Planning Ahead - Grandma's Stove

Helllloooooo.....I'm back. Briefly. I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all your well wishes and encouraging thoughts. I love reading your wonderful comments, they really make my day. These are indeed the lazy days of summer. Not because I want them to be, but because the lupus is still winning the battle with this latest flare. Not to worry though my fellow blog-ettes. :) I'm resting a lot, staying out of the sun, and exercising in the local swimming pool when I have the energy. I have a very supportive and helpful family and network of friends.

And I rest, did I already mention that? I'm probably too exhausted to remember. ;) Ha!

I haven't had the energy or physical strength to do minis, or blog, or comment, but every once in a while I peruse your blogs trying to catch up. The eye candy really lifts my spirits, minis really can do that! I did stumble upon a wonderful old-fashioned stove that I would love to make a mini scene with for special friends and family as holiday gifts. I'll take it easy and keep resting so that some day soon I can start to bring my mini dreams to reality with these adorable stoves that I found at one of my favorite brick and mortar dollhouse stores - Gibby's in Westminster, MD. Thanks Jeannette!!! So here I am, making a quick appearance to share my wonderful find with all of you!

The minute I saw this stove I thought of my mom's mother's kitchen. Grandma had a coal burning stove just like this miniature one in her kitchen on the farm. She used to warm her iron on it (yes, the iron she used to press clothes), and she could bake and cook anything in it. The thing I remember most was her hand cut kluski noodles she used to cut with a long knife on a big board on the kitchen table, while a pot of homemade chicken soup simmered on the stove top. Mmmmm.....I can taste it now.

With no thermometers or modern temperature regulators in these things, how in the world did they make such fantastic homemade cakes without burning them?

Oh yeah! I found a new bead finding in a thrift store a few months ago and managed to make a new mold from it - I'm thinking....the "feet" for a new cake pedestal design?

The new doll my youngest daughter purchased for her lovely little farmhouse! Gibby's has the best looking little dolls! The perfect addition to her little kitchen!

I have big ideas for this baby, just hope I can muster the energy to bring them to fruition.

Bake Shop Teacher Magnets

Just got out of the hospital after a pesky autoimmune flare up so I'm a little behind posting comments, and reading my own (yikes!) but I'll get back in the game soon. A little tired, no, make that...a LOT tired, still. I plan on spending the next few weeks getting lots of rest. 

I did have a little bit of time and energy to snap some pictures of the magnet sets I created for my daughter's elementary school teachers as an end-of-the-school year niftie giftie. We attached heavy duty disc shaped magnets under the prep boards so the magnets can hold up lots of papers or pictures, or whatever. 

I can't wait to see what I've missed on all of your wonderful blogs! Going to take a few weeks hiatus to rest and recoup, and will be back soon. Hope everyone is doing well! :) Happy mini-making! 

Click on the photos to supersize....

Spring Piano Recital

Sooo....even moms with health problems gotta roll with the tide once in awhile. Especially when spring time brings a zillion performances, concerts, and school activities that the kids are involved in, and that I love attending no matter how awful I feel. Well, one of our daughters happens to have the best piano teacher in the world. And I was wracking my brains trying to think of something special to give her teacher after the spring piano recital to show her how much we appreciate her. And then I thought! - a Mini Scene! But what kind? What would it include??? So I started trolling my favorite websites and mini-supply connections. And lo and behold! There it was! A lovely miniature grand piano that plays music - at Gibby's Dollhouses and Miniatures in Westminster (the last of a dying breed around these parts - a real brick and mortar dollhouse store where you can still shop in person and peruse the minis). 

Before I knew it, the idea started to grow! The scene would include the piano, and a "teacher" and a "student" eagerly paying attention....

Click on the photos to make them super big! :)

The "tree" platform is a salute to the lovely woods that surround us along the drive to lessons. 

The piano plays Beethoven's "Fur Elise" - ironically this was the song my daughter played for the December recital! I was so psyched when I realized it - what better way to really personalize the gift?

And, the piano teacher's beloved boxers - Kitz and Carly. Kitz (the tan boxer) passed away this spring, but I thought it appropriate to still include her. These are the gentlest dogs, always greeting us at the door when we come in for lessons, furiously wagging their little stumpy tails and waiting to be petted and adored. 

Some of the music my daughter has played for previous recitals. Another way to personalize. 

It wasn't easy finding boxers with ears that weren't cropped (like Kitz and Carly). And I had to apply a coat of dark paint to match the real life Carly's dark brindle coat.

Treats and confections for the piano teacher's book club meeting later that evening. 

The books are there, ready for discussion time. (I'm not great at book making, the pages do not open or turn, they are simply a block of polymer clay with page indentations made with one of my polymer clay knives.)

Our piano teacher always gives her students a huge Hershey candy bar at Halloween time. I thought it would be nifty to toss a few into this scene. 

I went a little crazy with the mini foods. ;) Think I have enough? The rainbow cake is there again too! It's one of my mini "specialties." 

I am also in the process of catching up with all of your delightful blogs. I made some progress the other day and got to quite a few but my health is still dogging me pretty badly so I'm making my way to commenting on everyone's outstanding work, a little at a time. Looking at all of your lovely blogs really brightens my day! :) As do your comments on my blog!

Purple Pastries for Lupus Awareness Month

I've certainly done plenty of kvetching about my health (or, lack thereof)..sore and painful joints, difficulty walking, and the overall drop dead exhaustion that kept me away from mini making for months (definitely NOT a good thing for my mind either because miniatures make me sooooo gosh darn happy). My very active lifestyle, a vital piece of my former self, evaporated before my very eyes as complications set in and worsened over the last two years, and somewhere along the line...I rediscovered minis and polymer clay.

For more than a decade I've ridden the roller coaster of complications caused by several autoimmune diseases, and lupus is one of them. Over this last year especially it's been kicking my butt!! Then it hit me (an idea, not the lupus ;). May is Lupus Awareness Month! Time to put on the purple. So I had an eensy ounce of energy and I decided, heck yeah! Let's make a couple of awesome purple desserts!

Purple purple everywhere! Vanilla cupcakes with purple tinted frosting...

Purple macaroons, purple checkerboard shortbread, and a yummy vanilla layer cake adorned with purple and white flowers. 

Here's to more treatment options and research, better and faster diagnostics, and a much better quality of life for lupus sufferers everywhere. :)