• Art - Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Minions diorama

    Creating miniature terrain and dioramas is a passion of mine although I rarely indulge myself in it. Silly, I know.

    I think one of the main issues it that I have to spray paint outdoors and it’s not really warm enough to do that 2/3 of the year. With that said, I was totally inspired to create a diorama after finding a couple Minion figures at the dollar store.

    I have a coworker that is a true kid at heart. She loves Disney. She loves Minions. She loves dinosaurs…especially T-rex. So when I saw the Minions, I tossed them in my basket with her in mind. I honestly was just going to sneak and leave them at her desk randomly. But then I decided to challenge myself to a diorama.

    This was what I came up with. The white structural pieces are a thick craft foam. I also used a cracker box and stir straws. I wish I had taken photos along the way but I get into a groove and don’t think about anything else.

    The backing plate is a plastic card that some game pieces came in from a collectable pirate ship trading card game I believe. It pays to never throw random stuff like this away. I figured that if I fill the various depressions with unique bits that it would appear like a control panel of sorts.

    The spray paint really starts to make it take shape. Provides the cohesive color to tie the whole thing together.

    Next I started on the paint. Adding layer upon layer to give depth and interest. Highlighting some areas, edges and so forth.

    I made a few barrels from paper cylinders that protected spark plugs. I punched circles from cracker box that were almost big enough. I filled the inside with hot glue to take up space then gently settled the cardboard circles in each end.

    This slightly open appearance screamed to have something leaking out of it. I used yellow and chartreuse paint to create some sort of ooze. After the paint was dry I added Diamond Glaze to give it a shiny, wet look.

    I gave some highlights to the goggly eyes and other panel pieces to emphasize the dome shaped buttons or screens.

    I used a plastic plug and the metal button off my jeans pocket to create an oversized control button. I figured the crazy looking minion would be just right to be manning the control while his partner with the hard hat looked on with a dopey smile.

    I love how the stir sticks work so well as piping or conduit.

    When I gave her the little diorama, she almost cried. She was so happy which in turn made my day!

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    T Tuesday: March in review edition

    Well, that month went by really quickly. I had planned to blog several times, even wrote down an outline during my lunch one day. Never happened. Such is life some times.

    There is no way I’ll be able to keep this in chronological order so I’m going to be random like my brain works.

    I have been creating a bit…not as much as I have been thinking about creating. Dumb, right!?!?

    There are days when all I can get myself to do is look at art and think about what I’d like to do instead of going downstairs and actually doing it.

    Like this piece I saved from the trash. I keep thinking about what I want to do with it. Journal covers most likely but I can’t get myself to commit.

    One day that I did make it to the craft room, I made these little fairy chairs. They are both fun and frustrating to create. The champagne cage wire is stiff and uncooperative.

    This week is my spring break. I’m using my time to tackle some projects such as sorting through all of my fabric and sewing supplies. I want to get them organized in a way that makes sense and makes it easy to find and use.

    I’m cutting small pieces into usable scraps that are ready to go. Yes, this is an ongoing project. I think I started it in February. Truth be told…I haven’t touched it in a few weeks.

    I did get some of my seeds started which makes me so happy. I still have more seeds to start this week. I feel like I need to put a shelf in my cart and add another light. Hmmm…another potential project.

    I’m fully vaccinated! Technically they say you aren’t totally covered until two weeks after the second shot but I’m so excited. The side effects I got from each shot were very manageable. Nothing major and nothing to take me completely out of commission like some people. Mr G gets his second shot next week and Mini-me gets her first this week. J hasn’t lucked out yet on getting his shot. He’ll likely have to wait until he comes back home for summer.

    Mini-me had yet another of her “lasts” a couple weeks ago. She had her last archery tournament. And technically her only one this season. It was a virtual tournament meaning they shot at “home” and turned their scores in. They were lucky enough to be able to continue with the tournament because they are Varsity. All non-varsity sports were paused due to an outbreak of a new COVID variant linked to some of the sports teams (not archery).

    I usually only brag about my kids but this really made my day. A slideshow was created at school with each of our names on a slide. The directions were to take 10 mins and let some of the people you work with know why they matter. Its cool that its anonymous but not going to lie…I wish I knew who wrote these wonderful things.

    I’ll leave you with two of my four new mugs. They were part of a silent auction at school to benefit LLS. There were actually 8 mugs in the set. The gal who won them thought for sure I was going to outbid her. She lamented that she really didn’t need 8 mugs. I suggested that we split them. Perfect! We each get a set of these beautiful mugs.

    The potters name is Peter Potter…which just makes me smile.

    Before sitting down to write this post, I was pulling out papers to make a new journal. I have been squirreling away all kids of bits of paper and treasures that I want to add to a more personal journal. The last one I created like this filled up super quickly. I’m going to try my best not to put too many pages in each signature so that there is still room to add bulky things to the pages. More to come on that.

  • Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    T Tuesday: worst quilt ever edition

    You know what that means…I’m linking up with Elizabeth and the gang to share a bit about my week…or weeks as the case may be.

    Worst quilt ever

    I’ll just rip the bandage off quickly…this is the worst quilt I have ever made. At first glance it’s not terrible but if you keep looking you begin to see all the issues. And boy are there a lot of them.

    The one thing that I do love is the no holds barred scrappiness of the quilt. No negative space or even plain solid to let your eye rest.  That was my intention. It’s the back that set the multitude of issues into play.

    Oh it’s like a trainwreck…so many things went wrong. But I just wanted to finish this dang thing. I was like Dory from Finding Nemo…

    Except it was just keep sewing, just keep sewing…

    It’s not beautiful but it will still keep me warm and snuggly on the couch so it does have a bit of a redeeming quality.

    I had to share the clever display case at school welcoming the kids back. So fun. There are signs all over the school letting the kids know how happy we are to have them back. I think they are really happy too! Today we welcomed back the second group of students as we are still in a hybrid learning model. So fun to see all those kids!  We did not get to go snowshoeing yet but I am still hopeful

    My COVID vaccine that was scheduled for Saturday was delayed until next weekend due to weather affecting the supply chain. The weather has been absolutely insane everywhere it seems.

    I leave you with my Bulldog mom mug. My bulldog is not coming home for Spring break. They only have two days off instead of a week. I’m not sure I’ll see him until he moves back home. *sniff*

    I just realized I’m going to need a new mug next fall… That one will make me a cougar mom. Hmmm…that sounds a little funny. LOL

    What are you doing today?