Just My Luck

Leprechaun!

When I was a wee thing, perhaps 6 or 7, a shy young boy in my class gifted me this pin. It was my very first piece of jewellery ever from  that gender , far too young too to realize the implications of same for either of us. I would like to say it was the beginning of a magical journey and the greatest love story ever told and we are together still - would like to, but can't. You see, the kid had really bad timing. He and his folks moved to Ontario the next week. Really. The very next week. Talk about your whirlwind romances. At any rate, I wear this fellow every year,  although he has gotten a little worse for wear over the years and I threaten to re-paint the pin every year but don't, and think fondly of the young lad, and why he chose St. Patrick's Day to give a little girl a gift, as opposed to say...St. Valentine's Day. Once again, life takes a funny turn - my heart shaped token of love is a 3 leaf clover. I guess too, you can say, you never actually do forget your first love.

In the spirit of the day - and in lieu of any real project, as I can't seem to find anything "St. Patrick-y"  (note to self, must make St. Patrick diorama!), a blessing upon your house: 

 

Irish Blessings

May the road rise up to meet you, 

 

 

may the wind be always at your back,

 

 

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

 

and the rain fall soft upon your fields,

 

and until we meet again,

 

 

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

*sniff*. Well. Yes. On with it, shall we? 

This week was the week of the dead (how is that for an abrupt shift in topic?). My friend came back from Mexico, and brought me this! 

Mariachi band!

 Technically this was to be my birthday present, and she had ordered it in January, but it never came. In the end, it was just easier for her to go to Mexico. These charmers are about an inch and a half tall. I don't have the heart to remove them, so if I put them in a scene, I will build around them. 

Next, I find out Ruell and Judy were coming up from Penticton. Ruell kindly went shopping for me on the coast for some more goodies. 

El Musico!

   A dear musician playing the guitar was one item I really wanted and here he is. My Dia de los Muertos will be a fiesta! 

Katrina

 This is my beautiful Katrina - one of the more popular DDLM figurines. Strangely enough, Katrina was the nick name for my nick name when I was a child (did you follow that?). Told you I had a strange childhood. 

Frida Kahlo Figurine

 This is a Frida Kahlo figurine. This is a more "old style" type figurine (as opposed to the above which are molded). I love the parrots! 

Mother And Child

This figurine is smaller in stature, but isn't she gorgeous. Her dress and bouquet are glittered, and there is quite a lot of warmth in this figurine. 
 

Earrings

 These are some great earrings. They would be far too heavy to wear, but oh such magnificent wall hangings. 

I also made some tiny 1/144 scale dioramas of my own, that I have since gifted to good homes, with the DDLM theme. They started out as a tiny nursery pattern in one of my American Miniaturist magazines, authored by Nertha Gaal(a most fantastically talented micro-miniaturist) . This is from a fairly old issue, March 2006. 

Micro nursery AM March 2006

Not So Glamorous Beginnings

 The box is pretty simple, three walls, a floor, and a base. After a couple of false starts, I realized the trick to succeeding in this venture was to cut your three wall lengths out at the same time. In this scale, if you don't quite cut where you are supposed to, it is more than obvious that you didn't do it right. I used matboard, although the original pattern called for 1/16 basswood - rebel that I am.

The Box without the Base

I whipped up some micro paper from an image I found in a internet search. 

Wallpaper Applied

Tiled Floor

The "tiled" floor came from a book of scrapbooking sheets. The trick here, of course, is to make the tiles somewhat straight. 

Ready To Glue!

 The floor was carefully glued in. In this scale, always remember to glue sparingly. 

The Base

The base was gold. Happily, I have at my disposal a gold paint pen (soon to be my undoing, I am sure). This paint is wonderful for making surfaces look metallic....

 Like your fingers. Okay, I know you want to sing , I will wait....

 CLAPCLAPCLAP! WOOO! Fabulous. A little gold paint on the finger won't hurt, but I wouldn't suggest 'golding' your entire self -  if you remember from the movie above, that didn't end well for the young lady.  Anyway, where were we? Oh yes.  The gold base and the box are glued together. I trimmed out the top with thinnish wood, which I had painted before I applied (the gold paint pen is great, but it does have its "whoopsie" moments and if you spill a little in this scale, it is generally on the scale of environmental disaster, so it is better to paint before applying so as to avoid tears later on.) On the back, I painted some folkart-sy flowers and borders. I did very simple daisies, several brush strokes not quite meeting in the middle, and dit dots of paint for the border.

Back Of Box

Box with Bride And Groom

 I wanted to put some figurines in, so I found some images, reduced them, and cut them out as carefully as I could. 

Then you know what I did, right? You see this coming, right??

GLITTER!!

   Yes ladies and gentlemen, the glitter treatment. I glittered up Senor's jacket in white glitter with a purple glitter tie, and the Senora has a white glitter dress, and red glitter flowers.  

Glitter. 

I also made a second box, in which I put some different themed figurines in. 

Flamenco dancer, Katrina, Katrin

   Fun, right? Of course, the world is your mollusc of your choice with these little boxes. Remember that 1/144 is actually "dollhouse for a dollhouse" scale - these can be stand alone, or you can decorate your 1/12 scale house with the theme of your choice. 
  
Finally, work continues at the cabinet maker's for the Washtub Cottage order. Just completed, a lovely little "classic" wardrobe. I discovered something about not letting water colours dry thoroughly - it tends to be very soluble in water based varnish. Who knew? Anyway, after saving the varnish from a fate worse than burnt umber, the final piece looks pretty good. 

Wardrobe, Classy!

 That's the week, folks. Hope your St. Patrick's Day was grand!

 
May luck be our companion
May friends stand by our side
May history remind us all
Of Ireland's faith and pride.
May God bless us with happiness
May love and faith abide.
(oh, and if you meet a leprechaun wannabe who thinks they should be pinching you today because you aren't wearing o' the green, feel free to kick'em in the lucky charms).

...just seeing if you are still reading.


 A little project for your St. Patrick's Day house ....

 
 Blessings, travellers of all roads - and a special wish for luck for my friend G, get well soon.