this N that again....

I was truly excited by how easy we got off this winter. Everywhere around us got dumped on with snow while we had nary a flake....that is until that last big storm that passed over the Eastern seaboard.
When that was finished, we had almost as much again as we'd gotten all winter. So I was really surprised at how warm the temperature has gotten this month. Absolutely perfect for maple syrup making. Warm (relatively speaking) days and cold nights. Elmvale has for years, closed off it's downtown to hold a maple syrup festival. More to come on that later....

So as I was saying...this weather trend is all a bit early for us. I was expecting to read all your blogs showing me photos of lovely spring flowers while we put up with more cold! But look what I found......can you see right behind Santa? I have daffodils coming up!!
Soon I'll be able to start my daily garden walk-abouts again to see what made it and what's in flower. Can't wait!

They do say it's an el Nino year; so that should mean lots of heat this summer. And with that in mind, my claying will soon need to end....unless it's something not too intricate that requires cool hands and not too much handling.
I've been busying making Easter baskets, and cookies and eggs...large & small to fill the baskets with. I may be able to get in on a hand-crafted artisan show this Sunday. Either that or I'll put them in my (currently empty) Etsy store. You'll have to wait til next week for photos.

I already have plans for my summer mini-ing: Santa's workshop inside a see-thru paint can, a garden shed roombox and a vintage kitchen on baking day inside a old wooden breadbox.
I've emailed Cir-Kit regarding lighting as I'll need four types of light inside my bread box: strong sunlight shining thru an open doorway, weak light appearing from an unseen window upstairs, a flickering coal fire (still not sure of the what I want to show as my bake oven yet) and a general unseen light to light the entire scene.
I've gone thru my stash of bits and bobs to include in this scene and bought all my furniture. Some of my friends from the AllThingsMini forum are helping out:
In exchange for some of my cheeseboards, Cia has kindly provided me witha bread board, rolling pin, plate cupboard and a bird house. The bird house will be perfect in the garden shed roombox. Thank you Cia.
I'm providing links to both her blog and her etsy store as well as her Artfire store. Cia has some amazing painted country furniture for sale there. Well worth a look.
I've also spent some time looking thru Grazhina's New england Miniatures blog for some inspirational photos of vintage kitchens. This bread box kitchen is one that will sit on a shelf in my own kitchen so I want it to be absolutely perfect.
(Karin Corbin...I'm aiming for your standards! So I hope you'll keep me in line. LOL)

Off to mail my Beatrix Potter swap and snap some maple syrup making photos...if I can.