Here they are waiting very patiently for their hats and accessories.

Starting with your choice of red and white, roll out the red bake clay to about 1/8" thickness.  Using a round cutter about 1 1/2" in diameter cut out three circles.  Cut two in half and take the halves and put the two sides together forming a cone.  I put them on marbles so they would hold their shape while baking. Use the last red circle and put the whole thing on a marble to make the Sandwoman's hat.  Push down on it to make it go over the marble to make a place for her head.

Take a green bake clay and roll out to the same thickness as the hat. Using the same cutter, cut out three circles and then cut a smaller circle out from the middle of each of those.  Take a wire tool that looks like a broom and use it to make it look like pine needles. Now use the red clay to make little Holly berries to place on the wreath. Use the same small circle from the extruder that you used for the bow on the hat to make the bow for the wreath.  

Here they are ready to go in the oven to bake according the instructions on the clay.

All finished and ready to go to the beach!  

I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you have an awesome week!  If you have comments or questions, please feel free to ask or share!   Until next time...Ciao!

Penny  :O)

My Very First Giveaway!

I am so excited about this fantastic giveaway! My friends over at Fearlessly Creative Mammas are celebrating their first blogiversary, so a few special bloggers (and me!) are helping them celebrate by teaming up to give away a gigantic AMAZON GIFT CARD!! My pixie houses might be tiny, but the amount of money on this gift card is HUGE. There are a bunch of awesome blogs to check out and several ways to enter, so go check them out now! So, good luck to you and congratulations to:

I have a tendency to do things a little backwards in life, or at least that is what I have been told.  For instance in writing a blog post...I first thought of a title and now I need to come up with what I want to write.  Everyone says that I go about it all wrong and that I should write the post first and THEN come up with a title.  But I guess my brain isn't wired that way and instead I pick an title, or main idea, and then work it out.   So goes my process!

So when do I know it's time to start on a new project in my Pixie world? That can be a tricky question, especially when I have so many ideas and plans that I want to accomplish. Well, sometimes, after having this storm of thoughts and ideas working around in my brain, one finally stops and plants a picture of the end product and usually with at least a vague idea of the "how to"! It's really incredible. Sometimes in the middle of a project, the "how to" changes or the end result ends up as something new, but that is what is so exciting about what I do.  This artistic endeavor of mine isn't about the "rules" or what anyone else is doing. I am able to just create what I love and enjoy the discovery of seeing how it all comes out in the end!  And most of the time I'm thrilled and delighted with what I've created!  And when I'm not, I have learned something and I can always try again. ;)

I saw a quote today: "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start!"

So far, my process seems to work for me, but I sometimes get frustrated and feel that some days I don't accomplish enough.  I was gently reminded today that I need to be patient with myself and my process and to accept it and just go with what works for me!  So that is what I will try to do.  The days when inspiration hits, I will ride that wave and create what I see in my minds eye, and on the days when it's a little quieter, a little more reflective, I'll do my best to realize that this is just as important to what I do as the scraping out of hypertufa, or the moss collecting, or any other part of my art. The well of creativity needs to be refilled from time to time, and my brain needs time to sort things out in the background, file the appropriate ideas and then deliver to me my next masterpiece. So now my "slower" days include good conversation, movies, books, cuddles and love (my brain seems to work well with this combo). I've learned to wait and watch for those mornings when I just KNOW what I want to create. I get this giddy feeling in my gut and I know it will be a productive day with lots to do. 

So, I'll keep dreaming, and planning and building. I hope you like what I come up with!

Ciao for now!  :O)
Penny 

Welcome to my blog! I'm Penny and this is my little space on the Web where I can share my art, my process, my passion and maybe a little humor every now and then.

So, how did I get started with all of this Pixie and Miniature gardening stuff? I would have to go back quite a few years (no, I'm not going to tell you how many years) and say that it all started for me when I was a a little girl, making my own doll houses out of card board, complete with furniture, food, and all sorts of accessories that my dolls might need!

It went from there to building a small replica of a local barn, again out of cardboard, for a school project. I obsessed over every detail including all of the stalls, hay, tools and even a loft! I entered it in a Cultural Fair and won 1st Prize in my division!  I had a blast doing that one as I had many memories and mishaps in that old barn, all of which make me laugh even now!  As an adult, I would create various gifts for the children of family and friends: a barn for toy horses, a two story doll house and even built my own wooden drawing table!  So you can say that I have a love for creating things that bring joy to others and myself.

After working at various jobs for decades, just to make ends meet, I had surgery in early 2013 and had to take several months off to recuperate. Finding myself with time on my hands, I was drawn back into the world of miniature design and construction. It was June of 2013 when I created my first Pixie house and the garden it was to go in! It was a gift for my daughter Dani's birthday, and she loved it. Her enthusiasm for the work I was doing was so gratifying. She, and her boyfriend Trevor, started telling me that my pieces were real Art and that I should pursue it further. That is when I started wondering if I could actually do what was needed to make a go of it, both creatively and commercially. With much encouragement from them and my husband Mike, I decided to take an artistic and financial leap of faith and plunge into the world of Pixies and miniature gardening full time!

The interest, from a wide variety of sources, in my tiny creations has been incredible! I've now started selling my gardens and all the handmade accessories that go with them. I'm even entertaining the idea of putting on a show at a local gallery! I'll keep improving my designs, materials and techniques and I'll continue to make the hypertufa pots (by hand!) for all the gardens I create. Eventually, I'd even like to start teaching others how to go about creating their own Pixie houses and gardens in workshops and seminars. I will be sharing how-to's on different projects, with pictures, to help demonstrate my process, which I'm still perfecting (and probably always will be). I want to always keep learning and growing in everything I do.  I am excited to be on this artistic journey and so happy to have you join me. I will continue posting and sharing my adventures in Art and I hope you can find something here that spurs YOU to engage in an artistic endeavor. Thanks for reading, I look forward to hearing from you in the form of comments, feedback or suggestions, etc. 

Happy Gardening!
  
Ciao for now!  ;o)