An update on the Victory garden

This is a quick update on how I have been getting on with the Victory garden.

I have been making a lot of flowers from kits from the miniature garden and also from online tutorials for the smaller section of the garden . The larger section of garden will be for the vegetables.
I have already started planting some of them.

I made the cabbages from polymer clay, and the runner beans are from a kit from the the miniature garden

Here is another view

 

I still need to fence the chickens in and give them something to peck at.

hmmm... the bamboo on the beans looks a bit bent in this picture I will have to see to that and make it straight again. 

 

I just love my little evacuee with the dog. My little girl evacuee is very sad but I think the little dog will cheer her up.

The evacuees and residents of my 40's house

Here are the evacuees in part of the Victory garden.

The dolls have all been made by the very talented Joy Cox of Adora-bella-minis. she also made the adorable little dog who is being held by my smallest little boy.

I have always loved Joys dolls as they have such different expressions and they make me smile.

All the residents of my 40s house are by Joy.

 

Joy dressed all the children apart from the little boy on the go-cart who I dressed.

 

Here is another picture of the go-cart which  is absolutely brilliant. It even has a brake!

It was made by the very talented Roberson miniatures

who also make terrific prams too. 

 

 

 

Here is part of the shop with the shopkeeper, the evacuation officer and two of the evacuees 

 

 

 

 

I just love this little old lady and as soon as I saw her I just knew she had to be the evacuation officer

Look at her lovely brooch on her coat. I remember my aunt always wore a brooch on her coat.

 

 

 Here is the home guard (dressed by me)  and air raid warden. I love his face he looks full of fun.

 

 

 

 

Christmas in the 40's house (The old man was dressed by me)

The chairs were made following a tutorial from1inchminisbykris. There are some super tutorials on her blog

 

 

 

Baking day in the Kitchen

This little old lady was dressed by me.

The cooker and water heater  are made from phoenix miniatures kits. The kitchen food cabinet and kitchen table and accessories and the wash board were made from kits by Jane Harrop 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The chicken coop

Today I finished making the chicken coop.
I had found the instructions for it from an old dolls house and miniature scene magazine that I had. But I made a few changes to mine as I wanted my coup to look old and a bit shabby.

Here it is made up in wood and painted with a dirty wash of brown acrylic paint

 

I did a little more painting to make the wood  look aged and weathered .

I used a dry brush and some white and green acrylic paint

 

I wanted my chicken coop to have an old corrugated tin sheet roof so I painted some corrugated cardboard in different shades of grey acrylic paint roughed up the edges a bit and glued the pieces to the wooden roof. I then added a ridge also made from cardboard which had been painted in the same colours and then painted several areas with scenic rust.

 

Here it is finished

 

 

 

 

Just some more planting and landscaping around it and then this little area of the garden will be finished.

 

Dig for victory

I have started a victory garden for my 1940s village stores. I have so many ideas for it, I just hope that I can fit everything in that I want to make for it.

The garden is in two pieces which fit together as I didn't think the original one piece would be big enough. It will also be easier to move around with it being in two smaller pieces and I am hoping that with some careful planting the join wont be seen.

I started with a board for each piece onto which I glued sides made out of foam core board. I then glued pieces of polystyrene onto the base and card to represent the walls and soil. This was then covered with a coat of household filler, I then added another coat of filler over a stencil to make the stone effect.

This is one of the pieces I know it looks a bit messy now but it does get better I promise.

Once the filler was dry I started to paint it and age it with different colours of paint.You can see the join of the two pieces in this picture which will hopefully be hidden by some careful planting.

 

In this picture you can see my two posts which will be for the washing line. The right hand side of the garden will be where all the vegetables will be planted.

Next came the fun part starting the planting.

 

This is the rockery area and as you can see the join between the two sections of garden has been hidden by the planting.

 

 

 

 

 

The next job will be making all the vegetables to plant.

Then I need to make a chicken coup, the gate and of course the shed to keep all the gardening tools.

 

 

 

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It has been ages since my last blog. I can't believe that this is my first this year.  I always seem to be apologising for not keeping up.

 

However I have made a new little cat that I have displayed in my wind in the willows scene . She is the first dressed cat that I have made and was great fun to do. I would never have made her if it wasn’t for Sandie choosing an animal or something to do with animals for the project of the month in the yahoo group that I am a member of. So thank you Sandie you have started me with the little animal bug again.

 

 

 

Still continuing with the animal theme. This was the summer swap that I made my friend  May, who  has a super mouse house.  The swap  was themed and was to be either something for a summer picnic or a Barbecue.

 I wanted it to be a  little surprise really , so that when she would open the parcel she would think that she was having a picnic hamper but.........

 

  inside as you can see was a tiny mouse  with his backpack for his food for a picnic. I also decided as it was summer to give him an ice cream to eat.

 

 

Here  he is in my wind in the willows scene with the cat.

 

May has given him a name and it is Hobo. I think it really suits him.

Here is the super swap that I received from May.

 When I opened up my parcel I was totally amazed. It was a real wow! moment. May had sent me a  wonderful barbecue which is going to take pride of place in my garden. It is absolutely brilliant.  It has so many different kinds of food , the more you look at it the more you see . It even has ketchup and a bottle of cola.  There is everything that you could need for a very special barbecue party. Thank you so much May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The voting is over

Well  the voting is over in the competition that took place in the yahoo group which i am a member of and i am totally thrilled as one of my entries won first place.

So now after all this time of secrets i can reveal what i have been making  and

this is my winning entry which i named 'The Autumn harvest'.

 

Everything has been made by me apart from the garden fork, the pink wellies and the house name.

 

The leaves and flowers for the pumpkins were a kit from The miniature garden. All the vegetables have been made from polymer clay and the tiny little blackberries on the bramble bush and in the basket have been made from hundreds of tiny little black no hole ( micro) beads and some have been individually painted to represent some berries which are not quite ripe yet.

 

 

 

 Here is a closer picture so that you can see some of the little berries.

 

Another picture showing the view over the garden wall. Hmm.. can just see me living there. I love the countryside.

 

 

 

Here is my second entry

 

This is the Willow bakery.

I must say that i didn't enjoy making this one as much as the harvest. This was the first entry i made and i wasn't very happy with it as it wasn't realistic enough.. It didn't have the aged and worn look that i just love so much.

 

 

I did manage to get one aged little item in as you can see , The green stool ! Everything was made by me apart from the shop till, the small basket that holds the bread rolls on the left of the counter and the glass stand with the macaroons. I must say i enjoyed making all the different bread but the cakes were a bit of a chore. I made and printed all the little price labels , the pictures and price lists were printies and pictures i found on the Internet and in miniature magazines. 

 

 

Here you can see all the little cakes and bread that i made.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of the front of the little shop box that is home to the bakery.

I decided to paint it in pastel shades with a bit of a shabby chic look. However As you can see i have distressed the front, maybe the inside will have the same treatment before long.

I still have to decide on a display for the window as at the moment There are only four little cakes in there. Not much to tempt a shopper in to buy.

 

 

 

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Hello again everyone. At the moment i am finishing off a competition piece that  i am making for the miniature yahoo group that i am on. So i am afraid i cant show you anything yet as it is a big secret at the moment.

I have started making my Christmas cards for this year . I just love stamping images and colouring them up to make my toppers. This year i have bought new stamps from Lili of the valley and also Nellie Snellen. I cant wait to start using my new die cutters too. I have bought some of the brilliant Tim Holtz ones this year so i am really looking forward to using them.

 I have also started doing crochet again . I am planning to make a throw from granny squares and hope to do at least one square a day. Its going to take me a long time Lol.