A garden for Solly and Kitty (Part 2)

 Hello dear readers

Since the outdoor walls of the two homes will be part of the garden, I decided to make a faux window facing the garden for each home.  I made 2 identical windows for each home one for indoors and the other for outside. It involved sawing pieces of wood strips, a job that I try to avoid, and the result is not perfect, but good enough for these humble structures.

For the windows' flower boxes, I followed my own pansies tutorial, https://drorasminimundo.blogspot.com/2017/03/pansies-tutorial.html but needed a smaller butterfly punch which I was unable to find, so I used instead a 1/24" Punch Bunch leaf one that makes a reasonable butterfly if you cut the tiny piece that connexed the leaf to the branch.

The box is made out of one popsicle stick and a piece of metal jewelry find for decoration.

I hope to be able to show more progress next week.

I wish\you all a lovely weekend with blessings

A garden for Solly and Kitty

Hello dear readers,

Finally, I found time to start a small garden.  It will be a slow project as I want this garden to be filled with colorful flowers, and making tiny paper flowers is a time-consuming job.

The first thing I made was a birdbath.  There were waiting to be used, these two beautiful tiny birds made by Rosa Maria that were gifted to me a few months ago.  Nothing is glued together yet.

I made a fence from recycled bamboo cocktail forks.  Will be painted when I'll decide on a suitable color. 

I hope to be able to show progress in my next post.

For a change, the Israel post behaved nicely and a new parcel from dear Rosa arrived on time, making me super happy. Everything Rosa makes is exquisite. I was overwhelmed seeing this lovely composition. I put a match in front of it so you can note how tiny the little angel is.

 

And Rosa, being the generous lady she is, added three more gorgeous handmade treasures.

THANK YOU DEAR ROSA FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL GIFTS AND, MOST OF ALL FOR YOUR FRIENDSHIP.

I wish you all my dear readers and friends a lovely weekend with blessings.

Egg-carton pots, Pansies, and the feast of Purim

 Hello dear readers,

At the Daycare Center for the Elderly, I'm helping make miniature flower pots as "Thank you" gifts for the wonderful, kind, and dedicated members of the staff. These gifts have to be ready for the giveaway on Purim.  11 out of about 20 little flower pots are almost ready.  There are only 3 days of work at the center before Purim and a lot to be accomplished.  Making kits at home consumes a great deal of my time.  

To make the flower heads I followed my own tutorial  (https://drorasminimundo.blogspot.com/2017/03/pansies-tutorial.html)

This is a sample of what each kit contains. Before assembling the flowers and leaves cut-outs they have to receive a second touch of paint.

Purim is a cheerful Jewish feast in memory of the liberation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia.  The Scroll of Esther in the Bible tells the story of Purim.  Traditionally it's a fun time for carnivals and masquerades, sending sweet treats to the poor, and most importantly, reading the Scroll of Esther aloud.

Baalatova:

Drora is in bed now so I can openly express my opinion about the Israel Post authorities. They employ stupid morons. One of these morons wrote by hand, in bold letters, and in Hebrew "לא נדרש" (In English it means "not been claimed"). How on earth could it be claimed if they didn't notify Drora that the parcel arrived? Only after about THREE months and a thorough investigation, the parcel was found. I am furious!!

Solly:

Please, Baalatova, Don't put a spell on the Iaraeli Post Authorities, just make them more efficient in the future. Let me look again at what my dear mum Birgit sent.  I love the beautiful glass bird and hope Drora will find an excellent place to display it.  Oh, look Baalatova, the delicious marzipan, and chocolates disappeared already.

Baalatova

Don't worry my dear boy, these delicious, luckily still edible, treats have not completely disappeared, they are safely hidden on Drora's hips. Personally, I prefer a warm bowl of calorie-free eyeball soup.  

BTW, I'm confiscating the lunchbox. It will serve as a safe for my spell books and other witchy items.

DEAR BIRGIT

Baalatova,  Solly, and Drora thank you from the bottom of their heart, for your gifts, your patience, and most of all for being our friends.

For Valentine' Day, Dana, my sweet (already 17 years old) great-granddaughter gifted me a packet of edible miniatures - adorable tiny bunny chocolates.  These too, have long ago disappeared to "safety on my hips".

I wish you all, dear readers, a pleasant weekend with blessings. 

 

Tu BeShvat - The Trees New Year

Hello dear readers,

The Hebrew Calendar has 12 (sometimes 13) months a year.  Each month has a name. "TU" means the middle of a month.  Shvat is the name of the month in which the feast of the trees is always celebrated. (I already explained about this feast in my post on January 2022) Sadly, this year too, children were unable to go out to plant trees in the woods as expected. We experienced BARBARA and one of the coldest, stormy, rainy days of this winter exactly on the day of the feast. 

On Sunday, the day before the storm, a class of college youngsters came to visit the daycare center and offered cakes made by themselves.  They also helped decorate and plant pansies in little plastic pots gifted to all the members of the center.  The following photos show my experiments in making a tiny paper version of the real flower. I'll show my attempts to the ladies in the Center.  If they'll like it we can start making more together.  I'll supply the cut-outs.

This photo shows the cut-outs from my punches which I used for making the flowers. 

It's really very late to show the gifts I received for Christmas. There were many other gifts from family and friends and there's still one to come from overseas.

Megan sent me a very large box of wonderful treasures.  The items you'll see are all involved with miniatures.  

Trinkets 

Tiny Fimo hand-crafted teddy bears.

Tiny Fimo frogs

picture frames

embellishments

Paper boxes

books

conserved tins

There were also sweets, tea bags, flower seeds, hand cream, etc., etc.

THANK YOU DEAR MEGAN FOR ALL THESE WONDERFUL TREASURES! AND ESPECIALLY FOR  YOUR FRIENDSHIP!

Another very special and useful gift is from my daughter Galia, an iPhone case Galia embroidered for me.  Sometimes when I don't wear clothes with pockets in them it's hard to hear my phone that is not next to me ringing.  My daughters worry when I don't answer their calls. Now no more excuses left.

I wish you all a pleasant and peaceful weekend to enjoy with blessings.

Hookahs and gifts

 Hello dear readers,

I hope everybody enjoyed a lovely seasonal holiday and that we are all back to our usual activities.

Many people who come to the daycare center are of Moroccan descent. I made and taught how to make these simple hookahs that will be part of a Moroccan-style tiny corner.  All the hookahs are made from beads and metal jewelry findings found in my stash.

I received wonderful gifts for Hanukkah and Christmas, too many to show in one post.  I'll show some here and in the following posts.  

Gifts from Ricardo. Arrived by surprise exactly in time for Hanukkah.

Everything you see in the photos was made by Ricardo himself, including the little box by the coffee maker, filled with real coffee. Thank you so much dear Ricardo for your thoughtful, very generous gifts, and thank you for being my friend.

Another lovely gift came from a friend of my daughter Galia, who admired my work in miniature.  It's an embroidery kit.  It's too large for a miniature but I'm happy with the canvas which will be used to make a small Orientale carpet to go with a hookah.

I wish you all a lovely week with blessings.

 

Una casita de muñecas para una casa de muñecas - A little dollhouse for a dollhouse

Una casita de muñecas para una casa de muñecas 

A little dollhouse for a dollhouse     

Una vez más estoy aquí con ustedes, participando en el 2022 Calendario de Adviento organizado por Matxalen. Muchas gracias querida Maxtalen por invitarme a participar de nuevo.

Estimados lectores, a estas alturas probablemente se habrán dado cuenta de cuánto me gusta reciclar y hacer miniaturas con materiales simples que se encuentran en la casa. Para el tutorial de hoy usaremos bandejas de comida desechables. (Siempre pido una bandeja vacía cuando compro carne).

Once more I am here with you, participating in the 2022 Advent Calendar organized by Matxalen. Thank you very much dear Matxalen for inviting me to participate again. 

Dear readers, by now you have probably realized how much I love to recycle and make miniatures out of simple materials found around the house. For today's tutorial, we will be using disposable food trays. (I always ask for an empty tray when I buy meat.)

                                                                                                                                           

Herramientas  Materiales      Tools and Materials

Bandejas de comida desechables de poliestireno de 0,5 cm de espesor. (Use solo las partes centrales que son completamente planas y sin marcas.) Mis bandejas son de 23 x 17,5 y producen una pieza viable de unos 15 x 10 centímetros).

Un pequeño trozo de lona plástica (para las ventanas) Un agitador de café de madera y un palillo de dientes (para el marco de los lados de las paredes puerta y la puerta.)

0.5 cm thick disposable styrofoam food trays.  (Use only the center parts which are completely flat and unmarked.) My trays are 23x17.5 yielding a workable piece of about 15x10 cm.                

A small piece of plastic canvas for the windows.  One wooden coffee stirrer and one wooden toothpick for the door and side wall frames.

corta las siguientes piezas. El tamaño y el nombre de cada pieza aparecen en la segunda foto a continuación.

Cut the following pieces. The size and name of each piece appear in the second photo below.

Empieza a curvar. Curva solo un lado de las paredes y el techo.

Usa la regla y la parte trasera del cuchillo (no el lado afilado) para hacer líneas verticales. Haz cada línea dos veces y ten cuidado de no profundizar demasiado. corta las siguientes piezas. 

Curva solo estas cuatro piezas.

Start curving.  Curve only one side of the walls and roof.

Use the ruler and the back side of the knife (not the sharp cutting side) to make vertical lines. Do each line twice and be careful not to go in too deep. Curve only these four pieces.

Pinturas acrílicas. rosa, marrón y verde. (O el color de tu elección)

Pinte cada parte por separado para que esté lista para pegar y ensamblar.

Acrylic paints: Rose, brown, and green, (or colors of your choice.) 

Paint each part separately to be ready for gluing together before assembly.

Door and windows

La puerta es de un recorte de 1,2 cm de un agitador de café con trozos de un palillo de dientes enmarcado en tres lados.

Las ventanas son cuadrados recortados de lona plástica pintada de verde. Un pequeño cuadrado de papel oscuro está pegado a cada parte posterior plana de las ventanas.

The door is from a 1.2 cm cut-out of the coffee stirrer with pieces of a toothpick framing it on three sides. 

The windows are cut-out squares of plastic canvas, painted green.  Glue a tiny piece of dark paper to the flat side of the square.

Asamblea:

Cuando la pintura esté seca, pegue todas las partes juntas. 

1. Primero pegue las 3 paredes juntas (esto es importante) 2. Espere hasta que esté completamente seco y pegue los dos pisos. 3. Pegue la pieza recta de los agitadores de café de madera al frente de los lados de la pared. 4. Pega el techo y la base. 5. Dar la vuelta y pegar la puerta y las ventanas.

Decoración:

Puedes decorarlo con flores como hice yo, o dejar la casita como está.

Assembly:

When the paint is dry, glue all parts together:

1. First glue the 3 walls together. 2. Wait until completely dry and glue in the two floors. 3, glue the straight pieces of the wooden coffee stirrers to the front of the wall sides. 4. glue on the roof and the base.  5. Turn over and glue the door and windows on the outside of the walls. \

Decoration:

You can decorate it with tiny flowers as I did or leave the little house as it is.  

Para sellar la casa usa pegamento plástico blanco diluido.

(2 partes de pegamento, 1 parte de agua.) Se verá como leche.

Pinta toda la casa con esta mezcla. Parece desordenado, pero no se preocupe si se secará bien.

To seal the house use diluted white plastic glue (2 parts glue, 1 part water) It will look like milk.

Brush the house all over with this mixture.  Seems messy but don't worry, it will dry out fine.

Me encanta trabajar con el material de estas bandejas. Es fácil de cortar y duradero. En 2016 hice casitas de hadas para regalar. Me quedé con uno y está como nuevo. Tambien hice una chimenea y  estanterías para la casa de mi bruja. Todos están como nuevos.

Una vez que haces una casita, puedes volverte adicto y hacer un pueblo. Las posibilidades de sus formas son infinitas y se añaden porche, jardín, tienda, etc.

I love working with these trays' material.  It's easy to cut and durable.  In 2016 I made little fairy homes for giveaways.  I kept one and it's still as good as new.  I also made a fireplace and shelves for my witch's home; all are as good as new.

 

Once you make one little house, you can become addicted and make a village.  There is no end to the possibilities of their shapes, an added porch, a garden, a shop, etc.

Les deseo a todos un feliz Hanukkah, una feliz Navidad y un feliz Año Nuevo.

¡DISFRUTA SUS VACACIONES!

I wish you all A Happy Hannuka, A Merry Christmas, and A Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.

Enjoy your holidays

 

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