Blood in a bottle; It should not be anything that goes "bad" or "moldy". Think about oil paints like crimson red. It will dry out but if you mix it with some linseed oil it will stay for years. Bye the way, blood left standing will clot and pull away from the sides of the container so if that happens with the oil paint it will appear very normal and natural.

DrBob...Delray Beach, FL

Turning Mini Animal Limbs: I made some mini teddy bears recently (I did a batch of 12) - I used a 23 piece pattern, scaled down (on the photocopier) till the finished bear was about an inch tall. They were made the same way as full size bears, stitched & turned. Then thread jointed. The arms were the hardest to turn. TIP - leave arms & legs open at the top, not the back as you may do for full size bears. If you position them sitting with their arms out the closing stitching is at the back. (and a seated bear looks smaller than a standing one).

Now I hope this bit makes sense ...

The best way I found to turn them was to hold the limb in a pair of fine pointed tweezers, positioned so the tweezers run up the length of the limb with just a tiny bit of the open end of the limb protruding beyond the tips of the tweezers. Then I pushed with my fingers till I rolled the open end of the limb back over the tips of the tweezers. Loosen your grip on the tweezers and move them back a bit then keep on pushing and rolling. Keep on doing this and you'll end up rolling the limb mostly right side out over the tweezers. When you are mostly done you can poke something in the limb to turn it fully, but watch you use something blunt as it is easy to push thru the stitching. It is not easy but can be done!!!

Sandra Monk

Turning Small Stuffed Animal Parts: I got lots of answers to my plea for help in turning tiny stuffed animal parts. Just in case anyone else is wondering here is a condensed version of the tips:

1. Leave the tops of the arms and legs open when sewing. Grasp the entire piece with tweezers, leaving only a small portion of the open end protruding. Gently roll the open end down over the tweezers. When that is completed, back up the tweezers a bit and continue to roll the limb over on itself.

2. With some strong thread or string thread a needle, tie a knot in one end and then pierce the closed far end of the limb. Thread the needle down the length of the limb being careful not to catch any of the fabric with the needle. Gently pull the string so that the limb with turn over the knot you tied.

3. With hemostats (most people like the curved ones best, it seems). Insert the hemostats down into the length of the piece to be turned. Grasp a small part of the end and use the hemostats to pull the end down into the piece to turn it.

4. If using ultra suede for fabric, you can just glue the seams together in a french seam. This way you can construct your piece right side out and eliminate turning.

Linda in Georgia

Turning a Tiny Critter; A couple inexpensive things to get for turning anything tiny is a pair of hemostats from a medical supply or your Dr. may have some and a bodkin which has a rounded tip. The hemostats are better than tweezers because they are blunt point and also come in either straight or bent tip and they lock in place gently. I found some at a thrift store. The bodkin is found at most sewing stores. I've also found that a plastic chop stick is useful for turning small items.

Sue

knitted bear pattern: http://www.craft-club.com/creativedir/index.htm - go to Character Bears.

Paula in NJ

Cutting Plexiglass: I have cut many miles of plexiglass over the years, and the best thing is a power saw of some sort. I have used both a jig saw and a band saw. You will end up with a bit of 'fuzz' on the underside of your piece, but it can be brushed off by hand. I have heard you can score thin plastic with a sharp knife and then snap it on a table edge or something similar, but have never tried that method.

Dani Rice

Cutting Plexiglass: The folks at Home Depot were out of the little tool when I asked, but said to score the sheet lightly with a utility knife with a sharp blade, using a straight edge to keep the cutting line straight. Put it on a straight edged surface, like a table or workbench, hold down the uncut side and hit the piece you want to break off with your hand. Should snap cleanly. Mine did.

Patricia LeBeau in Florida

Clear Display: I have used an inverted 10-gallon aquarium as a cover for a scene quite successfully. I found one with a clear bottom at the local mega-pet store (big store, not pets) for about $12.00. I built my scene on a styrofoam base that I cut to the size of the aquarium opening.

Chris in Minnesota

Cutting Plexiglass: To cut plexiglass the best thing to use is a table saw. To do this you need to put a cutting and drilling liquid on the blade. This is a product sold at tool suppliers and possibly hardware outlets and it helps reduce friction. It seems to be an oily substance but I am not sure exactly what it is. One that I have used is called "Cool Tool". A note re safety though, always remove the electric plug from the outlet before doing anything with the blade! After that, use a tissue or cloth to wipe the substance on each side of the blade. It is a good idea to wear a total face mask as well as the "sawdust" from plastic is hot. It won't hurt your hands or arms but you will feel it. I always use a full mask when I use a table saw as one can never be sure where the sawdust will fly. It is not worth it to get a piece of wood in one's eye.

June Simpson

Room box Ideas; Wine box , acrylic breadbox which opens from both sides, & couldn't find papier mache bookends, so went to dollar store & bought 2 tall children's book. Removed the pages and glued/taped them together. Taping books together for roombox

Forgot to mention I set them into foamcore. I used the thicker foamcore so I could make the slot & fill it with glue to hold the books and covered the edging with scotch plastic wrapped around. then I covered the floor with contact paper that looked like wood. This allowed me to do 2 different rooms.

AnaMae

Paper mache: Bob gave a mashed paper recipe. I did the same thing - newspaper, water, but added wood glue e.g. Elmer's wood glue. This I used to make large architectural decorations on my Dutch house. VERY SUCCESSFUL. But boy does it dry hard, like diamonds. I know from this wood glue /paper mush you can make houses, draw design on paper for walls, lay flat, fill design with paper mush, when dry, voila, house wall. Good for making fairy houses and stuff.

Helen

Trunk hardware: One half of an off set hinge makes a good hasp for trunks.  On the pointed end there are holes for the nails and you cut a slot between them.  Bend a small piece of wire into a U shape for the hasp to fit over and attach it to the body of the trunk and attach the hasp to the top.  The item number for the Houseworks hinge is 4823 and I think Realife also makes one.

Rose from Somerville, MA

Trunk hardware: I've used fine gold wire wrapped to circle around very small plier round tip for the clasp, then twisted top piece. I glue end under my leather trim and circle or loop protrudes. Then used the smallest brass nails (cut) as stud to fasten to. Works on my 1/4"scale leather covered trunks so they can open.

Regina In Wilmington, DE

Shopping Ruler: Here's an impromptu ruler that's quite surprisingly accurate. A dollar bill is 6" long. Fold it in half, it's 3". Fold each 3" segment into thirds, you've got a good, impromptu ruler. Wouldn't try making furniture with it, but it's a good on-the-spot "guesstimator". Believe it or not, that's a trick they taught us at basic training in the military! ;-)

Dave Pierce

Roombox...how to keep it clean: Put a picture frame with Plexiglas in it (instead of real glass) on the front of the "box". I like to select a frame with a flat surface on the back & then I build a plywood box to fit the frame. I use a couple brass hinges to connect the frame to the box & a catch on the other side to close it with. I stain the box ( if the wood is pretty) or cover it with fabric or paper to hide the wood.

Decoupage liquid works for me to apply fabric to the wood and an extra coat or two over the fabric helps to keep it clean ( you said it would be handled quite a bit).   Hope this helps.

Ann in AZ

Vignette housed in a gift bag -The most wonderful mini I received was from a pen pal I got from Small Stuff. Jennifer made me a vignette housed in a gift bag -  but the scene is so exquisite that I will eventually house it in something more permanent The snowy scene was of a man getting his mail from his mailbox.  The ground and plants are all winterized and the mailbox is chock full of mail.  He's holding one addressed to me.  He is wonderful - a definite character and when I get a photo site this will be the first like he could fit in any scene from the 20's on up - strikes me as from the 40's.  He is wearing a gray felt brimmed tam type hat, a plaid wool scarf, and broken in brown leather jacket with tweed trousers and lace up galoshes.  The entire vignette was made to symbolize our frequent mail and package exchange

W. Marie

Musical Memory Bags: I do musical memory bags.  I create the scene in the bag as usual, Place a cover on the box in the bag as usual, then I attach the music box to the top of the box at the side of the bag, poke a hole in the bag and reattach the musical key to the music box thru the hole and fill the top with tissue paper....I have a young lady lying in a boat, daydreaming with "oh what a beautiful day" playing and I also have a small nativity scene with light and musical box playing "We three Kings".  I do get a lot of compliments on them and they are unique.  I love doing them.  I save all of my gifts I receive in bags and usually end up giving the bag back to the person with a musical scene in it.

Rhonda in Fl

Quilt shop:  I used a wooden cigar box for a quilt shop ("Bits'N'Pieces"), with two Michael's hutches sans doors for shelving the fabric bolts--scraps wound around cardboard pieces--and a tea cup-and-saucer holder on its side for a "rack" on which I displayed sample quilt patterns I had "gleaned" from a sidewalk sale--1" quilt patterns done in fimo hanging from their own hangers--That's what inspired the shop! I hung mini-quilts on the walls and added my attic sewing machine, a few scraps, a cash register, and sewing basket and Voila!  The challenge was the receipt pad I made from full-sized materials-- 1/2"x3/4".  It was fun, easy to assemble, and is quick to store or "rob" from.

.Xmas Carol

Depth: Wonder how many of you are like me and like a 3 dimensional effect with the pictures they use in their minis for looking outdoors through windows or doors? I knew when I started doing this that it would add hours to a project but still decided I had to do it. The effect is fantastic but not for the faint of heart who want something done right away. It's extremely time consuming but well worth the effort.

If you looked out the window, you saw mountains. I didn't want just a picture of mountains, there wasn't enough room for actually making any, it was only a space about 1 1/2" deep and lot's of stuff had to go in that space. So I proceeded to make several copies of a mountain with sunset scene, and cut out the mountains and glued them atop each other until it had the effect I wanted, then bent the bottom of the picture forward so that it sloped in the right way. The effect was amazing.

Then I actually drew birds flying overhead, some tiny ones sitting in the snow up closer to the picture window and on top of the bike seat, that was just outside the window. Even had a "Don't cut the grass" sign just sticking up out of the snow. Had a birdfeeder out there too

That left a space to the right of that window that was the same depth that I couldn't figure out what to do with. Didn't want to waste it, so I put in a wide door opening and behind it I found a picture looking off into other rooms with a curving staircase in front and to the left. Again I proceeded to print several copies of the picture, cut out the steps, and then the railings and glued them on top of each other until they were 3 dimensional. I slightly curved the bottom of the picture out so it looked like the floor that was in the roombox blended right into the other room. Made the room look much huger than what it was. There was a large plant to the left of the staircase and I also cut out tons of little leaves and glued them around the picture so it looked like there really was a plant there, bent this way and that so that the leaves looked realistic.

Kathy in E. TN

I already have an idea for a project. Picture a woman sitting at a computer, engrossed in what she is reading on the screen. (If you look really close, you will see it is SSD.) Behind her is a washing machine with a pile of dirty clothes, then an ironing basket with a stack of ironing,waiting to be done. There is also a dishwasher open to show clean dishes waiting to be unloaded, and in the sink dirty dishes waiting to be loaded. Perhaps through an open door a glimpse of breakfast dishes still on the table. Through the kitchen window some washing is on the hoist and the pot plants wilting in the hot Australian sun, dying for a drink. That is a picture of me over the last week, reading and absorbing all the mail you sent, and if I ever do get around to doing that scene, l shall call it: I WOULD IF I COULD.

Joyce J. from Downunder