The City Street Corner Kit

by miniatures.com

I was part of the buying frenzy that started when I found out that miniatures.com was going out of business.  This was one of those back burner projects that I had planned to buy later. I bought a "few" other things too. 😏  I am happy there will be new owners taking over the company 😍! 

I created this as a prop for the Bird Lady Doll. It will be an extension of the walls I made years ago. https://jocelynsdollhouse.blogspot.com/2017/06/mini-tribute-to-mary-poppins.html 

I know in the movie she sits on the cathedral's steps but the park scene is more practical for me and plus it's my favorite background scene. The assembly was very straight forward, I dry fitted the whole thing before gluing it together. I separated the wall from the base until I had everything assembled and painted.

I added the finial caps to the posts to match the park walls I built earlier and glued them to the squares and painted them sky grey. Then I used stone texture spray paint from Home Depot to cover the walls. I used flat black spray paint for the street and "worn penny" metallic acrylic paint on the grates. I used brown pastel chalk and scenic material along the bottom of the wall for weeds. I plan to add some larger realistic looking pigeons and squirrels that I ordered from ScaleGrail on Etsy. 

I will use tacky wax so my birds will not look ☠️ 

I painted the sidewalk base grey and added a light spray of stone texture and used a Prismacolor Marker to draw the lines and more chalk pastels for added textures. 

I used a square wood block as a base to make a crate for her to sit. I cut and glued wood coffee stirrers to the block to give it more dimension. I used Prismacolor Markers and color pencils to added wood grain lines. Then covered the crate  with an oak gel stain to unify everything. 

I bought the tree years ago from Micheals, it was part of the fairy landscapes. I used the foam base that was part of the packaging and painted it brown and covered it with static grass. I used wood strips to make a square and created a planter box. I painted the box grey and added circle paper clips spray painted black to use as fencing around the top. I used black spray paint on the iron fence included with the kit.

 

I glued the tree to the foam but I left it unattached to the planter box and the sidewalk base for flexibility in changing the scenery. 

I made the bags of bird seed from recycled packing paper. I used foam beads mixed with acrylic paint  to make the bread crumbs on the sidewalk.

My goal was to get this done in a day! I have more details that I want to add along with more birds and squirrels, but I will update the post later with those changes. 

Country Garden

Mr. McGregor's Garden

 

This project started during Covid lockdown, so some earlier stage photos are missing. I still want to "weather" the fence, replace and create more crops, and add a few more accessories but I felt it was finished enough to make an overdue post.😊

The Base

I used foam project panel from HomeDepot for a base https://www.homedepot.com/p/Project-Panels-FOAMULAR-1-in-x-2-ft-x-2-ft-R-5-Small-Projects-Rigid-Pink-Foam-Board-Insulation-Sheathing-PP1/203553730  I recycled packing foam for rows and covered everything with joint compound. I painted the base with brown acrylic paint, I originally used "Vallejo Thick Mud"acrylic paint on the rolls (accidentally covered over with grout), afterwards I used Modge Podge to cover the base in sections and applied  "Earth" (brown) non-sanded grout (HomeDepot) to create the look of dry dirt. I set it with a mix of water and rubbing alcohol. I let it dry then reapplied Modge Podge and covered selected areas with grass using the static applicator, my new favorite! I ordered from Amazon and it came with grass samples. The rest of the scenic supplies I bought from Hobby Lobby. The techniques I got from watching numerous diorama videos on YouTube. 

The Fence

I gave the garden a rustic fence, made from coffee stirrers and dowels, then spray painted it with white. I used a small dowel for a hinge on the gate. The lattice (miniatures.com) was left over from the porch on my Sunflower Farm House.

The Vegetables

I made vegetables and fruits out of beads and artificial flower parts. I didn't make the carrots in the basket, those I bought from a vendor (whose name I don't remember) at the Tom Bishop Show last year in Chicago.

I should have painted these green, before gluing on the leaf.

Other Accessories 

I saw these little rabbits (Hobby Lobby) and thought of Peter Rabbit and the garden of Mr. McGregor, I thought it would make a cute storyline for the garden. The scarecrow, pumpkins, wheelbarrow, garden hose, planter seed box, metal pail, gnomes from Hobby Lobby. The small terra cotta pots, and the tools came from (Micheals) and (miniatures.com) I used skewers for the stakes.

HAPPY EASTER!