Having Some fun at the Bazaar! // Contest Entry + ABB Crafts

Hello everyone! I hope you all have had a wonderful week! I am starting to wind down from the never-ending cane slicing! Haha! If you missed that post, you can check it out HERE. I am only about half-way through slicing them up, but I can only take so much for now! :D

I wanted to take a minute to share a little bit of the fun I have been having here at the Bazaar! Firstly, I want to share some detail shots of an entry I have for a contest over at semi-sweeties! They just made the wonderful achievement of reaching 2000 members, so to celebrate they are holding a "party" themed contest! How fun is that?! I figured I would take the opportunity to make some new things that I haven't had the chance to get around to.

Firstly, I played around with the cake! This is my first tiered cake! I got some more practice on icing as well.

These are also the first cakes stands, macaroons, and cake topper that I have ever made!

My entry wasn't terribly complex, but I had a lot of fun making it and I am excited (as always) to see the other entries! Now, I also wanted to share my fox masks I made for Halloween! Ginia and I waited around until last minute (of course) and I ended up whipping these guys together in under a few hours. I'm quite proud!

 Ginia's fox mask had a festive orange bow on her head!

 While my mask came along with a mushroom pin that I stuck on to my shirt!

All of the elements are made from felt, but with a little playing-around I was able to make it look like fur!

And in the end, I even added whiskers! The party we went to had a costume contest- we didn't win- but I had a ton of fun prancing around in these!

Now! Back to work! Muahahaha! (evil laugh) I still have tons of canes to slice up!

My Work-Space // Becoming C L E A N

One of the most recent challenges I have come across would be organization. I don't really have a problem of getting organized, but staying organized is the issue. Now... I will be the first to admit that I may have just a touch of ADD. I will start a project, lose momentum, and then start something else- only to have it all happen again.

One of my problems is being so easily distracted. I recently came across the minimalist style of Ivania Carpio, over at LOVE AESTHETICS. Not a miniature artist, by any means, but the simplicity of her style has inspired me to make some alterations to some aspects of my own life. One thing she has recently posted about is how DISTRACTING labels can be. And I agree 100%. So.... I have slowly started to remove the labels from some/most of my materials (Unless I need them, of course). I started with some of my paints, and then moved on to some of my other materials.

In the image on the left above, you can see my sands, TLS, and a small jar of gloss. I really love how such a simple alteration can make my work-space so much easier to be in. It not only is easier on the eye, but it can also be pretty stylish. One other thing I have been meaning to get to is the walls. UGH. I painted them about a year ago and I have slowly grown to STRONGLY dislike the green/brown combo. I am hoping to paint my walls next week sometime- something light.

I know this isn't really miniature-related at all, but I thought I would share what is on my mind at the moment. As you can see in the image of my room at the top right, there is always some form of a mess. So, little things like removing unnecessary labels lessens my anxiety and makes it easier for me to work!

Thanks for stopping by! I have been a bit busy lately with twintrees and a few personal things, so long spans of miniature-time have been hard to come by. I will be back soon, though! I promise! I hope you all are doing wonderful!

Trip to the Apple Orchard!

Today my family and I went to Sky Top apple orchard in the next state over. We already had plenty of apples from my trip the other day, but we went just for fun. The orchard was HUGE! And they didn't just have apples- but that's all we went for.

Right when we walked into the building to get a basket and check out the prices, I saw THIS! It was a miniature display of an apple stand! You can click on it to get a better view.

The mini display got me thinking... thinking to do some apple orchard-inspired miniatures! Something else I found inspiring was how hands-on everyone at the orchard was. There were people making pies, sorting apple, making DOUGHNUTS! I forgot to take a picture of those... I was too excited to eat them. Hahaha!

 There were also some peach trees! We passed them as we went to go find the apples we were looking for.

Maybe I will try to go back soon, because I had a ton of fun!

Now I am going to relax for the rest of the day! Gotta get back to work tomorrow! :) Thanks for reading!

Bing! Bang! Boom!

Hello all! Have you missed me yet?! I'VE MISSED YOU! Thank you all so much for the great feedback about my butterfly cane! I can't wait to show you what I used the cane for!

You might be wondering what I've been up to.... and I wish I could tell you it has been a ton of miniatures.... but that is sadly not the case. I have actually been working on twintrees! Do you remember that project? I started twintrees a few months ago with my friend, Ginia. For a while we were unorganized and it was slowing us down, so last week I decided to take over for a bit so that we could get organized because I REALLY wanted to have a nice balance between ABB and twintrees. They are both little parts of me that I really love and they are my babies! So I want them be "happy" and "healthy."

Well...... Almost as soon as I brought all of our materials to my house... that's when "the wave" hit. Some of you might know what I'm talking about... That "wave" of orders and traffic that sometimes occurs in your shop out of NOWHERE! I am in no way complaining, but oh my gosh- I was not expecting it!

We have had order after order for almost two weeks now... and it is taking all I can muster up to stay ahead! I am just now getting caught up with everything and I have a few more orders to send out. I will then try to begin working on a stock- that way when we do get an order (that isn't a custom one) we can have them ready to ship out!

As far as ABB, I have a few things in the works! I am just now finishing up the details for making a tutorial for another website. I also had the chance to add to my stockpile of polymer clay! There was a great sale at Micheal's Crafts this week, so I got as much clay as I could! I got what I needed for some upcoming ranges I want to make. I was going to wait to start on holiday miniatures... but let's face it- I LIVE for the holidays! They are always my favorite type of miniatures to work on, so as far as ABB is concerned- all other projects are being set aside to work on some new things!

I apologize if this post is a bit all over the place! I have been working pretty much every waking hour and hope to soon settle into a balance between the different projects I have going on.

Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
-Blake

Happy Halloween! My Costume For This Year!

BOO! Here is my costume for Halloween 2012! It is Dia de los Muertos inspired! (Day of the Dead) What little I know of the holiday, I learned in my Spanish class over the last three years!

Here are a few pictures I took today in the park! I didn't actually do anything for Halloween, I just wanted to see how my costume looked all together. I am dressing up again this Saturday for a costume party! :D

As some of you may know I also have a passion for photography! There was something about having my face covered in all this makeup that made me a little more comfortable than I normally am in front of a camera.

If you would like to see more of my photography you can follow my other blog! - Christopher Blake. I am currently working on a photo project called a "365." It is where I make myself take a photo every single day of the year. I post an image every day to my facebook page, but I only post on my photo-blog once a week now. I will be making a special post about my costume later tonight, though!