Last posts before Camp 2018 begins!!

Okay - I'm back from my travels and will now post the last few entries that came in while I was away.

Each person that has entered our Bingo Challenge will have their name placed in the draw once for each entry they have made.  There will be two prizes:  one for a 2017 Camper who is back for 2018, and a winner from home who was with us for Camp Mini Ha Ha 2017 but are not joining us this year.  The winning name drawn in each category will win a $50 gift certificate to Grandpa's Dollhouse.

Before the draw takes place, the last names will be added to the hat for those people bringing items for the display room or for the auctions as these are two categories on the Bingo card as well.

So, here are the entries awaiting posting:

Bridgett M.

Bridgett is sharing pictures of her 2017 project completed.  She says she hasn't got it furnished yet but the building is done!  Great job, Bridgett!

Garry R.:

Garry shares 2 new entries with us:

"1: Bingo square with a holiday theme - I picked Halloween and 
2: Bingo square for making a piece of furniture from scratch - I made the dresser and made it look like the drawers were all made from wooden crates."

Very creative as usual, Garry.

Iris S.:

Wow - has Iris ever been busy.  We have a whole lot to catch up on here!  Let's get started:

1. Contributing to the mini community:  Iris brought a display and gave a talk at a function for her Sorority

2. Making something inspired by TV, movies, etc.  Iris built this bar using inspiration of something she saw on multi-media:

3. "The 15 yr old daughter of a friend who comes to visit every couple weeks & brings her daughter. This natural miniaturist brings her minis every time she comes over, boxes & bags galore. I teach her different ways to finish her barn, tools to use, inexpensive materials to use, all the tricks of the trade. She really wants to come to camp but it’s during school, she’s an honour student, doesn’t want to miss school :) Her expertise is saddles, bridles & harnesses, so detailed, so accurate in one half scale, she taught me stuff! "

4. Lighted Mini: "Bunny kit, forget the name, ridiculously small scale, but fun to do!"

5. Made a bar sink from recycled jam container & scrap wood from a kit.

6. "Water scene: the water I did in Sandy’s fishing hut. When Sandy passed I was given her started but unfinished fishing hut, that was in 2014. This summer I decided to finish it & give it back to her family members. Sandy had her own style & I wanted to honour that, so every time I got stuck thinking this is how I would do it & trying to use every single piece that Sandy had collected for it... I had to think ...this is how Sandy would have done it. The whole experience was so enjoyable just thinking if Sandy, her good humour & laugh. Her son Allan was delighted to have it!"

What a wonderful way to commemorate the life of a good friend, Iris.  I never met her but know that she had a good friend in you, indeed.

7.  This is Iris's entry for learning to use a tool she has never used before.  I apologize but I could not find the write up that went with the picture but - we all get the idea, right?

8., 9., and 10:  Iris sent a message re: 3 entries all at the same time:

"- Sell mini for more than it cost you to do: mini set for a documentary we ( Kelly, Shelley & myself) were paid to do.;

- Bring item for display room : bringing 6, you’ll see them there;

-  camp auction item, have several 

Thank you so much, Iris for contributing not only so much to our wonderful hobby, but also to our Camp experience!

Jo-Ann S.:

"I have two entries for the Bingo Challenge tonight.  I have just recently returned from IGMA 

Guild School in Castine, Maine where I learned how to make snowshoes in the traditional way 

with bent wood and sinew (though the sinew we used was artificial due to scale). Yes, I have 

made snowshoes before but because I'd used wire instead of wood, I had to fake the weaving 

technique.  So this new set is a new and improved mini-making technique and is much more 

realistic.  The second thing I did at Castine to contribute to the mini community was to teach a 

seminar (actually two).  I taught two small projects, the art portfolio and the backpack that I've 

made before.  I didn't get a photo of me actually teaching but I did actually do it."

For this entry Jo-Ann gets a new square filled in for learning a new technique.  

Although Jo-Ann already had a square filled in for teaching, she shares some pictures of her experience in Castine.  She had 9 students in total:

Jo-Ann's last entry for this evening is for producing an indoor/outdoor scene.  Great job, Jo-Ann!

So - we have come to the end of the postings.  At registration tomorrow some people will be getting extra squares for donating an item to the auction or bringing a display item.  Also - extra chances were won by 7 people who correctly guessed who was the recipient of the gift I made to give to someone.  Remember this one:

So - another year's Bingo challenge will come to an end tomorrow evening when we draw the names of the winners.  I will make sure to post them tomorrow or Thursday.  Thank you to everyone who participated. - Marilyn D.

Long time coming.....

My apologies to all who have been waiting for these last few Camp Bingo posts.  I won't even go into just how tied up I have been.

Anyway - to hopefully bring it up to date, tonight I give you entries from Debbie P., Julie J., Jo-Ann S. and Garry R.  All have been waiting oh so patiently for me to get these up for your viewing pleasure so here goes:

DEBBIE P.

First we have a project that Debbie worked on with a young friend, earning her a square for encouraging a young person in the mini hobby:

"Pictured below is a Happy Kitchen 1/2 scale project kit  from China, it was $15.99 no shipping. I bought two after seeing the one Tracey Sirrat did, and worked weekly on it with a 13 year old neighbour Myah, the one I did the bathroom with, working about 40-50 hours over the past year. We built everything. Even the two lights were included in the kit. The only addendum was the tatted tablecloth her Grandmother made for me as a thank you. Myah was so pleased with her project. "

Debbie's next entry is for learning to use a new tool:

"I am hoping to place a marker on learning to use a new tool. While in Portugal this winter I acquired a very small table loom at a boot sale."

And last but not least, Debbie took a class from Jo-Ann Shaw where she learned a new technique to fur her little sculpted cat that she made at Camp a couple of years ago.

JULIE J.:

From Julie we have this entry:

"Scene in an Altoid can, but mine came from Kensington palace"

Now that must have been nice!

JO-ANN S.:

As mentioned above in Debbie P.'s posting, Jo-Ann taught a class in a new technique for furring our cats so that gives her a square for teaching.  We can't have too many teachers in this hobby - there is always so much to learn!!!

GARRY R.

For Garry's most recent entries we have:

"I am sending pictures of 1: Bingo square with a holiday theme - I picked Halloween and 2: Bingo square for making a piece of furniture from scratch - I made the dresser and made it look like the drawers were all made from wooden crates."

What fun, Garry!! And I'm sure you had lots of fun working on them too!

That brings us to the end of the postings for this evening and one more day closer to Camp.  If I have missed any entries, please let me know.  It is now 10:30 pm on Wednesday the 29th.  I leave for Halifax tomorrow morning to catch a flight to Ireland (Bruce and I are leading a tour group over), and I haven't started packing yet.  I'd better get to it!!!  We'll be back late on the 13th of September and I'll leave for Camp on the 17th so I'll have a few days where I can post any late entries - AND OF COURSE - people bringing items for the display room or for the Camp auction will also get their squares counted once they turn the items in at registration.  See everyone soon!!! - Marilyn

Friends who mini together....

...get to check off their Bingo squares together, of course!! 

Earlier this month Marijke H. offered a full day class in making mini house plants.  Lynn M., Krista W. and Mary Lou W. all took the class, ending up with some lovely houseplants and an opportunity to each fill in their square for "Take a workshop to develop or improve a mini-making technique".

Marijke explains:  "We made the sansevieras (snake plants) in the morning, and the rubber trees in the afternoon. I really hadn’t expected them to be finished, but they were done 30 mins. earlier than I thought. All three of them worked very attentively, and the class was a lot of fun."

Here is a picture of the completed plants followed by one of Krista proudly displaying hers.

So - Krista, Mary Lou and Lynn all tick off that Bingo square. 

Garry R. checks off the same square by taking a class Krista W. taught the FAME group on working with Fimo and embellishments to make unique stepping stones for their mini gardens.

Here are some of the finished, embellished and baked patio stepping stones.

And, of course, Krista checks off a square for leading the class.

While working on the patio stepping stones, Mary Lou W.  also got the opportunity to try out a tool she has never used before - a dremel tool - which helped her shape her stones and smooth out the edges after baking.  (Watch those fingers, Mary Lou!!)  That allows her to also check off another Bingo square for learning to use a new tool.

One of the nicest things about our mini hobby is the sharing of ideas and how generous everyone is in giving of their time and expertise to help others learn new skills or improve the ones they have.  These are great examples.  Thank you for sharing!

So - what is everyone else working on??  Any more entries out there for the Bingo Challenge??  Send them in and get credit for your work.  Maybe you'll win one of the two prizes this year.  Good luck everyone!

Reduce, reuse, recycle...

Materials for mini-making can be found in many places.  We've all experienced the phenomena of looking at something we're about to throw out and saying "Hey - I could use that to make...".  So - following that theme, here we have Jo-Ann's latest entry for our Camp Bingo Challenge:

"This is a coal stove that I made from all recycled materials.  The thick cardboard was packing material from work, the window is made from an orange TicTac container with an orange cellophane wrapper from a Quality Street candy in behind it.  As an aside, it is also lighted (not recycled but anyway...)." - Jo-Ann S.

What a great effect you got with these materials Jo-Ann.  I'll be keeping it in mind for future projects of my own, for sure.  Thank you so much for sharing!  

Don't forget:

- you can enlarge the pictures by clicking on them

- you can see the progress of our Bingo Challenge submissions by checking out the "Completed Bingo Cards 2017/18" in the label column to the right.

Happy mini-ing everybody!

The jig is up!!

Our latest entry comes from the lovely Bridget M. who proves just how resourceful we miniaturists are.  If we can't find something we need, or if the commercial varieties are just too expensive - - we make our own. 

Here is Bridgett's explanation of her newest tool:

"I used a Lego jig when I glued things together (photo attached), but I had trouble with everything except right angles.

Now I have a better jig! You'll see in the photo the lid of a metal cookie tin with a small welding magnet and some rectangular magnets. The welding magnet (very inexpensive at Princess Auto) gives me a variety of angles and corners and is strong enough to hold even if I use a diagram underneath it to place pieces correctly. 

When I'm done, I keep the magnets in the tin and all looks neat and tidy. I even managed to get a picture of myself in the picture!

The only problem is that the magnets are heavy so I can't bring the cookie-tin jig if I am flying to camp. Maybe I'll have to convince Myra to make one the same.

Can't wait to see everyone. September is coming!"

We can't wait to see you again too, Bridget.  Thank you for sharing your gluing jig.  Such a simple and effective idea - I think I'll have to take a trip to Princess Auto! 

Happy Mini-ing everyone.

And the winners are...

Well, as this "guess the recipient of the shadow box gift" has come to a close, we can say that we have found out two things:

1.  Campers certainly do know who the flamingo lover is in their midst, and

2. We don't have very many people actually reading these posts.....

However, these are the winners of our Contest number 1, each one of whom has won a free entry into the Bingo Challenge:

Shelley Acker

Mary Myers

Jo-Ann Shaw

Krista Wong

Rhondalynn Clements

Aleeta Kent

Audrey Meehan

Mary Lou Watters

Debbie Parrott

Myra Tarkka

Bridgett Madill

Oh - and Louise guessed too but I'm thinking that definitely doesn't count!  

Sometime between now and our upcoming Camp - I may just come up with another Contest opportunity.  I'll have to put my thinking cap on.  Congratulations to all our correct entries ... and perhaps others could let us know if they're out there????  I'm getting lonely here!!! 

Chance for a free Bingo entry

Okay - tonight's post doesn't cross off any square for me because I already have the square for making a mini as a gift for someone.  But... it could get you an extra entry into the Bingo Challenge.

Here's how it's going to work:  I show you the gift I made for somebody for their recent birthday and, based on the gift, you guess who it was for.  Every Camper from 2017 who guesses correctly will get an extra entry in the Bingo Challenge.  So, even though there isn't an actual square for it, I will record your names and make sure it gets included.

Here's the story:  For the last 30 years or so my husband and I have had, on our fridge, an old Far Side cartoon (by Gary Larson) just because we always thought it was so funny.  Now. over this time the paper has yellowed, gotten stained and grungy - basically was looking the worse for wear however, I always thought I would like to cross stitch it in black and white and have it framed.  Well, recently I scanned it, cleaned up the background and enlarged it.  Then I traced it onto 28 ct. Monaco cloth for stitching.  I decided to combine my love of cross with my love of minis and my knowledge of the person this gift would be for.  So - who is this gift for????? 

Let me know before Sunday night and you get a free entry!!

Here is the original cartoon ...

... and the shadow box I ended up with. 

Your chance to win an extra entry closes at 10 pm Atlantic Standard time on Sunday!  Email me at mdriscn618@rogers.com.