Confined at home.

Hello dear readers,

We don't know how long we'll be confined but one thing I do know is that it will be over and I'll have to create many thank-you gifts to the medical staff giving their selfless attention and care to my husband and other patients hospitalized in their ward. We cannot visit our beloved but we get fresh, daily videos and photos to see how they are.

I'm continuing to make flowers, about one vase full a day, but in between, I'm making the walnut shells scenes for gifts. The ones from the exhibitions have returned and I can use some. The nutshells were the most popular item in the exhibition, everybody liked them, so it's safe to say they will be good gifts.

What I'm doing now is preparing stands to glue the nutshells on.  I'm not completely satisfied with them, you be the judges.  I used recycled styrofoam from food plates for the stands.

Is this too much?  I want it to have a fresh spring air but I'm not sure it has it.  Also, there is to be a connection between the nut and the stand. I am thinking about adding steps.

Do you think that the one without a garden around it looks better?

These are stands in various stage of decorations.  If I won't use them for the nutshells, I can always make other scenes with them.

With the addition of accessories, this can make a nice garden corner.

I forgot to take pictures of the flowers this morning when there was sunshine for a few hours.
The photos which I took this evening are not good.  I used a lot of yellow. I miss the sunshine.

I hope everyone is safe and taking care of his love ones.

I wish you a calm and blessed weekend.

Flower making is a calming occupation

Hello dear readers,

Since the end of last week, no outsider is allowed to visit anyone at all the nursing wards in our country.  I am isolated in my own home, away from my husband who is hospitalized in his nursing home. I have more than enough to keep me busy but have no mood nor motivation to craft anything but flowers.  Making flowers is what calms and keeps me cheerful.  I also have books and watch my favorite series on TV and thanks to youtube, music from classical to jazz and pop, according to my mood.

Today, after many days of solitude, I went shopping, to the neighborhood supermarket very near my home.  It was nice to see the cashiers all wearing masks and gloves.  Very few shoppers.  I bought food supplies for the next week and returned to work, making flowers. On my last birthday, I received some beautiful flower vases. It's time to fill a few.

This vase is made by Nilly, my daughter.

These vases are gifts from my friends.

I was accepted as a member of two f/b groups which I like. This month I joined one more and this one suits me perfectly. https://www.facebook.com/groups/trash2treasurefounditems/
Turning trash into treasure is what I do mostly. I love recycling. Members of all the three groups are nice crafters like us, generous with sharing and showing their inspiring work, their tips, advice and links.

This video clip is very cute and funny.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM5k3VtD9Gg

I hope you all take good care and are safe in your homes.  Let's hope things get back to normal soon.
Meanwhile, happy crafting with blessings.

The Coronavirus is here

Hello dear readers,

All public festivities for our one and only religious fun holiday, Purim, have been canceled on account of the coronavirus.  It is an especially sad situation for the kids who wanted to show their masquerades outdoors. 
I am the only close relative allowed to visit my husband at the nursing home for fear of this virus, and as my daughters cannot replace me it means even less time for minis.
Today, there was a special Purim party at my husband's ward but no outside visitor or close relative was allowed to come, only the medical staff and help.
Not certain about tomorrow.  Other institutes like this one totally forbid outside visitors.

For the time being, we are officially isolated.  Anyone entering Israel will be quarantined for 14 days no matter which country he comes from.

I am very slow with the Jeweler's Facade project although the main structure is completed.
The shelves are finished and installed.  The ceiling is finished and later on,  I'll add shingles.


Inside of the box with dividers glued and fixed in place.

3 large bamboo skewers cut to size cover the open side of the 1/4 part of the backgammon wooden box.

Temporary cover template to be replaced with a fixed cardboard one.

There have been other miniatures to make in-between.  More nutshell and flower bouquets gifts for Purim. I couldn't take photos.  My I-phone4 battery, after seven years of excellent service, went dead on me. I preferred to buy a new phone which I just received, a very expensive I-phone11, much smarter than I am,  and slowly getting acquainted with it. Here are photos of a few gifts, meant to be given away today.

 here is a great tutorial for a modern kitchen faucet and sink.

I wish you a healthy rest of the week free of viruses and blessings only.

Structure of the Jewelry shop facade

Hello dear friends,


When you live in a place where there are almost no dollhouse craft materials to get, you start improvising. This is why I use some strange pieces of wood for timbers, hoping the end results will cover them.

There was very little spare time to work on the facade. By cutting, fitting and gluing on, two layers of large bamboo skewers I managed to raise up the box walls and get a little bit of more depth space for the shelves.

This little addition of raising the walls makes a big difference for accommodating the shelves inside.

Next, I hope to have the shelves ready. I intend to make them from these pieces of easy to cut 2mm wood plates.

I purchased a new pair of sneakers. For a perfect fit, the shopkeeper gave me a pair of cork insoles which I didn't use, preferring thick socks instead. Kept the cork stashed away for "someday" use. A few days ago, I saw very cute doormats on Pinterest, made from cork and a sharpie.  Remembering my stashed away cork I made a few doormats. At least these will be serving other much much smaller feet,

These are my attempts. I hope to get better with practice.

They can be turned over and have a different drawing on the other side.

I want to welcome new followers to my blog with thanks for their interest.

Have a lovely creative rest of the week with blessings.

Winner and "work shop"

Hello dear readers,

Carmen's and Eloisa's names were added to yesterday's list of participants. Now the number is 25.

I used the Random True Number Generator to pick up the winner.

ELENA!
Por favor, Elena manda me por email tu direccion. (drorahed@gmail.com)

Thank you, dear friends, who took part in the draw for all your kind comments.
It is always a joy to make someone happy with a giveaway but sad that only one can win.  I know it must have been disappointing for some of you.  I'm trying to find a way to make up for it with this little "workshop". You will see how simple and fun it is to make these DIY minis from easy to find inexpensive materials.

1.  For the lipstick, Penelope, I used a common chain lock.  Many before me made and are still making lipsticks from these locks, the only difference is the black paint on some parts as you can see in the photo and the teeny-tiny piece of red Fimo instead of a toothpick inserted in the opening. Instead of throwing away the excess metal loops, you can use them to make 4 tiny little rings. Just thread them on a toothpick and glue a nice nail stone on the opening.

2.  Powder compact. (From my tutorial  made back in 2012)

Material used:
Gold colored  7 mm (3/8") sequins
Flesh or beige-colored Fimo or other polymer clay - I used Creall-therm #42
Silver card for "mirrors".  (A disposable food aluminum tray's cover)
Office punch
PVA glue


Punch out a circle from the card.  Make a little ball from the clay and flatten it to a disk to fit the inside of the sequin. (You can use flesh or beige-colored craft foam instead of Fimo and punch out a disk with the same office punch. In this case, you don't have to bake.)
Bake the tiny disk at the required temperature.  Glue the punched circle which will be the "mirror"  to one sequin. Glue the clay disk to the other sequin and glue them together as you see in the photo.


That's all folks. Isn't it fun? So simple and looks good inside a tray or on a dresser. A tiny decoration can be glued behind the mirrored sequin to hide the hole.

3. Necklaces.  I already posted on how I make the velvet coated form. Black painted cardstock can replace the velvet.  As for the necklaces, I just want to add a tip.  If you can't find a suitable thin chain to join the front of the necklace you can paint a regular crochet thread with gold or silver acrylic and glue it on it instead.

4.  Boxes.  Tutorial on my previous post.


5.  Perfume bottle.  A plastic bead and the part of behind earlobe earring, and a  short sewing pin. you tread the pin through the earring part and the bead. This earring part can be fixed the way you see it in the first photo or turned upside down, the way you see it in the second photo. sometimes, in order to keep the bead on balance punch a circle of cardstock or craft foam and glue it underneath.  The stopper and the circle look good when both are the same color.  I glued a tiny flower cutout from a napkin on the green bead. It's good to keep tiny cutout labels out of magazines for this purpose.

The same stopper on each bead looks completely different.

6.  Narrow flower vase. From each  medical needle protector, came out a tall drink glass and a narrow flower vase.  The open basis of the vase is sealed with hot glue. Any narrow transparent plastic tube can do is you glue it on a base,  a jewelry finding for instance.

7.  Roses.  In the picture below you can see the paper punches I used for making the roses. (tutorial from Pinterest. Here)

The stems are made from the green embroidery thread stiffened with glue. (see photo below.)

Have a wonderful weekend with blessings.

500.000 page views giveaway draw

Hello dear friends,

O.K. we have reached that awesome number, in fact, it is now 500,783.

Tomorrow evening I'll use the True Random Number Generator to pick up the winner.

These are the participants, according to the entry of the comments:

1.  Rosa Maria  2.  Sheila.  3.  Ilona.  4.  Millimari.  5.  Xandra.  6.  Genevieve.  7.  Irina.
8.  Gonda.  9.  Jodi.  10. Faby.  11. Elena.  12. Isabel.  13. Marian.  14. Pilar.  15. Rosella.
16. Elizabeth.  17. Britt.  18. Carolina.  19.  Birgit.  20.  Penelope.  21. Alexandra.
22. Tatiana.  23.  Sionchi.

There's still time for entries today and tomorrow's noontime.

Mini hugs and blessings{

Bracelets, jewel boxes and giveaway

Hello dear readers,

The jeweler window's display is slowly growing.  There are now bracelets and jewel boxes which I made last week. I played around with stuff I already had in my stash, you will probably recognize the materials I used.

````````````````````````   



                                      



This pair of earrings made a nice box and there are three left to make more.  I can't believe someone is wearing heavy earrings like these. Maybe this is the reason they were sold so cheaply.

Baalatova loved the box so maybe another witch will love the second one.

The tiny golden decorations on the cover of the boxes are gifts from my dear friend Tatiana.

I've also made a tray for a vanity table, after all, it will be Valentine Day soon and no doll respecting herself should be seen out without her makeup, perfume, and jewelry.

I made all the items on the tray.  I needed a narrow vase and made one from the needle protector.

The number of pageviews on this blog is soon reaching the impressive 500,000 - Half a Million!
This occasion deserves a giveaway which will be the tray seen above.  The date of the draw will be as soon as the number appears. If you are a follower and want to take part in the draw, please comment under this post, or let me know by email - drorahed@gmail.co.

I hope your winter is better than ours this year and you all had a lovely weekend.
I wish you a lovely creative week with blessings.