My Work-Space / Sketching Ideas

Before I start talking about the way I plan out my miniatures, I want to thank everyone who has been responding to my most recent posts. I am thoroughly enjoying sharing my experiences on working on a small business from home- along with all that goes along with it. I have started to realize that this blog (and my business) is growing and changing into something I never really expected... but this is a fantastic thing for me.

Now... on the the point of today's post! Today I wanted to share just why I work in waves... You know, one week I have a ton of miniatures to share- but then there is a week or two where it seems as if I have fallen off the face of the earth. The truth is... I am still figuring out what works best for me. Up to now I have been making whatever I fancy making whenever I fancy making it. This is fine... sometimes. However, I would like to slowly start making "spreads" or "lines" of miniatures.

Lately when I start off with an idea for a "range" of items, I will sketch them out. I have been scouring as many resources as I can. I really love looking through magazines, blogs, and Pinterest. I can take a simple design or idea and then alter it to fit my theme. I sorta did this for Halloween last year- where I had candy, doughnuts, and cakes all color coordinated. Right now I am working on a contest entry for Semi-Sweeties. Semi-Sweeties is a group over on deviantART.com that focuses on miniature foods. They just made the wonderful achievement of making it to 2000 members! To celebrate, they are having a "party" themed contest!

For my party, I will make things with the color scheme of gold, white, a little silver, and of course- kraft. I will make a mixture of sweets and I am working on making a small table from scratch. I wanted to stop what I was doing because I thought it would be something interesting to share here on the blog. So, this is really it... I take a while gathering ideas and inspiration and then I can sit down and work on the actual miniatures with no worries! :) I have a lot of ideas in my sketchbooks, so hopefully I will be able to make them come to life in the near future!

This Week's 10 Things!

I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday! Mine was especially nice because one of my newest (and best) friend's birthday was yesterday. (Yes, on the 4th of July!) I went over to her house and we grilled out and had a little party and took pictures with her old film camera and it was basically they best thing ever. AND yesterday was reason #1 why this week was awesome!

1.) Ginia's birthday/ the 4th of July!

I also got a chance to start on a produce stand. I had a pack of these little wooden sticks and I wasn't sure what to make with them... so I just started stacking them.

And the above picture is what I got! So I said to myself that they would make really good crates for large produce like pumpkins and watermelons. So then I kept adding to it... And got this-

!!!! And the best part is that it comes apart and I can change how the display looks! Ahhh! It couldn't have worked out better if I'd planned it. So, alas-

2.) The new produce stand has begun! I am still in the process of painting it, but it's coming along great!

3.) We also can't forget about Karine's lovely gifts!

4.) Things at home have started to settle back down! I try not to mention too much of my personal life on here, but about a month ago my dad's truck was stolen. To make a long story short- they found the truck, but it was ruined so it had to be totaled out and it has finally ALL been settled as of today! My dad actually went out today and began looking for a new truck!

5.) I made and listed some new bakery-style cakes! You can see the Etsy listing here if you are interested!

6.) I also made 6 new ombre cakes! I see these everywhere on Pinterest and I just HAD to make some in mini. These are also listed on Etsy, here!

7.) I did a little bit of drawing! I have always loved to draw, but for the past few months I just haven't. So this week I drew some sketches of my friend's cat! I really enjoyed drawing, so who knows? We might see some more soon!

8.) I crocheted a hat! It was for my friend who's birthday was yesterday. And I forgot to take a picture of it all finished! If I think about it I will try to take a picture of it and show you guys later. I was really proud of that thing! haha! :)

9.) I did some playing around with my watermarks/fonts/branding stuff. I am still not totally sure what to call this stuff, but you can see some of the new watermarks on the images in this post! :D

10.) I don't really know what to put for a 10th thing, other than I feel really good about this week! I am gonna fall asleep listening to the rain!

Thanks for stopping by, as always!
xoxo
-Blake

P.S. I am just noticing that it is 11:56 PM and I JUST BARELY made it in time! Haha!