Flower bed progress

I've had a successful day off from work (Statutory holiday in Newfoundland) and I've been busy in my real garden and in my mini garden.  I've completed all the tulips (actually I still have lots left over) and I completed one of the Hollyhock kits I purchased in Toronto last week. 
First a little Kit Review.........
This is the third type of flower kit I've assembled, the first two being Hanky Panky flower kits and Bonnie Lavish flower kits.  This kit was produced by Carrie Domm and Connie Stitt in Ontario.  The kit is ten years old (based on the copyright date on the instructions) so I don't know if they still produce them.

By far Bonnie Lavish kits are my favourite to assemble, with very little instructions they are so easy to work with.  Hanky Panky kits vary by the flower, the best individual kit I have ever put together was from Hanky Panky, the geranium kits, but I've tried others that I have even yet to complete. 

This particular kit today also had it's good points and not so good points.  I absolutely loved the paper they used, I would have to say it's the best paper from any kit I've assembled.  Even though there was a full page of instructions, the only picture was very low resolution and there was no other drawings, so I had to consult a picture of a hollyhock to completely understand the instructions.  Overall I think each stem doesn't have enough flowers, but that's something that I can fix in the future when making more Hollyhocks.  I was pleased with my finished product though, and I completely in all in one day, so that's great.

The real value in kits I find is I learn so much from them, that in the future I can usually make the item without the assistance of a kit.  I definitely feel this way about the Hollyhocks.

Now on to the flower bed....
I started to fill in the garden flower beds, nothing is glued right now, and I haven't added the mulch, so this is just a dry run.

Around the fence, I had already added the forsythia before, but now I have added the tulips (made from scratch by me) and the daisy's (made from a Bonnie Lavish kit).  It was a odd angle to take a picture because the shed itself is there, so this was my best shot.

I think I need to bend the flowers a little and I have to add the mulch, right now it looks a little sparse.  The orange stems are pieces cut from a full size artificial flower.

On the other side of the shed, in the larger flower bed, I got a little more creative.  I had received a fig tree in a garden swap from Ira last year, that was wrapped in burlap the same way you would get any new tree.  I thought I would incorporate this into my display as a "work in progress", the gardener is in the process of planting the new tree.  He doesn't want to get any dirt on the freshly mowed grass, so he has laid down some newspaper to collect the soil taken to make the hole.  It also gave me the great opportunity to cover the seam in the sheet grass I used.  You can see another seam on the other side in the first picture above, I still have to figure out how to disguise that one in the future as well.

The ground was typical Newfoundland soil.  You couldn't just use a shovel, a pickaxe was required to get through the tough Newfoundland dirt.  They call it "The Rock" for a reason!!  Now I don't think Fig trees grow in Newfoundland, but we won't tell the gardener this, he'll find out from himself when the tree, doesn't thrive!!  And one never knows, he may have such a green thumb that he is able to get it to grow! 

I've placed all the plants, including the new hollyhocks in the flower bed under the window.  I still have to glue everything and add mulch.  But I think this one is full enough.  Again the tulips were made by me from scratch, the pansies are purchased, the hollyhocks are the kit I assembled today, the lilies are from a swap with Kim last year and then I've added some ready made greenery from full size artificial flowers and the same orange stems I used in the other flower bed, plus I had some red ones like the orange stems and I have added those.  I think I will switch those out for the pink hollyhocks when I get those made.

The geraniums in the window box were made last year from the Hanky Panky kit, they are my favourite I've assembled so far, the kit only made half of what is in the window box, but once I made those, I was easily able to duplicate them myself.

So I'm going to sit on this much for a day or two, assemble the second hollyhock kit, and then once I am pleased with it all I'll glue everything in place and add the mulch.

Welcome to the new followers, thanks for taking an interest in my blog.

I welcome feedback from everyone, it's what keeps me going back to create more minis.

Until next time.....

Wanda

Tulips for Dad

I am still working away on my flowers for the Garden shed, but I've been mainly concentrating on red and yellow tulips, they were my dad's favourite flower.  My dad was my mentor for my model building.  A good carpenter himself, he built several model ships that he proudly displayed in our family home and cabin.  He helped me assemble my first dollhouse and assembled the roof and glued on every shingle on my Queen Anne Victorian.

On the eve of Father's Day, I miss him so much, only having lost him in the past three months.  I can't look at a miniature project without thinking of him.  My entire Garden Shed project has become my tribute to him. He loved to work in his shed.

I've made over 60 yellow and red tulips to place around the garden shed with the many other flowers.  It's been a tedious job, but an absolute labour of love.

To every mini maker out there, if you still have your dad in your life, give him a big hug this weekend, I would love to be able to do that to my dad.

Until next time...........

Wanda

Fabulous Flowers

Just thought I'd share these pictures , that I've been taking around the place. Fabulous Foxgloves and the Flowers that are in my hanging baskets.
If you look closely at a couple of the photographs, you can actually see the Bee's about to go into the flowers. I've not planted any of the Foxgloves, they have just self seeded everywhere.
I've also updated the Hericus Blog, with lots of Pony Pictures, including lots of the Foals and added some more links over on the Tiny Treasures Mini Link page.
If you click on the pictures, they will pop up bigger.

And then there were two............

I've tackled the window box project.  My first task was to cut the window box in half, and thanks to my Dremel with a cutting wheel attachment that task was completed in a matter of minutes.

I did learn one lesson from this task though.  When cutting through metal wear a face mask over your mouth and nose.  The metal shavings mustache I was sporting afterwards wasn't pretty!!  I was sneezing metal shavings for a day afterwards.....it wasn't pretty!!

Then it was on to the task of making a shiny black metal window box not so shiny and new.  Again I returned to my Dremel with a fine tip grinding attachment and removed the shine and some of the black paint.  This also helped to prep the surface for the bit of rust that I added to the window box afterwards.  When you consider watering the planter box daily must result in some rust on the metal over time right?!

I liked the end result.  You can see the comparison of the ungrinded half versus the one I have aged.  It made a nice difference.  Now I have an extra window box for a future project!

Then I had to fill it.  I added some foam covered in "moss" and added the geraniums I had made.  I was so pleased with the results of the geraniums.  It's a Hanky Panky kit and I have to say it was my most successful completion of a Hanky Panky kit so far.  It went together beautifully and even though I only had enough petals for 6 flowers, but I had lots of leaves.  I checked my supply of punches and found that I had one very similar to the petals in the kit, and I had the identical paper, since I've bought lots of paper from Hanky Panky, and I punched out petals for 6 more flowers.  I still have lots of leaves left, the kit recommended making some stems with just leaves on, which I may do. Do you think the flower box needs more leaves?  Love to have your opinion.  I have lots of leaves!

I love the geraniums leaves.  As per the kit instructions I had to add some gold chaulk in the middle of the leaves and some rust chaulk around the edges, and I think it adds a lot of realism to the leaves!

Using another Hanky Panky punch, I also added some ivy vine hanging down the planter box.  I could also add more of these, I think I punched out about 10,000 leaves!!  It takes a lot of time to vein and curve them, and I added a little colour around the edges to make them a little varigated.

No flower box in the spring would be complete without another visitor as well.  I purchased my last addition to the window box at last year's Camp Mini Ha Ha.  It was made by one of my fellower campers, and I think she has done a beautiful job on the butterfly.  From the moment I saw the butterfly I knew I had a home for the little guy.  He is perfect in his new spot.

Overall I am pleased with the results.  Hope you like it.

On a last note I have to welcome one new follower!  Amica, I don't see that you have your own blog, but if I have overlooked it, let me know and I will post a link to the blog here.  Welcome, I hope you enjoy the postings!

Until the next time...........

Wanda

Buying Online

I live on a small island in the Atlantic Ocean and there is no retailer for miniatures anywhere near me.  I'm fortunate enough to travel a lot and can always find a miniature store while travelling.  But I do rely a lot on purchasing online. 

One of my favourite places for buying online is miniatures.com.  They don't sell artisan pieces, but I can get my regular supplies from them, plus many times I can get factory made items that I can alter to make more custom.

I recently made a purchase and I just received my order yesterday.  The problem with buying online is that even though they may provide the measurements, you can't always tell scale.  I was so excited about finding a "wrought iron" window box for the garden shed window, but now that I have received it, even though the length is right for the window, the depth is completely out of scale.

It looks even larger in this picture because of the perspective with the walkway, but it's only about 3" long.  I am going to see if I can have it cut in half lengthwise and make into two window boxes.  Once it's filled with flowers, you won't be able to tell that it's missing the back!  Hopefully!  I also need to distress it and give it a little touch of aging so it's not so new and shiny looking.  So I'll have to do a follow up on this piece once I alter it. 

I also got three great Morning Glory vines.  I am hoping to add a part of a fence at the back of the shed, and I thought it would be great to wine a vine through the fence.

The leaves and flowers on the vine are made from clay.  I've been studying it closely and I think I may be able to make flowers from the clay as well.  So far all the flowers I have made have been made with paper, and now I am excited about trying a new medium for flowers.

The funny item in the order was more ground cover.  I had struggled so hard with the sand around the tiles, which by the way is improving with each layer of glue and sand!  I had forgotten that I had ordered several bags of "mulch" for the flower beds.  Wish me more luck with adhering this to the landscaping!

The item that was most exciting in the shipment was my little garden bench.  It was already decorated with flowers, and some of them need to be switched out because they also are a little too large and out of scale, but I think it has a lot of potential.

I also purchased a sheet of metal (brass) geranium leaves.  They have to be spray painted and bent to shape, so I am hoping they turn out nicely.  They are so thin and perfectly scaled.  I am hoping to make geraniums for the window box.

I got also this pair of "wrought iron" plant hangers.  Again I will need to age these a little, but I think they are perfectly scaled.

Overall I am pleased with my new purchases, but it was definitely a reminder of paying close attention to scale when buying online!  I purchased some small tools and some items for my castle project as well, so more to share at a later date!

Most importantly I would like to welcome a new follower.  Please welcome Minisonia.  I couldn't see a blog, but if you have one just drop me an email or comment and I can post a link to your blog.

Until next time..........

Wanda

Flower Making with Punches

I've been experimenting with different punches. I have Fiskar punches, Martha Stewart punches, some really inexpensive punches from the clearance bins at Michaels and some of Hanky Panky's inexpensive punches plus one of their really good punches. But it goes to show that the more you pay for the punches, the better the quality.

 

The inexpensive punches, work for a little while, and work best on plain paper. But I was extremely impressed with the Martha Stewart punches. I paid less than $10 for them, and they are easy to operate and they punch clear petals, no matter the type of paper. The more expensive punches from Hanky Panky are fantastic, but be prepared to pay in excess of $50 for those. I only have an ivy punch from them right now, but I have to say it is fantastic.

If you are going to use the inexpensive punches, (less than $2) be prepared to buy several of each, because they only keep their sharp cutting edge for a short period of time.

Likewise I found the Fiskar punches worked well for the first several hundred petals, but they also loose their sharp edge and then start making fussy edge petals, which aren't great for making flowers. I made about 60 hyacinths, and each one used a dozen star shaped petals, and the punch would not punch crisp star shapes any more, so that means it worked for about 700 punches.  Maybe that sounds like a lot for a $10-15 punch, but I had hoped for more use than this.

I made the same amount of tulips using the Martha Stewart tear drop shaped punch, and it is still working beautiful. I went to Michaels this weekend to see if they had a Martha Stewart star shaped punch, but they didn't have one. I'll have to check other Michael's stores when I am travelling to see if one exists.

I would love to hear from other flower makers to see what brand of punches they use and what works best for you. I still have lots of flowers to make, so any good advice is greatly appreciated!

-Wanda

Presents From My Friend...

I meant to show you these yesterday, but forgot!
When Tanya came up, she arrived with a wonderful bunch of Lilies. I managed to fill two vases with them. They are my favourite flower, I just Love the heady perfume they give off and they also remind me of my Mum.
Kiera also gave me a present that she'd brought herself from her pocket money, two bottles of posh shower Gel that she'd wrapped beautifully.
Tanya also brought me a lovely little book by Helen Exley entitled My friend. (if you click on the name it will take you over to the web site.) Its full of friend sayings and also has a public declaration in the front of the book, which Tanya has filled in.
While Tanya was in Town, she went into the little shop where Mick got my wonderful Frog Jug from, and came back with this lovely little bird tray for me. The colours nearly match the Jug and it looks lovely on the shelves in the Kitchen.
Spoiled I should say so. Thank you Tanya for being such a wonderful friend, I forgive you the cracked cups... LOL..

Cheers

Although the leaves are turning here in New Jersey and things are beginning to look distinctly orange, I'm still getting some beautiful pink dahlias from the forgotten tubers I planted this spring.

And because I didn't stake them properly, they are all blooming with their faces on the floor of the deck, so I've been cutting them and bringing them inside to enjoy.

And because I'm a lunatic, that enjoyment involves finding the perfect little silverplated pitcher and painted tole tray to style them, and taking way too many photographs of them when I should be doing laundry or straightening the mud room.

Anyway, I hope they bring as much cheer to you as they have to me. Happy Wednesday, dear bloggers! :)