One NS Store's new finds

Here are some new finds discovered after some thorough rummaging.

Prehistoric animals toys at one NS each. A tiny "Hamse" (A Middle East Talisman - keeps evil away) and best of all, I just couldn't believe my eyes, a complete miniature Psalms book, in Hebrew, the original language of the Holy Bible.

Religious people always travel with the book of Psalms and say prayers for a safe voyage.  They also do so when a member of the family or a friend is sick or in trouble.

It is still very hot here. Why is it that we don't remember how it was before and always think that now is the hottest summer?
I wish you a lovely weekend.

Balcony railings

In my previous post, I showed, among the gifts received from my most generous friend Mary of

M's Minis and More, a few bamboo cocktail forks. These came at a very fortunate time. I am planning a Greek island scene for the chairs, on a balcony facing the sea.  (As soon as my printer is fixed, I'll print out a background sea view picture.) Here is a balcony railing made from those forks.

You can also see my experiments in making geraniums plants.  Slowly this project is getting  along.

With these cocktail forks a lot of things can be created.  I have more plans for the forks and believe I know where to find them locally.

Next post I'll show you new finds from the shekel store (one Israeli Shekel is about 30 US cents)  

PIF gifts from Mary

Mary's Pay It Forward 2011 gifts arrived yesterday and I have no words enough to express how delighted I am. Mary just recently started blogging and has a very nice blog - http://msminisandmore.blogspot.com/

Baskets full of cloth material, cut green beans for the freezer, beautiful candles, bread and butter on a serving plate and molds for Fimo work.

Mary knows my passion for beads. Here are a variety of lovely beads she sent me.  The blue glass one is really precious and so are the silver photo frames.  There is also a paper weight and a soap bar.

Decals, beads that can serve as lamps, wooden cocktail forks that I already know what I'll use them for and a large variety of jewelry findings.

This are the jewelry findings.  There was also more cloth materials, a bag of white narrow silk ribbons, a bag full of tiny rubber bands and lots of small and tiny sized plastic zip bags which are difficult to find here.

Thank you Mary!!!

weaving a chair seat

I promised a very nice lady follower to show how to weave a chair. It is really very simple if you follow the drawing.

You will need to make a chair with a hollow seat.  See photos attached
To make the chair you need 1/4" square wooden strips cut as follows:
2 x 9 cm long
2 x 4 cm long
10 x 3.7 cm long
3 fancy tooth picks
Glue together as shown in the photos

Now you are ready for the weaving but you need to paint or stain first. After the paint is completely dry you can start weaving, using the chart in the photo.

I use regular crochet cotton with a wool needle.  I use two threads because the cotton I have is not thick enough. If  the threads are not long enough you add more and hide the loose ends beneath the seat.

I used a regular pencil sharpener to slightly shape the top ends of the chair. I am really pleased with the result this time and going to make another chair and maybe a little table for a Greek Island kind of scene.  I shall need Geranium pots, etc. Nice to have plans.

Summer is here in full volume, hot  an humid. It's better going to the beach than staying home making minis. However, I already finished my Summer Swap and will post it to my partner tomorrow.  I got a little carried away while doing it and made several more but am not allowed to show you until Caterina posts all the photos. I can only say I had much fun doing so.

I made new chairs.  The wood is a little crude, I should have sanded it more and also painted before weaving the seats.  But I now have finer wood and will make new ones.  Meanwhile here are photos of the chairs.

These are the last of the flowers in the orchid plant I received for my birthday last month. They are over a month old, still flowering and so beautiful.

With these flowers and a warm hug I welcome my new followers:

Jody -Jodysminiwereld
Jollie - A little more minis
Silvia - Cannot locate blog
Teresa Martinez - Tiny Ter Miniatures.  

Chairs

Summer is here.  It's hot and humid.  Not a very good time for making minis.
I did however, manage to finish my Summer Swap but am not allowed to show you what it is before Caterina shows all the swaps in her blog.  I loved making it, even got a little carried away and made more for myself and maybe future swaps?

I made these chairs but am not very satisfied with the results.  First of all the wood is too crude, I should have sanded it more.  Also I should have painted the chairs before weaving the seats.  I managed to find finer wood strips and believe my next chairs will be better.

This is a photo of the last three flowers out of many on the orchid plant I received for my birthday last month.   They lasted a long time for me to enjoy their beauty.

With these flowers and a very warm welcome I receive my new followers:

Jody - Jody's miniwereld
Jollie - A little more minis
Silvia - Sorry, cannot locate your blog
Teresa Martinez - Tiny Ter miniatures

Summer Swap

Caterina is organizing this summer swap. Please visit Caterina's blog to follow the rules of this swap project.
I am very excited and already planning what to make.  Thank you Caterina.