A Year Of Doors: Backlog: one down, four to go

Okay folks, I got one of the doors done! Which I just realized really shouldn't be considered one of the backlogged doors because it is the April door, which since it's still April, this was when I was supposed to be working on it anyway.... but hey, that's still one door done.  Its' not actually completely done, as you'll see in the pictures, the edges are still rough/unfinished because it is not yet getting installed into it's little compartment in the tray or shadow box or whatever you want to call it (my instinct is to call it a tray, but I think Michael's, which is where it comes from, calls it a shadow box) because I'm not 100% sure on the finish/color for the shadowbox, so I can't really put it in permanently until that is finished being painted.  I did a coat of spray paint in almost the same color as the bare wood yesterday, because I already had the spray paint and I want a neutral color, but I don't think I want white (because I don't want it to look like it is part of the walls of the house on any of them with white facades) and I don't think I want gray (not sure it will really look right with all the house fronts/doors). So I think I'll be sticking with this, but I didn't have quite enough to give it as good of coverage as it should have, and I might also look at spray paint real quick at Walmart next time I go out to get groceries and either get another can of this color or see if there's anything else I might like better.  So in the meantime the facade and decorative pieces and everything are just sitting in their cubby for pictures, so ignore the rough edges and where stuff doesn't meet up completely flush and such, that will all be taken care of during its final installation.  I actually spent a lot longer on this door than I meant to, partly because I kept getting sidetracked from working on it and partly because, even though I had my original sketch, I did end up having a few decisions to make beyond that and any time I have to make decisions about something that I will have to commit to it takes me a while. Lol.

First, here's the original planning sketch again to remind you what the plans looked like:

This is of course the colored version.  At this point I didn't have any siding or anything drawn in, and actually I guess hadn't completely figured out even what the siding would be since I just have a "?", but I'm pretty sure from the get go I was picturing it with the white clapboard siding even if it wasn't "official" yet

 Now that you have that in mind again here are the pictures I took as I was working on it (didn't really take a lot of in-progress pics of a lot of it, but for most of it I don't think that really matters haha):

The first thing I worked on for this door scene was the carrot wreath for the front door.  I used teeny tiny dried baby's breath buds (they're on the regular baby's breath, they are just so tiny you have to really look for them, and there's not tons of them usually) for the tulips the wreath is made from

If I were making a real life wreath I would be wiring the stem of the tulips together to make the carrot shape, but for the miniature one I cut out a piece of paper in the size and shape I needed to use as a base to glue the flowers onto.

I glued them all on first and then painted them to look like orange tulips

I added ferns to the top and a tiny bow to finish the wreath off (although I do still need to probably go back and touch up the paint a bit because I messed it up a little working on the top and the bow.  This is also the only picture I have I think of the door before I painted it, so if that is of interest to you this is your chance to take a good look

the next thing I worked on was making the tiny giant Easter eggs for the topiary. I made them from oven bake clay, and this is them sitting in the urn (which you may recognize from several other projects and is actually a jewelry bead from Hobby Lobby). This is after they came out of the oven but before I did anything else with the topiary

I had made the eggs for the topiary pretty much right before bed one night intending to do the flowers and stuff for it the next day, but then I actually did the door and facade the next day during the day instead.  Again I didn't really get in-progress shots of this part of the project, but the "clapboard" is strips of card stock that I cut, and the wall itself is foam core board to give the window in the door and the sidelights some depth.  The "glass" for the door and the sidelights is just really thin plastic sheets.  Obviously the door was painted and I glued the wreath to the door

I went back to working on the topiary that evening and added flowers around its base and between the eggs (the flowers are more of the dried baby's breath buds and some other really tiny dried flowers I had that I had gotten when I made my florists shop, and I just painted some of them pink and some of them yellow, and left some white... which is kind of hard to tell in this picture, but it was night and the lighting isn't great in my craft room at night for pictures...)

Now this is the first picture I took thinking I was all done (remember the edges will get finished during the final installation haha), except for the door mat, because I couldn't find the sandpaper I bought to use as door mat material. (I ended up remembering that I offered my husband some of it and he had it with his stuff).  But after looking at it I felt like it needed something more, so I started thinking about what else I could put in the scene that wouldn't be too similar to stuff I have planned for other doors, and that would enhance not detract from what was already going on (for example I didn't really want more flowers or plants or something because I thought they would overpower the carrot wreath and topiary)

Then I remembered that I had some tiny bunny figurines.  At first I thought it was too big even to be a large statue, but I knew I wouldn't want it that color and I've got about 5 of them so I decided to paint it and see if that made it better or worse.  This is also the only picture I have right now of it before being painted.

After painting it I loved it, but then I wasn't sure if I really liked it on the other side of the door or......

If I liked it on the same side as the topiary.  I really was leaning towards the same side but then I was back to the other side looking to bare.  So again after spending probably way too much time going over possibilities I decided to try some oversized house numbers next to the door instead of regular sized ones over the door like I had been planning to do.

And I really like it this way.  The numbers are extra small number stickers that I had that I stuck on thin balsa and then cut out and spray painted matte black.  The numbers are the last 2 digits of the year and then the month.... which is what all the houses will be, but now that I'm looking at it I think I might switch the places of the year and the month so it doesn't look so much like a year itself. lol So it might end up being 0420 instead of 2004. Nothing's glued down yet, so I can change it up a little it need be...

A New Year Long Series

Now that I'm all caught up with posts of last year's series, I think it's time to talk about the series I will be working on this year. (which actually kind of started last year but literally in the last week of the year, so....). I'm tentatively calling it "A Year Of Doors" (which might stick or might get changed, I don't know yet lol).

  I really like the idea of having a series that was made up of small projects that I could (at least in theory) work on and finish all in one weekend/a day or two, and thought I might like to do another similar series.  The inspiration for this series actually comes from a couple different places.  One of which is one of my Pinterest boards that I had been pinning to for a while, but wasn't sure I'd ever really be able to use most of the ideas.  I love making wreaths, and decorating the front door and around it on our porch for various seasons and holidays, and I had been pinning wreath ideas for quite some while, but of course I only have limited doors in my real house (and limited storage space for wreaths) and I pretty much already have wreaths for everything. I don't think I'll be getting rid of any of them anytime soon and changing them out for a different one, because I still really like them all and they are all still in good shape, so it doesn't look promising for much full size wreath making in the near future.  The other inspiration was that last spring we visited my aunt and uncle in Georgia who live in the Atlanta area and one of the things we did while we were there was to spend part of a day looking for some of the installations for the Atlanta street art project Tiny Doors ATL.  Which is just what it sounds like tiny (dollhouse sized) doors in various location around the city. Which were so cute and awesome! We weren't able to see all of them, but we definitely plan on taking a day to find as many of the rest as we can next time we are down that way!.

  So towards the end of the year, between Christmas and New Years as I was starting to think about this year, the idea came to me to do a series of tiny doors of my own. I wanted to have another series of quick little projects, and also it would give me an opportunity to make some of the wreath ideas I had saved on Pinterest.

I first thought to just do holidays, but then I decided I would do one for each month and work on them one at a time throughout the year in the month they represented. (which truth be told it's now mid April and I've yet to completely finish any of them, but I'm hoping to take some time out later this week or next week and get caught up lol).  I debated a bit about what scale I wanted to do them in, I knew I didn't probably want to go as big as 1:12 just for the sake of not taking up so much room to display them all together when they are completed, but I did consider if I wanted to do them in 1:24 scale to be a little bigger and different than my typical 1:48 scale work.  In the end I did decide to just stick with quarter scale, with really two major reasons for making that choice.  For one, along with all the other planning decisions, I was contemplating how they would be displayed when finished, keep in mind they are just going to be front doors and the surrounding facade/house front area so they needed to be mounted in or on something for display.  I toyed with the idea of frames and a couple other things (frames being the leader) until I came across a piece I had purchased quite a while ago at Michael's, thinking it would be good to do some sort of miniature scenes in.  It is an unfinished wood tray/shadow box with 6 compartments and I decided that it would be perfect for the doors. (I do have to get a second one though since there will be 12 doors)  The size of each compartment pretty much limited me to 1:48, but along with that the other main factor that played a role in the choice was that I would be able to possibly use items/supplies I already had.

So once all that was settled I started looking for more specific ideas for each door scene.  I wanted to kind of have a basic idea of what each month was going to be from the get go so that I could plan ahead a bit and make sure each door was different and unique. (which actually was another thing I took a little time debating.  I wasn't sure at first if I wanted all the doors the same and the decor just changed for each month or if I wanted each one completely unique, obviously I decided on each one unique.... I thought certain decorations would look better with certain style and colors and also couldn't decide what one style of door/facade I would want).  I decided to get started on the project right away and go ahead and do the December door in December 2019 so that the series would be completed by the end of November this year so that if I wanted to use it for the miniature show I participate in in December it would be ready to go...... and also because I was excited about it and wanted to get started right away..... And I did get started on it right away, but did not get very far immediately because I needed to get a few things for it, and then as typically happens to me I ended up getting wrapped up in other things and have only sat down to try to work on it again for a couple minutes here and there since then.  Of course now its April and I'm 4-5 months behind on the project, but we're also in the middle of a global pandemic and all supposed to be staying home as much as possible and social distancing, so, what better time to devote a few days to getting caught up. (good thing they are quick projects haha).  But for this post, if you've made it this far with practically no pictures, here's a few quick sketches I did for the plans for the first few doors, which should be fun to see how much changes in the actual making of the door.... (Also these aren't the best quality images for viewing over screen because the original sketches were just pencil on paper.... I did copy them and color them in some, partly to get a better idea of how the colors I planned actually look and partly to give a better idea for people seeing them on here or through other types of digital media.  If you click on the picture to view it full size it might make the original sketches a bit easier to see, but if not than just ignore them and enjoy the colored ones lol....)

I of course also am planning to finish Whimsy Street Shopping District this year as well, and am planning to get back to working steadily on the bookstore within the next month or two, but I really want to get this series caught up first....

{Four Seasons} Spring: Garden Tea Party

*the 4th project in my Four Seasons series, to see posts about the other three click here, here, or here

This post is probably going to be a lot more picture heavy than for the last 3.  I seemed to have taken a lot more pictures of this one, both as I was working on it and after it was completed, and then I also did a little photo shoot with it the other day, because it was a nice day out and after being at home for probably 3 weeks straight now with only a couple grocery store trips, and a couple trips to a local trail/park to take our dogs for walks, I felt like actually getting a little dolled up and taking some goofy pictures. (I actually do have plans to do another photo shoot wit this one with the little girl that I babysit for and setup a little tea party and have this one as one of the teacups on the table, but obviously that won't be happening anytime soon now).

When planning this project I kind of did it in two phases.... first planning a color scheme and general feel that I wanted to it and then doing a little research to make sure I was right about when certain flowers would be in bloom so that at least for the most part, what is in bloom at the same time in the miniature garden would actually be in bloom at the same time in real life. (Or at least close enough to not be completely ridiculous).  My original design on paper for the scene ended up not quite fitting well in actuality when I started to mock it up on the actual base, but the basic design didn't really change I just had to have a bit less in the front parts or the garden then I originally thought.  I had thought to have some low boxwood borders around the front edges of the plantings, but that didn't end up looking good/fitting well.  I also went ahead and put the table and chairs I had gotten for it together early on so that I could make sure I was leaving enough room for them while planning plantings and such

Once I had the basic plan I started making the plants for the garden.  While none of the plants were difficult to make they are somewhat time consuming, and (to me anyway) kind of tedious so I find I have trouble working on it for too long a stretch of time without taking a break from it.  I started with just making a few of each type to mock up one side a little more fully and then went from there.  The tall boxwood hedge along the back is foam core board bent into a curve and covered with green decorative sand from Dollar Tree. The hydrangea bushes are the material sold in the model railroad/diorama section for making bushes, trees, etc. and the hydrangea flowers themselves are tiny punched holes that are shaped and then glued to a tiny foam ball. The rose bushes are the same "bush" as the hydrangeas just shaped differently and the roses were made from pre-cut flowers kits that I had leftover from making "Willow: Florist and Garden Shop". The allium are little foam balls covered in a fine sand and painted, with a wire stem and leftover leaves from a different leftover flower kit to finish them off.

Once I had a better idea of how the garden would look more filled out with flowers I started playing around with different options for other garden decor.  I ended up putting the larger turquoise planters (which are actually beads from Hobby Lobby) with the 'iron orbs" (beads from Michael's) in them towards the back of the sides and didn't actually decide about what to put in the front until I was almost done with the whole thing.

With that decision made and the flowers finished up I glued some black decorative sand/fine gravel around the base of the plantings as mulch

With the plantings and mulch done it was time to set the table and chairs aside for the moment and glue the garden into the teacup. Oh and at some point in there I also covered the grass area with green ground foam

While the glue was drying, I got to work on the table and chairs.  I spray painted them white and made a tablecloth for it by printing a scaled down floral design onto white cotton fabric.  Like with the blankets for the fall picnic, I glued aluminum foil to the back of the table cloth to help it drape realistically (this time though I did make the foil slightly smaller than the fabric and glue the edges in a hem over it since I wasn't sure if being on the table like that if the edges of the back might show). I glued a tiny pink doily in the center and then moved on to the table settings

Like with all the pieces in this series there had to be a miniature version of the tea cup in it so I painted some teacups and saucers I had left over from another project to match.  I then printed plates for the place settings and plates to use to make a 3 tier server, on which I put (from top tier to bottom) Petit Fours, cupcakes with icing piped to look like flowers, and croissant sandwiches (I again used tiny stick on jewels from the scrapbooking department for the bread). I didn't end up putting anything else on the table (like utensils, tea pot, or floral arrangement or anything), partly because I would have had to probably buy something else, and partly because there was already a lot going on in this scene so I didn't want it to start getting too visually cluttered.

At that point I thought I was done, and even started taking "'finished" pictures, but there was just something about it that didn't seem quite right to me, so I ended up painting the black mulch dark brown, and it just made the garden pop so much more. (I real life I prefer black mulch so that's what I was planning on going with for this miniature, but it just wasn't quite right)

And then after a little more looking at it I decided I did in fact want something at the front of the garden on each side of the opening and went with distressed white low planters (beads again, that I painted) with round boxwoods in them.

And now for all the random finished photos, detail photos, and a couple photos from my silly little photo shoot the other day.