Sunday, September 25, 2016

That Aha! Moment When a Project Comes Together


 There is a moment in every creative endeavor when the imagined outcome becomes real--when you can see past the mess and the work undone to a successful conclusion.

I reached those points this week in both my newest book and in the dollhouse I'm entering in the 2016 Creatin' Contest.

HONEY B's SWEET SPOT

This is a love song to the quaint Lake of the Ozarks shops that I remember fondly. There's an inn called The Lodge of the Four Seasons, so Honey B's will feature all four seasons. But getting the project together has been challenging because I've been so immobile. At one point, I thought about pitching the whole mess.

But recently the floor plan showed promise. I could see how the pieces would fit. The front porch is shaping up, too. I love the old-fashioned metal chairs. I hope to add cushions to them.




To get that color of yellow, I used nail polish. The table is a fake barrel with a circle that looks like wood but is actually mat board. I stopped into a local framer's shop and asked if he had any scraps he was going to toss. He brought out a stack of mat board a foot high. I even made the shutters around the windows out of it. The pumpkin setting is by Betinha Murta, a very talented miniaturist.

Here you are looking down into the building.

I painted the back wall, and I've made a tree that will go in the left corner. The fireplace is egg carton bricks and paperclay. The gingerbread house is by Betinha. The table, chairs, and tea cart are plastic by Chrysnbon, but my husband's furniture repair guru gave me small bottles of the stain he uses. You would never guess these items were plastic. On the left wall is a vintage dollhouse cupboard. Can you see the bear in the far right? I'm planning to elevate him by putting him on a platform. There will be curtains over the windows, which is why I didn't add trim.

LOVE, DIE, NEIGHBOR

It started as a short story, but this prequel to the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series will be a full-blown novel. This isn't the final version, but I thought I'd share it anyway. Something about having a cover makes a book feel REAL.


Do you like it?

1 comment:

Linda O. Johnston said...

Definitely cute and creative. And congrats on expanding your new/old mystery!