Tag Archives: DIY house

Goodbye 2023

29 Dec

We have two days left of 2023 before we bid the year goodbye. It has been another eventful year for me. As we count down to the New Year, I reflect upon the past 12 months, and here are some highlights of the good times and not-so-good moments.

The biggest highlight would be the two weddings in the family! My only sibling’s twins got hitched within three months of each other. It was a very happy occasion for the family.

Before the weddings, I started 2023 with a bang, getting myself hospitalized for kidney stones. I thought I pulled a back muscle from gardening, but it was more than that. I can laugh about it now!

After that scare, my diet changed to one that is low-oxalate. It took a while to adjust, but I have gotten used to it now. It is always best to stay healthy than to have a recurrence.

The year also saw me having a constant battle with putting. I suffered putting yips every so often with the many rounds of golf I played this year. The musical chair with my Peanut Putter, Scotty Cameron Squareback, and TaylorMade Spider Mini putter choices was a regular practice. Towards the end of the year, I had to retire my Peanut Putter because the grip was disintegrating. Boo hoo hoo. For now, the Mini is in the bag.

There were no family holidays this year as both girls are working, but I’m okay with this. Instead, hubby and I made several golfing trips with friends, locally and abroad. As a result of the constant golfing, my craft work suffered. I slowed down building miniatures, and the latest DIY project, number #32, is incomplete and collecting dust at my workstation. Sigh. Perhaps I can revive it at the beginning of the new year. We shall see.

2023 was not all fun and happy or frustrating. There have been scary moments that I wish not to be repeated. We experienced two spine-chilling episodes with friends after golf, but quick thinking and action saved them. However, no amount of action could save the loss of others due to other issues. Unexpected and untimely, this is the cycle of life, and we have to accept it. I avoid elaborating much on these occasions because I feel it’s best to remember these people in happier times than upon their deaths. Peace be upon their souls.

What will the new year bring for me? It would be materialistic to wish for this and that. I will be practical and say better health more than anything else. With each year passing, the body cannot take the strain regardless of what I do. This dinosaur is getting old!

Well, 2023 has been happy and sad all rolled into one, to sum it up in one sentence. Goodbye 2023, thanks for the memories, and a toast to the year, now stored away as I await the New Year with an open mind.

No New Purchases

21 Nov

I have to admit I am surprised that during the recent 11.11 sale on my favorite online shopping site, I did not buy any DIY miniature sets! While I did purchase other things, I did not add to my stash of miniatures to craft.

Am I losing interest in crafting miniatures? The latest piece, DIY project number 32, has stalled for several weeks. Maybe I am going through a phase. I’m sure I will get back into the groove.

After all, my stash is still sizeable, and there are still many sets available online that I’d like to acquire. We’ll see how long I can last, making no purchases of DIY sets.

DIY Project #32, Part 2

24 Oct

As I am taking a week off from playing golf, the logical thing to do is to start building the next miniature to keep busy. Otherwise, I’d be on my iPad Mini for ages, playing my games mindlessly; bad for my eyes, I’d have to admit.

Assessing what I have, I think I will go ahead with the Walnut series set. Wish me luck!

DIY Project #32

16 Oct

I am keen to start DIY project number 32, but the will to craft and build is not there. Have I stopped too long and lost interest? I’m not sure. My stash of miniatures is still there, and the desire to buy more from my favorite online shopping site is also there, but the will to build is sadly lacking.

Perhaps I have been playing too much golf and hardly any time or energy left for other activities. Well, I guess I have to be disciplined, shake off the layer of dust, and do it!

Time to Rest

3 Oct

I think I am playing too much golf, raking up three games in a row last week. It’s tiring. There do not seem to be any improvements in my ability to play well. The putting gets to me, the roller coaster scores upon completion irked me, and I feel piqued to sacrifice all those balls that cannot cross the ponds and lakes. The list can go on! Sigh.

Thankfully, I have conquered my fear of the sand bunker and can escape without adding additional strokes to the score. I will take a short break to let my tired body recover and focus on building my miniatures to keep busy.

DIY Project #31, Part 2

29 Sep

It was a public holiday yesterday and a rare occasion that I did not play golf. Instead, I caught up with my crafting. Finally, DIY project number 31 is a wrap! It took six weeks, but there were days when I did not touch the project at all. Nevertheless, I’m pleased with the pace I took for it.

Light off, light on
Details of the kitchen

And thank goodness the set can sit inside the Ikea display cabinet. But I had to move some around earlier to fit in project number 30. I will take a short break from crafting, as usual, before starting number 32, which I am still undecided about which one to take on.

There is the super tiny walnut kit that I recently purchased, or I could work on the Molan House, which is equally minuscule. Let’s see what my mood will be on decision day.

Tiniest DIY Kit Ever!

19 Sep

Just when I thought I had them small, this DIY kit that I recently purchased tops them all!

Every month offers from my favorite online shopping site to coincide with the double digits date and month, i.e., 8/8 or 9/9, are very enticing. So naturally, I bought this DIY kit on the 9/9 sale stretch.

Although it is super minuscule, it will most likely be the next one to work on after I complete DIY project #31. Let’s see if I can take the challenge!

Super tiny!

Coloring the DIY Pieces

28 Aug

DIY project number 31 is coming along slowly. Besides building, there are pieces of furniture and accessories that require painting to complete the composition. Otherwise, the set will look different from the picture on the box unless I want a total change. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy building my miniatures, I find customizing tedious.

Whenever a set requires a paint job for the loose items, I use my acrylic colors. Sometimes, the DIY sets do provide little pods of colors to use. So, I use those because they are of the right colors instead of having to mix the shades myself.

Recently, I discovered a new trick to shortcut this step. Instead of painting, which requires several layers, I use a color marker! And since I have two brown shades, typical for pieces of furniture, it has been okay. The pieces look just as natural. However, I need to replenish my markers soon because they are drying up fast!

A marker to stain or paint the pieces!

DIY Project #31

18 Aug

After a lengthy pause from crafting, I have decided to start on DIY project number 31. Number 31, wow! It’s been three years now that I have been building miniatures, and I find this activity very therapeutic. It’s nice to be immersed in my little miniature world, away from all the noise and disruption of reality!

However, sometimes it can be very aggravating because things are all so tiny, but I take the challenge head-on. Deft fingers and patience are a must. My biggest bane now is storage. Where do I keep the completed sets? I should consider acquiring a second Ikea display cabinet to house all my completed miniatures.

So project number 31, a kitchen, is a small set like projects number 25 and 26. They are from the same series. Three weeks tops to complete this, barring disruptions or travel? We shall see.

Project number 31 begins!

To Craft or Not to Craft

25 Jul

Now that I have completed DIY project number 30, it is starting to collect dust (!) because I left it on the dining table. I am in a bind. Do I begin the next one or not? There is no space in the Ikea display cabinet to fit in another set this size. And I don’t have any spare dust covers to protect the completed kit from dust.

Perhaps I should pause my crafting because, just about every other day, I am at the golf course. So any crafting momentum would be slow and not smooth at all.

If I start and crafting is going slow, incomplete pieces will only collect dust at my workstation. It doesn’t have to be a predicament to craft or not, but it is. Sigh.