Yard Sale Finds

Last summer a local antique store was having a yard sale from the left over stuff from an entire estate purchase. I wandered around the yard looking at random junk and was about to leave when they opened another storage pod and started bringing out more stuff. I saw this wooden box and knew I had to have it. When I tried to pick it up I discovered it weighed about 20 lbs.

Look at all the goodies inside...

20 lbs of craft wire... for $2.. I would have paid $2 for just the wooden box. Paid for it and took it straight to my car.. but I didn't leave I stuck around to find out what else was in that storage pod... A few miniutes later they set out 3 wine boxes (two were exactly alike with handles)

I knew I had to have all of them too. As soon as I opened the first one I was sold.

All three boxes were filled with vintage seed beads made in Japan and a beaded flower instruction book. $5 for all three boxes and a bag full of vintage sewing stuff that is now stored in the other wine box.


Now I've just got to learn some bead stitching. I found some videos on youtube that help me alot with understanding the process but I haven't figured out what to make yet.
Thanks Casey and Tessie for inspiring me to get my beads out.

I spent $7 and brought home more supplies than I could ever use so if anybody needs some beads or wire let me know I'd be more than happy to share them.

Miniature Bottles Tutorial

http://caseymini.blogspot.com/ asked how I made my miniature water bottle so I thought I would post a tutorial.


Supplies
lite-brite pegs
high speed drill
small metal files
xacto knife
cup of cold water
safety glasses
acetone nail polish remover

I found a bunch of lite-brite pegs (the old style) at a thrift store. The older ones have longer necks and work better.

I designed a jig to hold my drill on my desktop. I clamp it to my desk so it doesn't vibrate off the desk. Insert the small end of a lite-brite in the drill



These are the files I use.


The lite-brite pegs will melt if they are filed too long. The cold water helps to cool the plastic as you work. I usually just drip water on it while its spinning and only file a little at a time. I let them soak in cold water for a while before I work on them again.

Various stages of completion


Once you get the bottle the shape you want use the xacto knife to cut it off at the top. Then file down the lid flat. To remove most of the scratches where they were filed use acetone nail polish remover. Paint the lid the desired color and add labels.

1/144th Scale Projects

I have a few 1/144th scale projects in the works.




I covered a plug like this with railroad ballast to make the fireplace for the cabin.


I thought this electronic part looked like a woodstove so I painted it flat black.


Doesn't this part look like a tiny trunk?

Pictures of more Miniatures

21 followers... Wow.. Thanks everyone for reading my random posts.

I thought I would show off some more of the minis I've made.

Mini Animals


tissue paper flowers


Punched leaves




Briefcase

I love Goodwill stores

On one of my first trips to the local Goodwill store I found an unopened Real Good Toys General Store Kit in the toy section. They retail for about $53. I got it for $5.65



Last night I decided to go to the Goodwill store by myself. I haven't been since before Christmas. A friend from work and I had been going at least once a week but things have been crazy around here. I wandered around the store looking for something that spoke to me. I found a pack of strange colored double sided sharpie pens for 99 cents. I was begining to think it was a wasted trip as I walked down the wood and metal knick knack isles. I was drawn to some wooden drawer dividers but they wanted too much for them so I moved on. While checking out the price on a cute wooden box I kept being drawn to some wood boards wrapped in plastic on the bottom shelf in the back. When I turned the package over I discovered it was 5 unopened packs Houseworks MDF 3/8 Inch Lap Siding.


These retail online around $18 a pack.. but look at the price I paid...


$1.51 each I grabbed these up without thinking twice.
I'd like to know who keeps donating all the dollhouse stuff to goodwill so I could meet them.

The search for tiny seashells

After looking at the pictures of all my tiny seashells I decided it was time to finish sifting thru the sand I still have left. Last night I started with my most recent cup of sand. My boyfriend went to Panama City Beach back in October and brought me home a big cup of sand. (Its so easy to get gifts for me) We all went to Florida over the summer but it was such a long walk to the beach to our condo that I decided not to lug it back with me. The rest of the sand I still had to sift thru was left from the summer of 2007. We were right on the beach so I brought home a lot of sand. The best place collect sand to find these tiny shells is right in the surf. We brought home a bottle from the sand bar because that was the finest sand I've ever felt before and I thought I would find hundreds of tiny shells but there weren't any.

So last night after getting my car stuck in the mud in our yard, I poured my cup of sand in a clear plastic shoebox and added water. I've found the best tecnique for finding shells is to stir the sand a few times and watch for the slight bobbing motion of shells.

The clear spot in the sand is where I'm searching.



I only put the coquinas in the cup for a size reference. They will be added to my other oversized shell collection.



I've organized my mini shell collection based on size and type of shell. I'm not sure why I've separated them all out.

Thanks to all my blog followers. I still can't believe people are actually reading this. I can't stop finding new blogs to follow. I'm addicted

Miniatures I've created

I'm still learning when it comes to blogging just trying to get the pictures to look right isn't easy.
If someone could give me some pointers on how to get the whole image to show up that would be great. Every time I try to us the add image button nothing happens. I just copy the html code from photobucket and paste it in the text but I can't seem to get the size right.

No miniature chair is complete without a lot of cat hair lol

Natures Miniatures

After finding another miniature blogger who is fascinated by tiny seashells. http://petitpunt.blogspot.com/
I thought I would share my collection of miniature sea shells that i've sifted out of buckets of sand from our trips to the beach.

Bad Weekend

Sorry I didn't post Friday we were awoken 3am Friday morning to a car fire. My boyfriends car caught fire sometime during the night. My car was only parked a few feet away from his so it got some damage too. It also damaged our neighbors vinyl siding and a little of our vinyl siding. I've never been so scared in all my life. This type of thing just doesn't happen.
We've been dealing with insurance crap all weekend. He didn't have full coverage on his car so he is out a vehicle. His insurance won't pay for any damages to either house or my car. Lucky for me I still have full coverage insurance on mine so I went ahead and claimed it on mine.
heres what his car looks like and yes the hood melted off completely.

Miniature Pictures

I've been in a creative slum for a while now. Then last week I suddenly started making minis again. I guess its time to start showing off some of the miniatures I've created over the years.
Please excuse all the different photo sizes. I'm on my third digital camera. I already have most of my mini pictures uploaded to Photobucket so I hope I can just use the url from there. Ya'll can check out my Photobucket site for more pictures.











http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r319/miniannalee/