Wondering what to do (aka: From 'no idea' to 'nailed it' in nine minutes)

After a lovely lazy day yesterday, I was up early this morning sorting and cleaning (and putting lots and lots of minis away so I could see my work benches again).

But as the day progressed I got more and more antsy: I had lots of lovely clear space to create a scene on but nothing was jumping out at me as the start of a scene when I walked past my piles of treasures.

And so stopped. Decided to ignore the overwhelming possibilities at hand and challenged myself to create a scene using something I bought on Friday as a starting point.

(2.25 pm) I pulled out the pad of scrapbooking paper.

(2.25 pm) Turned it over and wondered who on earth thought it was a good idea to put a hole in a pad of scrapbooking paper, while at the same time mentally discounting the first pattern as too big to use. No worries: I had the rest of the pad to explore...

(2.25 pm) Then I turned the page. And instantly thought of lino.

(2.25 pm) So quickly turned the pad up the other way. Maybe that giant rose pattern might work after all?

(2.26 pm) There happened to be a pile of vintage German red and white folding chairs at the side of the work area, so I unfolded one and added it as a test.

(2.26 pm) Liking what I saw, I pulled out one of my lengths of skirting board.

(2.27 pm) The vintage German dresser which was lurking on the other end of the workbench looks like it would  work, if I temporarily cover the original tiles with another colour. I popped it in as well.

(2.28 pm) Spotted a Typo travel wallet that I bought because I thought the outside might make a good screen, and added it to see if the colour worked. It did, but I'll need to ponder how I can use it best.

(2.31 pm)  Rummaged around in the trusty 'new bits waiting to be used soon' drawer to see what was in there that might fit. And, suddenly, realised that I'm building a beach house scene (something that seems to be a bit of a tradition around here at this time of the year).

(2.33 pm) There was a day bed hiding behind the kitchen units on my work bench so that got added (even though the cover colour is all wrong: that can be fixed, too). Plus some trusty Typo light shades.

(2.34 pm)  And a board off the side of a Typo crate, which I think would make a fabulous beach house table (I'll probably have to cut it down unless the residents are expecting a huge turnout for Christmas lunch!)

It's all very rough and ready, but the bones are there and a bit more work will pull it all together. I just hope I manage to finish this scene before I lose interest...

(Edited to add: See part 2 here, part 3 here and the final instalment here)

The post where I get out of bed in order to make a scene of my bed so I can tell the world I'm not getting out of bed...*

I haven't had a doona day for far too long and two weekends before Christmas, on an overcast day, where I have a few excellent new acquisitions waiting to be read, seemed like the perfect time to rectify the situation.

But then I remembered the Daily Dolls House December challenge, thought momentarily about using the post I have tucked away in draft format for emergency situations and decided this was not the time to use it.

So I told myself to stop being such a lazy git, wiggled out from under Mr Nibbs after moving my piles of reading, and got out of bed to recreate my room for the second time on this blog:

(*Yes, my brain hurts, too...)

Friday finds for $5

I popped into the Typo factory outlet on the way home (my excuse was I wanted to drop into the hardware store next door to check out pegboard for a crazy idea I'd had) and spent $5 on the following from the scratch and dent table:

Light shades in a colour I don't yet have, wallpaper and flooring, a basketball and hoop, a coffee table base and some posters.

(And I thought one of the points of the whole Daily Dolls House December challenge was getting through my pile of treasures, not adding to it...)

There was only one rule

I arrived home this evening feeling a bit exhausted and, correspondingly, a bit grumpy. I got grumpier as I realised I had to make a scene to blog and as I played with various combinations that just weren't working for me, especially as I was trying to come up with something fabulous to highlight Pepper's generous gifts.

And then I took a step back. And asked myself a very important question:

What was the rule?

'Daily Dolls House December, in which I attempt to blog something mini related every single day for the next month.'

Well then. I'm not aiming for perfection. Or grandeur. Or the next cover image. I'm aiming to get back into the habit of making minis. And blogging about them.

And there's nothing wrong with making a small, simple scene occasionally.

Suddenly things got better. (Except for the bit where I spent a good 15 minutes swearing at my mini books as I tried to line them up with the front of the shelf. Then I told myself to just stop being such a Librarian, pushed them to the back and we were good.)

(Credits: 'Stone' wall: scrapbooking paper bought on a lunchtime trip to Eckersley's. Poster: Canoe dreams 'Sea of Indolence' by Alan Wehipeihana (picked up the same time as this card) Shelving unit: eBay. Vases:  Elisabeth Causeret and Kim Selwood, from Pepper. Kangaroo: Playmobil. Books: Various bought and handmade)

It's like all my Christmases have come at once* (WARNING: fawning alert)

(*Which is interesting, as I don't actually do Christmas)

Back in September Pepper from Mitchymoo Miniatures and I did a swap. We both thought the other put together a far superior parcel of treasure (Which, I think, pretty much defines a successful swap). And Pepper declared she was going to send me another, 'much better' parcel.

Guess what was waiting on my post box for me yesterday evening?

Since I don’t do Christmas, I took great delight into ripping into it straight away.

And OMFG, if anything could convert me to the concept of Christmas being a worthwhile proposition it would be the loveliness that I found within.

 I think Pepper covered all the best things in life (except, perhaps alcohol, but that’s always difficult to post...). I was more excited by the batteries than I was by the chocolate (thus possibly proving I was born without a girly gene) as I realised that meant there was a Mitchymoo miniatures  lamp in there somewhere!

I opened the boxes from largest to smallest (as a miniaturist I always believe the smallest package is the most interesting and, once again, I was proven right).

The first package I opened was a fabulous black and white tea towel for my collection. But that's another blog, so we'll move right along.

The next package was one of her fabulous credenzas.

I admired the beauty of the legs and the intricacy of the door fronts

while marvelling at what wonders the 21^st century has brought for miniaturists.

The third package contained THE LAMP!

Oh lovely lamp! Oh lamp, my love, what a beautiful lamp you are, you are, what a beautiful lamp you are! 

And three turned vases are beautiful too (I'm hoping that these aren't Mitchymoo originals as that would be yet another skill she has that I'm jealous of)

Then, finally, my attention turned to the smallest package of all. And as I picked it up I wondered if there was any possibility that there was a Ray Storey bottle inside (I'd been perhaps a little too effusive in my praise of his work on her blog, but he's been on my wish list for some years).

But of course she blew all my expectations out of the water and there were THREE! Plus an Elisabeth Causeret vase, which has also been on my wish list for a very very long time.

After the shock of it all, I had to go and pour myself a glass of sparkling wine with which to toast my very good fortune and Pepper's generosity. And start planning the ‘backatcha’ parcel.

(This could continue for quite some time...)

December dinner: step by step

Step One: Pull a set of vintage German (Vero?) chairs out of the pile of treasures.

Step two: Flick through a pad of scrapbooking paper left out from a previous scene and find a paper that works with the chair.

Step three: Have a shower and ponder what the scene will be. Think about a patisserie. Realise that four chairs and almost no cakes does not make a good patisserie. Decide to keep it simple and go with a dining room (it's been a while since you did a dining room, after all...) 

Step four: Drive to work (after getting dressed, in case you're concerned!) and challenge yourself to doing more than a room corner. Pondering the 1950s chair and the 1950s-style wallpaper, think about an updated take on traditional 1950s style. Then wonder if you could use the shed wall and french doors to create a double room, since the shed seems to be getting no further toward being finished.

Step five: Return home for work, plunder stash for accessories and set up said double-room scene:

Step six: Spend far too much time photographing the scene, before realising blobs of Blu-tack are showing and wine glasses are wonky.

Step seven: Correct wonkyness and re-photograph scene.

Step eight: Collapse,  'forgetting' to put away the pieces.

Against the grain

Remember Saturday's Officeworks haul?

Did you notice, like I did, that the grey kitten and the wood-grained paper seemed to belong together?

I also thought that the Lundby shelving unit that I painted yellow at the same time I painted that table might work with them. And I was right. (I did wonder, at this stage, if I was belatedly creating another corner of a scene I blogged in mid 2011)

After plundering the stash (both old and new) for items to display on the shelves, I was close. But not happy, as the white items read as cream when placed in the shelves. And I was worried that anyone trying to sit in the armchair would smack their head.

 So I made a few changes, and was (finally) happy.

(Although if this becomes anything more than a sideways scene remains to be seen...)

Gathering Kaimoana*

I returned home from New Zealand earlier in the month with a stash of cards and ephemera I'd picked up at various museums, galleries and gift shops.

This scene uses one of them: a Alan Wehipeihana card ('Gathering Kaimoana')  I bought from the gift shop at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua.

The first step in creating this scene was the discovery that the colour of my vintage Bodo Hennig modular sofa worked rather well with the card.

Since I still had my Lofty aspirations scene set up from last week, I used the same space but turned the floorboards around to run the other way and replaced the wall coverings with some watercolour paper from my stash.

The rug is an image from a pamphlet for Wellington Museums, scanned and printed onto fuzzy paper I bought in 2012. The cushions are from a cheap bed I recently bought from my local dolls house shop and the side table is from July's vintage German eBay purchase.

I'm sure you know where the light shade came from,

The accessories on the side table reference the New Zealand theme of the card, with another 'Crown Lynn' swan, a cloche displaying.. moss? seaweed?, and a sea urchin picked up at Trash and Treasure. And, I now realise, the clock is also vintage Bodo Hennig,

Hmmm... this corner is starting to feel all very Douglas Lloyd Jenkins. Rather apt, really.

(*Maori for sea food or shellfish)

Not from the mini shop

The pre-Christmas Handmade Markets are on again this weekend and, as is my habit, I popped along to find items for mini use.

 I bought three cards which I'll use as posters on walls. Plus picked up some (free) postcards with images that I can cut out and use as well. (Obviously I have a think for magpies at the moment...)

James from Victorian Dollhouses was there too, introducing a whole new audience to the handmade possibilities of the miniature hobby. He says he's quite amazed how low the level of awareness of the hobby is among people he speaks to at the markets. Here's hoping we gain some more mini modern converts!

Speaking of converting, on the way home from the markets I had to swing past Officeworks to pick up some printer paper. And, as usual, I checked the aisles for items that I could re purpose for my scenes.

I found some great grey and white wood grain paper and a pile of cool erasers that I could have fun with.

Slim pickings

First week back at work after leave plus Daily Dolls House December challenge plus Friday night drinks equals the dawning realisation that I need to blog something and have lost the light.

Light! Aha! Perhaps I can share a little something that I picked up yesterday lunchtime from the National Portrait Gallery store:

It's a slim book lamp.

(Which is kinda like the Flat Stanley version of the Tiny Tim book light I blogged about back in 2011.)

Lofty aspirations

I realised this morning, as I threw this scene together over breakfast, that I don't often do 'masculine' scenes.

The inspiration: A lunch-time trip yesterday to the Typo factory outlet (of course!) with a work friend. I bought two things: a pack of scrapbooking paper ($1) and a dead alarm clock ($2). Both of which ended up being used in this scene.

The intention: As I spotted to palm mural paper, I was already plotting to use it in a scene with the black wire bed I bought at the 2012 Sydney show. And have the bed in a state of un-made disarray (also quite unlike me).

The execution: I tried using a concrete floor (since I was reusing the space where my shed was sitting) , but the colours weren't quite right and, with the Navi chair I originally hoped to use as a bedside table,  things started to feel a little bit like a prison cell that had been 'cheered up'.

So I swapped in the black floorboards and they looked a heap better. After trialling several chairs I settled on the Eames, especially as I loved the ambiguity of if it is an original or a cheapy copy from Officeworks.

I'd dismantled a canvas I bought from Typo ages ago and kept the internal wood: a quick wipe with some raw umber paint (using an old pair of knickers from the rag box) gave me the posts, with a suitably weathered look.

And then it was (after I finished my now-cold breakfast) simply a matter of rummaging through my boxes of miniature accessories with the eyes of someone who might just live in a loft apartment with an unmade bed and a chair for a bedside table.

 The burning question: Do you think this apartment is in the same building as the white and bright apartment I blogged about in April last year?

(I'll let you toss that idea round)

Waiting on Wednesday

It's been a while since I did a waiting room scene and even longer since I worked in orange.

But since I recently picked up a vintage Bodo Henning orange cord lounge suite on eBay and discovered it matched rather well with some paper from a pad of scrapbooking sheets I picked up at Big W a couple of weeks ago, the scene was set (as they say...)

(Lounge suite: vintage Bodo Hennig. Coffee table: vintage Modella. Pouffes: Lundby. Plant: Diana Cotterill. Lamp: Mitchymoo Miniatures. Side cupboard: Rement (painted). Statue: Irwin Interior Decorators Set. Vases: Dolls House Emporium. Wallpaper: Grace Taylor vintage scrapbook paper. Floor: bamboo table runner.)

A Tretchikoff on Tuesday

I picked up this Tretchikoff magnet in the gift shop at The Dowse Museum while I was in Wellington last week. Rather than have it languish in my stash, I thought I'd throw a quick corner together using it as the inspiration.

Perhaps I'll return to elaborate on this idea later. Or perhaps not.

Map Monday

Way back in October, I was inspired to make a scene (still unfinished, alas) by a picture of a vintage New Zealand map I ripped out of a magazine.

I'm pleased to say I finally finished making the map:

 I cut around the picture and stuck it to some light card backing, leaving space top and bottom to glue some bamboo from a Japanese hanging a friend gave me. Finally, I cut a length of vintage cotton from my cotton reel collection and attached each end to the back with permanent stickers.

Yep, that looks suitably vintage. Now to finish the shed it's supposed to be hanging in...