Eye Candy

It's already February! 1/6 of the year has gone by. I'm not even sure how to begin feeling about that, though I do know I should blog more. Ahem.

Anyway, this weekend I went to the Society of American Miniaturists (SAM) birthday party in Austin, Texas. It was great fun meeting many of the ladies I'd heard about, and there were lots of samples of past birthday party projects. Apologies in advance for the photo quality. The lighting in the meeting room wasn't the best, and most of them were in dust cases and I couldn't get away from the reflections.

This quilt shop was one of my favorites. I love the way Kendra did the outside of the box.

And the detail inside is no less than astounding. That wreath! The spools of thread! <swoon>

Another year they did a shop, and she turned hers into an antique store.

 Here's a closer peek at the goodies inside.

I'm not big on southwestern decor, but this was a fantastic job.

The top had a clear cover for closer inspection.

I think last year's project was my absolute favorite of all. I took photos of both examples they had available. Darn the luck.. this was last year's project, and unfortunately I didn't get into the world of minis until AFTER the birthday party. Sigh.

Both ladies had theirs on a turntable, as it's a 360 degree project.

 Sooo much to see!

 What a great way to cram all kinds of awesome things together in a cohesive way.

 And this fountain!

Here's the second sample. One of the many things I love about minis is that two people can do the exact same project, and they're always different.

And again with an amazing wreath... those are teeny tiny terra cotta pots!! (yes, I'm still swooning...)

 I LOVE the old tire as a wall hanging planter.

 And the macramé owl! 

 I may never get over the disappointment of being a year late to this adorability.

Ah well. Onward.

This year's theme was "Schoolhouse of Yesteryear", and the base building is a cigar box. I snapped a few photos of a couple of the exhibits.

I really liked this shabby chic version, and thought I'd do mine this way:

Then, my ADD kicked in... and my love of Halloween... so I've decided to (naturally) follow a different path. An abandoned schoolhouse! Perfect!

Unfortunately, I packed supplies thinking shabby chic, and you can't very well age or spookify walls with pastel colors of pink and blue, so it's not all done. Or even most of the way done. But, I DID get the roof finished. I'm still on a search for the perfect roof branch. There's something not quite right about this one.

And how perfect is this "tree stump"? I found it literally two steps from the door of the meeting room. Serendipity! The thought is that over the years, the tree weakened, half of it snapped off and crashed through the roof.

Here in MacTown, we've pretty much been iced in the last couple of days. Perfect opportunity to work on the schoolhouse, right? So I made this floral arrangement yesterday instead.

Now, where'd I put that Ritalin?