Minipig Play Date - or - A Fun School Holiday Project

No.3 grandson is passionate about his real life guinea pigs

Percy and Jasper

so,

 naturally ;)

he found some Minipigs in his

Christmas Stocking.

His comment was

"Wouldn't it be neat if we did a

Miniature Guinea Pig Play Date Scene,

so we did.

Of course, in real life, boy guinea pigs

mostly prefer to have only one male friend

but Minipigs get on splendidly in larger groups ;)

While I worked on the play pen

Grandson made the Pigloo

Piggies love new experiences.

Percy and Jasper did some excited zoomies

and then settled down to the serious business of

filling their tummies.

Cheryl and Kevin both being elderly chaps

thought the pigloo looked comfy

and strolled over to take up residence

and as for young Alf,

after some youthful popcorning,

(which is another thing excited piggies enjoy)

he did what he always does,

he teased everyone.

That's him trying to fit 3 piggies inside a two piggie pigloo.

We used mat board 3 3/4" square for the base,

1/8" square wood for posts and coffee stirrers for rails,

some sort of fuzzy fabric for the grass,

mat board, light card and 1/8" dowel for the pigloo

and raffia as miniature oaten hay.

My Secret Addiction

I've been hiding away a bit of late,

taking time out to recover from 

Christmas, school holiday, new year activities,

indulging myself in my secret addiction.

A little addiction that helps when the miniature bug

goes into hibernation,

helps keeps creativity alive.

Shall I show you??...

Well,

before we go there.....

(dithering about revealing my secret here)

would you like a tour of my workroom???

Did you say yes?

Ok then, I'll show you my enormous

well appointed workroom.

Here it is :)

Yep, that's it.

My workroom.

A table on castors, made for me by my Other Half

using the base of my old office chair.

It follows me from room to room,

will fit over my knees if I want to sit on the lounge.

For bigger projects it's the dining table but anything that

will fit on the cutting mat goes on my rolling table

and doesn't have to be tidied up at meal times.

You can see that indulging in my secret addiction

has cured the miniatures blues,

there are a couple of things under way in my 'workroom'.

Those 3 doodads in centre front are handles

and blade for a bread knife in progress.

The 'perspective' drawing was done by none other

than 11 year old grandson,

Gran tried faithfully to reproduce it to specifications

for his kitchen roombox.

Here is a closer view

 not yet ready to hang but we couldn't resist having a little play.

We're waiting on

'exciting small parcels'

containing treasures to add

and have plans to add some bright spots of colour,

some sunny yellow perhaps,

to tie in with the rest of the kitchen.

This kitchen will be finished

with the hanging of the shelf

and I hope this year will see a few more

uncompleted projects finished

after three years of

too much Real Life!!!

Now,

will you think less of me when you see my

secret addiction??

Will you think I should have my head examined?

Heheh, better get it over with eh?

It's no secret I love drinking tea,

Any Time!

Which in turn led to an interest in teapots.

Collecting teapots.

Not fancy china pots,

I like pots that look like they know their business.

I like them to look like they have history

and could tell tales of sharing moments

of happiness,

times of sadness,

or,

the best cup of the day -

enjoyed in bed first thing in the morning.

Not only do I collect teapots but I delight in using them.

A recent acquisition was an epns hotel/cafe teapot.

I enjoyed it 'naked' for a while, just enjoying the shape

and the pretty silver shine

but the time comes when I want to use it.

.

When it comes to making a pot of tea,

it needs to be kept hot.

Teapots need Cosies don't they?!!

That's my secret addiction...

TEACOSIES

To be more specific,

Kitsch Teacosies.

The more decorated they are, the more I like them.

So, after living with my pretty shiny 'naked' silver cafe pot for a while,

it spoke to me and said it was ready for a warm coat.

What goes better with silver than royal blue?

What goes with royal blue?

Fun, fun, fun, sorting through my little huge stash

of wool.

Work out the shaping whilst thinking

about decorations.

Click, click, hook, hook......

Tadaaaaa!

Here it is all dressed up ready for a

Tea Party.

Cuppa anyone?

Do I need analysis?

Probably.

Hmmm, do I feel the urge to make a miniature version???

Perhaps....

Time with grandkids

Some school holiday fun with two grandies

aged 5 and 10.

Mine is the boring one.

They had help with cutting

and a little help with sanding.

The older one did all his own gluing

and painting,

the little one was happy to have some help

but both chose their own colours.

The hardest part was making the hitches

and drilling the holes to insert the wires.

I should know a lot about ipods

and building websites

after listening to the kids prattle on

for some hours

but I'm very computer challenged ;)

It goes in one ear and straight out the other!

I'll leave the smart stuff to the younger generation

and stick with what I know...

Just pottering around

It's mid-winter Downunder, meaning time to do the heavier gardening.

Not a lot of time for miniatures but the school holidays couldn't pass without spending time with grandkids making something for their projects.  

No.3 grandson requested a paper towel holder for his kitchen.

No.2 grandson made a trash to treasure planter box for his stable a while ago, 

he has painted it and planted some of my dodgy flowers. 

I'm sure the horse will find them appetising

even though they look like they came from another planet ;)

And,

my own pottering with paperclay.

That's a trotting pole in front of the planter.

The flowers were a kit from

Georgie Steeds

Long Absence...

Not much time to post of late but keeping up with

all your beautiful blogs

during spare moments keeps me almost on the level ;)  

Do I suffer from insanity?  No, I enjoy it! 

Also enjoying cooking.

Croissants, brandy custard and prunes - upmarket bread and butter pudding - a fave with family!

 And making soap - perfume and additive free.  No photo, it's still maturing.

And knitting RL size dish cloths when my hands are shaking too much for miniatures.

Knitting dish cloths is addictive. 

 Zen knitting my friend Bev calls it,

automatic movements that let your mind roam free.

There have been some moments for miniatures.

Pink for my kitchen. 

Enamel mugs for no.2 grandsons stable.

Egg carton pavers for the stable.

Grandson made a planter box and I had help building a Feed Bin.

  

Pet dishes made by no.3 grandson for his kitchen while he was off school with Chickenpox. 

That lad is good with poly clay!

And a cat bed made by me.

 Second set of dishes made by me for the stable because no.2 grandson didn't have chickenpox

......and had to go to school!

Yellow for grandsons kitchen.

Just small projects for my butterfly mind.

Trashy Treasure

Sometimes it's good to be forced into inactivity.  I can vouch that painting is good therapy and finishing up a small project is even better therapy.

 

These shelves were finished a long time ago but getting around to painting them was another matter.  They're made from icy pole sticks, tongue depressors and some oddments of scrap wood.  I tried to match the colour of the kitchen set, didn't quite manage that but who cares?  It's all about the fun!

I'm under orders to make a cabinet to fit the back corner on the right.  The 9 year old owner of this roombox also has a long list pinned to the fridge, of many more details to be made - curtains, pet dishes, dog basket, cat litter tray, plant, pictures for the walls etc.

School Holiday Project

What Levi and I made for his modern kitchen roombox today.

We made it from a piece of a worn out Woolworths recyclable shopping bag like this RL one.

And here it is in his kitchen.

It was fun to make and it's the cutest thing to hold in your hand!

Paper Miniatures

Playing with paper.  Rewarding fun :)  The jugs come from  Marlies of course!  Thanks Marlies, they are fun to make.  The map is of the Sydney area, it's to go in a drawer in my 3rd grandsons kitchen roombox.  Grandson no.2 made the flowers, aged 12.