My Shabby Chic Cottage

I am a member of NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts) and proud of it. NAME is an international organization that promotes sharing and teaching all about scale miniatures.

In 2013, NAME held a Houseparty in the Gazette, which translates to a convention in a magazine with all the trimmings. There were workshops, swaps, round tables, favors, luncheons, projects and more. One of the projects was the centerpiece. You could make your own from the instructions in the magazine or you could purchase one in kit form. My local club, Scaling Down in Corpus Christi decided to purchase kits in 1/2" scale that could be used in conjunction with our 1/2" scale trailer park project we did several years ago if so desired. Everyone would do their own thing.

My thing is shabby chic. I love the look and feel of the feminine side of things. I guess that is part in being a girl and not being able to decorate my real home in this style. In my little world of miniatures I can do this and so I did.

The front of the little shabby chic cottage.

The Swan is filled with orange flowers to add some colour.

I placed my structure on an 11" x 9" piece of wood from Hobby Lobby. I covered it with some decorator moss found in the garden area of Joann's. I used scrapbook paper to cut the shingles. I used fancy cut scissors and layered each section, then slightly flipped them in several places to create smiling shingles. The siding was made from corrugated cardboard. I used a bone folder and smoothed the raised edges in one direction. When placed on the wall it looks like clapboard or tongue in groove siding.

The porch floor is wood that I scored with a sharp edge and stained to look like wooden planks. I did this to the interior floor however I decided to cover it with a piece of an old bedspread.

There isn't a lot of room on the interior.

The interior chair and stool were made in a class taught by Shirley Blair. all other interior furnishings were made by me or received in swaps over the years. The interior wall paper is scrapbook paper from my stash.

The exterior furnishings were made by me with a couple of swap items thrown in. The stepping stones were cut from paper, stacked, shaped and coloured by me. The little birdhouse was from a roundtable kit I purchased. The attic has a couple of things in it and will be filled with more as I find items I think will work.

Flourishes are used as outdoor art above the bench.

I had some nice flourishes in my stash that I used as outdoor art on the side wall above the bench. White flowers and a little greenery compliment the white bench.

Trellis wall and hanging birdhouse.

I created the wall trellis from a picture I found in Plow and Hearth Magazine. I placed the trellis picture on a small piece of floral foam, over layed it with wax paper, and added white fabric covered floral wire shaped like the swirls on the picture. All the wire pieces were then glued together. Once dried, I removed the miniature trellis and glued it to the wall which I covered with greenery and added flowers I cut from a cane of clay.Not sure what I will do with my completed piece. Probably give it away or sell it if I can find a buyer. I hope you like it.

Til next time, I hope you are bitten by the creative bug and create something to enjoy.

Terri
Waiting for the glue to dry

Rewards of Life

Life offers us little rewards and we should take them as they come.

My mom had a light stroke in late April and has been recovering slowly. She has had several doctors appointments as a result. Last week she had 3 appointments, Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The end result is everything is fine. Keep taking her meds, do your therapy and go on with your life.

The appointments are usually scheduled for 10:30 or 11:45 or 2:30, right in the middle of the day. This means I need to leave my house 30-45 minutes before her appointment to drive to her house, be sure she is ready and then drive to the doctors office so we can sit and wait for an hour before they call her name and place her in a room. Then its another 15 or more minutes til the doctor actually sees her. Most of the time spent with the doctor is about 10 minutes if we are lucky. Then we pay and are on our way home.

My mom, Willie, Christmas 2013

My mom knows all this interrupts my day and things I want and need to do. While we were driving to an appointment she apologized for having to disrupt my schedule. I just looked at her and said "At least I still have you here to take to the doctor. That beats not having you here."

Yup! It's the little things in life that are the biggest rewards.

I'm off to Rockport, Texas for a couple of days to spend some time with 8 of my good miniature buddettes at the Retreat House. Just us ladies talking and working on projects and catching up while we can. None of us are getting any younger, however, we all grab life by the tail and go along for the ride. I hope you will, too.

Love to all of you, dear friends.

Terri
Waiting for the glue to dry