Cindy’s Miniatures

I have finished my Garden Eiffel Tower at last. Actually it only took 2 weeks working at it here and there. I put lights on it but did not like the effect. So since my husband is putting some low wattage wiring around the gardens I think we will try some up lights instead.

My garden is ‘comme se, comme sa’! My carrots have been eaten down to the ground and my beans are struggling with some bug eating them. Not to mention my own organic methods to help them which have ended up making it worse. On the up side the corn and peas are doing great. And the tomatoes looks so much better then last year! Yea!

Both Sarah and Max are happy in Portland. Rick and I are going to take the train down to see them at some point. I love Portland with all its outdoor cafes! And vegan food!

I so love the gardens in Paris! And my neighbor loves all things French. She has to look down on our parking area when out on her back deck. So…I decided a fun project would be to build an Eiffel Tower and light it up at night so she has something a little fun to look at. It is turning out to be a challenge! Every step is filled with figuring out how things are going to fit together and then trial and error wood cutting. But I think it will be worth it when I am done,.

My garden is doing so much better this year. We amended the soil and I think that is helping a lot. Everything is looking so much more healthy then last year, even the bushes and trees we planted. It is nice to see. So unless the weather turns against us, I expect some beans this year!

A college student no more! (At least for the moment). She is looking for to spending the summer in Portland assisting an architect in a ‘green’ remodel and working for a friend decorating his home.

Max has finished is Sophomore year and is spending the summer in Portland also. He is working for a retired architect in downtown Portland and sharing an apartment with some friends.

We’re sitting at home being proud parents!

I haven’t done much mini’ing lately, but I did make some half inch scale cake and bread loaves about 3 weeks ago. For the cake, I followed a tutorial by Betsy Niederer which was amazing. I was very happy with the result! I have forgotten where I found the tutorial for the bread loaves but, again, it was very good and I am happy with the loaves. I plan to bag them up and make some labels and then put them in my bakery. I am also putting the cakes in the bakery.

Next project for the bakery is to make a display case and get the lights working. I decided the name will be “The Corner Bakery Cafe”.

In real life, we have been working in the garden and have some peas coming up! Rick put in a water spigot as well so we don’t have to drag the hose around the house to get to the garden. Yea! We are leaving for a cruise in Hawaii next week so the rest of the garden planting will have to wait until we get back.

Aloha!

I am making a 1 inch scale room box for a good friend who wants a beach themed Christmas scene. I have the box completed now with a fireplace and beadboard wainscotting. The plan is to make a Christmas tree and trim it out with seashells and beach related ornaments. To keep the cost down I am using Lemax Christmas lights for the tree and I will cannibalize a Lemax spotlight to make a lamp for a side table. Then they will fit in one Lemax transformer and best of all I can use a Micheal’s or Joann’s 40% coupon on all of those. The beach we go to in the summer has tiny little seashells that wash up so I will be able to use lots of those to make garlands and ornaments. So this project will be ongoing until September!

The little shop (half scale) now has some wood beams in the ceiling and the beginnings of lights. I also have been working on a preparation area. I think that this will be a bakery and not just a chocolate shop. Then I can try making some breads and cup cakes as well as chocolates!

I am relatively happy with the counter but decided to make the drawers and doors non-working. The counter top is balsa wood covered with aluminum tape. The furniture I have collected over the years and fits very nicely in the shop! Tomorrow I will work on the sink and the ovens…

I am going to try my hand at making some half inch scale food, being inspired by some mini polymer clay food blogs I been visiting. So the paper mache house will be a shop for chocolates. I have finished the trim inside and am ready to begin making the furniture. I had to remove the side that I thought I would make be able to open and close but it warped so I completely removed and framed in the opening.

Already Valentine’s Day! The year is already flying by. Any who, it inspired me to make a theme bed in half inch scale. On a roll, I made a dresser as well. For the dresser I used scrapbook paper for decoration. It is glued to the top, sides and drawer fronts. You could use different papers for different looks. I have tried to make dressers with drawers that fit flush in the openings but I fail miserably! So I will just make drawers that don’t!

We had snow again yesterday! Half the day pretty snowflakes drifted down and actually accumulated 1 inch. I didn’t mind since it didn’t affect any holiday plans like the last time it snowed.

I decided to extend the chimney above the roof…I wasn’t going to but it definitely looks better. Since the shingling is already done I now need to decide on whether to cut out some shingles to better secure the chimney or to just glue it on top of the shingles. I will probably cut out some shingles because if I take the house to a show, it would be the better choice. I am also going to add some brick work to the inside of the house as well. Maybe in the bathroom…it could add some interest.

I haven’t worked on my half scale house in quite a while. Today I decided to figure out a way to cover the electrical wires I have coming out of the sides of the house. The lamps in the house all have non-replaceable bulbs in them so that if one goes out I have to replace the bulb and its wire. So I end up needing to run the wires in a way that I can take them out and put in a new one. I know, what a bother! My next house will have lamps with permanent wires with replaceable bulbs.

So back to my solution to cover up the wires…I made a fake chimney from balsa wood and then covered it with brick patterned paper. Looks pretty good I think. At least I am happy with it and now I can move on to another project in the house….like disguising the wires IN the house!