Stepping Back

I love flipping through old photo albums which simply burst with old memories. This picture (dated 2004) to the right shows me with two trays of miniatures before the baking process.

I can easily and immediately identify every piece in the picture. On these trays, I have several atomic orange candles, pizza slices, dishes (white, yellow, and even orange... back in these days, I didn't have a lot of white clay for dishes), slices of bread, bananas, cucumbers, carrots, and some other random pieces. All this went right into my barbie dollhouse of course!

It is so much fun finding plastic bag fulls of my old, old minis! My sister Margaret and I would make loads of "interesting-looking" food for our barbies. Everytime we saw food on a movie or in a magazine which we liked, we tried our very best to imitate it.

I am currently in the process of retrieving more pictures. In addition, I am going to take some shots of the old pieces which I still have.

All in all, I would have to say that my miniatures have improved since this picture was taken! Haha.

Leeks!

Well, I made my first leeks! They don't look too bad. You can judge them for yourself. I can't wait to add them to vegetable arrangements that I have in mind to make sometime.

Without a doubt, I have been making less miniatures since school started... that I have said before. My entire schedule has been adjusted. I can't wait to unveil some new surprises!

I have been very active for the past three Saturdays. I am looking forward to the upcoming weekend when I can stay at home, and maybe even sit down with my minis.

The bread-making prep board which is now completely finished. You can see a pile of flour, some wheat, brown eggs, one cracked egg, dough, a rolling pin, and a cooked and sliced loaf of bubbly bread.

A Pie for the Season

It is so beautiful outside! I love this time of year. Before you know it, the leaves will begin changing colors. Every season is unique in its own way.

I decided it was time to make another prep board. Miniature prep boards are so much fun and they make great gifts.

Anyway, here is a pumpkin pie prep board. Everything is 100% handmade except for the spoon, pie dish, and the wood for the board.

Enjoy the pictures.





Spoon and bowl. The spoon was bought.




An aerial view. It's hard to see the detail inside of the carved pumpkin.




The top of the pumpkin beside the knife.




Close-up of the seeds.




My little friend.

Slacking Off

It has been a few days since I have made my miniatures. I've been quite the slacker!

However, I finally made my own charlotte cake (pictured to the right). Rich chocolate sauce and chocolate shreds are surrounded by six juicy, vibrant strawberries. I LOVE chocolate and strawberries, together or by themselves.

This past weekend, my mom and I went to a Renaissance festival. I have always wanted to go. It was loads of fun! Keep me away from all the jewelry-- it is so, so tempting! One of my favorite parts was the jousting tournament. Even though it was a very chilly weekend, it was great!

Our swimming pool closed for the year on Monday. This marks the official end of my summer. But since I will not be swimming again until summer 2011, I have more time to dedicate to my crafts.

Life stays busy!

Candy corn earrings and necklace in anticipation of Halloween.

As summer unwinds...

It's time to enjoy some mint chocolate chip ice cream as summer rapidly unwinds. For a little while, it seemed like everything I made revolved around an ice cream theme. I will not be making enormous amounts of ice cream during the fall and winter months because it is sometimes considered "out of season". For me, ice cream is never out of season!


This is a homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream prep board. So instead of this ice cream being made in a factory, it's just being made from scratch at home. I guess it's an original idea for a prep board!


Note the little puddles of melted ice cream splattered across the board. Normally, I would do anything to avoid such a slurpy mess, but in this case I intentionally created the mess! Everything is handmade as usual.


Although this is an extremely basic prep board, it is a fun, cheerful little piece fit for anyone!

A closer look. Note the two full, hardened ice cream scoops.

Bowl of the ice cream ingredients fully mixed.

Tea, Anyone?

I have officially decided that no dollhouse is complete without at least one teapot. They add that perfect, finishing touch of beauty. Each delicate teapot is shiny or worn, fancy or simple.

Here are a few tiny teapots that I have made. As usual, these pieces are all handcrafted in 1/12 scale. Most of the color and design was applied by hand using acrylic paints.

I warn you, this is only the beginning of my fascination with miniature teapots!

One of my favorites. The flower design, just like all the rest, is hand painted.

The standard copper and aluminum teapots. The handle of the copper pot actually moves up and down, just like the real thing! How fun is that?

A closer look at my first copper teapot.

A Taste of a Summer Evening

It's a lovely summer night and a group of people are sitting around a camp fire. Everyone is happily savoring the delicious combination of flavors that a simple s'more has to offer.

What better way to capture this moment than with a miniature? This s'more board highlights the tastiness of that crisp, toasty s'more. On a simple paper doily are four fully prepared s'mores simply begging to be eaten. Several jumbo size marshmallows remain motionless in their place, ready to be stabbed ruthlessly by a stick and then heated over the fire. Many honey graham crackers are scattered here and there. It's time to eat some s'mores!

Please note: I played with my little pieces on a miniature table before gluing them to their board. The final product is to the above and to the right.

Here are the pieces on the table.

Close up of the twigs on the table.

Holding two on the marshmallows on the sticks.

Just look at those graham crackers. Yum!