" ... and there were in the same country shepherds 

abiding in the field, 

keeping watch over their flock by night.

 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the 

Lord shone round about them...: 
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, 

I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  

Luke 2:8-14   KJV  

Honey Run Baptist

The annual Christmas Pageant  is just around the corner and Mr. Bushytail and cast are busy with rehearsals and last minute adjustments.  Tonight the crew successfully finalized the rigging so the angel bearing "good tidings" could fly.  If you can't be with us at Honey Run Baptist we hope you enjoy Christmas Eve services at your place of worship.  

Merry Christmas  

Instead of using a pre-made wreath I used the stems below to make mine 

To form the wreath I use a bottle (puffy paint), wrap the stem around the bottle, cut, and fold over a bit to secure, I added glue too.  

The first step was adding the loops of gold cord

Then I decorated using beads, glitter stars, and tinsel garland.  I cut the beads from this pick and the tinsel is larger than a plain chenille stem, hand punched glitter stars 

 

 

The House: 

The foam board shape is cut to fit into the wreath, and painted. When dried I cut out a door and window and glued them on.  The wreath above the door is made from twine.  I didn’t have green twine, so I painted the twine with acrylic paint, curled it around a regular tooth pick to dry; when it was dry I cut and glued the ends together.  The bow on the wreath is embroidery thread.  The roof is paper cut to fit, glued on and white puffy paint added for snow, then glittered. The door knob is a gold seed bead.  Final touch is the ribbon, mine is red, 1/8th inch grosgrain. 

Glue the house inside the wreath and your finished ... not a quick project but fun 

end product !

XO E

Wreath Making Marathon

I am on a mini wreath making marathon and its addictive !!

Wreaths with deer

Wreaths with snowmen

Wreaths with snowflakes

Wreaths with snowballs

Wreaths with sleighs ... and my favorite 

 wreath with a tiny little house

Now what to do with all these little wreaths .... hum   XO E

Christmas Miniatures

This is a collection I made for an upcoming party of mini friends in Nashville.   I bought the rocking chair (3 inches tall), and decided not to finish it but will let the person who gets it finish as they want.   

I made the flannel throw, rug, pillow, wreath, and gift filled bag.  

Recently I've seen large gift filled bags for children and thought I’d make a mini version.

I filled the bag with packages and a candy cane

I used a graphic on the bag from the Silhouette Design Store online, by Samantha Walker, called “North Pole Postmarks”. 

I added the words “naughty and nice”, and check boxes.  I re-sized the image I created to fit the little bag then printed onto transfer paper.  Then image is ironed onto the bag.  I use Microsoft Word or Publisher to create most of what I do including this project. Using Publisher when your image is finished, you can choose the “save as” option, then click “jpg”, this allows you to edit in Pic Monkey, etc.  

Hope you enjoy the idea, let me know if you make a mini gift bag.  XO E

Indian Corn: Time for Harvest

 

Today I made Indian Corn from "seed beads" and thought I'd share.  It was a pretty easy little project, and not perfect but turned out pretty good for a first attempt.  "No hole" beads would be the ideal but are not as easy to find as plain seed beads.   

The writing on the pic is a hard to read so here are instructions:
1. Cut a tooth pick in half
2.Glue raffia at the blunt end, I bind with a little thread  to hold it secure.  Let it dry.
3. After glue dries pull the raffia UP exposing the pointed tip, then trim the tooth pick to the length you want your corn to be

Let the fun begin !  Add glue to the wooden tip and let it dry a "tad" (beads stick a bit better).  Now let it dry ... you may shape the cob as it drys but go slowly or beads will start falling off.  Once dry add beads where they did not adhere.  

(There is no doubt a better glue for this ??)

If the beads fall off just add more and let it dry until you have what you want.  I also think to diminish the shine a coat of Modge Podge "Satin" might be the trick?  I didn't have green beads but wanted a little green so I used the tip of a tooth pick to "paint" in some of the white areas.  

There you have it !!  Thanks for stopping by  

XO  E

Thank heaven for simple activities when our hearts are broken.  Today my thoughts are with my dear cousin (like a sister kind'a cousin) Donna who recently passed away ... suddenly, totally unexpected, without warning.  Love you always Donna Jean !!

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,

    a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3     a time to kill and a time to heal,

    a time to tear down and a time to build,

4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,

    a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6     a time to search and a time to give up,

    a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7     a time to tear and a time to mend,

    a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8     a time to love and a time to hate,

    a time for war and a time for peace.

Summer has arrived!

http://alittlecrafting.blogspot.com/2011/06/4th-of-july-printable.html

Rolling right along into the summer !!  We went from ice storms to thunderstorms and now we are sweat'n to death in the heat and humidity.  I need a pool !!

A couple weeks ago I attended a meeting of the Nashville Area Miniature Club. This is a group of folks (guys and gals) who meet monthly to enjoy making and talking about miniatures. They have a club project for the year where we start with a bare box, decorate it and the front door and porch for each holiday.  The Bushytails and I have a lot of work to do to catch up !  

Here is a picture of Susan W's (unfinished) box; measures 11 x 6 inches She added a frame to hers, I have no idea how ours (the Bushytails and I) will progress. 

                                      

Mr. Bushytail has been working really hard to install the siding on our new project and to get the front door painted before company arrives for the big July 4th holiday.  

His friend Mr Spotter stopped by to help but they aren't getting much done because Mr. Spotter brought the triplets along. The babies love riding in the wagon and Mr. Bushytail just can't resist those sweet little faces. 

The patriotic decorations are also a project from the Mini club - Yankee Doodle or Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. He is made from a mini newel post and glued to a 3/4" square cube. The cube and bottom of the newel post are covered with paper.  His hat and beard are paper.  He has a tiny feather in his hat.  Lady Liberty was a ready to assemble kit that one of the members provided. I loved making her hair, its a product called "BUNKA" a fun fringe type material, easy to work with and turns out really cute.   

I made a 3/4" tall "crock" to hold my pinwheels it still needs some work.  

I think I will be joining some "old" friends at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri over the 4th. Hope you and yours have a great Independence Day ... and God Bless America !  

Good Bye Snow - Welcome Spring !!

The Bushytails had a great Valentine's Day and the exchange of mini's with the facebook ladies at Club Mini Swap USA was great !   18 small packages arrived and what fun to open each tiny delight, each obviously made with love ! 

The Bushytails and I formed a production line and made 18 Kissing Booths 

with tiny tickets in an envelope.  The picture on the end is of all the fun pkgs we received. 

Mrs Bushytail is ready to get on with Easter !

We have been working on some new minis and the learning curve is steep for one of us. 

The bunny in the basket has a 1/8th inch ribbon on his neck and the basket was formed over the top of a glue stick to give you an idea of its size.  The bunny and eggs are paper clay - (oh how I miss E and her paper clay creations!) 

 

 On the white plastic spoon is a tree made from bump chenille, painted green, decorated with tiny pieces of pom pom and seed pearls. Also the "chocolate" duck is paper clay.  The chick on top of the spoon is made from pom poms and a there is a tiny peep on the spoon handle - its tiny tiny ( mad with puffy paint)  

The inspiration for the church came from, of course, my love of all things Christmas.  I tried cutting it out with my Silhouette, there were lots of detailed cuts in the file and the machine ate the paper so I modified and added my own detail.  Most of the pieces on the church were cut using hand held paper punches.

Now I am loving these dishes but oh my gosh don't you just love how a photograph  highlights all your errors !!! Looks like I need some of those magnifying loopy things they use in the operating room!  If you are looking for tutorials for mini making visit  http://joannswansondiyminiatures.blogspot.com/   She has a ton of tutorials (my Easter basket above was made using her tutorial).   Have a good week and thx for stopping by !  XO E 

Classroom Party

Today was the Valentine Party at Woodzeez Elementary. Mrs. Bushytail came to help and brought red Kool-Aid and cookies! Our teacher decorated the bulletin board with lots of valentines; someone gave her roses and a biggg box of candy. We can't wait to get home there are lots of goodies there too !

The swap package arrived today I will be back soon to share the goodness .... ewww so many cute tiny minis  XO E

Valentine mini making

I'm on a mini making spree.  Here are a few pieces I've made in the last couple weeks and have a couple more to add.  They are really fun to make and I have been amazed at how I have used every craft making skill I've ever learned !  I will post tutorials.

 The wreath is made with a bump chenille, with handmade ribbon rose.   The quiver is paper, trimmed with foil from a doily and is about 1 3/4 " tall.  The mini box is paper, trimmed with crepe paper ... and I'm sorry but I did not even attempt to make it open ... haaa my mini making skills aren't there !  The card holder is a paper punched piece trimmed with bakers twine.   Thanks for visiting !  XO E

For the love of "minis"

 My vision is failing me, I desperately need to visit the ophthalmologist.  My focus is less than ideal, I have ADD, therefore making miniatures should not be for me ... but I love "playing" with miniatures and have gotten hooked !  I see something and think "oh my that would be so cute in "mini".  

A while back I bought a 1/12 scale table and decided it needed to be decorated for Valentines Day, it's a work in progress and I am sure will be ever changing, but today I made a runner for my table and it was simple.  Here is a little tutorial if you want to make one. 

    Simple supplies: lace, ribbon, and stitch witchery

1. I cut two pieces of lace to fit my table, leaving a little to drape over the end.

2.  With my two pieces of lace laid side by side, flat sides together, I topped with a matching length of stitch witchery, topped with a piece of  seam binding (not pictured sorry).  This will be the back of your runner.  Then "bond" it together with an iron.    

It's a sandwich:  lace, stitch witchery, seam binding (or preferred ribbon).

3. Now for the top of your runner, flip your lace over and repeat the sandwich - adding your decorative ribbon last (on top) ... caution make sure your ribbon doesn't have an embellishment that will melt when the iron hits it !!  To solve my problem I laid a piece of fabric between the iron and ribbon and it worked on the second try !    

Here's my runner   The table is 5 3/4" long and depth is 2 1/2"

 

Last week I mailed my minis to Debby for the swap.  She is the host for the swap so she divides them up and sends them out.   I can't wait to get our packages, there are 19 of us in the swap ... SO excited 19 minis !   Thanks for visiting.  XO E