Happy Easter, my friends! I can’t believe how quickly April has arrived, and with it, all the best parts of spring! I’ll admit, the holiday snuck up on me this year, and I didn’t have time to make nearly as much as I wanted to for Easter, but I thought I’d share some of my little goodies here with you. After all, there’s always next year!
I’ve been wanting little chicks for the longest time, so this past week I decided to just give it a go and make some myself! Overall, I’m very happy with these little cuties for my first attempt. I learned quite a bit in the process and may give them another shot in the future. I also made little bird nests from coconut fiber and moss, and then I added polymer clay robin’s eggs. The lovely little bunny is by Juan Manuel Diaz Solis.
I actually made this leaping bunny topiary last year, but for some reason I never really did anything with it! The bunny is a plastic figure that I painted green before covering it in model railroad foliage. I made the ivy by cutting out the leaves on my Cricut Maker, then coloring them with alcohol ink markers and painting the edges with white acrylic paint.
The potted bunny topiary was also a leftover from last year, made the same way as described above. I think the topiaries are so cute!
Now, back to what I made this year! I’ve actually been wanting a set of “cabbageware” for a while now, so voilà! I made each plate from white polymer clay that I veined with a silicone mold. Then I painted them with acrylic paint. Finally, the critical step for making them look like ceramic was a coating of UV resin! I liked them so much that I made chargers to go with them from orange jute twine glued onto orange cardstock. The result is very garden-y, isn’t it?
I also made the speckled eggs, which are displayed in a depression ware bowl from Melvin’s Miniatures. The white lilies I made from a laser cut sheet from Mary Kinloch. The clear depression ware jar (also from Melvin’s Miniatures) is filled with polymer clay jelly beans I made, and the glassware is all Chrysnbon.
And of course, Easter just wouldn’t be complete without a basket, so I made a new one this year with glitter eggs, assorted candies, chocolate bunnies and a tulip “carrot” bouquet!
I hope you’re all enjoying your Easter! ‘Til next time!
Spring is in full swing in Florida, so I’ve been pinning all sorts of garden inspiration on Pinterest lately. I’ve been wanting to create a miniature herb garden, and when I saw people repurposing vintage window shutters into vertical gardens, I knew it was the perfect way to display herbs!
I actually had these shutters in my stash of odds and ends, and I had already painted them in a shabby chic style, so all I had left to do was make the potted herbs. The parsley, sage, mint, oregano and basil were all laser cut sheets from SDK Miniatures that I colored with alcohol ink markers. I made the rosemary and lavender from painted princess pine (and Flower Soft for the lavender). For the chives, I painted a preserved flower I had (I have no idea what it’s called, though), and I made the little purple flowers from crepe paper.
For this scene, I included some other little gardening goodies, including the gardening tote kit from Dragonfly International, and the ADORABLE calico kitty by Juan Manuel Diaz Solis. I absolutely love how it turned out!
I’ve been admiring farmhouse-style laundry rooms on Pinterest for months, and I’ve been wanting to create one in miniature for just about as long, so when I saw the roombox kits from ScaledRealmMinis, I immediately knew what my next project was going to be!
After collecting copious inspiration photos on Pinterest, I got to work on creating the mini laundry room of my dreams. Even though the roomboxes from ScaledRealmMinis have awesome laser cut floors, I knew I wanted a tile look in the laundry room, so I found trendy printable patterns from ChloeMiniHome for the floor and for the white brick wall. I printed the tile on glossy photo paper and the brick on matte.
Once the floors and walls were done, I added in the baseboard and a quarter round in the corner. Then, I started with the most important part of any laundry room – the washer and dryer! I used a standard wooden set, but I wasn’t happy with how they looked out of the box, so I decided to get a little creative and make some modifications.
To start, I printed out photos of Speed Queen control panels (in honor of my own Speed Queen washer and dryer). Once I placed those over the existing controls, they looked much better, but they still didn’t have the gloss sheen that you see on real appliances. Rather than try to repaint with a gloss finish, I decided I would try my luck with coating them with UV resin. Several coats later, I was pretty happy with the results! They’re not perfect, but definitely an improvement over the originals!
The other main elements I needed to install before I could get to all the fun little details were the lights, the counters and the sink. The awesome sink cabinet, faucet and handles all came from Melvin’s Miniatures.
From there, I just cut, stained and painted wood to create all the other countertops – including the L-shape in the corner and the enclosure for the washer/dryer set. I also installed two shelves with brackets from Melvin’s Miniatures above the counter and sink.
I modified an existing ironing board to fit my theme, painting the legs silver and recovering it with black and white checkered fabric. The rolling laundry hamper was inspired by some I saw on Pinterest, as well. I used chip board covered with cotton batting and gray fabric to make the hamper. I sewed an inner liner from white cotton fabric, and I used card stock and beads to make the casters. Then, I just filled it up with dirty laundry!
I was most excited about figuring out how to create my own working set of farmhouse-style sconce lights, but I also knew it was going to be the most challenging to do. After quite a bit of trial and error, I ended up using chip LED lights from Evan Designs along with suction cups, silicone tubing, wire, no hole beads and metal bezel stud settings, all spray painted a satin black. I absolutely LOVE how they turned out!
I also designed all the labels for the various jars and cleaning products myself. I’ve got everything from dryer balls to scent booster! After seeing detergent and softener dispensers on Pinterest, I recreated them in miniature by taking glass jars and gluing on spigots, then filling them with resin. The scrub brush was made from a piece of popsicle stick with little clumps of jute twine glued on for the bristles. I wish my real laundry room was this organized!
I had a blast coming up with decorative elements for the laundry room, and I thought eucalyptus would be a perfect fit – it smells nice and it’s very soothing. I made this one from laser cut leaves by SDK Miniatures.
I made these rolled towels and the folded towels next to the washer from white baby wash cloths. They are a little better for scale than standard terry cloth. Then I placed my Wash Dry and Fold sign next to them!
I made this little grapevine wreath with a paper magnolia flower and cotton bolls from my tutorial! There’s also a little pitcher of cotton over on one of the shelves.
A simple wood disc and a toothpick painted black makes for an easy paper towel holder. The sponge was also a cinch: just a piece of green felt glued to a yellow foam sheet.
This spare change sign was a last-minute addition after I saw a real one on Pinterest! After all, what else are you supposed to do with all the change that falls out in the wash? I made the mason jar from resin in a mold, and then I made all the coins from black polymer clay dusted with metallic mica powders in silver and copper.
The laundry basket is just filled with scraps of fabric that I saturated with water, scrunched up and arranged until it looked just messy enough to be unfolded laundry. Once it all dried, it looked perfect.
I don’t really sew too frequently, so I definitely wanted a no-sew solution for having a few folded shirts to display, and I followed this helpful tutorial on YouTube to create them!
In yet another burst of Pinspiration (that’s a word, right?), I wanted to make a little decorative wall shelf that looked like an old washboard. This was super easy to make, using craft wood matchsticks, balsa wood and corrugated paper painted silver and gunmetal gray. Isn’t it just the thing to display this Sir Thomas Thumb antique flat iron?
And of course, I just can’t seem to make a scene without an animal, so I tucked a little dog bed under the countertop and added a bag and bowl of food. He looks cozy, right?
Sources for other special items I didn’t make myself:
Old-fashioned clothespins and clothes hangers by Reynold’s Metal
Bucket, dustpan and brush by Miniature Corner – Bodo Hennig
Wooden clothespins in jar by Dragonfly International
Floor vase with branches by IslandTradingCo
Special thanks to my supportive husband, Tom, for helping me with the photos for this feature. I hope you enjoyed this look inside my little farmhouse laundry roombox!
Hello friends and happy New Year! Despite being a little late to share my latest roombox for Christmas, I think it was worth the wait! This piece, which I have titled “Waiting for Santa,” was a ton of fun to make. At first I was a little worried about mixing so many textures, patterns and colors in one space, but I love how it turned out in the end. I hope you love it, too!
Waiting for Santa
The tree is lit, the milk and cookies are out, and the puppy is waiting patiently – albeit a little mischievously – for Santa to arrive! Little does he know the big guy is about to catch him unwrapping one of the presents!
It was a joy decorating this Christmas tree! I got the bare tree from MrTrain on Etsy, added a set of battery-operated warm white LED lights from Evan Designs, and got to decorating with ribbons, tinsel, ornaments and tiny pine cones.
The puppy is an artisan piece by JadeMinis I picked up second-hand, and I added the ribbon wrapped around the body and the bow on his head.
Saint Nick just came down the chimney – hopefully he doesn’t track snow all over the wood floors!
I used all the same decorative elements from the tree to make the wreath and the garland on the fireplace. I feel like they came together really well!
I adore this fully illustrated version of The Night Before Christmas that I made from a printable by Ever After Miniatures on Etsy. I made the chair based on a tutorial by Bentley House Minis on YouTube. I couldn’t resist the buffalo check fabric, so I decided to make the stockings and tree skirt match, as well. That’s also a lighted floor lamp in the corner behind the chair! That was quite possibly one of the trickiest elements for me to figure out how to make. Also, how cute are the fuzzy little slippers?
I’ve also become a *wee* bit obsessed with the gnome trend, so I had to make a pair for my mantle. They’re made from a combination of felt, polymer clay and yarn.
This is a cuckoo clock by Reutter Porzellan that I repainted and added fake snow to the roofline. The slight modifications made it much more Christmas-y.
Believe it or not, this little nutcracker was one of the most time-consuming aspects of the whole roombox! He’s sculpted entirely from polymer clay, and I think he’s super charming and sweet!
No Christmas scene would be complete without gifts, so I made all the presents and gift bags. I also snuck a little snowglobe I made under the tree for some magic.
I hope you enjoyed this look inside my Christmas roombox! Once again, I’d like to thank my husband, Tom, for helping me with the photos for this. ‘Til next time!
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