Sea, Stars and Butterflies for Jane

Jane of  Mini Fanaticus   received the swap gifts that I sent, so here are the pictures that I promised.

 

I told Jane that I was working on plans for a rock display box.
Jane's daughter is interested in rocks and they are starting a collection in real life size.

So after a little planning and a few failed attempts, while Jane waited very patiently, I finally got this put together.

Jaynie helped hold it up so you can see the rocks,  I stuck the rocks and labels with a tiny bit of museum wax.

I forgot to tell Jane that she can move them around if she wants.

I sent a few more little rock samples.

 

I also made a few items that I thought any rock collector needs, a journal to keep notes about your finds, a pen to write the notes and a book to help identify them.  I added a few pages of pictures in the center.

 

Jane requested supplies, so I gathered some plastic beads.

This is where the title came from,

Do these look like summer to you?

While I waited for glue to dry I kept gathering.

While I waited for glue to dry on the display and books I kept gathering,

more plastic beads,

Some findings.

 Some stones that I think would work as bread/cheese boards or maybe even a top for a small table.



 A few more odds and ends,

 

 





And a couple of small real life size stones.

You can see more pictures on   Jane's blog ,  I can't wait to see what she does with these,
I'm sure it will some thing fun.

Sorry things are a bit sloppily arranged, I couldn't make them go where I wanted.


Thank you for visiting, Mary


 

Christmas Calendar Swap

Here is the gift from Ninni  for door 22.

A cute little Moomins bedding set.

Thanks Ninni, these are very nice, great work.

Here is what I sent Ninni for door 22.

I made a set of tiny birds and holy leaf ornaments,

punched from craft foil and shaped and detailed with a clay shaping and needle tool.

A tiny little Christmas tree, made from a bumpy chenelle stem, seed beads and a star punched from crafts foil.




 



A Christmas tree charm and a few star charms.

I placed them all in a little organizer before I wrapped them up.

I hope that you are all having a wonderful Holiday Season.

Thank you for visiting,  Mary

Christmas Calendar Swap

I participated in  Ninni's  door swap,  I have doors 20 and 22.

These are the lovely gifts that I received in the beautifully wrapped package marked 20.

Thank you Ninni, for organizing this swap and for the great gifts.

These are my gifts to Ninni, all wrapped up before they went into a padded envelpe.

There was still some space in the envelope that seemed a shame to waste, so I added a few more small items that I had around.

I didn't take a picture but you can see the extras on Ninni's blog  (picture between door 10 and 11).

This is the gift that I made  for door 20,
a Christmas candle centerpiece.
I hope that Ninni likes it.

Come back on the 22nd to see what is in this package from Ninni.

I can't wait to see what is in it, I'm practicing patience.

And also see what else I sent her for door 22.














A warm welcome to  Nechiporenko Tatiana.   Please let me know if you have a blog, I'm not finding one. 

MJ is enjoying a great tour of San Francisco with Carol of   My Realitty , go by to enjoy it also.


Merry Merry

Thank you for visiting, Mary

Christmas in July Swap

First I want to thank   Jazzi   for organizing this fun swap,  you can find pictures and links on her blog.

Here are the pictures that I promised

Look at all the wonderful gifts from   Cyd ,  they made Jaynie very happy.

2  great chairs
4 pretty pillows
lovely wall art  (I may try to add tiny hands to
      it if I can fit it in Jaynie's kitchen as a clock)
a interesting rock sculpture
a very nice bowl with feet
a great sheet of printed felt, makes a great floor cover or could be cut to use as artwork

Here's a closer look

 And I almost forgot this great light.

Thank you very much Cyd.   I love eveything, Jaynie's Loft will be much more interesting with these lovely gifts.

 And she even wrapped them all with a very generous amount of pretty printed tissue paper.













And here are the little things that I put together for Cyd.

Cyd posted pictures of some furniture that she had painted in her favorite colors,  (see them here) , so I used those colors as a guide for these gifts.

I made her a set of pillar candles and a rug from upholstery fabric

I put together a scrapbook and a package of     scrapbook paper

I sent some porcelain beads, mainly vase shaped and a cat.

Some closer views.

At the last minute I threw in a few more small items,  a few beads, a blue pen,    I didn't take pictures of them.

BTW  Cyd already used the rug and scrapbook in a bedroom scene at  My Mini Mod Pod      

Here are some links to others that participated in the swap

Jazzi  
Heather
Claude
Petra
Drora
Debbie
Fabiola
Anna
Annette


Thank you for visiting, Mary

Thank You

I want to thank everyone who continues to follow even when I'm being a very very poor blogger.

And thanks and a very warm welcome to new followers

Eva  of   Mini Eva and More Things   has a lovely blog.   She has received  some great  rewards  lately   and has won some very nice give away gifts.    Look at her older posts to see some beautifully detailed settings. 

Gleise  of    My Crafts     Visit her blog and watch her steadfast progress putting together a McKinley dollhouse.  Gleise has had some trials in her building but she has not let it stop her and it's coming along nicely.

Cyd  of   My Mini Mod Pod .  She has a very nice blog featuring some terrific modern furniture and great settings with fab style.     Cyd recently was very generous and held 4 great give aways,  I was so very lucky and won one of them.

Cyd was also my partner in  Jazzi's  Christmas in July Swap,  I'll be able show you what I sent her and what I received from her in a couple of days.   I think that I got the better of the swap,  Cyd sent me a very nice package of minis.   I very much enjoyed meeting and talking to Cyd through email over the last few months.

Jaynie and I love the table and framed art that Cyd  sent us from her give-away.  Jaynie would like to use the table as a desk in her bedroom up in the loft  but I don't think that there will be room for much more than a daybed, we'll have to see.  Maybe we'll have to fit a pretty little corner into the garage/workshop, if we ever get to it.

Thank you Cyd, for sharing these lovely gifts.







Thank you for visiting, Mary

The Post Office Was Fast

Kathi    and  Maria   both received their gifts that I mailed out just last Friday.   Now I can show you some pictures.

For Maria in Ireland I made a Christmas storage tote and ornaments.

Heres a closer look at the ornaments.

I also sent some beads that could be used for ornaments.

I finished the edges on this piece of woven fabric.  It could be used as a table cloth or a baby's blanket.  I really like the colors.








And some findings.  (sorry  for the blurry picture)

I also sent a piece of fabric that I like for rugs, some small zip top bags, a roll of Christmas tape (I used this to decorate the tote).   And a salt shaker that I thought made a good trash can, then I noticed that the top also  made a nice large bowl.   

                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                 

I also gathered a few beads, a bit of greenery,  a small piece of my favorite fabric and some other bits and pieces.


I also sent  an undecorated pine wreath and 2 small silver frames that I did not get pictures of.    You can see  pictures on   Maria's blog .

I also made Kathi a Christmas storage tote,  I made some of Kathi's ornaments in her favorite colors.

Some beads, some beachy ones and a few others.  These could be used to make more ornaments or something else.  I'm sure Kathi will find some very creative ways to use them. 

The sparkly beads look very orangy on my computer, they are actually silver.

Some little bits and pieces.

And a few more things in Kathi's favorite color.  I couldn't resist the color of this tape.  I look forward to seeing how Kathi will use it, big or small.

I bought a roll for myself also,  I'll show you how I use it after I figure it out.  I saw a video on YouTube on making a wallet with duct tape, I may give it a try.

And some glass beads in Kathi colors.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing all my little things. 

Thank you for visiting, Mary

I Hate Bugs

I'm not getting much done.  I've been sitting with my foot up for the last few days and most likely also the next few.  I have a very swollen and very sore toe from an insect bite, probably a spider.  I went to the doctor today (second time in 3 days) because it was still getting worse.   Now I have a lot of medicine to take, hopefully it will help soon.


Rachel,  Thank you very much for the  PIF gifts that you sent.  I love everything, they are all beautiful.  Hopefully I'll be able to take pictures to post in a few days. 

Maria,  Welcome to my PIF Swap, please e-mail me your address.   I'll start planning your gift  now,  I'll start putting it together as soon as I'm able.   I'll try to be quicker than I was with others but please be patient with me.   I'm still not being able to post a comment on your blog, I keep getting disconnected. 


Thank you for visiting, Mary

PIF Swap Gifts

Rachel of miniaturemaid has received the gifts that I sent her for the PIF Swap.  Now I can show you what I sent to her.

I made Rachel a few books and bookends,  but one of the books was not an ordinary book.  It has a secret compartment that can hold a secret treasure, so I made a tiny necklace with a Swarovski crystal pendant.

I read a tutorial on making a hidden compartment book in life size quite a while back.  The idea of cutting up a book makes me a bit queazy but I thought that it might make a good mini project some day.  Then  a few months  ago Casey  posted a tutorial on making one using a post-it-note pad.

I decided that it was time to try it.   I used different materials than Casey.  I used paper and cardboard for the covers, I like the cardboard pieces from a box of Lipton tea bags for books.  I used white craft foam for the pages, it's easy to cut with scissors for regular books and it was fairly easy to cut out the center with a craft knife.   Most of it was just like making a book that doesn't open, just don't glue down the front cover and add the liner page.  Casey's tutorial helped with lining the cut out section.

I made the bookends with polymer clay and I made the necklace with fine wire and very tiny glass seed beads.   I had to twist the necklace up bit to fit it in the book.    I'm thinking now that I  a chocolate bar would also make a good hidden treasure.

Rachel was looking for plain paper doilies so I got out my punch and an assortment of paper.  I tried to include lots of diffrent types of paper.   I like the pink marbled paper, it's the same one that I used for the lining for the book.

Then some of the things were the same as what I sent to Drora.

Green beans,  baked potatoes and pats of butter made with polymer clay.

Some  mini bits and pieces.


I also sent some stickers, some small zip close bags, some tiny elastics and some pieces of white ribbon.



I also sent some beads and some metal findings  different from the ones that I sent Drora but some how I lost my pictures.  Hopefully  Rachel will post pictures of those.

I really enjoyed making special gifts for this swap,  I still have 3 openings if you would like to participate.

Thank you for visiting, Mary

Fabric Rugs

Do you use upholstery fabric as rugs?   I have four now that I think make pretty good rugs.

I’ve had the brown striped and the green plaid-ish ones for quite a while.  I bought the other two from the clearance rack at Joann fabrics a few weeks ago.  The blue one is the thickest, like a plush carpet and the one with the square pattern is the thinnest.   What do you think,  do they make good rugs?

I'm still running a little slow,  I hope to get more made to show you soon. 

I've finished the  PIF Swap gifts  for  Drora  and  Rachel,  I just have to finish packing them up and they should be off in the mail tomorrow.   I'll show you pictures after they recieve them.


Thanks for visiting,  Mary

I've Been a Bad Blogger

I’m sorry that I have not posted for a while, time seemed to  just fly by.  I have not felt at my best the last few weeks and did not get much of anything done.  I’m a bit behind on all of my household cleaning chores, I really need to get quite a bit of laundry done.  I’m feeling better now, so I’m trying to get everything caught up.

I’m working on finishing and getting out PIF swap gifts for Rachel and Drora.  Thank you for being so patient,  I’m sorry that it is taking me so long,  I hope that you will think that your gifts are worth the wait when you get them.   I'll show you pictures after they have been recieved,  I want Drora and Rachel to be the first to see them.

I'm also trying to get all my miniature supplies organized.   I have bits and pieces all over the place right now and I do most projects at the kitchen table.  I'm tring to get some things moved around to find some space to use as work and storage space.   Wish me luck, it is not an easy task.   Hopefully if I can get this done I'll be able to complete more projects and work on more of the ideas that I have.

Thanks for visiting,  Mary

Pay it Forward 2011

I'm joining Kathi from http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/  in a "Pay it Forward 2011" swap. I’m jumping in with both feet, the first five people who leave a comment on this post, and decide to participate, will receive a miniature gift from me. As soon as I figure out how I will start posting pictures of some of things that I’ve been making.




Here are the rules:

First, you will need to comment on this post. Then create a post on your blog explaining how the Pay it Forward 2011 swap works.

You must be willing to send a gift to the first five participants on your own blog. There is no time limit, making special gifts for special people takes time.

This is a swap about friendship and sharing, just what I joined blog world for. I’m looking forward to seeing if the five people are from blogs that I have been reading or someone new that I can get to know.

Thanks for visiting, Mary