Jack O'Lanterns, Pumpkin Baskets, and Pumpkin Topiaries - In the Shop!

Hey guys! I finally got around to photographing some of the minis I have recently made! Here we have jack o'lanterns in multiple colors, along with pumpkins baskets (for trick-or-treating, of course!), and pumpkin topiaries!

 As always, these are listing in my Etsy shop, except for a couple I have kept for myself! These little guys are all made from polymer clay without the use of molds. This year I decided to a few multiples of each design, so there are a few pumpkins with each face :)

Also, here are a few shots from the Artober Fest that was here in town! Nothing spectacular or anything you haven't already seen, but I loved the way the sunset was warming up my table!

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for stopping by!

XOXO

-Blake

Easter Baking // 1:12 Scale Miniatures

Hey there! It has been a CRAZY year! As I talked about in my previous post- Twintrees has had some changes... and that is always the case for ABB! Things are always changing and growing. Not to mention all the things going on in my personal life... but I'll save you that series of novels. Haha!

Today I would like to share with you guys the recent Easter miniatures I have been making! This year I wanted to carry over the colors I have used in previous year's ranges into other minis!

I was recently inspired by the breads that Stephanie Kilgast teaches in her wonderful book, as well as the real-life counterparts I see on Pinterest. Though, as always I add my own little spin on things. So please take a look! I have Easter bread nests/braids/wreaths, as well as cakes and Easter eggs!

CLICK HERE to see these MINI BREAD NESTS in my Etsy shop!

CLICK HERE to see these MINI BREAD BRAIDS in my Etsy shop!

CLICK HERE to see these MINI BREAD WREATHS in my Etsy shop!

Also, I found these guys! Glitter Easter Eggs I made LAST YEAR! Can you believe that? I made so many of them.... dozens upon dozens... only for them to sit in a box for a year. But no longer will they be kept in the shadows! I brought them out and shot some new pictures of them and they are now listed in my Etsy shop HERE!

Not interested in mini ornaments? That's alright! The hooks come out with a little tug and you can use them as Easter Egg Decorations! Haha!

As always, thanks so much for stopping by! I wish I could say when I will have the chance to make some more miniatures- but I honestly never know. I can say for sure that I miss it! Making these few miniatures was a ton of fun and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Oh! One more thing... look at these candles! I am SO proud of how they turned out and now I want to add candles on top of everything.... BAHAHA! But seriously. Feel free to click on the image so you can easier zoom in! These cakes are listed in my shop HERE and come with a cake slice :)

XOXO

-Blake

2013 // Year at a glance!

Hello, all! Thank you so much for your well wishes, your Christmas wishes, and your wishes for the new year! I hope the same to you all! I am slowly making my way through my blog feed, so I will finally see what everyone has been up to! :D

I wanted to take a minute and look back at the year... to see how I have improved AND see how I can improve in the next year! Here is a master image of all the goodies I made this year-

Here is a short list of some of my highlights from the last year:

- Chocolate turtles in February.

- Assorted candies in May.

- Assorted breads in June.

- Bakery style cake in July.

- Watermelons, also in July.

- Jack o'lanterns from August - October.

- All of those yummy candy "canes" in November.

- Gingerbread house in December!

There were lots of other goodies I had fun making throughout the year, but these were just some of my most popular! Hopefully I will have the chance to make a lot more in the coming year... and I am PRETTY sure I will have that chance! ;)

We can't forget my very first guest tutorial over at minifoodtutorials.com! :D That was really fun, and I would love to do that again- or something similar. Oh! I also had the pleasure of starting twintrees! It's kinda hard to believe we (Ginia and I) only started that project in January of this year and it has already grown so much... my two little babies- twintrees and ABB!

I also have another little baby in the works, so-to-speak. BUT I will have to hold every in suspense for just a while longer until things are presentable.

I love you all, dearly- my days are always brightened so much when I get on here and see the support! So... CHEERS! To a fruitful, happy, healthy new year for us all!

XOXO

-Blake

Mints and Citrus Candies // 1:12 Scale Miniature

FINALLY! I am done with my canes! Well... for now, at least. I truly enjoyed this previous week of canes. I had never devoted much time to canes- which I now think of as an art form all to itself! I'm am TOTALLY scatterbrained today! So this post if a bit all-over-the-place!

I made two groups of canes so far! Some mint ones and some citrus ones. You can find them listed in my Etsy shop, HERE.

I got a new sketchbook! I have started writing down the clay mixes I use so that I don't forget them! I have also been keeping all of my sketches for minis in this little book!

 Here is a little shot of me slicing the canes! As you can see, I had to do a good bit of stretches to keep from curling into a pretzel! Haha!

Here are the end results!

I have quite a few more ideas for canes, but for now I am taking a break from them to work on other things for the holidays. So lastly, here is a teeny tiny bowl of mints for your enjoyment! I will try to be back soon with more goodies!

Thanks for stopping by!! Talk to you soon!

Jack O'Lanterns, Pumpkins, and Candy!

If it isn't the warm colors or the cool crisp air that I long for, it's the sweet potato and pumpkin spice concoctions along... with cozy clothes! And THEN throw Halloween and Thanksgiving in the mix and I'm done. Just done! Oh! And my birthday! All of these are reasons that I love Fall. There are plenty more... but I already have a ton to share with you guys, so I will stop there!

I have been ~super~ busy this week! I knew I wanted to go ahead and get a jump-start on Halloween/Autumn minis... but I had no idea how inspired I would actually get! Take a look at what I have been working on!

***Oh, and if you are interesting in purchasing any of these items you can find them in my Etsy shop! Everything in the following post has been listed!  ***

Pumpkins!________________________________________________________

So far I have 4 sizes of pumpkins. They range from about a quarter of an inch to over an inch. I have also been playing around with multiple colors... At the moment I have plenty of white and green pumpkins.

This is my first time making listings like this... where I take pictures of a group of items and then label the different styles/items. Does anyone out there have any advice for doing this? I would hate for someone to get confused between the listings!

Candies!__________________________________________________________

As some of you may know, I am slowly trying to build up a large variety of candy. Not only for Halloween, though! I would really love to build an entire candy shop display. *flashbacks from childhood, anyone?*

 Here we have chocolate bars (partially inspired by those of Stéphanie Kilgast of PetitPlat), jawbreakers, caramel creams, gummy worms, saltwater taffy, and chocolate malts- all of which are childhood favorites.

 Not only do I find making miniature candy highly meditative... it's quite nostalgic. I remember eating on jawbreakers for days, competing with the neighborhood kids to see who could get to the center first... and always finding caramel creams in my uncle's candy dishes... and being treated to saltwater taffy on trips to the beach and the mountains.

Jack O'Lanterns!___________________________________________________

They'rrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeee backkkkkkkkk! With a twist!

These are only the first of many to come.... I thoroughly enjoy making these little guys! Right now I have 4 medium green, 4 medium white, and 1 large green jack o'lanterns. What do you guys think about the new colors? Personally, I am starting to prefer the white and green pumpkins of the oranges ones... but hey, that could be because they are new! :)

Like I said, all of these items have been listed! They will all be added to the new Autumn 2013 section in my Etsy shop! :)

Thank you guys so much for stopping by!

xoxo

_blake

P.S. I'm going to spend the weekend relaxing with some family out of town! Probably going to take just enough supplies to work on something while I am there! How are you guys spending your weekend?

Light Box and Updates!

It feels like it has been forever since I last checked in! Grrr! Time just slips away so easily these days....

Anyways, I am here now! With some things to share! :D :D :D

I ended last week on a very productive note! (Which worked out because I had some family come into town last minute to stay the weekend.) A few people online had mentioned to me that I ought to try working with a light box of some kind... and I had thought about it once or twice before but I never got any further than THINKING about it... Haha!

I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to put one of these together... All I used was a piece of foam-core, artists tape, and a piece of wax paper. My friend, Karine, had already made one for herself... and I've seen various ones online- so I had a good idea of what I was doing to begin with. Here are a couple images I took inside the box...

As expected, I am having some trouble with the light I am using. It makes my pictures look warmer than what it actually is in real life, so I am having to edit that a little bit afterwords. But other than the temperature of the lighting, it works great! The light is distributed really nicely and this works great for my current needs! :D

As for what I am currently working on.... I started some pumpkins! :D :D :D

I am really happy with these... and I am diving into Autumn minis HEAD FIRST! Fall is truly my favorite season... I actually like to think that if I was a flower I would bloom in the Fall. :)

Anyways, these little guys are currently being painted and I am also making some JACK O LANTERNS. I am trying really hard to make them more realistic that last year's... so wish me luck! :D

I also want to show you guys this-

I saw this quote on a blog the other day (here) and it just kinda stuck with me. I thought I needed to hear (well, read) these words seeing as how I have been in an on-going rut. I painted this on a canvas and it is now on my wall! Nothing special, just a giant sign that I can look at and read when I need to. I thought there might be some more people out there who could use these words.

Thanks for stopping by!

xoxo

-Blake