Tacky Tourist Junk: In addition to the usual supposedly-Indian stuff (made in Taiwan) out in our part of the country touristy-type stores always seem to have salt and pepper shakers and sugar bowls and creamers with names of local attractions on them; also votive-sized candle holders.

Wanna in El Paso

Tacky Tourist Junk: I like the moose doo made into earrings and pendants. That's always been my personal favorite. Also the felt collegiate banners with the huge red cockroach (read lobster) on it. No coastal roadside "gallery" should be without these!

Brian

Tacky Tourist Junk: Love the remembrances of tacky souvenir stuff! Made me think of a few more: silvery pot metal ashtrays in the shape of various states/provinces, with gaudy embossed lettering and scenic highlights (e.g., New York with Niagara Falls and Statue of Liberty) maple syrup in small jugs or cabin- shaped tins, small boxes of leaf-shaped maple sugar candies, prickly-pear shaped cactus candies, sticky-sweet dates. Fake wood-grain boxes with instant collections -- sets of labeled sea shells or mineral samples glued into a grid inside (the sparkly fools' gold and petrified wood were big favorites, as were any recognizable fossils). Plastic-ribbed fans with gaudy printed scenery -- love these when I find them at yard sales, they make great mini-craft materials. Small mesh bags with a couple of clam shells -- fill a glass with water, drop in the shells, and the glue linking them dissolved so origami-like water lilies "bloomed" by popping up out of the shells on a string and floating to the surface. For some reason those were just fascinating! Come on, everybody, I bet there are even more souvenir ideas out there.

Loretta Sniarowski

Tacky Tourist Junk: Coffee mugs, snow globes, back scratchers, key chains, baseball caps, decks of cards. film, maps and brochures for local attractions, candy and gum. Anywhere near a beach, add salt water taffy and shells to the list.

Char in San Diego

Tacky Tourist Junk: The one set of items I didn't see listed with the tourist souvenirs, are salt and pepper shakers. I see them wherever I go - some are beautiful artwork, and others are whimsical or local craft work. (Some are off-color.) I have a set of sheep I've had for 30 years, just because they were sweet and unusual. As long as you have two tiny items alike or very similar, they could become salt and pepper shakers.

Paulette in IN

Tacky Tourist Junk: There always seem to be postcards, shot glasses, ashtrays, crumpled soda cans still with soda in them, and depending on where you are, some of the local things, like here in Fl., there are sparkley plaster seashells filled with a beach scene, huge sun glasses, straw hats, the snow filled glass domes, key chains, kids license plates with their names on them. Then in other areas I've seen little outhouses that when you open the door, there is a pen and pad to write a note if the people you were visiting weren't home.

In Arizona we found lots of beautiful dream catchers, cactus jellies, small cacti in tiny pots, rabbit fur and beautiful Indian jewelry.

In New Mexico there were little bags of petrified wood different polished rocks and beautiful stones.

Where ever we have gone there are always rings of several types. There are also the necklaces made with fishing line and have the little charms on them.

In Wis. there are the cheese hats and moo-cow creamers, sugar bowls and salt and pepper sets.

Marilyn Cole

Tacky Tourist Junk: Has anyone mentioned those felt pennants in bright colours bearing the name of cities, or favourite baseball teams - I had quite a collection of those when I was growing up. And weird things made out of seashells.

Ann in Thorold, Ont.

Tacky Outside Tourist Junk: For years, SW Ohio has been a major stronghold of theme-costumed goose statues (OSU and U K uniforms more popular in years like this when the Reds are weak), but lately I've noticed a new trend, really, really tacky mailboxes shaped like NASCAR vehicles, speedboats, police cars, fire trucks, etc. Local truck farmer has a big ear of corn, and somebody around the corner just put up a bigmouth bass lure complete with triple hooks, though I noticed yesterday the hooks were gone. Postman must have complained. Other perennials are gazing balls in the largest size and most lurid colors (purple, green, red) and those wood cutouts on a stake that are supposed to be the fanny of a plus-size, bent-over gardener (lady in dress with bloomers or gent in droop-seated overalls). Painted cement statues of wildlife (bunnies, raccoons, deer, frogs), kissing Dutch kids, the Virgin Mary, Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, and the ever-popular lawn jockey, now available in multiple ethnicities in an attempt to overcome its racist past. Slightly more tasteful signs like "Bunny Crossing" or "Deer Crossing." And don't forget the cheesy road signs, usually printed in red on white, with slogans like "This Property Protected By Smith & Wesson" or "This Property Protected By An Attack Cat" or "Parking Space Reserved for GM Trucks" or "Trespassers Without Beer Will Be Prosecuted" etc. Hmm, I detect a theme. This stuff mostly seems aimed at our inner redneck!

Loretta.Sniarowski

Tacky Outside Tourist Junk: My whole favourite place when I was little was a 'trading' post in Ontario which looked like an old log cabin with a wide front porch. They had a huge bear skin stretched from the porch roof down over the railings. Of course, now, I wouldn't go near such a place, but back then this city kid had nothing but wonder for the size of that bear.

My other favourites I've seen include very fake totem poles, a giant sized rocking chair, concrete child-sized versions of elves, huge toy trains, flags and more flags, tethered weather balloons, real train cars or streetcars turned into restaurants or stores or, in one hotel, meeting rooms, cars and trucks on roofs, half a car sticking out of the side of a building, goats on the roof of a 'country' store, huge smiley faces. I think there must be a giant sized one of everything in North America stuck outside or on top of a store or restaurant. I like roadside places that have a fountain and a bench outside - and maybe an old fashioned Coke machine.

Heather in Toronto

Alchemist/magician's lab -  I've finally begun to construct a laboratory for a character I've been imagining for years. She's a magician/sorceress/scientist, sometime in the 1700's in central Europe; she also experiments a bit with alchemy (so I can include lots of funky equipment). I've made loads of books and I'm including a sort of furnace thing as well as a regular fireplace; when I get a new job, I'll buy lots of flasks and chemical apparatus from Carol's site (http://www.spminiatures.com/chemistry.htm I'm building a dungeon-y looking room and I want it to be very cluttered.

Christine in NYC

In doing my artist's room/loft: I've had so many responses from you for suggestions that I'm now doing and here is what I did for paint bottles.   I cut off small lengths of a plastic piece of tubing 3/16 diameter, painted the inside with different colors of paint, then for the lids I glued on size 10A hearing aid batteries. Since these were all lined up in a cupboard there was no need for bottoms on the bottles. Very realistic, and to think of what lengths we go to   when we need something boggles my mind too!

Connie, Arizona

Ants in your pants or picnic, how to make them: I used to make ants and spiders (when you are the only boy living way out in the country with two sisters and a girl cousin a guy has to come up with some way of keeping them all tormented doesn't he?) out of the hair fine copper wire coils that were used in  old radios.   Since fine copper wire is hardly available now I am taking a bit of help from my fly tying times and using some very fine thread.

Wind several loops of thread around the flat end of a flat toothpick. Slip the thread off the toothpick and flatten it into a long ball. (you may need magnification) Make a couple of wraps a little ways back on the length of the ball to make a head (leave ends of tie long). Apply a little head cement (available at fly-tying shops) to the head and tied area. Clear fingernail polish works ok but a little slow to dry and thick. Tie a second length of thread the same way a little farther back to form the body joint.

The body joint and the head should be about the same size. The tail should be almost half the ant, long and come to a point turning downward. Go back and add another loop of thread at the same places and apply head cement to all and let dry. Once the cement is dry you can shape the legs from the ends of the loops and spread them out to look real.

Using a very fine needle thread a loop of thread through the head for feelers and stiffen all with head cement again. Let dry.

Bill Hudson, Eugene, Oregon

Picnic ants: I have a couple of ways for you to make miniature ants. I sort of 'discovered' this late one night when working on another project many years ago.

I was making something else, when some tiny beads rolled together and I thought they were an ant and tried to 'kill' it! Subsequently, I made ant farms using these. You can see them on my catalog page for Pet Birds and Small Pets at the link below my signature.

If you have any of those itty bitty holeless beads (in black), the ones that are smaller than the head of a pin, just glue three in a row and it makes a very convincing ant!

If you don't have the beads, take a piece of black sewing thread, (if you have silk thread it works well too) and tie a bunch of knots along a length of it. Put a tiny drop of any white glue on your fingers and roll each knot between your fingers to coat it with glue. Let dry, and cut close to each side of each knot, then glue them together wherever you want you ants, in threes. If you are really good at this, you can make three knots in a row, one right after the other!

Alice Zinn- Pt. St. Lucie FL

Hair Salon equipment: Try www.jlbminiatures.co.uk They have modern electrical equipment as well as specialist stuff for hair salon, hospitals, shops and offices.

Jane in Warwickshire, UK

Zodiac Prints: When you get to the site, click on Fantasy, then when that comes up, go to the right side and click on Zodiac--Or go where ever you wish to view, the pictures are exceptional I think. http://www.mondopuzzle.com/

Leslie in WA

Elaine in Herndon, VA

Special Newspapers: When I was making Trinity's dh, I made a little newspaper all about Trini, her birthday, weight, eye and hair color, all kinds of little stuff about  what the weather was like on the day she was born, what the top news story, etc.  You get the idea.   The point is, I made it on the computer, took maybe an hour and was tons cheaper than buying newspaper patterned dh wallpaper.  Couldn't something like this be done for those on a limited budget?   I guess I am always looking for a way to diy, since I limit my spending budget as well.

Eileen in St.Louis

Picnic Ants: Years ago our club in Greensboro NC made a number of scenes to put in the existing miniature shop for the July 4th celebration. Many did picnics and of course all had the ants marching along....most made them by tying knots in 6 strands of black embroidery floss, cut them apart, then glued them down.

At the Show & Tell meeting, one of the gals just sat back with a silly grin on her face.....she had discovered some sugar ants on her walkway, sprayed them with insecticide, then picked them up one by one with her tweezers and glued them in place. Hey, it worked.

Dawnsminis

Ants, Bugs and Other assorted critters..I use black paint on plastic wrap... I dab dots of paint to resemble the bodies of bugs. Lay your dots over cat hair for legs, etc. when dry, pick it off carefully and infest what ever you desire.

Judie - Daytona Beach, FL

Picnic Ants: Copy a graphic of an ant. Reduce it in any print program and multiply it as many times as you wish. Print on one of the new transparent papers. Add tiny dots of black dimensional paint to the head and body. Cut your ants out in circle shape. With the translucent background you should then be able to glue them in place like a sequin. A small amount of matt acrylic sealer or Mod Podge will take away the shine of the paper. If you use Mod Podge, that could be used to apply the ant to the table or blanket as well. Haven't tried this, but I think it would work. Though Florida abounds with ants, I refuse, simply will not, never in this life time do I intend to trap the little devils and preserve them for posterity!

Becky Holliday