Best of Aerial Views of Water

Source: Unknown 

Summertime and the living is easy; and there is nothing difficult about looking at aerial shots of water either. Over the summer I have found myself more and more drawn to looking at images such as these. I think that water is just so facisnating (more so living than chlorinated), and mysterious. So naturally I love to gaze down at it from above and examine it while daydreaming.

Also, lets just throw this out there, I love these because they look like little aquatic dioramas. I am not ashamed of that truth more on that later...

Make: Kittens!

Last year for Valentines Day I made little kittens for my Mom and the sisters, to stay consistent, I didn't actually deliver them until March when I went home for my birthday last year. The way I look at it, who doesn't want to get a little something for themselves on someone else's birthday? If you follow the blog you may recognize the cats as Peanut, Matilda and Beatrix (aka little baby black bear)...

Juno. Gold. Omaha. Utah. Sword.

When Dawn was visiting, we discovered that we had oh-so-many things in common. One unexpected delight was
 that we both have an extreme love of miniatures. So, when Dawn suggested we buy a large bag of toy soldiers
 I was not only supportive, I was giddy.

Just so happens we decided to head to the beach to play war. Thus leading to a post which bears the code names of
the beaches of Normandy as a title. Also, it reminds me of We Have Always Lived in the Castle: Melody. Gloucester. Pegasus. If you haven't read that book yet, you should. It's not about WWII--I may have created that misdirection. Anyway, you can learn more about it on Christine's post highlighted above (which by the way really cracks her up).

My Miniature World.

Iceland, September 2011

I am beyond infatuated with making pictures look like miniature worlds. Here are some of my recent adventures through a miniature lens!

dino might

Monika gave me some dollar store dinos for Christmas (Brachiosaurus, Stegosaurus, Iguanodon). They were a barfy plastic bone color. Naturally, before I could add them to any succulent landscape, I had to do something about that.
I perused my nail polish choices (which Catherine has informed me are "for peasants"), and came up with this. 

And indeed it was golden. 

Oh, happy day. 

Diorama video!

This is such an awesome video that someone from work recommendation to me.
The entire thing is filmed in a way that makes it look like a living diorama.

Jarbas Agnelli is amazing!

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Merry Potter

I recently discovered this amazing $0.98 store down the street from my house. It's great! I have already purchased a gold sequin headband, miniature dinosaur skeletons, tape, glue sticks, and now these great terracotta pots!
The most amazing thing about this store is its legitimacy, these pots were actually $0.98 each.

While I love these pots, I wanted them to be more jovial--you know how some pots are more jovial than others.

I decided to just paint a little colored rim around the top to set it off.

Using a cream acrylic paint I put down a base coat so the colors would show up brighter.

I had to narrow my colors down because I only had five pots; I went with cream, peachy pink, red, blue, and yellow.

Olive watched my back when I was painting so no other dogs (Lucca) would run into my work area. Thanks, Olive.

These pots certainly do cheer me up when I see them. What lovely new homes for some of my growing succulents!

I always have plants waiting for more room.

I added some other smaller succulents to each pot to fancy them up a bit.

All-in-all, an inexpensive project and one that brightens my mornings.

Happy in their new homes.

The lesson here is don't be afraid of the dollar store, it often does have amazing things. Sometimes they are really only one dollar. If you do go there, see what type of miniature animal toys they have, you can always make your topiary a miniature menagerie.

Washington, my home!

In the pasture, mosses and lichens huddle on stumps.

Found beneath the leaf litter. Don't worry, I replaced its cover. 

Out by the barn, ice in a bucket.

Some places in our pasture do seem sort of Texas Chainsaw Massacre-y. 

Auba's mane is long and straight. I'm a little jealous.

Blue skies over Snoqualmie Pass.

And every other color over the Columbia River. 

Wherever I may roam, I'm always happy to come back to my minty green home on the West side. 

top it off

Monika was big into tiny this year. 

She found a pack of these teensy trees

and mini bows at Michael's for a dollar. 

And she combined them for an infinitely sweet package topper.

Or knitted urchin topper. Whatevs. 

Merry Christmas!

tiny winter scene

One of the gifts Monika gave us contained the supplies to create a mini winter scene. A couple tiny trees, several handmade mini packages (loaded with pennies for weight, of course!), crinkled paper for snow, and a little plastic deer. I put mine in one of my domed displays. Super sweet, right?

Monika vs. the Volcano

I was a Mountain for Halloween. I did a lot of ranting about pyroclastic flows and Plinian eruptions (while constructing my costume I was watching documentaries on Mt. Vesuvius...and the X-Files...and Doctor Who).

I will take you through how I created the look.

Green Meadow Skirt:

Basically I started with a white dress--this one was purchased at a local thrift store. With its fitted corset top and the pleating which created a bell, it made an ideal mountain-esque shape.

To get the background color for the lower altitude meadows I used a basic RIT dye powder pack. Because I only wanted the bottom of the dress dyed and the top to remain white (for the snow cap) I used the boiling water stove top method. I twisted the bottom of the dress and submerged it for a short period so it took a moderate amount of color, wringed out the excess water, and laid it on a dark towel to air dry.

Once it was dry, I used some basic fabric paints to create texture and give the impression that there were various flora scattered about. I just used a small and medium sized brush to dab on the different colors, overlapping and fading as desired.

Yarn from Paulanna at Pergolina. Thanks, Paulanna!

To give it some actual texture, I sewed feathery green yarn sporadically throughout the skirt,

creating patches of tall grass.

These patches were accompanied by small red and yellow flowers which I embroidered.

And after I added my flora I made sure to strategically place a little fauna.

 Sweet little stag.

Huzzah!

Icy Terrain:

For the base of my snow cap I used cornflower blue fabric paint and added contour coloring and texture. I also added some little silk flags for a tiny skier to have a fun downhill slalom. I hand sewed these with a little embroidery thread and used a black fine tipped marker to draw the flag posts.

Fun Fact: the peach silk flag (fabric purchased at a garage sale) was actually the same fabric used as the lining in Natalie Portman's dress from the tornado scene of Where the Heart Is.

I also made a bird necklace from miniature doves and wire. You always need to accessorize!

Snow Cap:

I was going to be more of a Mt. Saint Helens and have a cloud headpiece, but then I decided to go with an actual peak so that my costume was a little more discernible, more Mt. Rainier. Luckily, I had some household items to fashion it out of: a white microwavable leftover bag, thin black head band and cornflower blue paint (leftover from above).

I know the microwavable leftover bag seems a bit odd, but it just happened to be on my table. Free from any food stains, I figured it was worth a try to use it to construct the spire, and lucky for me the silver thermal lining gave the paper more memory when I molded it and it stayed in place without any adhesive or rigging. Basically, all I had to do was twist and shape. I used the paint to create some color and contour shading and fastened the head band underneath.

Brrr.

Not a super-long project, maybe a total of five hours all together. But I love it and will always keep my dream of finding a bunch of ladies to form a mountain range with me...

Me and Crisp (aka Olive)

Need a few other DIY costume ideas? Why not go as a snazzy skeleton, a fantastic fox, or Jon Snow and Ghost?

killer diorama

I almost forgot! I took a diorama picture the last time I was home. 

Now, which sister created this little wonder...any guesses?