Remembrance Day 2018

This year is the centenary of the Armistice signalling the end of the Great War, with hopes that this kind of carnage would never happen again. Well, we know how that went!

This is an excellent article explaining what reality was like on the battlefield. Imagine not being able to tend to your wounded friend, who would have to wait for the stretcher bearers! Attack at all cost!
Many conscientious objectors were allowed to play in a non-combatant role as  a stretcher bearer, not participating in the slaughter, but providing aid and comfort to the wounded.
http://guysboroughgreatwarveterans.blogspot.com/2013/07/stretcher-bearers.html

The bravery and dedication of the stretcher bearers who risked life and limb to rescue wounded and dying soldiers is recognized in this painting by Brian Lorimer.

http://www.projectremembrance.ca/in-flanders/

https://www.brianlorimer.com/project-remembrance/

This is a room box with poppies in the foreground using Brian Lorimer’s painting as backdrop.

Nutcracker Sweet

Once upon a time, I came upon this sweetfaced doll at a garage sale. Then I came across these nutcrackers at the $ store. Hmmmm.......

The little lady was somewhat strangely bulky around the waist. And once her clothes came off, what did appear! Gee, aren’t there smaller music boxes?

So to reshape and dress.

Then sit her in a dome to admire her nutcracker.

Before and After Gazebo

Now how great a garage sale find is this for 25 cents!

I had some small scale figures in my stash, a couple of trees, and a large cake container, and this is how it ended up. The base is foam core cut to fit the container, lawn is a mix of paper mache, sawdust, glue and paint. The bushes are moss, dabbed with glue and sprinkled with flocking. The walk is paper mache, painted after it dried.

And then the cake containers for storage....a nice little project, kept me busy and out of trouble for a week!

King Sized Bed

There have been a lot of photos on the Net referring to a manger as a king-sized bed.
It was a simple Christmas project,starting out with some stir sticks and toothpick.
First the frame, 4 sticks and a toothpick.

Once the basic frame is dry,it is easy to fill in the sides.
Note: the sticks forming the x shapes were not thick enough,so extra strips were added
This is a picture of the finished manger, painted a Dresden blue and dry brushed with tan.

 

The base beside it was started using the video below

The base was cut to fit into this container, from the grocery store.

The finished project...

Toy Xylophone for Santa’s workshop (Let there be noise!)

Made following directions from Joanne’s Minis on YouTube

Replaced the dots of grey paint with circles punched from silver cardboard used for cakes. The punch also is useful for tiny buttons on doll clothes.

Let them Eat Cake!

Got a birthday or holiday cake? Don’t throw that container out.
This little scene fits inside nicely for storage.
Start out with a little house.

Fill in the back panel with windows, doors and windowboxes to blend in with the front and sides. Landscape, using moss. The windowboxes are filled with green Bunka and clippets of red.

The base is foam core covered with quilt batting.

The snow effect is quite wonderful, a train modeler’s trick. Use diluted glue with a drop of dishwashing soap, and spread where you wish to have snow. Then sift baking soda over the area. Shake off excess once dry.

Then cover.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/OLRyekQPa9wufhBE2

In Flanders, Remembrance Day 2017

In 1914, the war-torn fields of Western Europe became a natural breeding ground for the Papaver rhoeas or poppy, as it is more commonly known. It was in these fields that Canadian soldier John McCrae wrote “In Flanders Fields”, probably the most widely known poem of the First World War. It was McCrae’s words that turned the poppy into a powerful war emblem and the symbol of Remembrance Day.

In what has become the signature piece of Brian Lorimer’s Project Remembrance collection, In Flanders carries on the tradition of the poppy. Depicting a moment of calm before the quiet field is transformed into a battlefield, the painting hints at the destruction to come; the soldiers who stand waist deep in the scarlet poppies will soon stand in the blood of their fallen brethren.

http://www.projectremembrance.ca/in-flanders/

https://www.brianlorimer.com/project-remembrance/

This is a room box with poppies in the foreground using Brian Lorimer’s painting as backdrop.