Repper what you sew!

Sometimes clearing out your inbox sets your day out in a whole new (and very exciting) direction.

This morning, for instance, I finally made time to have a look at a link sent to me by a work buddy late last month. And, in the space of five minutes my mind was well and truly blown.

Repper takes an image and lets you turn it into a pattern. I trialed the demo version and here are the results...

From this:I made this in my first 30 seconds using the program: I turned this:Into this:
And this: became this:And, to give you an idea of the versatility of Repper, throwing this in: gave me, with five simple clicks, the following options:
Are you as excited as I am by the possibilities of Repper for mini use? (Especially if paired with Spoonflower...)

Three floors

Two weeks have passed since I bought my bamboo table runner to use as miniature flooring. You'll remember that I undercoated one bit in white, and it's still in the same state as I dither about if I want to keep it looking shabby or finish painting it properly: (Yes, I still have the same half finished room sitting on my desk two weeks later)

I have, however, made progress with the second piece of runner. It got sanded and distressed slightly followed by several applications of stained coating wax and lots of buffing:
I like how it looks and how the house smells: it's been years since I last used my coating wax.
(Such a difference between the original and the waxed version!)

Now I have to decide how to deal with the third bit of flooring my bamboo runner produced...

Cushy: behind the scenes

Because I suspect you enjoy seeing studio pictures as much as I do...

(And if you're wondering about the dice: I pulled out my collection and used them to prop the cushions up in the shelving unit... And yes, the owl lamp fell down and I couldn't be bothered putting it back in place before I took this shot!)

A Cushy Job (aka: That wasn't the scene I was planning to make at all)

Having spent a couple of hours after work tonight doing boring house worky-type stuff, I decided to reward myself by putting one of the weekend's aborted scenes back together on my newly cleared desk*

But the scene that eventuated wasn't quite what I was planning: I blame the fact that yesterday's crafternoon saw me finally finish approximately 30 incomplete cushions I had hanging round on my work bench. Which I had no idea what to do with...
until I found myself creating a soft furnishings showroom. Which decided it was called A Cushy Job
(Who was I to argue?)
It would be wise not to mention copyright:Cushion images were lifted from my teatowel collection and various places online, including Aunty Cookie, who does fabulous (full sized) stuff that you should go buy. (Then she can't be (too) mad at me for stealing her designs in mini!)

(*And, in case you were wondering: yes, trousers were (eventually) taken up over the weekend)

Distractions

Top of today's list of things to do was taking up trousers for a friend and (finally) finishing Mitchymoo's May Swap.

I started so well! I tidied away the trial scenes from this morning so I could pull out the overlocker and sewing machine. Turned the iron on, found the trousers, and...

Decided I'd "just" see how a piece of the runner looked with some paint on it. It seemed so sensible to arrange things so it could dry while I was working on those two very important priorities.

I got the first pair of trousers pinned up. Went downstairs to put a load of washing out, and on the way back through the kitchen, thought I'd "just" see how the flooring was going. And, what do you know, it was dry...

I rather like how it looks with just the first coat:
very vintage/ shabby chic.

It also works well as wall panelling (something else that's been on my wish list for a while now):
And those trousers? That's them buried under my mini storage box. *sigh*

Looks like I need to clean things away AGAIN, have lunch and restart the day.

Two for the price of one*

And, suddenly, it seems that I'm working on two room ideas at once: The room on the left was inspired by this illustration in a recent marie claire (or was it Madison?) and the arrival of a too-cheap-to-not-bid-on loft bed from eBay.

I haven't done pink before and it's not usually a colour I'm drawn too but I'm enjoying playing with different options for what seems to have decided to be a crafty teenager's bedroom.
Next door is a much darker space. I bought new scrapbooking paper last night, and, following Petronellas miniplats' lead, went looking for a table mat I can use as floorboards (much cheaper than buying them from the dolls house shop, and less driving involved) Alas, David Jones only had a table runner. So I'll get to trial painted floorboards with the other end of it and still have some left over for wall panelling...

(*Humming this)

The Transport Cafe

Inspiration: Vintage Routemaster bus Matchbox toy picked up at Trash & Treasure for 50 cents. Added: Amazing Miniatures' coffee table (part of our swap), turned on its side and used as a planter box.

Time taken: Fifteen minutes.

It's all there in black and white

This black and white homewares shop scene started with the miniature Luuk tea towel cushion I finally got around to stuffing this afternoon.

I wanted to photograph it and was brainstorming ideas when I remembered the shelving unit that I received as part of a swap from Mitchymoo miniatures. Soon I had this: Wanting to pick up the black and white stripes in the vase, I dug out the black and white seating unit from here, and, as I wandered past, picked up the lid of one of my black and white striped storage boxes to use as a feature wall (probably influenced by the fact I was printing off mini copies of this book earlier today...) And the giant peg? It just seemed to fit, especially after my recent forays into incorporating oversized items into my scenes.

(Time taken: twenty minutes.)

Anniversary

Another scene inspired by an Avant card. This one was picked up last weekend and made me think of a pair of Frankie hipsters celebrating their anniversary.

I've obviously been watching too much Ugly Betty recently...

As I suddenly felt the need to create a homage to the Mode offices...I ended up creating a second space-saving version of the room:(Credits on FLICKR)

Around the world

I'm fighting off the travel bug, which is grumbling about how long its been since I've been on a real holiday and singing me this on high rotation in protest.

In the meantime, I used the back of the scrapbooking paper from yesterday's scene as a starter for this:
(And a random vintage game piece I picked up for free at the op shop last weekend. I think it looks like an interesting bottle)

Browned off

I came home from last weekend's Trash and Treasure Market with (amongst other gems) a set of gargoyle coasters and an acupuncture doll.

Add some scrapbook papers from my trip to Div's in May, a couple of pieces from a cheap dining room setting I picked up at a show a few years ago, some accessories from the stash and:

Big game hunter

A surprise delivery from Amazing Miniatures this week included a fabulous perspex chair and one of her new perspex rhino heads.
Which inspired me to create my first scene in a while. I envisage it as the office of a successful 50-something single woman, who's still looking for Mr Right.
(Credits on FLICKR)

We three kings

Inspiration can strike in the strangest places.A friend and I wandering round the CMAG Imitation of Life exhibition this afternoon when I spotted these three crown-wearing budgies as part of a work by Danie Mellor. And, suddenly, I had to take close up photos photos to frame and use as the basis for a scene*.

The only problem is that once I returned home in the cold and rain I lost my miniature mojo. So did nothing more than resize and print out the photos and check how they'd look framed.

Dammit! I need my miniature mojo back! I have embarrassingly overdue swaps to finish and get in the post this weekend.

(*I said to my friend that I could imagine them with a wing chair under them. She waited two counts and then cracked up. Having realised what I said I then declared that the scene should also feature beakers.)

And since I had the walls up anyway...

... I thought I'd play with some newish pieces: a fabulous Minimodernista clock I was given for my birthday and some vintage German furniture I won off eBay a couple of months ago.

At first I thought I could make the other corner of the bedroom I put together earlier today.but decided to do a lounge corner instead.I was pretty happy at this stage, all I needed was a few layers of "story".

A throw, a book to read, and a little something to drink. But, somehow, drinking bubbles by yourself just doesn't feel right.

Luckily I had another matching chair. And another glass.Perfect!Now, what are we celebrating?

Pushing the envelope

My miniature mojo returned around 3am this morning, when I woke up with a start and knew exactly what I needed to do with all those security envelopes I've somehow started keeping over the past few weeks...

A few minutes with the 1" square punch, some graph paper and a glue stick. followed by some scanning, fabric printing and sewing and voila: I call it my security blanket...

Graft

"Dismayed by the destruction of our architectural heritage, artist John Radford has recreated a suburb in miniature. And he's selling the houses off the plan."

The first Graft Street Party 2010 in the Q Theatre construction site from John Radford on Vimeo.

Story here, website here.

(I rather fancy owning a house in Auckland...)