Finish it of Friday: this week's challenge might stretch to more than one Friday...

It's been a crazy-busy week. I've been sorting out my tax, guest blogging, and helping with the first Pop Up Office Small Business Fair. 

My Sweet Alice was providing coffee at today's fair, out of a vintage caravan.

 Which made me think of the retro caravan kit I had in stash from Seaside Miniatures.

 And made me decide that I really needed to start building it, based on my love of caravans.

There were other minis on display today: one of the stall holders had this fairy garden on their stall:

 And the venue had a lovely pottery building on display (thankfully, for my budget, sold...)

Gascoigne at Goulburn Gallery was great!

In the Canberra Times art magazine a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that there was a Rosalie Gascoigne exhibition on at the Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, which is a mere hour up the road.

I love me some Rosalie Gascoigne about as much as I love me some Alex Asch, so of course I had to go. And since I have no job, I could go any time I wanted :-D

Today was the day, and friend Tina joined me for the trip. And, being such mature grown-up people, our first stop in town was a selfie in front of the bum of The Big Merino

(which I shared on Facebook with the title 'Yum yum, sheep's bum, road trips are great fun!'). Yep: completely adult.

Seriously though, I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition

 (especially as we'd drive past Lake George to get there. And had the place to ourselves...)

The day got better when I discovered the children's room at the end of the gallery, which invited us to 'create your own Rosalie Gascoigne inspired [sic] collage and add it to our group work'.

As we read, our plans to visit the local op shops before we had to return home faded away.

 I decided to photograph my pieces with the works that inspired them...

 And, finally, I just had to make a miniature-sized work

which I had to play with once I got home.

The first thing I spotted in the stash when I started looking for inspiration for the scene (because one more 'desk and stuff' or 'sofa and stuff' scene would probably put me to sleep) was this chair from Minisx2:

And, as sometimes happens, the whole story for the scene fell into place. It was a gallery shop, of course! (And what a long time since I've done a gallery...)

And, as happens, things seemed to just jump out of various storage spaces, demanding to join in the fun:

new things. Old things. And things that have been waiting in stash for a while for the perfect setting.

 They all suddenly working. Perfectly.

 If I had money, I'd shop here.

 Wouldn't you?

#Frugal15 Week seven

 It was a busy week, and my focus wasn't really on food. But I still made and ate a variety of healthy, colourful, frugal meals.

And, as usual, made time to catch up with friends. I took muffins from the freezer on a visit to see a friend's new flat, bought myself coffee when I arrived early for a meeting (and appreciated it so much more than I used to when it was a daily habit), had a Friday-night dinner and movie night with friends (they decided to order in pizza), and visited the National Gallery of Australia's Members' Lounge and was bought coffee and noms for the second week running.

Oh, and just to prove that leftovers can be fun...

Saturday scene

Last week a friend and I took her kids to Canberra Museum and Gallery to see INK REMIX: Contemporary art from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. As we were admiring one of the pieces I mentioned that the opening invite I'd received had an image of it on the front, and that I'd tossed the invite into my pile of things to use in a mini scene.

Since it was on the top of the pile, it was what I grabbed to start today's scene with... 

Finish it off Friday: bins and boxes

A day of old and new. The bins were bought when I lived in Sydney (so at least 16 years ago) and I'd somehow never got around to painting the wheels until today. While I was at it, I touched up some paint chips on the bins.

 I also finished some brooch commissions.

Also finished this week: the August issue of The tiny Times (yippee!)  and my tax. I'm feeling rather chuffed all round.

Almost there...

I may still be in my PJs at almost 4 pm. My kitchen may be a disaster zone as I dash in, make food, and run back to the computer before I clean up.

But the August issue of The tiny Times is looking pretty good right now. Or at least I think so.

No doubt my co-Editor will be able to point out all the mistakes when she starts to proofread it tomorrow.

For now, I think it's time to go and start the day before it's completely over...

A trying Tuesday

I'm at that stage with the latest issue of The tiny Times where I wonder why I ever thought this would be a fun thing to do and toy with the idea of quitting.

Luckily I know, from previous experience, that this will pass and I'll end up feeling very proud of the end result...

A little lovely from Lundby

Last week I received an email from Paula at Lundby Australia, who has just returned from a trip to Sweden to visit the Micki/ Lundby factory. She said she had picked me up a little something while she was there and would pop it in the post. It arrived today

 and contains lots

 to drool

 over...

(Speaking of drooling: I can't wait to try out the new Lundby Bluetooth stereo when it's released!)

#Frugal15 Week six

This week whizzed past in a blur and I find myself, between goodies delivered by friends (Camembert, smoked salmon and Oreos, plus Turkish pide!) and meals eaten out or at friends', with a good number of the groceries I bought at the beginning of the week still sitting uneaten. Which can only be a good thing for week seven's budget.

What did get made included my favourite breakfast burger (a bun with a stack of hollandaise, spinach, smoked salmon, grilled mushroom, feta cheese and a lightly fried egg), tuna and vegetable pasta (a store-cupboard staple), a haloumi salad idea shamelessly stolen from Lido Cafe in Wellington and a lovely fresh tomato soup. And hummus with vegetable sticks and rice crackers, when friends visited.

 Once again, I've been fortunate with being fed by various friends. One brought Turkish pide to a mid-week gathering. One bought me a delicious cake and coffee after we visited the National Gallery to see The story of Rama: Indian miniatures from the National Museum, New Delhi.I had lunch next to a friend's pool on Friday and lunch at another friend's farm yesterday.

The excitement of the week was a friend letting me use her spare comp ticket to see the most excellent Flying Fruit Fly Circus (and also buying me bubbles and popcorn to boot). This was excellent timing because I'd found out earlier in the day that I hadn't got a job I'd applied for.

I joined another friend and her daughters on a visit to Canberra Museum and Gallery, and attended the monthly #Frugal15 shared lunch at my old work (bringing my muffins for the week: Spinach and cheese polenta.)

Perhaps this week will be a little quieter?

Saturday scene

(Using yesterday's potting bench as a start. Because it's been far too long since I did a miniature miniaturist's scene...)

Finish it off Friday: going potty

This kit first followed me home from the Canberra Show in April 2013, and was used in a blu-tacked together state for one of my favourite scenes, in May that year.

 Today I finally put it together properly.

 (Which ended up being a very quick

 and easy

job.)

It's that time again...

...when I start work on the next issue of The tiny Times, and take the now ubiquitous photo of my laptop with the snack du jour.

This time it's turkish pide leftover from a friends' visit last night...

#Frugal15 July round-up: Haloumi love

One of the most important parts of eating in a frugal way is sticking to your budget: which is best achieved by making a menu plan and a list and only buying what's on that list when you visit the supermarket.

I try to stick to around $35-$45 a week for groceries, but last week my budget blew out to $65. Was I worried? No.

You see there was method in my madness. In her book 'destitute gourmet: Everyday smart food for the family' Sophie Gray talks about making a little bit of something luxurious go a long way: buying a little something special each shop that can be eked out over several weeks and add interest to a frugal meal plan.

The week before last, as I was doing my shop, I noticed that haloumi was on deep discount. Now I love haloumi but can't justify it at the moment at full price. I checked the tag* and saw that the special ran for another week so made a mental note to add it to the next menu plan and shopping list.

It was a good week for deep discounts on things I love but can't justify at the moment. So I made the decision to spend more on my groceries this week in order to stock up on little luxuries, while they were at a good price. Especially little luxuries that have a long use-by date.

This is what $25 extra bought:

(and this is what $25 extra saves: I ended up spending $65 on $90 worth of groceries).

(*I assumed everyone knew this trick but after talking to a couple of friends, it would appear that I may have been wrong. So: 

At the bottom of supermarket sale tags are two important and useful bits of information. On the left, as on all tags, is the price per kilo (ml, piece, whatever). It's always worth checking this against other sizes of the product that aren't on special as they may still work out cheaper per kilo than the 'special'. And on the right is the date that the special runs through to. This is useful so you can work out if you need to buy the unexpected bargain right now, or if you can hold off until next shop.)

Dippity do da

So, after a false start, some dithering and a leap of faith, I finished painting last week's stool.

I'd planned to show it in a full scene but the day got away from me and I suddenly realised I was losing the light and so this is as far as I got...

#Frugal15 Week five

I spent more than the usual budget on groceries this week: which I will explain in Wednesday's #Frugal15 monthly round-up post.

The stand-out meal for the week was the salmon burger on a sourdough roll with smashed baby roast potatoes. I'll be making that again (and, since there are three more salmon patties in the box, more potatoes in the cupboard and another couple of the rolls in the freezer, it'll be very frugal!)

I also enjoyed the return on my favourite haloumi, green bean, lentil and baby spinach salad (which is why I was keen to catch the 25% off haloumi special this week). Although the ingredients were a little more expensive than my usual meal choices, the salad did feed me and a dinner guest one night, then me for lunch for the next two days (once with another sourdough roll, and once with cherry tomatoes and extra baby potatoes I'd roasted)

And this week's baking? Berry muffins.

It was a busy week socially. I invited a friend for dinner and another for lunch, attended a book launch, where I practised the fine art of ligging (and bought a copy of the book), and on Saturday I was shouted morning tea with friends, lunch at a crafternoon date, and then used another friend's spare ticket to visit the theatre with them to see Bangara Dance Theatre perform.

Saturday scene

It's another ski lodge! And another scene which started with a picture: this one a card from the Typo Not Quite Right table which I was tidying away when inspiration struck.

I pulled out a white bamboo runner, and my handy concrete tile and, before I knew it, the scene was complete (with chairs from Elvira and the Keith Murray-style vase that was in Mitchymoo's recent package.)

Finish it off Friday: Stool pigeon

This week I decided to start working on the oldest kits in my stash:

 This is a round stool kit from Small Pleasures, one of the first dolls' house shops I visited in Australia, and still in business...

 It's a simple but fiddly kit: the only thing you need to do is sand the ends of the spindles and the tops of the legs to fit into their corresponding holes. Of course, managing to fit all the bits into all the holes without other, previously-fitted, bits popping back out takes some time (and a little gentle swearing).

But, finally I managed it and now I just have to wait for the glue to dry before I start on the painting.

Speaking of stools and painting: here's the last stool I made, way back in the 1990s:

Other bloggers are joining the 'Finish it off Friday' challenge. Here's a round up of those I know about (please leave a link in the comments if you're also doing it and consider tagging your post with #FinishitoffFriday so it's easy to find!)

Lorraine from Fairy Meadow Miniatures has renamed her challenge 'C.K.(ie: Creating Kit) Day, and has completed a Victorian book stand and cookbook kit, and a step stool.

Mad for Mod at Mini Mod Pod has used the challenge to mend some miniatures, finish a bed and make some lamps.

Pepper from Mitchymoo Miniatures made some Miracle Gro for her shed, a DIY vacuum-forming machine, morphed the concept into 'Still at it Sunday' to install the windows for her loft apartment, then continued the theme to install windows in Fenton Lodge.

Commissions, continued...

I'm getting there...

I knew I'd find them eventually!

Remember back in February, when I collected most of my kits together and said that I knew there was a stash of older ones hiding somewhere?

Well today I found them when I started my eight-yearly clear out of my miniature supplies cupboard:

 Four vintage Millie August furniture kits (to my credit, I have completed one of the series...)

And a bag of kits that is so old I'd forgotten that I had half of them (and I know that I bought the wash stand kit for a house I sold in 1996 before I moved to Australia...)

It's about time I did something with them, wouldn't you agree?