flower arrangements

Hello dear readers,

The day after tomorrow will be our Independence Day.  I don't know how we'll be celebrating this year in view of the COVID-19 situation. We have to be thankful for what we have.

I finished the nutshells with an extra one. (16).  I know I'll make more but not too soon. Enough is enough.  Before I show you how they all look together,  I'd like you to see the flower arrangements which kept me calm and occupied these last days.

As to Baalatova, I'm afraid I'll have to keep her two innocent admirers away from her for a while.
I'll let you know why in my next post which will be all about her.

The visit with my husband was emotionally difficult. My daughter Galia came with me. My other daughter was feeling sick and afraid to go out. After more than two years of not missing one day visiting or staying a few hours with him,  we were not able to come and see my husband for over 5 weeks. I am not sure if he or any of the other patients are capable of understanding how grave the COVID-19 epidemic situation is. The poor man felt abandoned, betrayed, and was clearly not happy to see us.  We couldn't talk clearly with a glass door between us. Because of his pacemaker, he can't use a cellular phone. It was a heartbreaking event/
For the sake of the patients' safety,  all families have been allotted 3 visits a week 20 minutes each.  Tomorrow we go again. Hopefully this time it will be less hard.

Stay healthy, keep crafting, We will endure!

Corona gnomes

Hello dear readers,

I hope everyone is well and continues to take good care of himself and his loved ones. Our government attempts to curb the epidemic is beginning to show a small success. Yesterday, for the first time, the number of recoverers was larger than the number of new patients.  Being confined at home for an elderly person like me is not so bad when I have the freedom to do anything that interests me and provisions are brought to my door. Soon my daughters and I will be able to visit my husband with a glass door separating us.

For a long time, everything went smoothly with posting and Google, now, all of a sudden photos from my blog disappear.  The computer wizards in my family can't come and see or explain to me what is the problem.   I've seen it happen in other blogs too, so I can't blame Baalatova, my witch, for being responsible. I'll have to bribe Baalatova.for help but she is too busy teaching Solly and Kitty a new language - Yiddish. Why Yiddish, a dying language? Very suspicious..... will have to check this out.

My present project, the nutshells gifts will be finished by the end of this week or before.  Most of the work, preparing the shells, emptying and scrubbing them clean, making the bases, painting, etc.has been done. The fun began with the greenery and flowers which was a time-consuming job. I also loved making the bunnies.  Today I finished and baked the gnomes. One gnome was broken.


This is how they looked before I baked them the first time, beardless.

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This is how they look after the second baking, complete with beards on.  It's good I made an extra one.

I've already filled a few shells today but I'll show them all (15) together.  I must confess, it felt like mass production and I'm not in favor of that.  I love working with tiny scales but one at a time.

Bless you, my dear friends. Stay safe and healthy!

Easter Bunnies and Flowers

Hello dear readers,  Happy Passover! Happy Easter!

I hope everybody is taking care of themself and staying safe.  We have an option to be patient or to be a patient.

After sculpting and baking seven more tiny bunnies, I discovered that instead of white, I used transparent Fimo.  Much as I hated it, I had to sculpt new bunnies again.

A TIP ABOUT SOFTENING OLD HARD AND CRUMBLY FIMO

I already mentioned how I hate kneading Fimo.  As I don't use it very often my Fimo gets old.
I almost threw it away but not having the option of going out to buy new ones I experimented with adding hand cream to the crumbles. First I added a drop and seeing that it held the crumbles together, I added a little more cream. Hooray! My white Fimo became soft like new. The idea is based on when I make cold porcelain clay, in order to keep it elastic I have to use cold cream.

I've been working several hours a day, crafting bunnies and flowers and thinking why is it when I have all the time for making miniatures, I spend it reading, on the phone or WhatsApp with friends and family in and outside the country, watching TV, etc. and time flies away with very little accomplished.

I had to reduce the bases of all the nutshell so that they could fit under the domes. Then had to paint them again. You can see how tiny the bunnies are compared with a bought 1/12" bunny.

Instead of throwing them away, the seven translucent bunnies (down in the photo below) will be given to Dana. My teenage great-grandchild has a very creative mind of her own.  I'll see what she's going to do with them.

Here is another frugal way to make leaves.  In the past, I used only the tiny flowers but painted green the half-moons can pass as floral branches for a flower arrangement.

Don't forget to exercise and do some workouts every once in a while during the long days.  Too much sitting down, is bad for the body, especially the bum.

Keep safe! Blessings to all!

Corona days nutshells

Hello all,

I hope everybody is well and comfortable at home.  Living in an apartment and unable to go out for a walk, my only way to keep fit is a workout in front of the computer or a short aerobic dance three or more times a day to the beat of one special song in Spanish which is most popular today - Resistiré (I will endure) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl3B4Ql8RtQ. It is fun and a great way to keep cheerful. Try it and see for yourselves.

The walnuts project is advancing one step at a time but there are still a lot of steps ahead. I hope to complete it in time.  I'm also preparing some flower arrangements in vases as standby gifts  The ward is in strict quarantine with the medical staff and caretakers sleeping and eating in.


The half nutshell in-process and flowers in vases also in process. Today I finished installing all the tiny doors in the shells.  I also took out my Fimo box and made 6 tiny bunnies.  The Fimo was old and had to be kneaded for a long while.  I hate kneading hard Fimo.

 There will be bunnies home as well as gnomes homes.

I have this little bunny scene under a "dome" from last year's Easter.  I think this will be also good to display the nutshells in.

As soon as the curfew is over I'll try to find these containers or see if there are transparent boxes for sale. They'll make the gift complete.

Tonight, instead of our traditional Passover 4 generation dinner we, like millions of families all over the world, are dinning separately, each in his home. But, like the song says,  we will endure!

Happy Passover to all Jewish people! Good health to all my friends. Hugs and Love!

Still confined alone at home

Hello dear readers,

I hope everyone is taking care, following the COVID-19  rules and stays healthy.

If you are bored with what you're doing and want some change, here is a lovely modern "Chihuly-glass" art item you can make like the one I did by following this link
https://blukatkraft.blogspot.com/2012/09/diy-dollhouse-miniatures-modern-glass.html?fbclid=IwAR1sNaFzpsOSXXyA_Kg_CRQG7mUrgmTW0IBKDpJKLfnFGZNUG92qYjB5-yU

The nutshells are coming along just fine.  I already opened and scrapped clean about 20 halves. But working on them only drives me nuts.

The steps are also made of styrofoam.

The hardest part is scrapping the insides clean.

In order not to fall asleep from the boredom on the job with the nuts I made a little leaves tutorial  I'll need this tutorial when the COVID-19 curfew is over.

The stems are glue stiffened thick embroidery yarn.

Paper punches for making these leaves and flowers. Any other 1/8" flower of simple round punch can replace this one.

Next post, I'll show you another leave tutorial with leaves being a by-product of a tiny star punch.

Happy Fool's Day tomorrow and blessings with we all need.





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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.