margaret_loves Swaps! (The Sequel)

I was SO excited to receive my package from Alisa (studioseven) from our Miniature swap. I opened the box to find this...

and these...

So many packages! I didn't know where to start! It took me about 30 minutes just to open all of them! It was just like Christmas morning :)

There was a little bit of everything, really. Bedding, artwork, accessories, rugs, paper, beads, books, electronics, dolls, so much Miniature goodness! I am so grateful to studioseven for her generosity with such thoughtful, creative, and handmade gifts!  I really feel unworthy now based on what I sent her now seems too little! Anyway, I will be posting pictures of some rooms I decorated using swap items soon :) Thanks, Alisa! Please go check out her new blog, Mini*Aesthetics! 

margaret_loves all-natural

I put together another scene in my Ikea Lekman box, this time a bedroom with a Zen/nature kind of theme. I  mainly just wanted to design a room around one of the new lamps I made :)

Here is the long description of credits since I seem to have used items from every corner of the earth and then some for this scene, with some unusual re-purposing as well :)

Credits: The bed is made by me using lots of foam, glue, and fabric raised up on a cardboard box with a flooring sample as a headboard. The lamp and most of the books are also made by me. The nightstand is Re-Ment and the chairs are from CB2. The television and white shelves are from DHE Minis. The trunk/chest that the television is standing was once a bright purple plastic accessory for my childhood Littlest Pet Shop toy :) I gave it a makeover.The flooring is real cork scrapbook paper from Michael's and the wallpaper is also scrapbook paper. The floor lamp is from a Call of the Small giveaway. The ottoman is a plastic bale of hay that goes with the horse trough serving as a bookshelf over the bed. These came in a big bag of plastic toys I bought at a thrift store. The wooden turtle I bought at a craft fair. The wooden tree is from a scrapbook store. I also used wooden toy blocks for end tables. The painting is from a card from a local art gallery by an artist named Ford Smith. The rest of the accessories are Re-Ment or commonly found miniature items from craft stores.

margaret_loves Black and white

As much as I love color, I also like to use a more sophisticated gray scale palette in a room sometimes. Of course I managed to fit in a few turquoise/teal pieces, I couldn't help myself :) This room definitely has some masculine and feminine elements, and it reminds me of an apartment for a hip young couple with plenty of income and an eye for design :) I used one of the cubes in my white Ikea Expedit shelving unit to create this room, and I taped tracing paper to the back wall for a translucent lighting effect. It was a dark and cloudy day, so the picture didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, but I got a few decent ones. 

In this photo you can see my handmade sectional along with the Barcelona day bed and black shell chairs made by Reac. The acrylic risers are easy to find on ebay. I made the rug out of felt, and the lamp is also made by me. The flower pillow is a plastic button and the "laptop" is actually a pretend book from a children's toy set that I found at a thrift store. Coffee cup is Re-Ment, vase is DHE minis, and the books are made by me. 

In this photo you can see the other lamp I made on a mirrored table/cube from DHE minis. The purse is from a children's toy grab bag I bought at a thrift store. The shoes are Re-Ment. The textured wallpaper is from Michael's.

The television, black cube shelving unit and white vase are all from DHE minis. The accessories are Re-Ment, handmade, toys, or beads. Fireplace is painted wood from a craft store. Side table is made from a gift box and a wooden drawer. Espresso maker is Re-Ment. 

This photo is my favorite. I love my lucky finds in my plastic toy grab bag from the Goodwill store. The "laptop" and "pillow" are very convincing. And the lamp I made looks pretty good in this photo, and the blue color of the lamp base looks most true-to-life :)

margaret_loves Modern Art

 I love modern art. I was an art major in college, and now I am an elementary school art teacher, so this scene is a long-time coming. It was inspired by some large plastic nuts and bolts I found in a big bag of children's toys I bought at a thrift store. It had all kinds of random tiny goodness bits in the bag, and I played around with these in particular to see how I might use them.  I thought that just simply laying them down could look like a large iron sculpture, modern and industrial looking.

 I also wanted to use my new Barcelona day bed. It is the most detailed and beautiful Reac piece I have purchased thus far. It was pricey, ($32 with shipping) but it is so large and well designed that I think it is worth every penny. Especially since most upholstered miniature sofas cost about the same, and are nowhere near as realistic-looking. Anyway, it is a work of art on its own, but it also looked just like a lot of the leather benches in modern art museums. I added a few postcards from my collection and textured paper from Michael's to the walls and floor. I had previously put together some miniamalist wall art from Lego that I thought I could use, and to fill up some additional space I stacked some mirror cubes and building blocks, and created a stand from an acrylic table turned sideways and tops with an abstract sculpture I made from a couple of old hoop earrings I never wear. Its funny how easy it is to create "modern art" with a few simple objects. I just played around with them and bent them into a shape I liked. The whole scene only took about 15-20 minutes.

margaret_loves making lamps

Now that I have made a couple miniature lamps, I can't seem to stop :). I had saved a few items I thought would make good lamp bases, and now I have finally put them to use.

Left: Lampshade made from a wallpaper sample, base is a green ceramic drawer knob glued on a white button.  Center: Shade is made from ribbon, base is painted wood. Right: Shade is white cardstock, base is made from a metal pushpin, blue plastic bead, and clear button. The lampshades are attached using the wire harp method I mentioned in a previous post, though this time I used hot glue to secure them in place. 

margaret_loves does not love making lamps

Somehow, when I start to make something tiny and delicate my normal-sized hands transform themselves into huge, clumsy, ape-hands that I have little control over. This is why I have avoided making miniature lamps. But, after a long struggle, I think I was moderately successful in today's attempt. So here's my not-very helpful tutorial if you are anything like me, if not you can whip up a pair of these no problem :). 

My lamp bases are made from wooden pegs I found at a craft store. My husband helped cut off the bottom studs with his Dremel tool, and left on the top studs. 

I painted the wooden lamp bases and coated them in clear gloss medium, (I still need to do some touch ups) and then I fashioned a lampshade harp from some wire. I basically created a loop that wraps around the top stud of each lamp base, with arms reaching up to hold the shade. For the shades, I used two types of ribbon I had on hand. The white one is wired and had satin edges and a sheer center, I wanted to use it but I needed it to be opaque, so I taped a strip of gray ribbon behind it. I was afraid to use glue, since it might soak through the ribbon and create spots, so I used clear tape to hold it in a cylinder shape. The hardest part was taping the shades in place while reaching inside the lamp and taping it to the wire harp. I kept pulling it and putting it on too high or too low, and messing up the shape of my fragile lampshade in the process. Anyway, I think it worked out okay in the end, and I'll keep thinking about an easier method. For now I am happy to have some new lamps! Here is a preview in a scene I am working on with my new lamps:

Cheering up a Gloomy Sunday: Charlotte's Room

    The weather today is dark and rainy, it is one of those gloomy Sunday afternoons. Since I don't have to work on Monday or Tuesday, I haven't given in to the gloom. Instead I am inspired to make some use of my free time to work on a room I came up with on Valentine's Day. Too bad the weather didn't want to cooperate. Anyway, I started by collecting anything I could find that was pink, red, or heart-shaped to put together a V-Day inspired theme. But it wasn't really coming together, and I couldn't seem to pull off the romantic vibe. The only remaining V-Day inspired items that made the cut is a pink candy heart on the dresser (as a jewelry box) and my favorite little heart mug from my childhood. I started putting things together that looked very kid-friendly, so I decided to make a girl's bedroom. I am imagining her as an 8 year old girl named Charlotte. She is quiet and organized, and she loves horses and reading chapter books. Her room is kind of in transition between a nursery and tween bedroom. 

      The dresser is a Re-Ment nightstand with the lamp removed. The numbers wall art is made using scrapbook stickers. I bought the horses yesterday in a mixed bag of plastic toys from a thrift store. The bed is also from a thrift store, it is from a common miniature nursery furniture set.  I used a cocktail umbrella for a parasol, it would be cool to put a light behind it and make it into a lamp. The tree is laser cut wood I found it at a scrapbooking store. The bookcase is commonly found generic furniture as well, I just painted it white and temporarily put paper on the back of each shelf. All the decorative papers (rug, floor, walls, etc) are from Michael's. The chair is Reac Japan. The origami elephant is from a Jonathan Adler origami kit. All accessories are Re-Ment, Dollhouse Emporium, handmade, children's toys, or hobby store finds.