A quiet corner...

... to catch up on some holday reading.

The third wall

Before I dismantled my latest scene, a set of IKEA Lillabo cupboards I bought off eBay arrived and I decided they'd be perfect for the third wall of the scene...

(I think this may be the first time I've created a scene with three walls!)

Beady eyed

A quick trip to the local op shop on the way home from the Post Office.

A $1 bag of large wooden beads. Makes a perfect stash of miniature lamp bases!

Time for bed

So it would seem that this afternoon's scene is not finished with me yet. It demanded I put the lunch dishes away, return the table to its usual spotand make up the bed. Bossy scenes, I don't know.

What will it demand next? Breakfast in bed?

White and bright

I finished the third coat on my white floorboards this morning and brought the piece upstairs just after I shot the ROUND HOLE squared gallery scene.

I was reading my blog feeds over lunch and Ellen Giggenbach's blog inspired me to try something I've never tried with a scene before. A riot of bright Scandinavian retro-style colours:
I even came up with a backstory involving a designer who works and lives in a tiny studio apartment who has invited three friends round for a celebratory lunch.This scene took forever to complete. Not only was I racing round the house trying to gather all the relevant pieces from various other houses, but filling the shelving unit was incredibly fiddly. Just as I thought I had everything safely arranged something would fall over, fall out, or just decide it wanted to be moved to another spot.
I liked the end result so much I just had to pull the blind and try some "night" shots:
(Rug thanks to Neomig, Kaleidoscope House crockery and glasses thanks to Mini Dork)

The opening...

The inspiration:
* New black painted floorboards
* A set of glam decorative accents sent to me back in February by Mini Dork (like them? She's having a giveaway!)
* Attending three friend's openings yesterday

The goods:

* Aforementioned flooring
* My standard sheet of Precision Products' plastic brick
* Mini plinths from Craft ACT's Call of the Small exhibition
* Mini Dork's pieces and a couple more from my collection
* My P-touch labelling machine for the exhibition title

The time taken:

* About 20 minutes, including time taken to try and convince the piece at the back to balance on one point!

"Little Wonders of the World" photography competition

Stitch, not for profit organisation that raises environmental awareness through the arts, is running a photography competition with categories "Green in Cities/ Greening Cities" and "Little Wonders of the World".

A £5 donation per image submitted goes to the charities Back2Earth and Butterfly Conservation.

Finalists will be exhibited in London the week of 14th May and there are £200 in prizes

For more information see The Stitch Project website.

(I'm tempted. Are you?)

I made a black floor

with the third piece of bamboo table runner I bought back in September. Since then I've also bought a (much cheaper) one at Target with narrower boards which I'm going to trial as wall panelling...

(Vintage picture thanks to Neomig, chair thanks to Claudia.)

In the pink

When I said I was going to spend some time today tidying up my studio, I meant my full sized one...Oh well, it was fun playing with a colour I don't use very often.
And try out my new bottles of paint!

Long overdue

Tonight I'm (finally) working on a swap which was due three months ago. Sorry Neomig...
(And here's a photo showing how mini reflects reality. Except, oddly, there's less colour in the mini version!)

Do you think...

... I should take it as a sign?

In which I appear to have mislaid my mini book stash

Last spotted here and (obviously) tucked away somewhere safe. And new. Since they're not in the old safe spot.

The problem with misplacing minis is that they're very very... small.

Show and tell

Yesterday was the ACT Miniature Enthusiasts Show. I almost didn't go, as I'm not feeling very enthusiastic about miniatures at all, even with the recent arrival of miniature gifts and swaps.

But go I did. The display was very small this year, with nothing that caught my eye enough to photograph.

I did buy a few things, the most expensive being a miniature Nibbs:plus lots of containers, some ferny stuff to make pot plants out of and some plain white vases that I'll probably paint with nail varnish.

I do like little drawers...

I find miniatures everywhere

Last week I was invited to a special sale evening at local furniture store Domayne.

I'm sure you know the sort of thing: glasses of bubbles, trays of yummy canapés, talks and presentations by "famous" people off the telly and special "on the night" discounts.

And freebies. In my goody bag was a mobile phone holder advertising Classique outdoor furniture. But, alas, it's 1/6th scale.
Do any of you work in 1/6th? If so, would you like two (my friend donated hers to the cause) rather well made outdoor chairs for your Blythe or Barbie scene? (It looks like the name plate can be unscrewed and prised off) I'll post anywhere in the world.

Supermarket scale

Earlier today I popped over to the supermarket for boring basics and spotted these hanging with the kitchenware:I immediately grabbed them, thinking it was time for a party to (belatedly) celebrate my 6 year blogiversary. Watch this space... (and let me know if you'd like some!)

February...

... a big fat lump of no inspiration.

(But thanks to Claudia for arranging delivery of the chairs)

A new dolls' house!

I went to the markets this morning and came home with a new dolls' house for the collection:50 cents. A bargain!

Knitting and thinking

There's not been much happening here mini-wise over the past few weeks.
Except I've (oddly) found myself buying bags of Powder Puff and Fairy Floss yarn, in colours I don't have, on the two times I've been op shopping this year.

And have been trying them out. Which is good, as I do excellent thinking when I'm knitting (and mini flokati rugs are easy knitting leaving plenty of brain space for excellent thinking).

Part of the thinking revolves around my penchant for getting excited about things and making commitments I can't maintain. Something I'm aiming to address in 2012.

While I knit my rugs I'm currently pondering the option of opening an Etsy shop. And the opportunity to have a stall at the Sydney mini show in May. Both of which would be good outlets for selling said flokati rugs...

Mini distractions

Not much in the way of creativity has happened this month. I've had a Phantom Flatmate. Plus a house guest. And visitors. Been away. Went to a Wiki camp.

Often all at the same time.

This is the first scene I've made in almost 3 months. (No, I can't believe it's been that long either...)

The Shopping Sherpa needs a Shopping Sherpa!

So everyone's been all over these chairs from CB2:And they've just dropped in price again (to around 50 cents each). But for me to buy 2 Igloo chairs and 6 Reed chairs would cost $56.30 in postage...

Anyone in the USA fancy doing a deal with me to buy them on my behalf and forward them to me?