Barn Raising Challenge

 I didn't post my bridle tree barn raising project on the facebook group yet but I've been putting photos of this on my instagram as I built it. I've recently fallen in love with book nooks and I realized that having a tiny stable for my bookshelf would be a great project for the already busy month of December.

I think it came out pretty good! It's scaled to fit my schleich horse.

I started cutting popsicle sticks to fit and put 1/4in square dowels in the corners. I did not glue them down yet but I did glue the popsicle sticks to each other to make the wall.

I printed out the gray sheet metal panels from Desktop Stables barn, big thanks for that! I had to size them down to schleich scale which took a bit of trial and error, then I did my best to line them up! I found that a glue stick worked the best for getting them to stick on the walls without glue seeping through.

There's been a lot of talk in the hobby about messy more realistic barns recently and I could not agree more! Nothing gets more gross than a stall wall. I once took a handywoman job of painting the interiors of stalls white. It was probably one of the biggest wastes of time ever, next day the horses had already messed it up but hey it wasn't my barn. 

Anyway, I glued my messy walls on the sides of the book nook, making sure not to interfere with the teeth in the back or it would not have closed properly. This is one of the major benefits of a book nook, it is super easy to work on each side before putting everything together.

I put the nook together as well as my stall. I also put strips of wood (coffee stirrers) along the seem on the side. I think it made it look better and lots of metal barns have framing on the inside.

It's a bit of a tight fit for the horse but I only had so much room to work with. Luckily, plastic horses don't complain much.

After this point I put on my door with some tiny cabinet hinges I bought from factory direct crafts. I did a big oops of not paying attention because the door is actually too long, I forgot to account for the space of the hinges. By the time I realized, it was already glued on. 

I decorated it a bit and started adding details. One detail I love is this bulletin board. I got the printouts from Kenzie Williamson on the bridle tree facebook page. It is amazing. I built the frame with black painted coffee stirrers. There are actually two layers of background. I used thin cardboard as the original background that I glued the frame on. Then I cut another piece of thin cardboard that fit inside the frame. That way I can change out the board if I feel like. The top board is just held in by a piece of double sided tape. 

I think everything turned out pretty cute!

 I followed this youtube tutorial to make my mini haybales, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFo3J8W4Qpg

Another big thanks to Nichelle at Desktop stables who not only provided the sheet metal wall printouts but also has a fantastic pattern for a cloth hay bag which I followed for schleich scale!

And thanks to Kenzie Williamson for the printout for the bulletin board and the really cute idea! It really makes the barn more realistic.

I think that this is something many members of the Model Horse community do well, sharing information, patterns, tips and just helping each other. It makes it a great hobby to be a part of. I hope everyone has Happy Holidays!

DIY Miniature Stockings

I'm starting to get into the holiday spirit now that it is officially December! And that means getting my miniature stalls all festive too! So I came up with this easy DIY for stockings and figured I'd share it. These are no-sew since my sewing machine needs a bit of repairs and much like everything that is backlogged a lot. These use a really small amount of fabric so perfect for using up some scraps too!

Materials/tools:

Fabric in small print pattern or plain

Flannel (I used white)

Fabric Glue (I used liquid stitch)

Ribbon

Clips to hold stuff together while it drys

Sharp scissors

Pattern:

1. Cut out two pieces of fabric, making sure to flip the pattern over for the second piece.

2. Fold over a small amount of the top of each side and glue. Folding the good side of the fabric to the bad side.

3. On the good side of one piece glue around the edge, as close to the edge and as thin of a line as possible to maximize space in the stocking.

4. Place the 2nd piece good side down on the first. I clamp around the opening to get a strong seal.

5. Once the glue has dried (I usually wait overnight) turn the stocking inside out. Press it down with your fingers to flatten and use a marker to push out the seems on the inside. Careful not to poke a hole through the glue. On the left you can see what it will look like once turned and on the right is after I pushed out the inside and flattened the top part a bit.

6. Cut a strip of fleece approximately 1/2 inch wide and glue to the top of the stocking. Also cut a small piece of ribbon. Fold the ribbon in half and glue it together to for a loop, then glue to the back of the stocking so it can be hung.

7. Fill with Christmas goodies and hang!