Magical Mayhem - Happy Halloween 2019!

Happy Halloween! Mr. Bones wants to invite you to come inside!

I think Mr. Bones looks very inviting. And his long-lost relative is coming out to visit as well. But our trick-or-treater looks a little nervous - maybe because the long-lost relative just popped up.

Inside it's magical mayhem.

Even the witches look a bit shocked.

Pre-party, there was quite a lot of activity going on. The cat doesn't know if he should chase the mice away from the cheese OR watch that iron.

The magical iron is from Mainly Minis

Ok, he's scared away the mice, but now the milk is magically pouring.

But at least there will be cookies!

Happy Halloween!

Tutorial for Magically Pouring Liquids

As part of making the diorama for the school library, I decided to learn how to make magically pouring miniatures. I had printed out the tutorial from Lesley Shepherd in 2015! Only 4 years ago.

 It seemed intimidating, but it was much easier than I expected. 

I used clear tar gel and invisible hanging wire. I highly recommend Lesley's Tutorial.

It's quite addictive once you start. 

Here are my witches making a magically pouring mixture.

Someone must have called for some milk with their cookies.  I need this magical milk in my house. Usually it's me as the magical mom making the milk appear.

(The grey glass is a pen cap cut-off). 

Here's a potion for making baby dinosaurs! 

(The dragon book printable was purchased on Etsy from LittleMaggieShop and the dragons were purchased on Ebay. Like magic :))

Here are my attempts at cookies from Randall Castle's tutorial in AM November 2019. I used a toothpick instead of a needle, but next time I will follow the instructions. :)

Have a great week!

What can a writer imagine? New Halloween-themed Diorama for School Library

My son's school librarian asked me to do a Halloween-themed exhibit for the library. I probably should've done a spooky house (maybe next year), but instead I created this.

It's a writer who is writing and imagining all sorts of spooky magical mayhem, which is then coming to life in the room.

Here's a close-up of the writer's desk. With Halloween cookies from the tutorial in American Miniaturist October 2019 by Randall Castle and magically pouring milk from the tutorial by Lesley Shepherd. 

The ghost above is from the complimentary projects by Ann Vanture. I recommend subscribing to her newsletter.

A potion is magically mixing from the spell book.

I put Stephen King's quote about writing on one side of the box.

And this picture explaining the diorama on the back side:

Here's the third wall-- all the wood is scraps from my friend Ketsia at Itty Bitty Adventures:

The skeleton is frantically trying to get his cape ironed so he can go to a Halloween party:

Here's a top view:

There are crumpled pieces of paper around the desk of frustrated attempts by the writer.

I made Scary Gary the spider out of pipe cleaners and stickers.  

And another view:

Happy Halloween! And Happy Imagining and Creating!

N.A.M.E. Day Crafting Table

This year's N.A.M.E. Day project was a crafting table "island style." 

(N.A.M.E. is the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts.)

Every year, I buy the N.A.M.E. Day kits and I never make them. I just add them to my growing kit pile. So this year I signed up for an online NAME Day where I met online with other NAME members of the NAME online group and made the kit. 

I love NAME events. As usual, there were drawings for prizes. I won the grand prize--a 1/144 dollhouse for my crafting room.

I'm so happy I actually finished it and I love the cherry wood.  It was a beautiful kit cut by Tom Walden. 

Now I kind of want to work on building out my craft room. Years ago, there was a NAME online houseparty where the Thursday night project was a craft room, so I have a little craft room, but this table won't fit in there. 

But I'm supposed to be working on my restaurant kitchen, the castle and my bookstore. And I want to make a Halloween scene too. 

Dilemmas, dilemmas.

I hope everyone has a great week!