Trees and Podiums...

Started out the day in the shop working on the tree. After painting the trunk, I decided to paint some of the branches too. It looks more like a tree and less like a bush now. I dry brushed it with two darker colors and was very happy with it.

Once it was planted in Larry & Louie's outdoor showroom, I asked them what kind of tree it was. They just gave me a look. "What?" I said. They both just rolled their eyes and looked at me like I was a moron and said, "A Minion Tree of course!"

So we all have the privilege of seeing first hand the one, the only, Minion Tree! LOL! Shot another picture of the layout in front of my big plant for a background.

I call it "Planty" because I have no clue what it is. It was a rescue that I brought back to life and it has tripled in size in less than two years. It's now almost as tall as I am. I've looked online and can't find anything like it....must be a Minion Tree! ;) After the tree was done, I put a final coat of paint on the church pews and the minions wanted to try them out for size. Looks like they all fit!

I had another window punch-out kicking around on my workbench and thought I should make a podium for the pastor. I used a piece of 1/12 scale porch post I had saved from the Steampunk Summerhouse cut to size and a small rectangle of thin plywood. The pastor couldn't wait for the glue to dry to try it out.

This is what it looked like once I took it out of the clamps...or clothespins....

Then of course, we had to try everything out in place to .....see how it will look! LOL! I think they were having a church meeting about what color the pew cushions should be....could be a long meeting.

So this is the Minion Village so far.

Once the church is done, there will be only one building left! I have an idea for another small scale project that I think you will like. Have a great day!

A Tree and Church Pews...

Got out the masking tape and added a bit to the tree trunk for Larry and Louie's outdoor showroom.

Then I mixed up some glue and water for the paper mache part.

Note to self, next time add water to the glue, not the other way around. I mixed up enough to do a whole forest! LOL! I dipped some small pieces of paper towel in the glue mixture and wrapped it around the trunk.

I'm not sure if it looks like a tree trunk or a tree with a broken leg....or should I say limb! LOL!

Looks like this is going to take awhile to dry, so I pulled out the pieces for the church. After punching out the windows, I thought, hmmm, these scrap pieces would make great church pews.

After I cut them to size and did some sanding, the pastor stopped by to see how the work was progressing.

If he looks familiar it's because he's a cousin to the banana farmer down at the banana plantation. He approved of the design and I glued them together. While waiting for the glue to dry, I decided to cut down the church like I've done on several of these builds. Just one window shorter in length will give me more room on the base to add landscaping and a sign out front. So I cut the walls shorter in length, cut the floor shorter, and cut the tabs off the back piece.

The floor got a coat of stain and two coats of finish

and then of course we had to try out the pews. They are pastor approved!

Then the laundry started creeping into the shop so I had to go deal with it! LOL! Tomorrow we will see if the tree trunk is dry and then do some sanding on the church. I have a few ideas I think you might like so keep watching! Have a great day.

Still more Digging...

Woke up this morning thinking that the greenhouse setting needed a tree. I was thinking it through and had a plan in mind. Unfortunately, I still tend to think in 1/12 scale and the tree I had in mind would have been huge! LOL! Okay, lets scale it down a little. I have ziploc bags full of silk and plastic plants and flowers that I brought from Cape Cod. Christmas Tree Shoppes and Jo-Ann Fabrics were always well supplied with artificial flower sprays and quite a few had come home with me. When we moved, I cut them all apart and put them into storage bags for future use.....the future is now! LOL! I found a few pieces I thought would work and glued them together with E6000.

I have to find my floral tape to finish this, so set it aside to work on the remaining gardens. I was going to keep the back simple, but Larry and Louie insisted we go all out in order to display all they can do. What a couple of slave drivers! When I started to get sunburned, we moved the whole operation indoors. I think this should qualify as a work related injury, don't you? ;)

So here is what the back looks like right now.

I have to admit, these guys really know their stuff. Then Goliath hauled in all the stone for the walkways and I set to work. I read about how to do egg carton stonework online and started glueing down the pieces. Once they were all in place, I brushed on a thick coat of white glue, then moistened my finger tips and smoothed it into place. I used a blow dryer on it to partially dry the surface and pressed down any stones that were sticking up. I have never done this before and this was really fun! All this time, I hesitated because I didn't want to mess it up....just go for it! :) Here is how it looks all dry, no shading or painting, the glue just seems to enhance the stone all on its own. After the walkways were done, the greenhouse was glued in place too.

I really like it. I see a stone building in our future! There is one problem with landscaping indoors...it trashes your shop! LOL!

Here are Larry and Louie at their outdoor showroom with Goliath standing at the ready to open up the greenhouse. Pierre is there from the flower shop at Buns and Roses (yes, he has named himself too) to arrange for regular deliveries of fresh flowers. The only thing that needs finishing is the tree.

So after that gets some work, it will be time for a cleanup and then on to the next building! Have a great day!

Digging in the Dirt...

Whew! Am I glad to be able to sit down for a few minutes! Larry and Louie had me building flower beds all afternoon and I was up to my elbows in mulch. It all started innocently enough, I decided to paint the underside of the board I'm using for a base. I haven't done this on the other builds and when I look up at the village, I can see the unfinished undersides of the bases.

After two coats of paint I added my signature and the date, then used a couple of coats of clear matte spray for protection.

Then it started, Larry and Louie came driving up in the truck with a load of mulch and flats of flowers. They even managed to fit a birdbath in there. They climbed down from the truck laughing and talking and then stopped dead in their tracks. "What have you been doing all morning?" said Larry. "I thought you would have the flower beds all built by now!" said Louie. Okay, okay let me get my gardening gloves at least....said me. "No time for that!" they said in unison. So I started carving up styrofoam and splashing brown paint around and this is how it is starting.

After the paint was dry, I covered them with white glue and poured on the mulch....or tea leaves, whichever you prefer. :) Larry and Louie had to give my work a thorough inspection before the plants went in

and all this glue and mulch were beginning to stick to me too.

After hours in the hot sun, all the plants were in and watered and I stopped for a much needed break.

I took orders all afternoon, I don't know how I got roped in with this landscaping business. There's still a couple more beds to do, then there's stonework to be done for both walkways. I think I will let Goliath lug all the stone, I'm pooped. Have a great day!

Painting, Painting and more Painting.....

So today was supposed to be landscaping day. I looked through all my tiny artificial flowers and chose a few that I thought would make a nice flower garden. Then I remembered the resin garden piece I found in the thrift shop for 50 cents. I got it down from the shelf and I think it fits perfectly with the greenhouse.

I was playing around with the arrangement when I noticed that the paint job on the resin piece was a bit rough. Well, I thought, I'll just get out my tiny brush and a couple of paints and we'll take care of that. Okay, so I might need my second pair of glasses and maybe a few more paints and hmm, now that I've touched up the leaves, the flowers could use some touching up. That gold could use some help too and whoopsie I got some color on the green so I have to go back and touch up that. Oh, I missed a spot on the pink.....got some pink on the green....touch that up....And on and on it went! LOL! After spending hours on this 50 cent item I think its finally done and I am all googly eyed! Here's the before and after for you to judge.

It does notice more in person and I did have fun doing it so I guess it was worth it! More landscaping tomorrow! Have a great day!

Finishing up the Barn...

Got quite a bit of work done today on Larry and Louie's barn. I started with several colors of dry brushing on the siding and the roof. All the barns that I looked at had sections of rust on the roof like this.

So as I was deciding how to place the barn and the greenhouse together on the base, Larry and Louie came by to tell me that they purchased another lot in the Minion Village. They want to set up the barn on the lot out of town and have the greenhouse in town. These guys are always full of surprises! I could see their point though, who wants a big compost pile next to that pretty greenhouse....so I adjusted my layout and started putting together a setting for just the barn.

Once I decided on the layout, I decided to make a nice compost pile for them. I started with a piece of styrofoam that was kicking around. I trimmed it a bit with my utility knife and poked and pressed it into shape.

After a coat of brown paint, glue was applied and a couple of layers of tea leaves from a tea bag were pressed on. Looks like a bird dropped a couple of sunflower seeds on the pile!

I spent a good part of the afternoon glueing on a patchwork of grass and tea leaves and added a few pots and a black plastic wagon wheel that I painted and aged.

Bob takes care of the truck for Larry and Louie and is very proud that his barn has a quilt square. He also has the prettiest compost pile in town! LOL!

Tomorrow we will start work on the setting for the greenhouse. Have a great day!

Burning the Midnight Oil....

Had trouble falling asleep last night so figured I may as well get up and putter on Buns & Roses. I had just been laying there thinking through how I wanted to do things anyway, may as well get up and do them! The first thing I wanted to take care of was the wire from the interior light. I wanted to take it around to the back in the least noticeable way possible. Using a toothpick, I dabbed a thin line of E6000 on the top edge of the end wall. More went on one side of the wire. I waited 2 minutes and then put them together. I used some of my inexpensive Harbor Freight clamps to hold the wire in place.

Since this should realistically dry for 12 to 24 hours, my next step was to glue the building onto the base. This was a little easier said than done as this building was just a bit wonky and not perfectly square. So I resorted to a little brute force with my handy clamps.

As that was drying, I had an Uh Oh moment when I realized that it would now be very difficult to get the grass along the sides with those window boxes so low. I had a meeting with Larry and Louie and they drew up a landscaping plan for me and told me not to worry, they had it all under control.

They wanted to create something more formal for the French owner yet something colorful for the manager, Slash. So closely cropped lawn and pots of sunflowers were installed and admired by all the minions who have now decided to casually walk back and forth while they watch the progress.

The pots of sunflowers were actually made of resin and purchased years ago from a sale bin. I put a little white glue on the "dirt" part and sprinkled on some tea leaves from a tea bag and touched them up a little here and there.

The landscapers left early and said they'd be back tomorrow so I gave the keys to the new owner and a second set to the manager so they could set up all the equipment inside.

One side of the building was pulling up from the base, so I installed another clamp and went back to bed for the night.

This morning I had an idea for a fairy house, (yes, I've been looking at Pinterest again..)and started drawing up a plan. If the minions catch wind of this, I am in deep trouble as they want their village done before I do anything else. And there are also way more of them than there are of me and I do like sleeping in safety at night.....maybe just drill a few holes for the windows.....Hey! Come back here with that! He took my sketch! Sigh, I guess I have to start the next building soon, the fairy house will have to wait. Have a great evening!

Landscaping and Interior!

The first thing I did today was get pictures of the interior of the restaurant. What would have been really funny was a picture of me in my big fluffy robe trying to get these pictures through the teeny windows! LOL! But we won't go there! Front view and side view.

I thought there should be a parking lot on the side, although I haven't seen any minion cars driving around the shop. They do need a place for the smoker though, so parking lot it is. I used Ceramcoat Rain Grey but it looked a little too flat to me. You know how I can't leave anything alone, so I got out a small brush and proceeded to stipple some Craftsmart Grey all over.

I've never painted concrete before and I guess this is pretty close. Besides, this project leans toward the cartoonish side so I guess we are good. I figured I was at the point where I could glue the house to the base, so with a deep breath, it was done.

I wanted just a little landscaping on this project, so I used some Bella Espresso acrylic paint on the areas I wanted to work on first.

Once that was dry, I spread a thick layer of white glue and sprinkled on some tea leaves from a tea bag. I pressed it down good and then tapped the extra off.

A while back, Hobby Builder's Supply had a sale on tiny Squeeze-me bushes, so I glued some of those on too.

After drawing some lines on the parking lot with a ruler and a yellow colored pencil, I would say this part of the build is complete.

I have to look up metal roof ridge treatments to see what I need to make to cover the wire from the light. Also need to finish painting the battery pack.. I have a 50% off coupon that's burning a hole in my pocket....I think a trip to Michael's is in order! Have a great day!