Saturday, May 23, 2009

New Miniatures I Have Made

I made this weight bar with weights for a Man's Swap. These were fun to make.

New Miniatures I Have Made

Sorry, this picture did not turn out well. It is a bowling trophy I made for a Gold Swap.

New Miniatures I Have Made

I bought this felt with the cat print in a bag of six sheets that was on sale for $1.49, was $3.99. I bought them at Hobby Lobby. I love to check their clearance section for miniatures as well as anything else I can find and use.

New Miniatures I Have Made

I made thesee bottles for another NAME swap. They are suppose to be bottles of shampoo. They are made from Light Brite Pegs and shampoo labels I got off the internet. I really like they way they came out.

New Miniatures I Have Made

In the picture above is a plant I made for a NAME swap. The theme was Southwest. I painted the design on the pot, used coffee grounds for dirt and used the kind of stuff they use in railroad modeling for greenery.

New Miniatures I Have Made

The above is a dog bed. I already had the basket. I made the bed from a piece of foam and covered it with material.

New Miniatures I Have Made

The picture above is a dish drainer I made from plastic canvas. I am going to be teaching my club how to make these at our next meeting. When gluing, I found a glue gun, high temperature, worked really well. The dish sponge to the right is a round toothpick glued inside of a piece of yellow foam.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Click here for Yahoo Groups

Online swap groups are a lot of fun. It is like Christmas when you get a swap box in the mail. For those of you who have never participated in an online swap group, I encourage you to give them a try. Once you join the groups, you can sign up for the many different kinds of swaps they are doing. Participating in a swap group is a great, economical way to obtain a variety of new minis and perhaps learn a new technique from the minis that you receive. I find the most satisfaction from making something that others enjoy. Above is a link that will take to the Yahoo Groups. There, you can search for the many miniature groups that are out there. Above all, have fun!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Small World Daytimers Club Donated a dollhouse

Last summer, a dollhouse was donated by the Small World Daytimers Club to the local YWCA's battered women and children's shelter. I had bought an opened dollhouse kit at a local church rummage sale for the unbelievable price of $1.00, not knowing if the kit was complete, but I found out later on that it was missing some parts. Last spring, I donated the dollhouse kit to the club, seeing what we can do with it. We decieded to donate it to the local battered women's shelter. Club President and store owner, Sally Miller, had her son-in-law make the missing pieces for the dollhouse. Club members helped to assemble, paint and decorate the dollhouse as well as donate and buy furniture for the dollhouse. By the summer, we were finished with the dollhouse and myself and another club member, Sallie Brown, delivered the dollhouse to the shelter, on behalf of the entire club. The staff of the YWCA were so impressed with the dollhouse that they proudly placed the dollhouse in a glass display case for visitors to see. In the fall, my mother and I were asked to be keynote speakers for an annual fundraiser the YWCA puts on since we are survivors of abuse and spent time at the shelter in the late 1970's. The staff had the donated dollhouse on display at the fundraiser for all 300 guests to view. In my speech, I mentioned the dollhouse and all the time my club had spent on fixing up and decorating the dollhouse. I spoke about this wonderful hobby, which to me is more than a hobby. After the event, some people walked over to look at the dollhouse and were really impressed. Donating and giving is good for the soul. And, in this case, will bring some comfort to children who are hurting and away from home.