There is a standing joke in my family about my way at looking at things.  It started when my daughter and I were in Nordstrom's one day and she walked over to see me examining an object.  She said, "Is that supposed to hold glasses?"  I looked at her and said, "It's a Barbie couch.  Don't be stupid."
We both cracked up laughing and now whenever the girls see me looking at something at a store or yard sale with a certain look in my eye, one of them says, "It's a Barbie couch.  Don't be stupid!"

I've been collecting one sixth scale furniture for longer than I care to admit, and I was always looking for things that looked like they might be used as Barbie objects, but once I was introduced to the world of dioramas several years ago, I started seeing Barbie items everywhere.  Boxes become footstools, napkin holders become benches, all sorts of things turn into side tables.  I actually see the world a little differently now because I'm seeing the possibilities everywhere.

I never thought of myself as a person who could do crafts.  I crocheted a little in High School and had to learn to knit for a play I was in.  (By the end of the rehearsals and performance, I had the world's longest scarf with all sorts of dropped and added stitches since I couldn't really perform and knit well at the same time.) I also did a little cross stitch when my daughters were young.  But I was never anyone who made potholders or cute handmade Christmas ornaments.

So it has surprised me that dioramas have brought out in me a creative side I didn't know existed.  When I look at things that might be Barbie objects, I now think in terms spray paint, hot glue, or cutting things with my Dremel tool, or how to paint an object to make it look it is made of marble.  For a very uncrafty person, I have also accumulated a huge amounts of trim, wooden craft pieces, paint, and box cutters. 

The truth is that my brain loves all this.  There is actually a small high off picking up some piece of junk for 49 cents at the Salvation Army and turning it into something I can use in a diorama.  I don't just mean having a wonderful object when I'm done.  I mean the creative burst that takes place in your brain when you see something that could be created and how to go about creating it.  I suppose any artist has known this for years, but for me, not being very artistic, it's a real rush.

It's kind of wonderful that I will never see the world quite the same again and that I can look forward to enjoying those exciting moments in the future.  Who ever would have thought playing with Barbies would get me here?

So I start a new website and my daughter promptly shuts my hand in the car door, smashing most of the fingers on my right hand and breaking the middle finger.  Hurts unspeakably.  I am, of course, right handed. Suddenly I have to use scissors, write notes, button my blouse, and everything else either with my left hand or very gingerly with my bruised thumb and pointer finger.  This makes for some interesting spelling variations when typing. So if you see any mistakes please contact me.

It had been my hope to add to the "How To" section on a daily basis, but with the difficulty with taking pictures and manipulating small objects, this probably won't happen for a while.

On the upside, the smashed hand gets me out of a certain amount of house work which gives me more time to set up dioramas.  I have several going, but am a little stuck because, while I can move (doll) furniture around, I can't do fine work like sewing curtains.

The one I'm currently working on- pictured in the projects section- is an experiment in using a focal point to design a room.  The rug was what began it all. The colors-black, white, gray, and olive- became the inspiration.  At first I decided to limit myself only to those colors, but when I introduced the grandfather clock, which has a red interior, I decided to add a splash of red to the room to make it pop.  It is still a work in progress with many of the details still lacking, but it's halfway there.  I hope you enjoy it.  Let me know your opinion.