Honey I shrunk the trailer...part 1

A month before my 11 year old niece arrived for her summer holidays here,

I ordered her a birthday present for her upcoming 12th in August.

I found this little model kit on Etsy.

Here's the link

I inquired what it came with?

Everything in the picture was the reply!

So when Stephanie showed up she was absolutely thrilled with our intended project.

It came with many many little pieces of wood and paper...

It came with all of the tools to put it together. Glue, scissors, exacto knife, ruler, pencil, fabric.

Did I mention it came with MANY LITTLE PIECES?

Oh and the directions were all in Japanese! (I think)

But very good pictorial directions.

Were we still in? 

You bet!!

This is how it came. The shell was the only thing put together.

Made out of thin, light balsa wood and painted the most beautiful vintage blue!

We put in the window frames and put together the little box thing by the trailer hitch...

Window boxes...check!

After a few days of sniffing airplane glue and making tiny curtains, pillows

quilts and lawn furniture we were making progress...

But our project would have to wait until we got back from our road trip.

We brought it with us to show a few friends who we were visiting

and took a few pictures of it at our campsite for fun...

 This kit has everything!

Just wait till you see part 2 and the finished product.

But for now I'll leave you at the halfway point...MUCH more to come

 

snow crafts...

When I was little, I was captivated by snow globes.

Miniature winter worlds encapsulated in glass.

With the shake of your hands, you could create a blizzard of swirling snow and glitter!

So according to Martha (Stewart, that is)

"making home made snow globes is a wonderful and fun way to bring back some of the magic of childhood."

What my friend Norene and I discovered was that 

"making home made snow globes is a nasty, messy project that takes more than a few tries to get it right!"

Anyway...first to gather up all necessary equipment.

jars, plastic greenery, glitter, glycerin..

and tiny toys which are really hard to find.

Here is Norene's version of an iceberg by the tree...
...beach glass comes in handy in all kinds of weather!

My tiny plastic sheep weren't working out so I made my stuff out of Fimo clay. (which bakes up in the oven)

(except he lost his nose because the orange pen I used was water soluble! Note: everything you use has to be waterproof!)
In the end, they ended up looking pretty cute in the window...

...and yes, the magic is still there!

Inside...

Its nice and cozy in the studio and I thought I would post a  simple and REALLY inexpensive craft project...my main window faces south and sometimes the sun is glaring in on me, (yes we do get the occaisional sunny day on the wet coast!) I didn't want to block out the light or the view so I dug back into my childhood when we used to put pressed leaves between wax paper and run a hot iron gently and quickly over them....

I used to make pressed botanicals under glass and frame them, so I still have an abundance of flowers and leaves in phone books...these are Queen Anne's Lace flowers...it is a really soft look and they kind of look like snowflakes..

Then I started messing around with some smaller ones for an opening night at the market/deli/cafe that I work part time in (funny enough its called Farmers Daughter!)....

 

These ones are just to put over a small jar with a tea light in them. They're actually an inspiration from my friend Irma Beltgens who makes gorgeous lamps although not with wax paper but a very refined lamination process...

 

Click here for a link where you can see more of her work on her etsy shop...

Anyway so there's a rainy day project for you...