tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52215032024-03-14T18:13:38.280-06:00Simply CuriousPersonal blog detailing the things I've learned (frequently the hard way), the things I've made, and the things I've done or want to do. Topics will include sewing, miniatures, cooking, school, travel and miscellaneous bits of randomness that please me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger283125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-89170505646131970172021-01-05T22:19:00.011-07:002021-01-08T12:39:50.200-07:00Shoulder DragonsIt's me again. Well, ok. 'us.'It's time I introduced Maxwell. Maxwell Overlooking Pearl, to be exact.Maxwell is my shoulder dragon. I made him from Simplicity pattern 8715, an amazing design by BeeZee Art. Seriously, check out her website, she has a ton of amazing stuffed animals and plushy patterns!I'd wanted a shoulder dragon for a while. To be more specific, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-28844860184759948452020-02-10T12:10:00.000-07:002020-02-10T12:56:09.785-07:00Micro Willowcrest - finished!Without further ado - the finished 1:144 scale Willowcrest.
Here's the exterior:
And the interior:
And here are some final interior details that I haven't discussed yet!
I found the artwork on Pinterest, but I'm not sure who the artist is. Yes, I made books. It was easier than it looks.
I cut thin strips Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-48552171489455460832020-02-09T18:00:00.000-07:002020-02-09T18:00:00.721-07:00Micro Willowcrest - landscapingI wanted to add just a bit more detail to the exterior, since there was a base for the house to sit on and the batteries to hide in. I kept it simple, though I had plans of flowers. I couldn't get the flocking to stick to the foam!
I used green floral foam (you don't need much at all!) and shaped it carefully. I thought it would require a knife, but in the end, I pulledUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-86921176254615555012020-02-08T18:00:00.002-07:002020-02-08T18:00:43.233-07:00Micro Furniture - the kitchenI blame the kitchen for most of my frustration and inability to finish this project. Or, more accurately, the big windows that prevented me from putting in a kitchen in the first place. It took me until last week to finally figure out how I could do it. I ended up blocking up one of the windows, and put half of the kitchen on an interior wall.
I have a kitchen set, but they're Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-5225163475555113312020-01-31T16:00:00.000-07:002020-01-31T16:00:16.516-07:00Micro Furniture - Sofa and ChairAfter verifying that yes, my sofa pattern works, I set out to test paper. What would happen if I used something thinner? Something thicker? Something patterned? Something textured? At this scale, every tiny bit counts.
I went through my paper stash and picked three pieces of paper that I thought might look good as a sofa. It was easy to test, I simply held Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-48952560753748809272020-01-29T15:46:00.000-07:002020-01-29T18:56:14.814-07:00Micro Willowcrest - FurnitureI own a Silhouette Cameo, and for years I've been wondering if it was possible to make dollhouse furniture with it. It seemed it would be easy enough for 1:48 scale, but could it do something as tiny as 1:144? After successfully making some really tiny cuts for a Christmas ornament, I decided to test it.
First and foremost to determine is scale. Even tiny differences Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-8771946605292874252020-01-28T12:50:00.002-07:002020-01-28T12:50:46.447-07:00Micro Willowcrest - Light FixturesMy house is lit and controlled by a button. It's ridiculously exciting. I don't HAVE to disguise those bulbs, but I want to!
My crafting stash is currently in storage, two time zones away. It's painful. I've had to start over. Fortunately, I had gotten into making knitting stitch markers and had started building up my tiny bead stash again.
Here's what I hadUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-19266287020199548502020-01-28T11:56:00.000-07:002020-02-01T15:12:39.205-07:00Micro Willowcrest - lighting a 1:144 scale houseOh, look. It's been four years.
What can I say? Life has been busy, and I started sharing my projects on Facebook because, well, I get responses there.
BUT, I started posting about my 1:144 scale Willowcrest here, and I'm going to finish it here, so let's keep going! Here's where we left off:
Bathroom and bedroom furnishings and walls completed. The next thing to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-52957062868720571562017-01-11T18:13:00.001-07:002017-01-11T18:13:40.708-07:00ONELUCKYBUG.COM UPDATE!*waves hands around*
This will soon be the new home of oneluckybug.com. It has been sort of planned for years, since my web site (since 2003!) has basically been a glorified blog anyway, but now that plan has escalated due to a dramatic increase in costs from the current web host.
I'm going to do my best to recreate everything on there on here in one form or another, although I think theUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-77418303770132622712016-11-01T20:36:00.000-06:002017-01-11T20:05:02.411-07:00Costuming Part 2
I'm just going to toss these up, out of order. Do we really need an explanation at this point?
That's CAPTAIN Poppins, Thank YOU!
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-59873478518175942352016-11-01T20:21:00.001-06:002016-11-01T20:27:17.335-06:00The Hat.
When I discovered I had a hit on my hands with this costume, I realized I had better step up my game a bit. My Mary Poppins hat has been a big success, but I still feel it's a little too big for my head and a bit unstructured. I tend to tilt it up when wearing it, which means the underbrim shows up in photos rather than the flowers. It was a good start, but I was ready to do Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-1254329392324107992016-07-30T22:46:00.000-06:002016-07-30T22:46:29.534-06:00Fancy-Dan Steampunk HatI had to set aside the Micro-Willowcrest for the moment, I just realized Myths and Legends Con is two weeks away!
There's no way I can generate a whole new costume in time this year, but I thought I'd at least build up a few more accessories. Today I finally finished my Steampunk hat!
The hat is a vital accessory for almost every costume. It helps to define who you are and what Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-75186475497030049082016-07-24T17:02:00.001-06:002016-07-24T17:02:39.664-06:00Micro-Willowcrest - fine tuning scaleHaving mentally completed the second floor, I've moved down to the first. I wanted to fit both a kitchen and a living room down there. I have a basic metal kitchen set I bought years ago from Anita McNary, plus the living room kit I had picked up from Diminutive Details.
Here I ran into a problem I knew I'd eventually have. The scale was off. Either my kitchen set was Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-31687750706138710532016-07-17T21:19:00.001-06:002016-07-17T21:19:17.381-06:00I spy with my micro eye . . . I got totally hung up on printing wallpaper, so I'm not as far along as I would like to be.
My printer is probably about 12 years old, and I bought it for $35 at Big Lots. It's printed out tons of school papers, crafts, cards, letters, and even wedding invitations and table decorations. But in this digital age my use has been steadily declining, and in the past few years, it seems Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-85880230017105180402016-07-10T20:28:00.000-06:002016-07-10T20:28:57.636-06:00Micro Willowcrest - beginning furnishingsAt a miniature show a few years ago, I fell for a series of 1:144th scale room kits by Diminutive Details. So cheap, so detailed, and at the time I bought multiple 'rooms' I wasn't even thinking about that scale. They just followed me home!
I decided I had better pull them out and work on them, particularly as I couldn't progress any further on the micro Willowcrest until I got my Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-48689474152370872472016-07-07T18:05:00.004-06:002016-07-07T18:05:42.194-06:00More on the Micro-WillowcrestMy delight with the 144th scale Willowcrest kit (Aegean Sea) waned a bit when I explored deeper into the box. The kit comes with furniture, but I was highly unimpressed with it. First and foremost, it is NOT to scale. Not even close. Check out the bed below:
The white board is the second floor - the entire interior of the house. (Sorry for the blur, my phone Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-42582666992397905852016-07-04T23:22:00.001-06:002016-07-04T23:22:07.046-06:00Willowcrest side quest - where I get out the shrink ray!I have the sneaking suspicion that the Willowcrest is never going to be finished. I'm now attempting to 'let it go' emotionally and will likely get rid of it physically at some point. I LIKE living in an apartment sized space, and I foresee lots more moves and small spaces in the future, and since the last movers refused to touch it. . . well, it's just going to be a pain for Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-21593979493784323962016-06-04T22:46:00.001-06:002016-06-04T22:55:24.828-06:00South Dakota AdventureVacation Destination for 2016 - South Dakota?
I've never really thought about South Dakota before. What springs to mind is 'vast amounts of nothing', 'snow', and probably 'Indians.' 'Laura Ingalls' probably should have come up, too, but I don't know that I ever paid much attention to where she actually was in her stories until recently.
After having been there, what comes to mind isUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-16807360044444263412016-05-30T22:06:00.001-06:002016-05-30T22:09:00.068-06:00To Do List
I'm in for it this summer! If you need me, I'll be at my sewing machine.
I spent Memorial Day weekend at fabric stores, or making laps around the bed, attempting to straighten fabric on the cutting board.
Hancock is closing, and I just keep heading up there with ideas for future projects. Then I kept going to JoAnns because of the Simplicity $1 pattern sale, and fabric Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-30595675307395815092016-04-13T18:52:00.001-06:002016-07-30T23:09:57.761-06:00Some costuming
*Dusts off Blogger*
My poor craft room still hasn't quite recovered.
I've been so very busy! Working was not enough, we decided to MOVE so we could be closer to work! That's what I accomplished, a lot of packing and unpacking and purging of items, as we moved to a much smaller space.
Around all that, I managed to make a few costumes for various events. I'm justUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-48144221387062541232015-08-28T22:39:00.002-06:002015-08-29T11:42:57.110-06:00A Little FairyTaleI don't know what it is about Myths and Legends Con that brings on a massive creative spurt, but this year I again found myself madly sewing in the weeks leading up to the event.
It really started with the custom corset by LoriAnn Costume Designs. When I got it, it immediately started whispering that it didn't WANT to have anything to do with Steampunk, and began suggesting fairy to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-78977412718516694282015-06-07T16:57:00.000-06:002015-06-07T17:03:52.844-06:00Steampunk Leadville 2015I'm not sure how I found out about this, but probably a random Internet search for local Steampunk events. It was in a town we were interested in visiting, on our anniversary, and Steampunk themed. We mutually agreed to do it.
My outfit is still pretty basic. I'm going for Steampunk Lady Explorer. The skirt is a 25 yard skirt commonly used in belly dancing.  Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-48160145076390551822015-05-25T15:46:00.003-06:002015-05-25T15:46:48.892-06:00Kitchen Faucet!
Remember that disappointingly small kitchen faucet I bought from miniatures.com?
I searched for a ridiculously long amount of time for a replacement. I even scoured Shapeways.com in the hopes that I could possibly get one 3D printed. I even downloaded Sketchup with the idea of creating my own design to print. Three hours of frustrating work with a program that kept Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-9003965553328608792015-05-24T22:50:00.000-06:002015-05-25T17:23:14.310-06:00always more lightingI got my pot lights hooked up! I'm a little disappointed, actually. They're not as bright as I hoped, and so the kitchen has a soft, deserted, late night feel. The photo, of course, doesn't show this.
Here's a reminder of what it looks like on the other side. I painted the plastic with white nail polish to make them brighter.
Here are the trims:
I used Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5221503.post-90823926154819890312015-05-09T19:14:00.001-06:002015-05-09T19:14:26.501-06:00Willowcrest - kitchen lightingWhere did she go? What happened? Did she give up?
No, she got a job, and has been desperately playing real life catch-up.
But it was raining, and raining, and raining, and my motivation wavered horribly. I sent a whiny email to The Camp about not having time to make anything anymore. So of course today I perversely sat down and made something.
A mess! Well, a messUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0