Inspiration....

I Thought I had Nothing To Show.....


It was a busy Weekend in my RL World, Dear Readers, and nothing got done in my Mini Worlds, so I thought I would have nothing New to show you this week! Then as I was leaving my workplace this Evening, I glanced down beside the door and saw a single flower that had survived the major overhaul of the landscaping at the front door that was done last Autumn! I had always loved to see the tiny Siberian Squill that showed up every Spring, and was afraid that the new paving and new shrubs had buried them all forever. But Look!!!

There, in a small crack between the paving stones 

and the foundation by the Front Door....

a Single Survivor!

And suddenly I realized that 

even if there was Only One plant....

It would be enough!

So I quickly pulled out the thread and paper and paint and punches...

You might not be able to see, but I painted a darker stripe on each of the petals....

before cutting them apart and gluing them to the stem....

(Each blossom needs only six petals, while the punch makes eight)

I was not satisfied with the first as the stem is too thick....

So I started a second with the stamens and petals glued to a piece of thread.

Then I glued it to the stem with the first blossom....

(It is hard to get good photos because it is so small!)

Then I "planted" the blossom in a sliver of 

pink foam which was painted brown....

And tucked it into a crevice by the Conservatory Door!

It is very difficult to photograph, Dear Readers!

But maybe you will agree that 

All it takes is One Survivor

To be an Inspiration!

And I had thought I would have Nothing to Show!

Spring Cleaning.....

So Little Got Done....

I am Sure you will understand, Dear Readers, that every once in a while... Especially at the beginning of Spring, the urge to Clean the House becomes too strong to resist, and overtakes all other plans and projects! So it happened this weekend in my corner of the World, that almost Nothing was accomplished in my mini projects. I say Almost, because I did do one very small thing that makes a Huge difference in the long run! Remember the Willowcrest, my Witchy house? Well, when I was last working on it, all my focus was on getting the front entry hall completed so I could Finally attach the side wall in place, and thus continue on with the construction of the shell of the house. I had painted the walls , attached the doors and window in the stairwell, added the electrical lights, even constructed the hall portieres, and I thought I was ready to glue that side wall in place. But then I had a look at the bathroom area on the second floor, above the kitchen, and realized that there was no window in that room! This lovely house is full of windows, but there is none in the bathroom, and I really don't like rooms that have no windows at all! I was going to have to cut a window in the side wall before I glued the wall in place. Of course, months have gone by and I had not decided exactly what was needed to make that window, until Saturday while I was cleaning house!

All of a sudden I knew exactly what the window 

should look like and where it should go!

So I removed the wall from the house and placed the 

blank window piece on the wall to mark where I needed to cut.

I used my exacto knife to cut 

around the window opening.

Then I put the wall back in place to see how it would look.....

That's much more like it! 

This little room really needed a window!

Here you can see the room with the ceiling also temporarily in place...

and with the door open into the front hall 

you can see the Moon Maidens windows!

So that is what I got done this weekend, Dear Readers....

that and a whole lot of cleaning!

And it seems as though Pollyanna had a similar weekend 

in the Lovely Old Dollhouse!

Believe me, after this winter, there was

 a lot of cleaning that needed to be done!

In fact, this is only the very beginning!

 

I hope you'll understand, Dear Readers,

that even with the Spring Cleaning,

So Little got done!

The Next Tiny Things...

The Crocus!

You will Not believe me, Dear Readers, when I tell you how long it took me to make these crocus blossoms! I started them over two years ago! I was completely dissatisfied with the results... and did not complete the plants, but left them poked into a piece of pink foam in a pot. They rattled around in the corner of the Folly garden (a still unfinished location!) and I kept thinking I needed to at least make them some leaves and dirt! Then Finally, a few weeks ago, as I was making the tiny Snowdrop blossoms, I decided to also make some more crocus blossoms from the beginning. Meaning that I started with the Pistils......

Painted pieces of paper covered florist wire....

And then the stamens.....

Pieces of sewing thread painted on their tips....

(I painted both ends just for quickness and ease of handling)

And beginning to assemble the blossoms......

I glued three stamens to each pistil....(visible on the upper left)

 before gluing on the petals.

I Forgot to take many pictures of the assembly process... 

and as you can see I was also assembling the snowdrops.

Here you can see I have also added the leaves to most of them...

(And you can also see the book I was making at the same time

because I like to work on several things at once!)

Here I have "planted" them in a square of pink foam 

painted brown to mimic the ground... the glue is still not dry!

See, you can see the stamens if you look carefully!

All that time and effort was not wasted!!!

I did complete the ones in the flowerpot first!

They just needed some trimming of the petals 

and adding of leaves to look complete.

What took me so Long, Dear Readers?

(I wish I Knew!)

 

I would have finished those first blossoms sooner 

if I had known they would look so sweet planted in that pot!

But maybe they were just waiting until the Conservatory was ready....

Or at least ready enough to start Dreaming about its Garden!

And that's as far as I got, Dear Readers,

making the Next tiny thing...

The Crocus!

Such A Tiny Thing

The Snowdrop in Bloom....

Spring is Arriving in my neighborhood At Last, Dear Readers! And here that means lots of mud and dead leaves from last year, and if you look very closely into the places where the snow has melted... you might spot the tiniest flowers starting to bloom. The first and bravest is the snowdrop.... it will even push its way up through the melting snow! And its tiny white tear-drop petals are so easy to miss, hiding amid the debris of fading winter. But if you know where to look, they are a joyful sight, the Overture to Spring!

Here, I will show you a tiny clump just starting in my RL garden!

At my Old house I had huge clumps of snowdrops, but I moved to my current house in the Fall, and forgot to bring a clump of snowdrops with me to the new garden. I mentioned this last year to a co-worker, and she brought me a clump from her Mother's garden! So now I have snowdrops beginning to bloom....

So I couldn't resist trying to make some for my mini garden too!

Did you spot them there... in the debris by the door?

They aren't very big so they are easy to miss!

And it is even more difficult to get a good photo of them....!

I made them from pieces cut from a small flower punched paper...

And I forgot to take pictures of all the steps....

Gluing the petals to thread....

adding a bead and painting it.....

Gluing the thread to a wire stem......

And at this point I was Sure they were going to be too big...

Giant Snowdrops at the very least!

But I cut back the stem.... and "planted" them in the "earth"....

Which is a scrap of pink builders foam painted brown.

I used the rough cut side for the ground surface....

poked random holes and pushed the stems in with glue.

Maybe they aren't too big after all!

So I needed to try them out with a "setting".....

and where better than the Conservatory, Dear Readers?

Ah! They do look sweet!

But something is missing!

The Dead remains of winter are missing!

So I went out and harvested twigs and dead leaves from my garden!

And carefully added them to the "earth" around the blossoms....

And the wind blew them around the courtyard by the doors....

Where, if you aren't looking carefully, Dear Readers,

You might not notice such a Tiny Thing

as a Snowdrop in bloom!