Gorgeous gifts from Rosa Maria

Hello dear readers,

I made many plans for this summer but became ill instead.  I had a very high fever, unusual for a person like me who almost never has a fever.  My doctor wanted me hospitalized but I refused, preferring to stay home on strong antibiotics.  I'm alright now.

A precious little parcel arrived from Spain, right in the middle of the bad days.  Rosa Maria sent me some teeny-tiny jaw-dropping sculptures which left me open-mouthed with a delightful surprise.

 

I wish I was a better photographer.  Believe me, my photos do not give these precious items enough justice.  Each of them is simply breathtakingly gorgeous.

THANK YOU, DEAR ROSA MARIA, FOR YOUR GENEROSITY AND WONDERFUL GESTURE!

Well, now that I am absolutely well and healthy again, I'm continuing my work at the home care center.  We finished 5 embroidered covers for toilet rolls.  There is a large demand for more but we are out of burlap and hope that a new supply will arrive soon.

I am also back to working on my mini Zen garden project.  In my stash, I found two small gadgets which I purchased years ago at a hardware store.  They are supposed to connect washing-line ropes. With a touch of Jesso and a wild imagination, I hope to turn them into Japanese stone garden lanterns. 

In my next post soon, I hope to be able to complete the first vignette and show you how I made this little "stone" lantern from the above gadget. It still needs some sanding.

 My dear friend Birgit is sending me more Buddhas so I'll attempt to make all three zen vignettes. (See photos on my previous post.)

I wish you, dear readers, a wonderfully healthy, and enjoyable weekend with blessings.

A little Zen garden

Hello dear readers,

For a long time, I wanted to make a little Zen garden miniature but somehow didn't find the right time to do it.  One of Birgit's Christmas 2020 gifts was a tiny Budha which is perfect for this kind of project. (Thank you again dear Birgit).  Searching for inspiration I found many photos of miniature Zen gardens.   I  picked three photos out of several on the net in order to decide which one I like best.

Of the three, I like the middle one best although it'll be more difficult to make. (Especially the stone burner.)  It will be a challenge and I'll have to try hard to do one similar to this.

I intend to make it a vignette, and already cut and glued up a wooden box for one of the four wooden frames in my stock.

Size of the box 12.5 cms width,  9 cms. length. 4 cms. depth.  Made from popsicles and tongue depressors wooden sticks, glued to cardboard and cut to size.

Four ladies at the home center are following my tutorial for making a real-size toilet rolls holder from burlap fabric embroidered with wool.  I spent a few hours making a model and finished it.  It will keep them occupied and happy for a few days. 

Meanwhile, I'm planning the next miniature for them to make after they finish this.

                             

I'm going to make a miniature one like this for the dolls' bathroom.

I wish all my followers and readers an enjoyable, well-deserved summer vacation. Stay safe and happy. Blessings!

Burlap baskets

 Hello dear readers

Although I'm teaching how to make miniatures, I still don't have enough pupils to justify spending funds on craft materials.  I spent a lot of time trying to come up with ideas on how to use available cheap stuff for crafting and recycling. 

Here is what we managed to create last week, at no cost, except for the white plastic glue that I supplied from my own stock. The burlap was a left-over scrap, also from my stock.

I forgot to take photos of the way the baskets were made. You can figure it out for yourselves, or if anyone is interested, I'll make a step-by-step tutorial.  All the baskets in the photo are made out of glue stiffened burlap. We pulled out lengths of threads before stiffening the burlap to make the handles and for trimming the ends.  The knitting needles are tiny colored foam balls pierced into straight sewing pins.

Remember the poster from my previous post here? There was enough card paper left to make 10 more pitchers.

I wish all my followers and readers a happy, enjoyable weekend with blessings.

A very rewarding cause

 Hello dear readers,

Working with old folks is very rewarding.  I now have four ladies who very enthusiastically follow my tutorials and together we managed to create these miniatures within a few meetings.

All the flowers were made by the a/m ladies. I showed them how to stiffen the green crochet thread with glue, cut it into stem lengths and, then glue on the sepals and the flower petals.  (see my tutorial here).  All the pitchers were made by me recycling advertising posters.

The stand was also made by me.  I hope it will attract some of the gentlemen to make the next ones. So far, I supplied all the materials, from my own hoarded piles. An opportunity to get rid of a little trash for a good cause. Three pairs of chopsticks, 6 lollipop sticks.  

Our next project is going to be a knitting basket.  I made this one as a sample. 

June became a difficult month for me.  On the 26th of June 2020, I lost my beloved husband,  The 4th of June is my birthday.  I am not ready yet to celebrate my birthdays without my partner, especially this month that I became 90. Life goes on, I don't feel my age and I can only count my blessings, still on my feet, able to do some volunteer work, surrounded by a loving family and friends. I have a great supply of books to read and miniatures keep me busy and interested.  I don't drive a car anymore,  twice a week I go to a gym, exercising to keep fit. And yes, although I always found it hard, I still cut and saw wood for my crafts. 

I wish you all, my readers and friends, a lovely Sunday with blessings.

sunday 

Working with elderly people

Hello dear readers,

Sorry for having neglected my blog and for not visiting many of your blogs for a while.

Shortly after the corona restrictions were lifted, another trouble landed on us here in Israel.  Missiles were fired from Gaza in all directions, regardless of children and elderly people. Alarm sirens sounded at all hours of the day and night. It was necessary to go down to the shelter or stay in a protected space within the building. There are no protected spaces in our building except for an underground shelter. Since the elevator must not be used during an alarm, and of course, going down from the top floors down to the shelter in 3 minutes with babies and small children on our hands is an equally dangerous operation, most of the tenants, including myself, preferred to stay in the apartments and hope we would get out of it safely.

I started working with people at the daycare for the elderly center in May.  There was very little interest at the beginning. I brought along some of my miniature items that I found easy to create, but they couldn't believe it possible for them to learn.  So I took out some pipe-cleaners and began to make tiny puppies and kittens.  This was a huge success.  Now even the gentlemen want to make them.

It took a few weeks and here I can show what we already finished.

The pitcher is recycled from a poster advertising apartments sale which I found hanging on my door. These posters are ideal for pitchers since they are already colored and shiny. 

After noting that the flowers were really not difficult to make and learning to use paper punches and how to shape and cup the petals they became very enthusiastic and we were able to fill recycled poster pitchers with dozens of flowers. I was too busy to take photos. I'll do it next time I'm at the center.

A very warm welcome to the new followers of my blog. Thank you for your interest.

I wish you, all my dear readers, a very nice and safe weekend with blessings.

Nina's surprise Easter gifts

Hello dear readers,

I received a wonderful surprise from Nina in Germany, a large parcel containing easter gifts. Nina is a lovely person who collects and writes stories in her blog, all about a community of Sylvanian families residing in Riverside. Nina's blog will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary.  There is a giveaway for this occasion, the link is on the sidebar of my blog.

Very delicate little Easter eggs and birds with a beautiful Easter card.

Mozart chocolates, no traces left. (except in this photo.)  

Three Lindt chocolate sheep-shaped chocolates that will make the kids very happy indeed, as well as a lovely egg-shaped candle.

A notebook., very useful for absent-minded me. Now I can note down all my important resolutions and ideas for future works.

A Riverside 2021 Calendar with beautiful photos 

THANK YOU, DEAR NINA.  YOU MADE ME VERY HAPPY WITH YOUR VERY GENEROUS AND  LOVELY GESTURE.

I'm very excited about working at the day center for the elderly.  I've been researching and collecting materials for workshops and found something that may be very suitable for them to make.  Actually, I got the inspiration from Tiina who posted about skeins of wool.  I saw many of the ladies doing beautiful knitting items in real size.  I'll try finding instructions for mini knittings somewhere in my stash.  Maybe we can make one like the one in the photo below. (I created it seven years ago for an exhibition that displayed the works of several Israeli miniaturists.)

Again, I wish you all a very happy Easter holiday with blessings!

Passover and Easter 2021

Hello dear readers,

We are right in the middle of our 7-days holiday, Pessah (Passover).  It is also the end of the first term in school with a 3-week holiday and we get to enjoy our young ones visits.  Although we still expect some rainy days, spring is here in full splendor.

I had a wonderful family Pessah dinner at my daughter Galia's home. I made little gifts for my beloved family members.

I made 6 of these bunnies in a nutshell tiny scenes.

At a local disposable dinnerware store, I found these transparent egg-shaped boxes which help keep the little scene dustfree.

I also made about a dozen flower arrangements in little blue clay vases. 

Another transparent box, the only shape left at the store but serves well as a dust cover.

Yesterday a new surprise Easter gift arrived from a very generous sweet blog friend.  It made me very happy.  As soon as I take photos, I'll post about it.

I wish all my Jewish friends a marvelous Passover and all my Christian friends a marvelous Easter!

Happy Holidays with blessings!