdered coffee whitener to store the rest of that big bag of
floral sand or the teensy pebbles you carefully gathered at the playground. The label will
pop off if you slit it with a craft knife, leaving a white container you can label with
marker, and a flip top that locks shut to keep the contents inside where they belong.
(Just remember to push the flip top down until it clicks so when you accidentally knock it
over with your duster as you clean your perfectly organised craft room you won't
have a major mess.)


Clear Shopping Bags

Chris in Canada wrote:
When you buy a new electronic whats-it for your computer or video game, each
connector often has a small tubular piece of vinyl covering it. Pull off the sticky label with
the part number and bar code, and use Jamie's shopping bag technique to seal one end.
Trim the seal neatly, then cut the bag off at the other end at the desired length. For
handles, just fold it in half lengthwise and cut out a half-oval shape through all 4 layers.
Decorate with a logo using permanent marker if you want, and fill'er up with whatever
m'lady has purchased at the local boutique. These look really nice, as you can see what's
in the bag without having to dump it all out, and being made from a heavy vinyl, it won't
tear easily.


Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Gold Shavings

Tantie McT posted on Canada Minis that she has found the neatest stuff to replicate gold and best of all it is free.
The place that makes keys usually has a pile of gold colored shavings form
when they cut keys.
Take a pill bottle with you and ask if you can help them
clean up.
http://community.webshots.com/user/tanties
http://miniaturesonly.com/
Good for your mining scene or Rumpelstiltskin?

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Zip Shut Bags

Chris from Canada wrote:
Next time you are about to pitch out one of those zip shut bags, take

a good look at the plastic strips that close it. Depending on the
brand they may look a bit different but the principle is the same.
One side has a single semi-rigid strip that pops into a double track
on the other side. That double track side can be cut out from the bag
and used as a track for a sliding cabinet door or window made from
acetate or thin wood, or will hold an acetate sheet in place across
the open side of a dollhouse or roombox. The ones on the brand name
bags have brightly coloured backing with a clear track, so you have
to paint the backing to match the surface you are gluing it to, but
the cheap no-name bags I use are all clear and as long as you use a
glue that dries clear, are almost invisible. BTW, the bigger bags may
have heavier zip tracks, but don't count on it. Zip-Lock and Slide
Seal use the same size track for all sizes, but Glad has 2 different
sizes, plus their microwave cooking bags have a really strong track,
good for places that will see a lot of opening and closing. Compare
this to buying an 8" strip of the smallest 'U' trim from a model
train shop for $5-$6, and I think you will see gold in them thar
bags. :-D

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Nursery













Chris Shibata made cribs for a nursery swap.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/5464963

Furniture

Crib
Change Table
Rocking Chair (with afghan?)
Diaper Pail
Hamper
Toybox
Playpen

Accessories

Diaper Stacker
Lamp
Bouncer/walker
Piggy bank on a shelf
Grow chart
Pictures
Rug
Baby carrier
Picture of parents on dresser
Rattles
Baby lotions, powders, and shampoo
Pacifier
Diapers & diaper bags - use thin white plastic grocery sacks glued to paper towels, cut into rectangles and glue into diaper shapes
Crib mobile
Baby toys, musical toys,
Photo album, lamps
Gift boxes
Birth certificate,
Baby Pictures
Diaper ointment from aluminum foil and a decorative toothpick top.
Cotton swabs - very thin pieces of white wire with the ends dipped into white paint.
Books



Anything Bears - Dec. '05
Bear Clock and Teddybear Night Table Lamp
Chris Shibata
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/5464963




Bathroom

Potty chair
Bathtub

Cleanup

Soap
Washcloth
Towels
Wet ones

Printies

Baby Photo books, Diapers, Diaper boxes, bibs
http://www.geocities.com/boopmini/BabyA.html
Baby gift boxes and envelopes, Diaper boxes
http://www.geocities.com/boopmini/baby3.html

Food

Highchair
Pablum
Bottle and formula
Bowl
Spoon

Clothing

Onsies
Bunting outfits
Bibs
Shoes & socks,
Booties,
Receiving blanket



Carolyn Brown's Diaper bag, blanket and romper outfit.

http://www.mapleleafminiatures.ca/gallery/










Mobile
A brilliant idea!
Doreen gives instructions.

http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/02/crib-mobile.html








Check out Doreen Playter's blog for popper, activity cube, mobile, etc.
http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/02/nursery-toys.html









Tanya did a lilac and pink nursery. She gives directions how she made these items.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/7251673












Check out the rocking horse lamp!

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/7251673









I'm not sleepy! (Love the picture on the back wall!)
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/5815043







Carolyn Brown's RL Rubber Ducky with 1:12 babies
http://www.mapleleafminiatures.ca/gallery/My-Miniature-Projects/

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Jaime's Plastic Bags


Congratulations to Jaime for being published in this month's AM magazine.
She wrote a TUT for her fabulous plastic shopping bags, included in the "Stock the Kitchen Swap".

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Many Uses of Brown Paper - save those bags!



1. Roofs - Wanna in El Paso described the process for making rustic shingles from a brown paper bag on the Roomboxes Digest. Cut away or unfold the end so that you have one continuous open bag. Measure your first line roughly about a quarter to a half inch wider than you want your shingles (this was for twelfth scale), then you angle in with your scissors and start cutting. For instance, picture a one inch strip that you've begun, then you just keep going around and around the bag until you get to the opposite end. You wind up with one very long continuous strip. Then you fold so that you have a few layers together and snip in a ways for the shingles, leaving the extra quarter or half inch uncut. It doesn't matter if they aren't spaced evenly.
You just glue them on, with each row of shingles overlapping the uncut top edge of the previous row. Stagger them so that the shingles alternate. You can brush them with varnish, then finish however you want, or you can just add various stains and washes to get the aged look you want. I have no exact recipe; I just do it. The stains and washes cause the edges to curl and they look either very old and/or very fairy-tale-ish.

I don't have a picture of this process, and I don't seem to have photos of any house done this way because it was years ago. However, there is a little egg birdhouse in my Cheeps Birdhouse Shop that has this type of shingles, so you can get an idea. In that case, I just wound it around and around on the egg and didn't do anything else to the roof. For a regular roof, you would cut the strips to length, of course.

Just scroll down until you see it sitting on the ground.
http://www.wannainelpaso.com/slightlystraightforwardstories/cheeps_birdhouse_shop.shtml

2. Sandpaper - as a final finish, brown paper makes even acrylic paints shine! and makes the finish more durable.
3. Grocery bags - make a few for your mini-shopper.
4. Wallpaper - paper with larger creases can be painted white to look like rough plaster.
5. Leather effect - the thinner brown bag can be crumpled again and again until it is very soft, applied to a trunk and stained to resemble leather.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wood shavings for Aminal Hutch

Chris from Canada wrote:
Recently I made a mini rabbit hutch for a friend who's elderly bunny,
Porky, had passed over the Rainbow Bridge. She already has a mini
bunny in 1:12 with identical markings that I bought for her a few
years ago, so I thought it would be nice to give her a duplicate of
Porky's hutch as a gift. The problem was, I no longer had any cedar
chips or wood shavings I could break up into smaller pieces around
the house, so I started to create mini wood shavings with a craft
knife from Popsicle sticks, but after only a few were shaved off, I
succeeded in cutting my thumb open. Ouch!

Nursing my now cleaned and bandaged thumb, and wondering just how I
was going to come up with wood shavings when I couldn't hold anything
comfortably, I spotted a little plastic pencil sharpener on the
table, and the proverbial light bulb turned on. I sanded the paint off
the first inch or so of a new pencil, then started grinding away,
using a light touch. TaDa!! Perfect, unpainted, super-thin mini wood
shavings for the hutch which, when glued in place with craft glue,
made a perfect bunny bed. These would also look good scattered around
a woodworker's bench, or beside a tree stump where someone has been
splitting logs.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Bekka's Kitchen





Bekka wrote:


Another idea for your walls is paint them & while the paint is wet tear some tissue paper ( the kind you use in packages ) into small pieces & stick to the wall. I painted my kitchen yellow & used white tissue paper & just touched it with a paint brush. The paint acts like glue & holds them in place..
The floor in my kitchen is a real piece of tile I got from my daughter when she put down her kitchen floor in her real life home. You can go to Home Depot they have a wallpaper that looks great on the ceiling or you can get some paint samples & use them.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Christmas Tree Balls from Ball-ended Pins




Looking for Christmas Tree decorations?
Can't find the right sized balls?
Clip the tips off coloured sewing pins
and glue them to the tree.