Outdoors

Food/Cookout/Picnic:


:
Tanya’s backyard BBQ
-The BBQ is made with a small plastic Champagne glass found at the Dollar Store
- Fence is made from skinny sticks
- Cups are from tops of craft glue.
- Love the illusion of perspective using a picture of the kitchen beyond the French doors into the house.
http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/7251673/280628132



Doreen shares how she made her roomboxes:
http://doreensprojects.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

http://doreensminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/06/barbeque-for-shadowbox.html

Chris Pecherzewski from Mini-tiques did this BBQ scene.
http://snipurl.com/j0lta




Mel’s Miniatures: http://snipurl.com/cplri
Those sandwiches sure look good!









Mary Eccher’s Pannikins site has TUTs on making BBQ foods
http://pannikins.homestead.com/backyard_barbecue.html








http://www.intotheglue.com/photopost/data/531/BBQ_from_25_machine_bubble.jpg






Red Gingham for tablecloth









Make a picnic basket:
http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniatureprojects/ig/Beginners-Miniature-Projects/Make-a-Mini-Picnic-Basket.htm
*******************
Furniture:
- Picnic Table
- Porch Set
Chris in QS http://snipurl.com/cpj4v


- Umbrella - use a cocktail umbrella
- Chairs, Lounges – wicker, wood, plastic
http://www.the-art-of-dollhouse-miniatures.com/miniature-lawn-chair.html
Wheelbarrow Planter:
http://www.the-art-of-dollhouse-miniatures.com/miniature-wheelbarrow.html

Garden/Patio/Greenhouse:
- Gardening gloves
- Rubber Boots
- Gardening Hat
- Rake, hoe, shovel
Try this painting rust tut:
http://www.acanthusminiatures.com/page13.html
- Garden hose
- Printies – links for fertilizer packets, soil
- Plants, landscaping, flowers
- Chris in Canada: http://snipurl.com/cpj4v


- Plant in a seashell, lantern


Jo in Ga: http://snipurl.com/cpk41
Her album includes making boulders, planters

Doreen Playter made some masking tape plants
http://doreensprojects.blogspot.com/2009/02/plant-project.html

Check this site out –Granny Maude’s wonderful garden and potting shed
http://tinyurl.com/d7wekc

Here is a trellis tutorial
http://tinyurl.com/bm823k
Clematis Vine
http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse_news/JUL2009/miniature-clematis-vine.html

Also, don’t forget to search Google images!
Maybe this will give you a few ideas for landscaping:.
http://newenglandminiatures.blogspot.com/2009/03/miniature-landscaping-part-i.html
Plant pots
Plant trays
Watering can - $store find painted silver

Lawnmower
Chris from Canada sent these directions for a modern and a push mower.
Modern:
The deck is a hollow box 1.5"x1.5"x1/ 3" constructed of thin wood (basswood?) with the edges and corners rounded off by sanding, and painted with orange enamel. The motor casing is a toothpaste cap painted shiny black and glued to the centre of the deck. You can even glue on a mini Mastercraft logo. There are 4 semi-circular cutouts 1/4" in diameter for the wheel wells, 2 on each side. On the underside, which was flat black, glue a piece of balsa to which are glued plastic wheels on axles cut from the bottom of a toy car, so the axles just cleared the top edge of the cutouts. It looked like the entire bottom plate of the car was removed, then the centre part cut out leaving enough of the plate to glue the wheels in place. The handle is a jumbo paperclip bent into shape, painted black and mounted to the deck by means of L-shaped bends right near the ends glued into a pilot hole. Run a black cord from the motor housing to the handle where there was a fake switch, and then on for about 1/2" to end in a seed bead acting as a plug.
Push mower, non-turning wheels:
If a 'lookie-lookie' mower is OK, here's how. Make the cutter assembly from two 1/2" wooden discs for the ends, 4" pieces of round toothpicks as the center axle and the three guards, plus 4 strips of heavy foil shaped into cutting blades. (Google for 'push reel mower' images to see how blades are shaped.) Glue that all together, then glue a small flattish bead to the middle of each end, followed by wheels from a toy car. (Just the wheel itself is used as it will be stationary.) Fashion a roller from a medium paper clip with some short black tube beads threaded on and glue the trimmed ends into small pilot holes made on the edges of the end discs. Two medium paper clips would do for the handle assembly, which looks like the letter 'T' with the clips superglued together for most of the length, splitting apart to form an upside down "Y" before the ends are glued to the cutter assembly. Make sure the roller is touching the work surface before you attach the handle assembly, and that the handle is positioned at a realistic angle for use.

Wheelbarrow
http://www.the-art-of-dollhouse-miniatures.com/miniature-wheelbarrow.html

Flooring, pathways, paving:
Egg carton brick path
http://www.thechinadoll.com/bricktutorial.htm
Stone Base Vignette by Tracy Topps:
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562705300PgZzPq

WIMMS March Mini Mart

These are some pictures from the March Mini Mart held by the Willowdale Minimakers in Toronto.

The WIMMS show is (Willowdale Mini Makers) is an event that showcases Artisan items only. No purchased or manufactured items. It's held every March and is usually at the Japanese Centre. Scroll down, the best is last!


This wicker set is from Second Childhood Miniatures.
http://secondchildhoodminiatures.com/

In your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it....

Ruth Nier made these 2 hats. Aren't they wonderful?
















































You will never believe what Dot made her hat from!
(Another list!)
http://dotlscraftylife.blogspot.com/

Other hat TUTS:

http://www.ginabellousdolls.com/victorianhattutorial.htm
http://www.minidolls.com//Tutorial/LaceHat.shtml
http://www.cynthiahoweminiatures.com/hatmaking1.htm
http://www.minidolls.com//Tutorial/Hat_Tut.shtml

Minidoll list Contest '09
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MSATDollPictures/photos/album/1986608566/pic/list

Stacy Hoffman's Hatbox Pattern
http://stacyhofman.110mb.com/index.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/projectbyHofman/

Bride's Aid Flowers and Cakes

Niagara Minis meet once a month. Ann Kozlik brought this project to the March Meeting - based on a wordplay for "bridesmaid", she titled it Bride's Aid Flowers and Cakes.




It is a Michael's CD holder -- which was a Christmas gift at our Niagara Minis party.
Most of the flower containers came from lipstick tops, the one in left front was a perfume bottle top.
The gold candles across the back of the 'cake room' are simply stuck in a piece of rigid foam, surrounded with greenery bits. The side walls are covered with wide yellow grosgrain ribbon.









At the back is Edmund Blair Leighton's "signing the Register" an old Victorian print.
The cake is one of those bubble favours from the $ store, decorated with yellow nail polish!

Tea and Sympathy

The South African minis group has been making teapots. They are so incredibly talented.
This little pot is by Oriana.


Oriana's teapot swap to Micki in Scotland - ' I asked Micki what kind of teapot she would like and she said "anything to do with Cape Town" so I decided that I would make one and paint Table Mountain on it. Please bear in mind that this is the first time I have attempted to make teapots.,she says!'





Some people can clay, while others crochet! Check out Susan Munroe's flickr. Don't miss her wonderful teddies!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wawamum/2904439894/






Susan's Teapot on a pedestal.

Christel Jensen has many tutorials here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQUjME-WXNQ&playnext_from=PL&feature=PlayList&p=A3631E6DE2CCC3EB&index=13

Priming

Elicia in South Carolina wrote:
Use Wal-Mart's flat white spray paint for priming. It only costs $0.88 as opposed to building suppliers $3+ and works just as well.
Hardly needs any sanding when you get a good coat on there...saves time, money and frustration too.....

Really Thin Mirrors and Silver Trim Strips

Chris in Canada wrote:
Tonight I was emptying the wastebasket next to the TV, when I spotted one of those 'security devices' from a DVD on the floor. You know, the little white plastic strips with a bar code on it that is usually stuck somewhere inside the DVD case.
On impulse, I took a pair of scissors to one end of the strip, and inside discovered two strips of a micro-thin silver metallic film. WOW!
Free silver trim, hand mirrors, mirror tiles, or even dresser mirrors in micro-scales all
without adding visible thickness to whatever you glue it to. I tested one strip by gluing
it to a scrap of wood, and despite the glue layer being as thin as I could make it with my
trusty credit-card tool, and repeatedly going over the strip with a rubber brayer and lots
of pressure, the glue layer was still thicker than the strip under magnification.

So the next time you want to reflect on something mini, watch a DVD.