Steampunk Inventor's Room, some close up photos

 Here are some close up photos from the still unfinished Steampunk room. Two masks, a rollar periferal digitator, steamclock birds and bugs. Thank you so much for all of your encouraging comments, I appreciate them so much. I've been also working on a quarter scale toy store for an article for AIM free on line mini magazine so I will look forward to getting back to this room soon.

More details from the right side of the desk, a tiny set of screw drivers and technical instruments.

Above is a photo of wind up fan and solar powered Steampunk tea caddy with a close up of the tea caddy. It automatically pours your tea and the teas are stored in the large box.

A photo showing the steamy effect in the ceiling.

A stand alone magnifier, crystal powered for amazing magnifications.

Thank you so much for having a look,
Mini Hugs, Jean♥

Steampunk Inventor's Room

I just thought I would give you a peak at the Steampunk room box I'm making. Year's ago I purchased two vintage microscope cabinets from a miniature friend who's husband had worked at the hospital where he found these, he also put in flooring and wall paper. All these years I wasn't able to think of scenes for them and suddenly Steampunk came along and my collecting life started to make more sense. I have loved all the Steampunk Art, images and miniatures and thought these two cases would work perfectly, one for an inventor's room and the other for a Steampunk fashion designer's room.

Years ago I found a large box of pocket watch parts in a jewelry store that was closing out and they have been wonderful for this room. I have made all the tools on the desk and wall from watch parts. It seems in all the years I've collected odds and ends for miniatures I have more brass and metal bits than anything else. These pieces have come in so handy for all the inventions that are in the cabinets.

In 1987 I was given a fabulous miniature Balloon etching from John Anthony Miller called "Around the World" when I joined NAME association. I thought it made a wonderful picture for behind the work table.

I've been having such a great time inventing miniatures for this scene too.

Orchids in Barbados 2, Orchid Bridesmaids

Thank you so much everyone for your kind comments on my last blog. I have so many more photos of orchids I wanted to share. This photo above reminds me of a June wedding party with the bridesmaids and wedding guests talking! Orchids really would make great miniature  fairies and flower children, they have such character. The colours are so amazing. I hope you enjoy!  Jean♥

Orchids in Barbados

It is Father's Day today in Canada, above you can see a photo of my wonderful husband John. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect partner and father for our two sons. These photos were taken on our cruise last year in Barbados. We visited Orchid World which has over 2,000 orchids and I think I took a photo of each variety. I thought you might enjoy having a look at a few of them, I tried to capture them with the light shining through the petals, it really makes glow. I've been thinking they would be wonderful photos for inspiration for watercolours. I love the little faces in the fourth photo. The third photo shows how some of the orchids were just attached to a wire fencing to get the moisture from just the air, found that interesting. It was very humid.

AIM, Artisan in Miniature Magazine for June/July 2010 is out now!

The special June/July issue of AIM magazine http://www.artisansinminiature.com/  is out now, just click on the link to take you your free IMag for some terrific reading, inspiration and projects. I'm so thrilled to be a part of this wonderful group and am proud to have two articles published in this issue. One article has a pattern for a newborn coat about "Clothes Pin Dolls' page 12 and the other is about "Tea Parties" page 62, with an inspiration board with young girls having tea parties for ideas for dressing dolls and display.
I always love all of the terrific food ideas and displays, there is a summer fete display that is presented so wonderfully, articles about miniaturist, terrific regular features and much more.

Here are two of the inspiration boards that accompany my article on "Clothes Pin Dolls" with directions about making the white coat. Two of the clothes pin dolls are dressed in my newborn and toddler Marigold Garden kit.

Our Garden Continued, Front Garden

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments about our garden, I thought this week I would show you our front garden and a couple of different views of our back garden and atrium, which is an indoor eating area shown above.

Here is a small display area I put in the back to display all of the old rusty gardening tools I found that used to belong to John's and my parents. I love rusty old things, there past and especially for their gorgeous patina. I love the red spade, if you click and look at it closely it has the most beautiful colour variations. The two old doors we found abandoned one year.

You might notice in the second photo above all of the doors, there are six large doors and two windows that open into the atrium. The atrium is two stories heigh with large sky lights and a water feature. It has two balconies inside that over look the eating area and was built between the addition we added and the older part of the house, lovely area to sit.

This is my favorite place to sit in the summer in the back. The next photos are towards the front of the house.

You can see the rock garden area in the fourth photo I did out front last year by the pink azalias, I put in small heather,  heucheras, euphorbias and ground covers. The azaleas were all overgrown with other plants that we pulled out, so much fun to redo areas. All the green with yellow flowers are the kale which has gone to seed that we have been eating all winter, nice flowers.  I planted the area by the drive way last year as well. We had new tiles put on our front steps and entrance so you can see new thymes and sedums I've put on the side path to the entrance and around the frog, by next year hopefully it will be all green. The rest of the front yard is a mound with rhodos and grass. I hope to show photos when all the flowers are out in the summer, if I ever get my dahlias planted, lol, hopefully tomorrow and next week. If I say it maybe I will do it?

Our Garden

Each morning, rain or shine I like to get out to see our backyard garden and do a garden walk. After filling the bird feeder I thought I would take some photos to share. Last year I really started taking more of an interest in gardening during the time I took off from my minis business and I replanted many areas that had been overgrown and neglected. I had a wonderful time and this year, it even more exciting because I can see how all my babies (new plants) have grown.
I'm starting at the studio back door.

This small area I call the meditation area where I planted sedum and other ground covers.

I planted lots of sedum, thyme and ground covers around the stone stairs.

John loves gardening too and you can see his vegetable plantings and the ones that have gone through the year. Last year I became very interested in having vegetables from our garden all year so I planted very late crops, I did get tired  of having so many green vegetables during the winter but they are very healthy, lol. Our squashes were my favorite so we have planted a lot more this year. If we could just get the slugs to leave them alone it would help! You can see one of the studio windows, I've really been enjoying watching the bird feeder in one of the apple trees while I work.

I love this new area, we had a huge flax plant that was not doing well so we removed it and I moved a few rocks to create a small rock garden with sedums and my favorite heuchera called Marmalade. The wooly thyme is really filling in around the walking stones already.

This area didn't have anything going on so I built up the rocks and added heurcheras and sedums. The reason I chose these plants is because they look great all year round and are very hardy. There are also tiny sassafras that are in bloom now, I love them with their tiny mini blooms.

This area just had some old lavender that was over grown and had died, we have about five other lavender plants on the other side of the path which are done really doing well. This was a really fun area to work on and I love the way the sedums have done so well and the wooly thyme has filled in around the steps. I found the concrete chimney liners for two dollars each and I think they have made very nice planters. There is a delphinium in another container just poking it's head around the corner.

Here you can see the chintz thyme with really goes with the pinky/mauve wallflower.

Morning dew drops on the hostas.

Must get out and plant the dahlias, my neighbor has all 450 of hers in already!!