July 30, 2019

#Paris #Miniature Project 21 - Flowers!

Welcome back!

Remember Gigi shared in last week's post about her floral plans for the balconies???

Well. here are two of the finished samples. LOVE them! Love the color and how they cascade over the window box. These will really look good at the upper floor windows....  Love the fullness, too. (Ivy and Geranium flower kits from TheMiniatureGarden (UK) on Etsy. She really has nice kits in 1/12th and 1/24th scale.)
     Great job!--Chris 

*** And on Friday's Update - Yes, there will be one! Wait'll you see the curtains and.. some construction! 

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The planning continues for the Paris Miniature Project which is my friend Gigi's  Serendipity Shed renovation for the HBS 2019 Creatin’ Contest. 
(Click photo in left column to go to Day 1 or here - Day 1  - See last entry Day 20.)
 * Don't forget you can put your email in the subscribe to updates box under the Paris photo in left column also to let you know when a new post goes up.

Until next time… Happy Creating!--Gigi

July 23, 2019

#Paris #Miniature Project #20: A Month Later!

Ta-Da! Yes, it's a new Paris Miniature Project Update!!


It has almost been a month since I last provided an update, yikes!  It’s been the summer laziness that has gotten to me. I manage to do the schoolwork that I need to do, then just read or binge watch shows on Netflix. I need to get motivated as I will also soon be a teacher’s aide in the English department at my son's school. I'll be working 20 hours a week so I will have to definitely prioritize my days. But, enough of that and on to what (little) I have accomplished.


I ordered four kits from TheMiniatureGarden on Etsy of the Ivy leaf and red Geranium Paper Flower for the two balconies on the second floor. The photo (above) is from the seller on Etsy showing the finished products available. As you can see, they trail longer than the typical geranium flower. Most likely I will have two kits per flower box. I made the flower boxes below from scratch to fit on the balconies. 




I did finish working with the curtains. From the picture it may seem one is longer than the other, but that's not the case. They are long and will be “puddle” curtains that sitt on the floor. I have attached little golden tassels to each side. These are also on Etsy (highlandminis) along with the expandable curtain rod that I'll use for the third floor windows (which are all painted and glued into place. So, a wee bit more progress!

Next step is to finish the second floor which will be a beautiful deep maroon wall-to-wall carpet, then the second floor can be glued together. I am getting so excited for all three floors to be put together. I really like the inside rooms, but it's the outside I'll have the most fun with!

Thank you all for being so patient with me on this journey. I do hope you're enjoying seeing the pictures. Please do leave a comment and even suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you!



The planning continues for the Paris Miniature Project which is my friend Gigi's  Serendipity Shed renovation for the HBS 2019 Creatin’ Contest. 
(Click photo in left column to go to Day 1 or here - Day 1  - See last entry Day 19.)
 * Don't forget you can put your email in the subscribe to updates box under the Paris photo in left column also to let you know when a new post goes up.

Until next time… Happy Creating!--Gigi


July 22, 2019

Update: Miniature Record Store

I thought of two other roomboxes before I decided the corner kit from the Houseworks Street of Shops would be perfect for the miniature record store.



The hardest part after that? Painting! Ugh. I hate painting. It seems like it took forever to figure out the colors on this. Still doing finishing touches and of course I see more places to touch up. ha!

The other two shops will be Halloween (fortune teller shop and a Halloween store) so I figured I'd tie them all together with purple. I like the dark purple marble effect instead of black for a change.

One of three or four record tables in progress, too! I have A-LOT of records to make. haa!

July 19, 2019

Update: HS haunted House + Easy Fence Tutorial

I finally got back to finishing some details on the Half Scale Haunted House. (See some exterior photos here, the gardens and the beginning and inside.) (Click photos for full size.)

The house is a Greenleaf kit I've had for ages and finally decided to work on as I knew it had to be a spooky house! 

I think putting on front window boxes and the fun purple moss definitely added a nice touch of color! I also added green moss to the roof (which helped cover some things) and thin dowels on the top peak edges, which don't show here. There's a puff of smoke coming out of the chimney, too! Next is adding in the LED lights and decorating inside - that's the fun part! But other than the hard time measuring wallpaper and roof pieces to fit since the house was pre-assembled, I did enjoy working on this house. I just wish the rooms were bigger

The roof porch has a piece of trim along the top edge but it looked too plain as it was. I knew it needed some kind of fencing, but what? Here's an easy, inexpensive way to add a fence to your project:

Easy Roof Trim Tutorial

This is an easy way to add decorative trim to a project. All you need are scissors, tacky glue, paint and your preferred varnish or Mod Podge. I used Ceramcoat satin water-based varnish. The fence is the 2.5" tall wrought iron fence from AlphaStamps. Do a search and you'll find lots of nice fencing and gates to use here.


The fence is chipboard, a kind of pressed cardboard which makes it easy to cut and paint. What's nice is it's also flexible and bendable, so it's easy to work with but it will be sturdy once glued in place.

 I chose this design as it has two sections. I thought it would look best for this project to use the part without the points, so I cut off the bottom design with scissors. You might need a little light sanding to smooth down the slight bumps on the top edge.




Measure size to fit space as needed. I tried to match it up so each end would mostly have a bar to make it sturdier. Paint both sides with black acrylic, then seal with a varnish or Mod Podge. 

Glue in place along front section if needed and at edges and bottom. That's it. Very easy!  I'm sure there are tons of other uses for this, too. Have fun!






(I know this doesn't show too well with the black against dark purple. I'll try to get outside shots once it gets a bit cooler.)









July 16, 2019

Update: Miniature Window Room

Updates will be coming soon on Gigi's Serendipity Shed. I've seen it in person - looking good!! She's doing a great job and adding some neat little touches.

In the meantime,  I wanted to share the progress of the interior of the miniature window room box I first shared here. I love how it turned out!  I'm just going to glue down the table and chair as I won't be taking it out. I also do have a couple tiny doll figures that - of course - I can't find at the moment. So I'll have to add them later or put them in another project.  Ignore the blank spaces as those are covered by the front. I'm working on adding the frame and acrylic to the box front at the moment.  (click photo for full image.)

The boxes on the floor, book covers and cabinet are from Dragonfly International. I found a couple Raggedy Ann doll boxes online and made the other boxes, signs, album and game printie myself.



And well, here I am trying to make a "nice" project, right? 

Look what I found at this fairy garden site: haaaa! Cracked me up. They're 2" tall. (They also have some cute Halloween figures and sets.)