Mini Crates & Barrels

I know, I vanished again. I have been busy…I just keep forgetting to share! I’m at least two teapots behind (yep, I’ve painted four now this year – shh! Don’t tell my husband, LOL!)

But I’ve also been busy crafting lots of different things. Since my hubby finally made me a beautiful cabinet for two of my dollhouses (yep, need to share about those too), it’s inspired me to get back to finishing the houses I started renovating…and never quite finished. My pirate tavern has been calling especially loudly. So, I’ve been working on making some barrels and crates to help fill out the scene (they’re going to have a place on the front dock, aka project 79838261) and  there will be another mini scene below the tavern (project 78838262)  😉

Anyway, I wanted to share my progress with the crate and barrels. Front and center is my bartender, Brutus, there for scale, interest, and because he likes having his picture taken. 😉 They were easy, fun, and, my favorite: cheap! I used up recycled cardboard as well as old business cards I had around. My five year old daughter helped make a few barrels and crates, and they look terrific because of their imperfections, which fit the aged / beat up look I want. (Just a note that child labor in the craft room can be a total success!!) 😉

The tutorial I based this is on is a great one, over at Grim’s Dungeon. https://thegrinningskull.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/grims-dungeons-of-doom-scraping-the-barrel-making-mini-barrels/

Now, because I’m working in 1/12 scale, many of my barrels are bigger than his. For the largest barrels I found it actually worked better to use cardboard rather than card (I used recycled cereal boxes.) The heavier material (and my impatience) also meant I used the glued up for the larger barrels. The trick with the barrels is to only glue in the center and then pull them taunt to the edge. This way it hides the fact that there’s essentially empty space near the top (go check out the tutorial, and you’ll understand.)The crates were also easy. I was too lazy to use wood, since card and cardboard are so much easier to cut! I folded and cut up business cards and created a base, taping the heck out of them with masking tape. Then I covered each side in “planks” of more business card and cardboard. 

The painting really sells the whole effect. I’m sharing here the “in progress” shot plus the finished project. You’ll see that many of my barrels were white, pink, yellow, and cardboard looking. After painting them all completely black (make sure it’s a fairly good coat, especially washing to make sure you get in all those books and crevices – you’ll still find lots you missed while taking pictures for your blog 😉 -trust me!). Next I used just cheap acrylic craft paint in burnt umber and cinnamon brown and painted them as lousy as I could over the black. Some of it was dry brushing, other times, seriously, sloppy painting! The lines and streaks sell the idea of wood. The barrels bands then were painted either black, or with the silver bands, they were aged with black wash and brown dry brushing (same paint as on the barrels.)  I also went over the barrels with a black wash, taking off some of it, dabbing here and there which helped the aged look and again, to make them look less cardboard, more wood.

So, what do you think?? 

Next up I’m learning to make mini netting. And painting more teapots. 😉

Think a for stopping by! And remember: what happens in the craft room, stays in the craft room. 😉

Silverware Box Dresser Organizer

Remember that to-do list I had? Well, I got one of those items crossed off lickety-split: I used my old silverware to create a dresser organizer. It actually turned more into a re-purposing type of project rather than actual DIY.

My silverware box was in really good shape, so other than cleaning it up, even the lining was nice. The “hardest” part of the project was pulling out two of the wood divider things that were for holding the cutlery in place. And it was as easy and just giving it a good yank and twist and they popped right out.

Still, despite being a ridiculously easy project, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out – and a little annoyed I didn’t do it earlier. Seriously, it took me maybe an hour – and that included cleaning up my dresser, which was by far the most challenging bit. 😉

This weekend I also got up to making some miniature books which is a tad tedious in process, but the result is quite nice. Essentially, I stack pieces of thick card cut down to size and glue them together. Paint / color the edges of the card with a gold marker. Then cover it in either paper, or in this case, printed antique book covers I found online. I look forward to making a mini-room for them to someday find a home. 🙂

Oh, hey, and did you notice my nifty-new theme for the blog? It’s been awhile since I updated, so it seemed like the thing to do today. That counts as an accomplishment, right??

That is seriously about it for me this week. What have you been up to? Anything exciting?

Thanks for stopping by. And remember: what happens in the craft room, stays in the craft room! 🙂

 

 

Hi, and welcome to the chaos … er, the craft room

Hi! This is my first post here, and after spending some time posting all the pics in the gallery, I’m finally adding, you know, other content. 😉

January 2014 … and destined to change

So, I’m Shelly, and I love crafting. But for some reason, I haven’t really thought to share that online before. What’s sparked this new blog post is because I love my craft room … and as we remodel our basement, I have to give up my craft room up on the second floor and move down to dungeon – er, the basement. And I’m trying to think of this as a great opportunity to create an even better craft room, but it’s been harder than I thought at just the prospect of losing this haven.

Hence the picture. And part of why I haven’t done much tidying. Notice the bags of fabric on the floor? Empty storage boxes under the table? See, I’ve known about the possibility of this move for some time, which is why I’m kind of letting this craft room fall apart – which will make the new one all that more fantastic, and therefore not suck to dismantle what has been a labour of love for the past 5 years, and something I dreamed about for years before. (Who hasn’t dreamed of a place where you get to make a mess and then close the door and let it stay that way ’til you get back?)

But as I’ve been looking up new plans, I also found some of my ideas were really different, so I’ll be sharing the progress of the new craft room as well as projects and ideas here, with you. ‘Cause there’s something else you need to know about me: I love crafting, but I’m also cheap, which means if there’s a cheaper way to do it, I’ll find it. And I plan on doing the same thing as I create a brand new better-than-ever-dreamed-of-craft room, and all projects shared here.

So, come along on my journey. Have some fun. Don’t burn your fingers on the glue gun (or if you do, don’t tell anyone or you’ll probably get one of those lectures about being more careful). And remember: what happens in the craft room, stays in the craft room. 😉

Thanks for reading, and have a great week.