Back again

Well, looks like I have to take a sabbatical from my miniatures.
I just cannot concentrate on making any miniatures and I am too scared to get out my set of tools with Rayhan. He hasn't started crawling yet but I cannot imagine having my tools on table while he is learning to crawl and walk.
But I  have to do something. So I decided to get back to my crochet and learn some knitting. I thought I'll make some changes to this blog to include crochet and knitting but for some reason it doesn't feel right. I started this blog to keep a track of my miniature cottage and it feels like I am cheating on it :D
I think I'll have a new blog for crochet and knitting. I'll update here if I manage to get some quality time to create anything new.

A year has passed

Its been  slightly more than a year since my last post. A lot happened. I managed to clear my computer certification and get pregnant :)

I am very happy to announce arrival of my bundle of joy, Rayhan. Born on Feb 12 2011 weighing tiny 4lbs 8 ounces. Was on bedrest almost my entire pregnancy and for 3 months after he came. I'll upload a photo very soon. Looks like he is getting up and he'll need my attention. Will try my level best to keep this blog  alive.

M back!

Yes I am back after the wedding. Well, it was amazing and I have found new sense of respect for the Wedding Planners. There is soooo much that goes into a wedding. Taking care of every minute detail, making sure that everyone is having a good time. It was really lucky that some relatives of mine helped me a lot. I'll be grateful to them.
Unfortunately I forgot the photo cd in India. So everyone will have to wait till my parents courier it to me.

I still don't believe I am back in US. I am usually depressed for sometime after I come back to US. But this time its taking forever to get over it . Guess its because I hardly got any time to spend with parents, brother and his wife. It all feels like a dream now. Hoping I'll be back to being myself real soon. Also I think I need to get my career back on track. That means I'll be dividing my time between miniatures and some computer certifications.
Wish me luck. There is a lot I have to do. First I have to start catching up on my friend's blogs and then lets see how things go. Take Care everyone :)

Week 4

This week I got a lot done. We selected a Sherwani (traditional indian dress for men) and a Suit for my brother and gave it for stitching :)
My mom's saree and my brother's fiancee's saree are also done. For those who don't know about saree, its a 6 yard long cloth which is draped around the body. Also started decorating bride's gifts that we'll take on the Mehendi day. Finally the shopping is getting done and its time for us to concentrate on the invitations:)

I miss Walmart...

Why? I come back to that later in the post.
First of all let me apologize for the huge break.
Kim and Norma, I loved your projects.
Truly inspiring Craft Room, Kim and amazing work on the cottage Norma.

I've been in India for 3 weeks now and here is what I did. I've been going nuts over the shopping. Still haven't finalized clothes for my mom n my brother's fiancee. Haven't event started with the invitations and the wedding is on May 2nd.

1st week: Finalized the wedding card matter and the font. Got a wrong facial and as a result got horrible ugly pimples on my face (I am still trying to deal with the scars those pimples leave behind). Then I did something smart. I'll be putting Henna on my hands for the wedding so I decided to have a trial. Here are some pics :D

Though the pattern looks beautiful its not worth the money she charged and it didnt look that great later. So I've decided to go on with the lady who put Henna for my wedding. Also visited some stores to get an idea about whats in fashion these days.

2nd Week: Went to a dermatologist for those Ugly pimples. He said wrong facial and all the pores on face are blocked. He gave me a cream to apply at night and a facewash. He said its gonna take 15 days atleast. Did some more shopping. Couldn't figure out what to buy for myself so went to a designer and asked her to make something different for me.(keeping my fingers crossed now).

3rd week: More shopping and I started missing Walmart. First wanted some small cards to write names.
Had to put those cards on gifts for relatives. Looked around in 3 stores nearby but didn't find anything.
Finally I just got some plain white paper and made a very rough border with a blue marker. Now I'll use
that. Then I wanted a good pen (Golden ink) to write on wedding invitations. Again I cannot find a decent
pen. Whatever pens are available here dont show on the card. Plus I need a lot of stuff to decorate home.
I Miss Walmart :(.

Well here is what I did and I'll try to keep updating atleast weekly. Wish me Luck!

And the fun begins.....

Let me first start with the pre-wedding preparations. Most of the preparations are just like any other wedding.
The venue, clothes, decoration, dinner and gifts. Wedding invitations are delivered in person. Usually an immediate family member has to do this. Only when it becomes impossible to travel the invitations are sent by mail or emails :D and that case they are followed by a phone call.
Then there is a lot of shopping involved. Clothes, jewelry, shoes for immediate family members and clothes for all close relatives(my mom's and dad's siblings).

This is the stage I am in right now. Clothes for relatives are done. Invitations are finalized but not printed yet. Venue has been decided and booked. Caterer is not. So now first we(me n my parents) have to help my brother select his clothes for the wedding and the receptions (yup, plural. We usually have two
receptions). Next will be our clothes, jewelry etc etc and invitations will be done in parallel to the shopping.

I'll list down all the events that we'll have. I'll elaborate on each of them later.
1. Reading Quran: Family gets together prays together for a happy married life for the couple.
2. Bride's Mehendi (Henna): Groom's parents will take gifts and Henna for the bride.
3. Groom's Mehendi(Henna): Bride's parents take gifts for the groom.
(The Mehendi functions are the fun ones :D )
4. Nikah: Bride and groom say their 'I do'.
5. Reception: Bride's parents throw a reception for their relatives and friends. Close relatives of the groom are invited to this reception.
6. Walima (Reception): Groom's parents organize this for their relatives and friends and close relatives of the bride are invited.

Well, these are one line explanations for the events. There is a lot involved in each of these events which I'll elaborate in other posts.

And now, just so that you can put a face to Amina, I'll post some of my wedding pics. Please do not save/copy them and they'll remain on the website for 24 hrs. My hubby is a bit shy so won't be posting his pics.
This one is my Mehendi Photo. Its traditional to wear yellow.

*photo removed

This one is my favorite. My Granny, me and my mom.

*photo removed

This one I am signing the Nikah documents.

*photo removed

 And this one is me. For you to put a face to my blog :)

* photo removed

I don't have a clear Walima photo (well, I do have them in India but not here in US).
Also I am trying to find a full length photo of my wedding dress. Will post that one after I find it :D
Cya soon with some more posts :)

Here it goes...

I started writing down the rituals and the way they are followed in my family. By no means these are views/traditions/rituals of all Indians or Muslims.

A muslim wedding just has Nikah ceremony. Where the bride and groom say their 'I do'. Thats it. Thats the wedding. The day after the wedding groom organizes a dinner or a get-together for family and friends. Thats about it for a muslim wedding.
But the wedding has to be fun.. right? So what has happened over the years is that a lot of traditions and rituals have been adopted from other cultures. So what I'll do in this blog is explain how the wedding takes place in my family.

I can't write everything at one go so I have notepad on my computer. As and when I get time I keep adding to it and when I feel I covered everything for a particular ritual I'll post it.

No miniatures but I do have updates :)

So miniatures have taken a back seat for now and I am concentrating hard on my brother's wedding. He is a year younger to me but like all brothers, he acts like he is 5 years elder to me. Love him a lot. His big day is approaching fast and I want to try and make it perfect for him.
So for 3 months this is going to be a wedding blog. Now a days  I spend all my time searching for ways to pack gifts, Sarees, Suits and that kindda stuff. Its an Indian Wedding so there will be atleast three pre-wedding functions, the marriage ceremony, two receptions and probably three post wedding functions. As and when I get time I'll update about these functions/rituals and their significance.
Aww... I can hardly wait ... I want to go to India asap.

My first Award :)

Thank you Norma (from Make Mine Mini ) for my first award :)

The Sunshine Award Rules are:

1. Post the award on my own blog.
2. In a blog post, name six blogs that I enjoy.
3. Let your six named bloggers know that you are passing the award on to them.




I am passing this award on to
Kim from Flower & Art
Teresa from This and That Miniatures and Life
Ara from The Addams Family
Dawn from In my Miniature World
Sans from The Dollhouse Diaries
Karina from The Mouse Mansion

A photo and update...

Here is a photo.

 

Norma, this  is how it looks at night.

And now an update.
I'll be doing a disappearing act for approximately 3 months. My brother is getting married and I'll be leaving for India in few days. So nowadays I spend most of my time shopping and packing and hence no time for miniatures. I'll have access to internet for the duration but the thing is I won't be working on miniatures. If I continue to blog then this will become more of a wedding blog :D
So my todo list now has Shopping, shopping and more shopping. Then decorating my home in India, packing gifts for the bride, her family and my relatives, sending out wedding invitations, and arranging for all the pre and post wedding functions  and yes... some more shopping :)
So wish me luck for the preparations and all the happiness for my brother and his fiancee.

Yay... I did it!

Its done. I finished my flowers.

 

And this one with the leds on.

 

I wanted to use brown tape but couldn't find it. Now I'll get back to the cottage :D

Flowers...

First of all, Welcome back Norma. Missed you a lot.
I got some petals attaches to the lights. Here is a photo.

Task for today is to add more petals.
Nothing much is happening on the cottage front. Still working on the exterior. Egg carton rocks look amazing but they are so tiring. So the work is slow. Hopefully I'll have some better photos tomorrow :)

More updates...

I haven't been able to do much. Spent most of my time rolling and twist crepe paper to make the stamens. Finally covered the LEDs with paper.

 

And here is the paper I'll use to make flowers.

 

Well, I also tried to make the fridge for the cottage but didn't like it. Maybe I'll do better on second attempt :)

I also have two new followers to welcome. Sylvia from lotjesdollshouse and Anna from Anna's Minis . Welcome Sylvia and Anna. Hope you enjoy your visit :)

Some more incomplete stuff...

I know... after a long time. But I do have some more incomplete stuff. First is a bed for my cottage. The side tables are attached. It needs primer, sanding and then pain and of course mattress, bedsheets, pillows etc etc etc.. Its made from hardboard and square dowels.

 

  

  

I also made some egg carton 'rocks' . Well, they are multicolored. I also started with some exterior work.

And finally another project. This one is not a miniature. I made it from Christmas lights. Electrical tape to make stems and will use the bulbs for center of flowers. I started with rolling out paper to make stamens. Looks like I'll need more. May be 25 times more than what I made as I could cover only 5 bulbs and the string has 30.

This is after I covered the string with some green and yellow electrical tape.

Paper rolled and twisted and rolled to make stamens. 

After gluing the stamens. It looks a lot better than the photo. Maybe tomorrow  I'll post some better photos. 

Kitchen Cabinet

Here is a work in progress.

 

Right now its just plain hardboard glued together. The big one on the left hand side will be the fridge, oven in the center. The cabinets will have open shelves. It needs lot of sanding before I can proceed with it. And I don't feel like sanding today.So I'll try and make some more furniture skeletons(Thats what I like to think they are). So I will keep updating as and when I make new ones. I think there will be lots and lots of unfinished work for at least couple of weeks.

Bedroom Floor

I finished the bedroom floor. Haven't fixed it yet. This is how it looks.

The large square opening is for the sliding door(I still don't know how I am going to pull that one off). It opens to the huge balcony.

Here is a closeup of the floor. Made with PVC paper.

I took it with the flash on and thats why there is that bright spot. I'll have to fix that, but not today.

Phew....

Last few days were really tough. Things are getting better now.Hopefully I'll get few things done on cottage.
I have some new followers to welcome.
Karina from The Mouse Mansion, Dawn from In My Miniature World, Lori from Oh Mini Of Mine, Teresa from This and That Miniatures and Life and Casita Mini which is actually a group blog of three friends
Nuria, Rossana and Norma. Welcome to my blog :)

Sorry....

Sorry for not updating more cottage updates. The thing is I am not working on it. Have some personal issues to deal with. Will be back after I solve it and things get back to normal. Wish me luck.

Cottage update

I got the passage floor and final paint done. Door in the front leads to the bathroom and one on the right hand side to the bedroom. I am half finished with the bedroom floor. Should be able to finish it off today.

 Kitchen Cabinet Update: I am leaning towards fixed doors for the cabinets. But I also want to make some kitchen miniatures. So the final solution is to have some fixed doors with some shelves. So I can display whatever I want on those shelves. I know its too early to plan for any kind of furniture (As I have to roof, back wall and exterior to finish first) but I couldn't stop myself :D So here are the kitchen plans:D

 

I plan to make everything with leftover hardboard and maybe some really thin Balsa. I like the way things are moving. Slow but I am completely satisfied with it.:)

The bathroom

The floor and tiles for the bathroom are in. Floor is not attached yet as I have to do the wiring. I only have top access to the bathroom so the photos may not be that clear.
This one is the top view.

This one I took from a small bathroom window.

I have started designing the kitchen. Cabinets, Oven, Fridge, dishwasher etc. I am not sure about the cabinets. Should I make them functional.. working cabinet doors and drawers? I can but it will take a long time and I don't know if I can make them neat. Do the kits have functional doors? 

Well, I do have the weekend to sleep over it. I still have to design the bedroom floor. I'll use PVC paper for that. The bathroom floor is actually a kitchen counter sheet. Tiles are from Daiso.

Have a nice weekend :)

Front Door

 I haven't been able to do a lot of detailing work because of a swollen eye (I think it was Lysol :( a lot of Lysol while cleaning the kitchen). But its improving now and so I can again get back to my cottage :)

I made the functional door. I used dark green cotton cloth and then after gluing it to the door painted it black. This hinge would have been a problem if I had white molding. Also I got level 2 wall in.

I know level 2 looks plain. No fancy windows or anything but I have my bathroom on the right hand side. I thought it just wont work out if I had a bathroom window on the front since I plan to have a huge balcony :D

Well come on in :D

This is how the door looks from inside.

Some closeups:

Painted it black and then used some embossed copper leaf. A copper coil for door knocker.

Black and white PVC paper with a bead for the door knob. Left hand side has the cloth hinge.

Now its time for me to have some tea and then I can start working on the level 2 floor :)

Finally, I did it :)

I got it done. The floor :) Here is my living room with the flooring in.

I still have a lot of touch up job to do. Thats why I have the masking tape. Here is a close up of the floor with the punch I used.

Now I have to start thinking about the door. I haven't decided if they'll be functional or just closed. I am leaning more towards functional door but the main problem are hinges. I don't want to buy them. I want to make them myself. I can use a strip of cloth but it may not look that great. Well... I have a lot more thinking to do.

While the paint dries....

The cottage level 2 got another coat of white paint and I was waiting for the paint to dry, thinking about the level 1 floor. Well, had no luck with the floor pattern but then I had a lot of crepe paper.

So I decided to make some flowers.

 

Well, there are not very realistic but I think they are kindda cute:D

After I finish the cottage m gonna try them in miniature scale:)

Kim, I can't wait to see your this week's project.

And welcome Taenia from Taenias Miniatures. Hope you enjoy the blog:)

Level 1 Windows in :)

I finally got all the level 1 windows in :)
There are some gaps and I think I'll Spackle it and then a touch up with paint.

Here is the corner window.

And the front porch.

I also gave a base paint to level 2. Now I wait... for the glue and paint to dry.

So here is the plan...

I am back after a bit of hiking, grocery shopping, few trips to Michael's , potluck and Lord of the Rings Marathon. Phew....
For the cottage I did get 3 windows in. But they do need a bit of touch up. Did the flooring for Kitchen area. I am not crazy about the Living room floor but its something I wanted to try. The PVC paper has a really good finish and I need to experiment a bit more before I finalize what I want. I won't be using the floor that I have in this photograph... I did some major blunders while making it.. its not at all neat. I had no design and just went on gluing. So will be making another one and this time I'll design it first.

Now I have to get back to trimming the Acrylic sheet for windows.

Cottage Progress

I've been punching paper and still have a long way to go :(
Windows that I made earlier look out of scale. So I have to work on that and punch some more paper.
Now I disappear... Wishing everyone a very very happy new year .... poof

Cottage Progress

I am back after the disappearing act and m gonna disappear again :D
Will be back next year with the cottage :)
Progress so far...
Painted and repainted the level 1. Molding strips are done and I am not sure if I should put the windows or wait till I am done with the flooring. Also started making the paper tiles. Corner punch and paper can do wonders:D and then It can also get stuck or jammed. And using force on those punches to free them doesn't work.
I found that the hard way :D and now I have to get a new corner punch.
Here are some pics:

With windows and some tiles on the floor. I am making them on construction paper and after I am done I will cut the off and paste onto the floor.

 

Here is a closeup of the tiles.

Cottage Progress

Well.. I got the painting done. Most of the walls and ceiling are painted white. Accent walls need another coat but that can be done only after the paint dries. I've decided to leave small loops in ceiling where I want the lamps so that I can hang the lamps when I make them. Right now I have no ideas for the living room light fixtures.
Thats it for the cottage :)
Wish everyone Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Stairs :)

I am 50% done with the stairs.

A bit different but really very easy to make. Now a 24 hr wait for the glue to dry then a coat of primer and then paint :)         

I am so relieved. The issue with the stairs is resolved.

m being followed :D

I have three new followers.
Angeles from http://elrincondebaldu.blogspot.com/
Marit from http://blackcatcottage.blogspot.com/
Sans from http://sansdollhousediaries.blogspot.com/
Thanks for following my blog. I hope you'll find it interesting :)