Did Some Experiements Today

The igloo (spray foam in a bowl) is coming along.

The foam has continued expanding over the past 5 hours. I put this hammer on the bowl to weigh it down. You can see all the foam oozing out the right side of the bowl.

I used sandpaper and yellow duct tape to make road ways.

I used BBQ skewers and wood glue to make a fence around a village house platform. For the cost ($0), I think this is a cute addition.

The telephone poles need some tweaking. I would like to figure out an easy and cheap design to have them stand up. I could pole them into the styrofoam base, but I don't always use a base. I thought about using washers, bar coasters, and posicle sticks...if you have any ideas, lemme know! The chopsticks are a must...good price (got a collection from grocery store sushi lunches) and right size.

Gotta Get Some Ideas Documented

I've spent some time today thinking about the 09 display. I have some ideas that aren't fully developed, but I KNOW that if I don't jot them down....I'll lose them forever.

Use chopsticks to make telephone poles to run throughout the village scene.
Use sandpaper and yellow duct tape to make streets.
Use gravel and glue to make fences and paths.
Use spray foam and an old bowl to make an igloo.
Use those LED icicle lights to make diff. levels of snow villages.

More to come...

More Polystyrene Projects

I made two more styrofoam house stands that we'll use for the village scenes. They are not that good b/c this is my first time doinf stair cases. It's definitely something I'd like to practice at...and see what else I can think up.

I've been spending a lot of time on the internet trying to find inspiration...what techniques are other people using. What else are they carving besides stair cases?...What are they using for paint and how do they protect the pieces? I'm working on making a glacier for the Antarctica display. What's the best way to glue the sheets of styrofoam together?

Joey at the bottom of the World

Just in some new photos of Joey today. So, I figured he had to make a guest appearance on the cake.

The Antarctica OCD Continues

I'm recently obsessed about ice, pengiuns, Antarctica, etc. I wonder why...

This was my firt foray into a fondant cake. It turned out good, but I can't see making more than one fondant cake per year. I would definitely like to try a 3 tier cake some day. It made a kitchen such a mess...I hate recipes that require kneeding and a rolling pin.

I found a dense pound cake recipe. I used it because a firm cake is what I needed to support all the stuff on top.


Sweetened Condensed Pound Cake Recipe
2 1/2 sticks butter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 (12 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
6 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions
Coat pan with shortening and flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Beat butter and sugar at high speed until soft and smooth
Add condensed milk and beat until well blended
Add eggs, one at a time
Add flour one cup at a time
Add vanilla and beat well
Bake 1 hour, 30 minutes

I just realized I forgot the baking powder. I guess this will be a dense cake. Oh well, it's cute.

Where the Wild Things Are

Now I'm really psyched...Spike Jones is coming out with "Where The Wild Things Are"....the movie! See my last posting about this book.


It's coming out in October, so it will be totally appropriate to do a little scene based upon this book. One of the coolest parts is that the wild things are not all CGI...they are guys in monster suits. Now I wanna be one for halloween too.



...Speaking of Halloween. I have been researching how to decorate the outside of the house using styrofoam and my new hot wire knife. I found this adorable photo at http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/.

Since our house does not have this same shape, I will use this as inspiration...I won't just copy it.

Progress on Antarctica Scene

John wasn't happy about me using the electric knife (wedding gift). I didn't birn it out though. It took me forever to do this carving with the electric knife. I got smart and went to the craft store to get the hot wire knife and it works awesome! It's like an ice pick that heats up to 400 degrees...literally.



So, Mt. Erebus is coming along. I used all the scrap pieces of polystyrene foam to make little mountain ledges for the village scenes. I carved little stone and gravel stairs into the sides...I'm LOVING this hot wire knife!

So, in other news, I was web surfing and ran across some themed cakes that were thousands of dollars. They were beautiful! One was Fraggle Rock and the other was Where the Wild Things Are. I think I'll make a small themed tree of WTWTA. Don't know what to do about Fraggle Rock yet.

copyright 2009 danielle copeland..........my idea!

Developed the South Pole Scene More

I've done more thinking about the south pole scene for the 09 display. It will have My Erebus and McMurdo Station. It will have igloos, creabeater seals, penguins, and maybe whales. It will have Ivan the Terrabus, cargo planes, an icebreaker ship, and of course, the south pole and the flags that surround the south pole. All the people will be in orange parkas and it'll have lots of glaciers. It'll have a dock in the icy water.

I know that technically, McMurdo Station is like 800 miles from the geographic south pole, but in my make believe scene, they will be 15 inches apart.

Here is McMurdo Station. The scene I create for the display will have the reallity of this picture mixed with the whismsy of a regular Christmas snow village scene.

More on the FAU Themed Christmas Tree for '09

I wanted to do the FAU tree last year. A few weeks ago, I collected photos to use as inspiration. I still don't know whether I'll make it an owl themed tree or and FAU themed tree. The difference would be an all brown and white tree vs. a red/blue tree.

At shcool last week, the student gov was giving away leftover school spirit items and I got these two ornaments. Perhaps this will help influence my decision on which theme to go with. The only bummer with doing the red/blue thing is that I already have a 9 ft USA tree that is all blue/red. We'll see.

2009 Christmas Ideas

I have a few ideas I'm kicking around for the 2009 display.

I will be graduating from FAU this winter. I might be neat to have an owl tree to go along with our gator tree. I could felt up some ornaments and use the logos on other ornaments. Perhaps there's a tree skirt in the making. I think the white tree would look the best.


Here's my other idea. I'd like to use these images as inspiration for an Antartica scene. I think it needs to me more than just a tree.