Scentimental Journey - Repaired

So now I had to figure out how to put the shelves of perfume bottles back in place.

I made this block of Legos that would represent the distance between the shelves.

I put it against the mirrored back and used a very fine tipped pen to mark the bottom of it - and that was where my shelf would go. Put a very fine line of Gorilla Super Glue gel on the back edge of the shelf, lined it up against the line then VERY quickly put the Lego against the shelf to keep it at a right angle against the glass.

Repeated that for the four upper shelves.

The two lower shelves were a bit more problematic as there wasn't a great deal of room for Lego blocks to keep things straight.

I did get the line for the shelves drawn using the Lego piece above but still needed to  find a way to make sure the shelves were  level from below. So I used two Lego pieces plus a bit of wood to line them up then placed the shelves. Had to pull up the wooden pieces quickly so they wouldn't stick to the Super glue.

Once all that was done, I took a dampened Q-tip and erased the pen lines I had made to line up the shelves. Then I replaced the glass front and the side of the frame.

Best picture I could get with the mirrored back.

But I am pleased with the restoration.

 

Scentimental Journey

 In June, 2009, I made this display for the perfume bottles I made back then. I was on a roll and needed a home for them. You can see more detail here.

Sometimes I like mirrored surfaces in some of my displays but they are almost impossible for me to photograph properly.

The glass shelves are 1" x 3" glass medical slides that I super glued to the back mirror.

I had it on display for 9 or 10 years, then I noticed that the glue had failed and the shelves had fallen down. Was running short of display room anyway so I just shoved it on a shelf in my workroom.

Came across it the other day and thought, "That's an easy fix - hour or two and it will be ready to display again". NOT!

So I took out the shelves, used my X-Acto blade to clean off all the glue from the slides and used nail polish remover to remove any glue residue. Then I cleaned the mirror with nail polish remover to remove any super glue that remained on the mirror.

NOW I had a problem. Originally I had put up the shelves (using Lego blocks as spacers) then added the perfume bottles. 

With the bottles on the shelves, I'll have a difficult time spacing them straight and equidistant.

Had originally thought I might just put up entirely new shelves, let them dry in place, then put the bottles on them. However, I had forgotten that the original slides have about a 3/4" strip of white paint on one end. It can be scraped off but it's time-consuming so don't think I'll go that route.

I think I've figured out how to re-mount the original shelves properly but am going to need to think on it overnight. Hopefully, it will work and today or tomorrow, the shop will once again be ready to display.

The Nursery - Finished!

Robert Munsch's book "Love You Forever" book ready to read. Most of our my sisters and their children and grandchildren have been read this book.

Upper right: An angel made by my friend. Cheryl, from Nova Scotia. I like to think of this as Grace's guardian angel.

Mom and James, James and Aaryn, and Marie and Bob and James and Aaryn

 watching over her.

Aaryn and/or James reading to her.

 

Last final touches to the nursery

 I was waiting for the book instructions to be posted on the club's website so I could make sure I put "Love You Forever" together properly. 

Now, that is a book I ordered specially from Tina but if you go to our website for last Tuesday's class, you can get all the lessons and book covers to make all kinds of books for your dollhouse. Click here.

The sheet of pages and cover

The pages cut out

Ready to go to be stitched.

OOPS! Missed the stitching and gluing stage.

Stitched and glued

Trimmed down to the book pages.

And here's the cover (sorry it's so blurry)

The finished book....

This is a beautiful little angel that my friend Cheryl made for me years ago. Unfortunately, the silver has tarnished but it's still a piece made with a lot of love. And it will fit in the empty spot in the cupboard.

OOPS!

I had forgotten until tonight that I wanted to put a growth chart in the nursery. 

When we moved from the house to the condo, it was hardest to leave the children's height measurements pencilled on the wall...and erase them.

So I knew I wanted to have a growth chart where measurements could be marked and kept for posterity.

Yet, somehow I forgot about that until tonight. :-( 

So I found a lovely jungle themed one and put it in the room.

Unfortunately, the G should be moved over a couple inches but it's glued in place and it would probably break if I tried to move it.

Sometimes you foul up and you can't fix it.

Videos of the Show and Sale

 One of our club members has a wonderful YouTube channel called Miniature Things by Lisa. Thanks to her those of you who weren't fortunate enough to attend our Show and Sale last Sunday can attend virtually by watching the following videos. She also has lots of other interesting and informative videos for you to see.

You can see our Sales Floor here.

And the Show Room here. 

Enjoy.

Waaay off topic - RL tip about window screens

As I said, way off topic but...

With all the pollen in the air and the particulates from the forest fires, my balcony door screen was looking really grungy. I had seen this hint on line but never tried it until this morning. (I've sometimes cleaned screens by removing them and cleaning them in the bathtub but not really convenient to do it with the screen door.) 

I took my lint roller (from IKEA if it matters) and rolled it along the screen on both sides, renewing the adhesive as it got dirty. WOW! I think I used about 15-20 sections of the roller to do the screen but it looked almost like new when I was finished. Can really recommend this! And it only took about 20 minutes to do.

Then, of course, when I told DD Leanne about it, she said, "Well, of course. Doesn't everyone know that?"

Obviously not.

So if it's as new to you as it was to me, you might want to try it. :-) 

Nursery - just one more thing to add

I am so pleased with this nursery. I just hope that James and Aaryn will like it as much as I do. All I have left to add is Robert Munsch's book "Love You Forever" and it will be complete.

Tina taught the class in finishing the book on Tuesday night but the instructions aren't up on the MEE website yet so I'm just waiting for that because I don't want to foul it up.

So here it is....

 

"Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death" Frances Glessner Lee

In the 1940s, Frances Glessner Lee did a series of 1:12 crime scene dioramas as scientific tools which helped in the birth of forensic science in solving unexplained deaths. They have been used as teaching tools for years since then.

Her "Nutshell Studies of "Unexplained Death" are discussed in this great article from the Smithsonian Magazine here.

I've often wondered if her name "Nutshell Studies" was the inspiration behind the name of "Nutshell News", the name of the wonderful miniature magazine which inspired so many of us in our early days as miniaturists.

Nursery sock monkey

 My friend, Rosalle, (rosecrochetminis) made me this wonderful sock monkey some years ago.

The only problem is that it is SO finely crocheted that it doesn't have much give so it's hard to pose.

When the ladies from Saskatoon were here, I mentioned this to them and one (I think Bev) suggested that I wire it. What a great idea! I had some quite fine wire so I inserted two wires through the back (about shoulder blade) down through past the knee and another through the tail.

Rosalle's crochet work is so fine that it wasn't easy to insert the wire but once it was in, it did the trick.

And here he is on top of the cabinet on the side of the artwork.

Two more things for the nursery and other Show and Sale purchases

 

I had pre-ordered this little stacking ring kit from Tina (MiniMinutia on  Etsy) along with a "Love You Forever" book kit (more about that in my next post - hopefully) and picked them up along with the book kit for tonight's workshop

This came about by sheer serendipity. When I was taking the base of the kit apart, I broke the pieces. BUT my Dad had made big wooden hanging initials for some of us daughters and most of the grandchildren and the pieces from the base made this great G for Grace. Sometimes things just work out for the best. 

Note: These pieces broke due to my negligence and lack of care - not any problem with the kit itself.

I have bags of laser poop that Tina has given me over the years so I just found an appropriate found piece to make a new base. Then I painted the rings with various colours of nail polish. Think the rings look a bit more plasticy with the nail polish. I held the top ring too tight and at an angle and broke it. (At least it wasn't one of the middle ones.) So it has either been lost or I'll just shorten the dowel a bit.

I can always use more books and these have printed covers and spines although the insides are blank. at 36 for $9, how could I possibly pass them up.

Got this lovely tree from  Louise (Tiny Treasures). They were on for half price! Almost wish I had bought a couple more but she lives in Edmonton so I can always give her a call.

Lovely candy dish and gold vase from Janice Crawley.

Fireplace tools. Always need more of these to go with all my fireplaces.

Forgot to take a picture but bought two new tweezers from Linda. Much better than any that I currently have.

So have to gather my supplies for tonight's workshop. If I get my book done tonight, should complete the nursery tomorrow.

The Show and Sale, the Nursery, and Show and Tell with my friends

Oh, my, the Show and Sale was one of the best we have ever had! Thanks to the advertising that Lisa and Liliane did on social media, we had probably the best turnout ever.

Myself, I didn't buy that much. Pretty much stuck to buying things to  complete the nursery.

Bought this coat rack from Louise to highlight the wonderful crocheted dress, bonnet, and purse on one side and the lovely cotton dress and straw hat on the other.

Here are the Huggies diapers and the Johnson's baby oil and baby lotion from Reenie's Teenies.

The piggy bank by Janice Crawley.

A snowman jack-in-the-box by Sherri MacRaild from Calgary.

Just two more things to add:

Readable copy of Robert Munsch's book "Love you Forever" and a stacking toy - both kits from Tina MacDonald.

Just about finished!

Then the ladies from Saskatoon got back and we had a wonderful Show and Tell session. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera available but it was just a great time sharing as only people who have just come back from a miniature Show and Sale can.

Non=mini but wonderful

 My miniaturist friends from Saskatoon arrived tonight. We had a short visit before they checked out the garage sale next door, Goodwill, and had dinner out.

When they came back , they brought me a lovely gift of two plates in wooden frames from the garage sale next door.

The plates have hummingbirds so they are special to me and go with the hummingbird from Mom via Marie and the one I got from the Put and Take.

How special these are and how incredibly thoughtful of Bev, Dawn and Jennifer to give them to me.

As good as it gets for now...

 What I have  so far to go into the nursery:

Selection of readable books plus three wooden ones

Finally found the Disney princess doll and she's just a fraction too tall to fit on the shelf.

 The rubber ducky is from a set of Dollarama push pins.

A set of Disney nursery dishes

A great set of children's blocks by Shelley Acker in Nova Scotia. In my stash for 15 or 16 years.

Some wonderful clothes but since the change table drawers don't open, not sure how they'll be displayed. Hoping to find a coat rack at the sale that I can hang them from. Dress in the upper left is by Rosalle as is the afghan on the rocking chair.

Sock monkey is also by Rosalle. Total length is 2".  Not sure how to display him.

Books, dishes and rubber ducky in the cabinet.

Blocks, car, train car and rabbit in the toy box.

So far....

I've ordered several things from dealers who will bring them to me on Sunday and I've one piece I hope to find on Sunday.

So until Sunday night, I declare this temporarily finished.