Drora's surprise giveaway

Drora's surprise giveaway
4 Dec.2019

Wednesday, December 25, 2019

Christmas gifts

Hello dear readers,

Most of you, my followers, already know Birgit. Birgit is one of the kindest, wittiest, generous, persons in our Blogland If not, run and follow to get to know the magic of her stories, including two cute protagonists, Flutterby and Rosey.

I am one of the lucky, happy receivers (spread across continents) of Birgit's beautiful Christmas gifts which are only a small sample of her generosity.


Solly, one of Birgit's hand made flying bears and a gift from her is helping me open the parcels.






Solly's favorite is the 2020 calendar where he can see Flutterby and Rosey, his brother and sister.



These precious tiny snowmen are perfect for a winter scene in a nutshell.




The "glass blue-tit" is a traditional ornament, Birgit's region of Germany for the top of the Christmas tree.  I love it.  The olive wood star of David is made in Israel, sold in Germany and sent back to me in Israel, challenging me to make a Nativity inside its frame.  Don't be surprised when you see it soon.



The delicious marzipans went from the box to my mouth to stay on my hips but worth every bite.



THANK YOU. DEAR BIRGIT FOR THESE PRECIOUS, THOUGHTFUL GIFTS AND MOST OF ALL - FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!








Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Dear readers,

The first one of the eight Hanukka candles will be lighted on Sunday evening.  This leaves me 3 days to finish the gifts for my children and friends for this night.  I spent every single spare moment last fortnight working on these gifts and have only 3 days more to finish the ones to be given on Sunday.

Sometimes, if I'm lucky I find shells with a readymade hole on top.  I believe the hole is done by some unknown sea creature that stung the seashell to suck out its flesh.  I decoupaged the pierced shells to make pendants on a chain or a ribbon. They are also beautiful minis to hang on a mini wall.



Any of you who read my sunshade tutorial saw how to make miniature straw by unraveling the string.  Here are a few more examples of what can be done with this material.

A scarecrow.



A broom.


A bird nest.





Very useful for farm miniatures or even a thatched roof.



A time consuming and a very boring job is opening and scraping clean the inside of walnut shells.
I have about a dozen ready and waiting to be filled with scenes.





The children love the witches and gnomes scenes.




Happy holidays and blessings






Wednesday, December 4, 2019

700 followers giveaway results

Hello dear readers,





I added Melli and Maite to the draw list and used the random number generator.
The winner is no. 17 BIRGIT.

As always, I would have liked everyone on the list to win and am a little sad that
it cannot be.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and blessings.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

4 December 2019 giveaway

Hello dear readers,

As promised my surprise giveaway is no secret anymore and is revealed here. (see the first photo.)  It was done yesterday night while making a step by step tutorial for the Spanish Advent Calendar which our dear Matxalen organizes year by year. 24 days of some fantastic tutorials by different and very talented miniaturists including humble me. My chosen day was 3.  Just poke this number on the calendar below.  On day 2, Ana contributed a marvelous, step by step tutorial, which is just perfect as an accessory for mine.







List of participants, according to the comments entry:

1.  Fabiola,  2.  JCH,  3.  Black Kitty,  4.  Elena,  5.  Sheila.  6.  Anna Scott.  7.  Pilar.
8.  Ilona,  9.  Genevieve.  10.  Xandra.  11.  Eloisa.  12.  Marian.  13.  Elizabeth.
14.  Carmen.  15.  Alexandra.  16. Teresa.  17. Birgit.  18.  Isabel.  19  Nina.  20.  Ana.
21.  Josefa.

There will be a choice of other minis if the winner will want to change or make the sunshade and chair on their own.  (For example nutshell scenes,  seashells items,  flowers, and plants.) It will be up to the winner to decide.

And, there is still time to join this list until tomorrow evening.

Happy 3rd advent day!

Monday, December 2, 2019

Sombrilla con Silla Reclinada tutorial - Sunshade with Reclining Chair tutorial



Hola queridos lectores

De nuevo, este año, estoy participando en el
Calendario de Adviento organizado por Matxalen.  Muchas Gracias, Matxalen, por confiar en mí.

Hello dear readers,

This year, again I'm participating in the Spanish 
Advent Calendar organized by Matxalen. Thank you, Matxalen for trusting me.


Hoy es mi turno de publicar un tutorial y ahora, cuando hace frío afuera en algunos países y hace calor en otros, ¿qué puede ser mejor que soñar con unas vacaciones en una isla tropical?
sentada bajo una sombrilla o una palmera, tomando una bebida fría.

Today it's my turn to post a tutorial and now when it's freezing cold outside in some countries and sizzling hot in others, what can be better than dreaming about a vacation somewhere on a tropical
island, sitting under a sunshade or a palm tree, having a cool drink.



Sombrilla con Silla reclinable

A sunshade with reclining chair








Herramientas y materiales para la sombrilla

Papel para tarjetas, papel de impresión normal, cartón de huevos, tijeras, lápiz, pegamento pegajoso, cordón de paja, medio palillo chino, una tapa de botella, plastelina suave, una regla, perforadora de oficina.
 

Tools and materials for the sunshade.

Card paper, regular printing paper, egg-carton, scissors, pencil, tacky glue, straw cord, half a Chinese chopstick, a bottle cap, soft plasteline, a ruler., office punch







1. Dibuja dos círculos de 10 cm, uno con papel para tarjetas y otro con papel de impresión normal.
    Dobla el papel normal por la mitad y luego por la mitad para obtener
    Exactamente cuatro esquinas y un centro.


1.  draw two 10 cm circles, one from card paper and one from regular printing paper.
     Fold the regular paper into one half and then into one half to get exact four corners and a center.         









2. Marque las esquinas y el centro del círculo de la tarjeta. Dibuja una línea de 2.5 cm
    y cortar a lo largo de estas líneas.

2. Mark the corners and the center of the card circle. Draw a line of 2.5 cm and
     cut along these lines.




3   pegue los 4 cortes para crear una tapa (ver foto)

3,  Glue the 4 cuts to create a cap (see photo).











     Dibuja 5 círculos de 2 cm en un cartón de huevos, recórtalos y golpéalos en el centro. Pega los 5         juntos. Cuando todo esté seco, pégalo en el centro de la parte inferior de la sombrilla. (Ver foto)
    
     Draw 5 2 cm circles on a piece of egg-carton, cut them out and punch them in their center.
     glue all 5 together.  When all is dry glue to the center of the underside of the sunshade. (see photo)



4.  Corte de la cuerda de paja aproximadamente 30 o más piezas en longitudes de 18 cm cada una.           Remoje algunas piezas a la vez en agua tibia, grabe, cuando esté seco, desentrañe.

4.  Cut about 30 or more pieces in lengths of 18 cm each from the straw string. Soak a few pieces at       a time in warm water,
     dry and unravel.
.     


   
   
5.  Comience a pegar trozos de paja de 3 cm a 1 cm alrededor del borde de la cúpula, lo más cerca           posible, incluso si tiene que dar dos vueltas.

5.  Start gluing 3 cms pieces of straw to 1 cm around the fringe of the cap, as close as possible,                 even if you have to go twice around.




    Cuando la franja es lo suficientemente gruesa, puede comenzar a pegar tiras de paja más largas            desde el centro superior hasta la franja de paja


     When the fringe is thick enough you can start gluing longer strips of straw from the
     top center to the end of the straw fringe.




    

     
    Si te gusta, agrega un anillo de paja en la parte superior.
    
    If you like it, add a straw ring to the top.



6.  Llena la tapa de la botella con plastilina. Espolvorea aserrín verde sobre la plastilina. Cortar el             palillo a una longitud de 14 cm y pegarlo en la plastelina


6.   Fill the bottle cap with plasteline. Sprinkle green sawdust over the plasteline.  Cut the 
      chopstick to a length of  14 cm and stick it into the plasteline. 





7.   Empuje la parte superior del palillo dentro del círculo de cartón de huevos y pinte

      la tapa de la botella y el palillo del color de tu elección.
                 
7.  Push the top of the chopstick into the egg carton circle and paint the bottle cap and 
     chopstick the color of your choice.







     Encontré este disco de madera olvidado hace mucho tiempo con un agujero en el centro.
     Es una mesita perfecta debajo de la sombrilla.
 
     I found this long-forgotten wooden disc with a hole in its center.  It makes a perfect
     little table under the sunshade.














Silla Reclinada

Reclining Chair




Herramientas y materiales
     
Pegamento pegajoso, tijeras, tela de algodón, 4 paletas de madera artesanal,
4 palillos de madera, toladro de mano.



Tools and materials

Tacky glue, scissors, piece of cotton fabric, 4 lollipops wooden sticks,
4 wood toothpicks, a hand drill.




A.   taladre tres agujeros en cada barra, uno en ambos extremos de las barras y
       uno a 4 cm de un extremo. Ver foto.


A,  Drill three holes in each stick, one at both ends of of the sticks and one 4 cm
      away from one end.  See photo.







B.   Empuje un palillo de dientes de 4.5 cm entre los agujeros superior e inferior de 2 palos de              .      piruleta. Haga lo mismo con palillo de dientes de 4.9 cm.

 B.   Push one 4.5 cm toothpick between the upper and lower holes of 2 lollipop sticks.
        Do the same with 4.1 cm toothpicks.  (see photo)







C.  
Empuje el marco rectangular hacia el más ancho y crúcelo en el punto donde está el tercer hoyo.         Únete a ellos con un trozo de palillo de dientes.
     (ver foto)

C.  Push the rectangular frame into the wider frame and cross them at the point where the 3rd hole is.        Joint them with a tiny piece of toothpick.  (see photo)






D.   Pegue la tela en la parte posterior de los dos palillos de dientes frontales. (ver fotos)

D.   Glue the fabric to the back of the two front toothpicks. (see photos)












Espero que este tutorial sea claro y útil y me disculpo de antemano por cualquier error gramatical u otro idioma, y también es muy frustrante que no importa cuánto intente separar los idiomas por colores. mi computadora cambia el negro a azul en algunos casos.

Me dio una gran oportunidad para practicar mi español, por lo que agradezco a todos mis amigos que hablan español.

I hope this tutorial is clear and useful and apologize in advance for any grammar or other language mistakes, and also that it's most frustrating that no matter how much I try to separate the languages by colors. my computer changes the black to blue in some cases.  

It gave me a great opportunity to practice my Spanish for which I thank all my Spanish speaking friends. 


            




     
Buenas Noche y abrazos

Good night and hugs












 




   














Thursday, November 28, 2019

Edible Pandas, nuts and more plants.


Hello dear readers,

These little pandas are sweets, literally.  Actually, they are candies in disguise, probably made in China, a gift from my grandson.





For weeks I've been on the look-out for walnut shells. I was given to understand that fresh nuts are expected to be imported at the end of the year. It was a frustrating situation because the ones I meant to giveaway are still unavailable.  They are still at the exposition waiting to be photographed by a professional photographer and after an interview with me, to be published in their magazine. I'll write more when and if it will be published.

Yesterday,  Galia, my dear daughter surprised me by giving me 20 walnuts she found in another town market.  It was a delightful gift.  Then I received a call from my son-in-law, Nilly's husband who
told me he bought one kilo (Over two pounds) walnuts for me.  I received them this morning.  They came too late for Christmas scenes.  I already posted my gifts overseas for friends who will get winter scenes only.  I believed the nuts were fresh, recently imported, but they are stale, on the way to the bin.  Luckily it is an advantage.  A tip to anyone who wants to craft walnut shells.  Buy old ones, they split open easily. Only a few need to be soaked in water overnight.





Hanukka falls on 23 Dec, leaves me enough time to prepare walnut shells gifts to my grandchildren and other members of our family.  When the holidays are over I'll try to decorate one or two nutshells each week and have ready gifts for any occasion.

I didn't have much time for miniatures at the beginning of this week.  Still, I made a few new pots of
flowers and am working on a new step by step tutorial.



Have a wonderful weekend with blessings.



Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Surprise giveaway

Hello dear readers,



First of all, I'm happy to welcome Terry Candee. Terry is follower number 700 of this blog! This occasion calls for a giveaway, which will be a surprise one, The only hint I can give you is that it'll have nothing to do with Christmas or Hanukka or flowers. A photo showing the giveaway will be posted here a day before the draw.

The draw will be on the 4th of December, 2019.
all you have to do if you want to participate is be a follower of this blog and make a comment on this post.

A lot has passed since I last made flowers.  I forgot how time-consuming it is.  Next week I have to post all my Christmas gifts abroad if I want them to arrive on time. I spent every single spare minute this week to make a few flower boxes and pots. No matter how early I start working on gifts I always short of time.

























All the containers are made from egg-cartons. The last photo gives an indication of how the boxes are made.  All are filled with brown Plastelina.  It stays soft and easy to plant the flowers inside.  Also, you can pull out the plants and transfer them to any other container.

Have fun making wonderful minis with blessings!