This and... that...

A little bit of fun ...

with the Title borrowed from Sandra's blog. After all, it was a This and That sort of day.

I took my Mini-me and Mini-Charlie along with me on our hike on Thursday. I thought it would be fun to show us looking for Fall colors.

Well, Charlie loves to investigate what I am doing. This time he photo-bombed the shot. I didn't mind, he was just checking things out.

I finally did get the shot.

In between cleaning the pasture and other mundane chores, I stopped to do a Halloween photo with my creepy doll head and a Lego Pizza Zombie.

After all, I have to stop once in a while and have a bit of creative fun.

This morning I went to the Farmer's Market. It was the last one for the season. I'll have to wait for May now to get all the goodies I used to get.

I got to see Ruth, she is a Mennonite who has a bake shop in a town about an hour away. Rich used to send me each week for some of her cinnamon rolls and pie. He loved his pie. Her pies are not super sweet but are absolutely delicious. Last year I purchased enough of her fruit pies to get us through the winter so Rich could have his pie!

Ruth was so happy to see me and asked how I was and how Rich was. I hadn't been to the Market most of this year.

I told her that Rich was gone. She stopped packing up the Apple Pie I was going to purchase ... she came around her table with tears in her eyes.

I got one of the longest hugs in the world.

Her hug was real. By that I mean it was long and it felt more than a pat on the back. There was true emotion and feeling behind it. She has never met my husband, but knew what he loved from her bakery. It was all I could do not to start sobbing when she did that.

I pulled out my wallet to pay when she finished putting the pie in a bag. She waved my money away and said it was a gift. She understands loss as one of her sons passed away last summer. She sighed and handed me the pie. I will treasure each bite.

Another vendor is a woman I used to work with as a Security Officer. We've known each other for many years. I purchased some of her wild looking gourds. We've had a booming year for squash, gourds, pumpkins, and anything from that veggie family. She bagged my gourds and then proceeded to add some more to my bag with a wink.

Things that are different now that I no longer feed the Meat and Potato man. My supper consisted of fresh squash along with beautiful yellow cauliflower, red onion, pea pods, kale, little turnips, and other veggies tossed in. I just have a taste for all the vegetables these days. Toss the veggies in a pan and sauté everything then put it over something else. Tomorrow I'll add some bacon to the mix to get my protein. 

The rest of my day included picking up logs and piling them to burn along with cleaning up more garden debris. 

The mules sorted through the garden debris and ate what they wanted from it. They are my garden recyclers.

Tomorrow looks like a nicer day than today. Charlie says he wants to go hiking. I guess we will take care of that. 

Here are a couple pictures of the really cute and gnarly gourds.

They are so pretty and interesting.

Tomorrow morning I may try and take a few shots of them lit up with candle light.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with some of the ornaments Ariel and I did last weekend. I finally got some acrylic glossy spray for them and ... Viola!

They are so pretty!

 

I'm a Winger!

I like making things up as I go along. I wing it when being creative. I don't plan, I do. Sometimes it is a fail, and sometimes it is a Win.

I decided to watch tutorials about 'making' terrain for sets and dioramas, most of the artists or creators drew up plans.

One fella who was using Junk he found around the house just 'winged' it.

That is my style. Take stuff and put it together to see what works and what doesn't work.

So, armed with old hair ties, a CPAP machine, tubing, garden mulch, cardboard, glue, spray paint, and paint...

I winged it....

I won't bore you with a ton of shots. I will offer 55 seconds of a series of photos with titles for what I did.

I discovered that I enjoyed working with cardboard more than the other materials. Cardboard is easy to cut into shapes that I want and when I am done with using it, I have no issue in recycling it.

Using the old CPAP machine was a great challenge. I cut apart the old and outdated hoses and enjoyed 'making' space junk out of them. Using mulch and chunks of wood as 'rocks' was fun also. I kept many of them loose so I could reuse them in different scenes. Of course I can toss the wood back into the flower beds too.

The process was a learning experience. 

I even used a screen grab of a wrecked spaceship to add a digital background to a shot.

The Lego Droid sort of gets lost in this shot, but photos that don't turn out perfect are how we learn.

Original:

This one almost feels too busy. A focus just on the little droids would have worked much better. But by trying this over and over, I will eventually come up with something decent.

I do like the detail of the background though, it looks rusty and very much like a space junkyard!

I did put a little balloon light inside the container that was bright blue.

My first photo of the morning was taken on the porch. It ended up being my favorite. It isn't just a shot of toys. He just looks so SAD!

Battle Weary Droid

This was the cardboard design I made. I think I like this little 'scene' best right now for a background.

I may make more of them with certain themes or ideas in mind.

I cannot image trying to 'make' this scene out of Legos. Besides, I like to mess around with paints and try new things all of the time.

I did watch videos on making terrain for wargaming sets. They were pretty interesting. I mostly was interested in those videos that used things that most people would have on hand.

Oh boy. I have a lot of boxes!!!

 

From Trash to Treasure?

So, last week we had horrid weather and I think I pulled lower back muscles or something else. It was painful to walk to bend to stand and well, if you've ever had that sort of pain, ... you will understand.

I spent some time reading library books, I spent some time staring out the window swearing that I'd never complain again about -10 degree weather, and of course spent time supervising the driveway rehab project.

Creatively, I felt stuck. Even with the beautiful foggy  mornings, I didn't feel too inspired. Nothing really got me going. That is until I was bored and decided to watch YouTube videos on how to build dioramas on the cheap using common items.

A guy built a little HO Train Scale tree out of a stick and wire. I was fascinated. Another person made realistic rocks out of foam board and another one that made rock backgrounds out of chunks of wood and mulch. 

I knew I didn't have the patience for the tree or the materials. But making rocks out of chunks of wood was intriguing. We had wood chunks all over the place. I live surrounded by a forest.

Lo and Behold, I found a chunk of foam in an old junk pile while I searched for wood chunks.

Wood chunks from the pine stump in the yard that I'd been pulling apart.

I thought at first I'd try using a box and a paper bag on the kitchen table. Could I 'make' a scene?

Then an idea popped into my head. I took a large paper bag and opened it up. I tried this ----> but it was sort of a fail.

Which ended up being this and this---->

It was just sort of Ok. Like Meh Ok. 

I needed to step away and do something else first. 

I got out the knife, paints, and Modge Podge. 

Let's make some rocks.
I broke the foam into chunks and then used a knife to make it look rough. The dude in the video said to save the pieces of foam for another project. So I stuck them in an old to go container.

I mixed the Modge Podge and the paint and started the messy journey in a nice cool house, while the world baked outside.

Wireless headphones and music helped drown out the sound of the TV blaring in the next room.

After laying it on thin and then thicker, I had to set it all aside to dry -- a long time!

So I rearranged the paper bag on my 'creative' table and grabbed some chunks of wood. I set a piece of packaging material from my trash and added it for texture. It was the right color and might be useful.

I added some figures randomly. 

I finally settled on an old Halloween prop [spider], a Tusken Warrior Lego figure and a small Tusken Warrior figure from my collection.

It really doesn't look like much at all.

But.
Using a narrow depth of focus I wanted the scene just to give an indication of the spider and I wanted the figures to be in sharp focus while the items behind just added texture.

The figures kept falling over because the paper wasn't taped down. I used an Elmer's Glue Stick on their feet.

And the final result was:

Whoo Hoo! 

Meanwhile, the 'rocks' had dried enough so I could add more shades of color.

I wanted dark-ish rocks, but with some eye catching highlights. I added a grey wash to the high points and had to set them to the side again to let them dry.

Finished rocks:

But now I was in the mood to hunt for treasures and see what I could come up with in junk piles. 

These items were part of an old CPAP hose. I wanted to make something like a space junk pile.

Sometimes I wonder about myself. I get in a slump and then all of a sudden I get in a crazy mood to 'make' things and experiment. 

The first attempts with some of the items were fun. It needs more 'work', but here is two just for fun shots.

Mr. Eggstreme must have come to the wrong Lego Scene here! 

My first attempt at my Space Junk. 

I have to figure out what to do with the light better. 

But I think it turned out okay for a first attempt. I may add the rocks and some more light to make something more notable. But for now? This is it.

Let's face it. I had a great time and had my creativity and imagination challenged. It sure makes the days go by and gives me something to enjoy.

I'll be taking some more items and creating texture on some old pieces of pipe using glue and would you believe it...??? Baking soda.

What happens when I am done with all this stuff? Why, I can toss it back into the junk pile outside the shed or send it to recycling. In the mean time, I can have fun with stuff no one else would think of as useful.

One person's junk is another person's treasure?

:)

 

Dangerous Travel & Crafty Things

Travel not Advised was this morning's report at 6am.

I was good with that. I wasn't going anywhere.

These were 'the kids' this morning. I was taking it easy and didn't rush out at 7am and feed them. I waited and watched the snow come down. They were wearing nice snow coats.

Rich didn't feel well so the day was spent 'crafting'. You would be amazed at what a person can do with the cardboard from a toilet paper roll!

I used a top from a medicine bottle to make the bottom of the roll and the top of it more stable. I used a scrap of heavy weight paper to make a cone for the top. Scotch tape to add the little door and the piece of heavy paper above the 'door'. I imagined it to be a fungi...well, eventually.

Here is the 'stone' house I did last week. I set it on an ice pail cream lid. This summer I'll fill the lid with a bit of dirt and some moss. I poked holes in the plastic to let rain water out. I decided that this was not a fairy house, but a Squirrel's house.

I decided then to look up how to make tiny pots for tiny plants. How fun could this be???

Toothpaste cap. Script bottle cap, old twisters from the junk drawers...Scotch tape..paint...
and some straws.

Well, I had to do something while the toilet paper house was drying.

A bit of paint....
for the roll...

There are some finishing touches yet, but the top does fit on securely.

While that dried I returned to the mini plants I'd made.

This is the tiny plant I made out of used twisters and tape. The brown pot is the crest toothpaste top.
This next one is the mini plants I made out of straws.

And then after I finished with them...

I have to admit I really had my doubts this would work very well, but with the added touch of the tiny stones in the 'pots', I think it is cute!

Tomorrow, I'll put the new items together and see how it stacks up in a photo.

I'm enjoying this little Mini World!