All Your Seasons Will Be Brighter
When You Have Mother Nature As Your Guide

Have you ever had an "Aha!" moment? You know one of those moments in life when your mind is clear, focused, and suddenly everything seems just right. You don't have to spend years meditating with a guru to reach those peak moments.

Case in point: Master Miniaturist Lavonne Hoivik. Her "Aha!" moment occurred in 1977... while cleaning her house. It was that moment that led to her career as a miniature artisan.

"While cleaning, I discovered some dollhouse furniture my daughter had outgrown," she says. "Aha! I thought. I'll make a small dollhouse to put the furniture in." Then a friend turned her onto miniature flowers. "I was hooked instantly," says Lavonne. "I loved the fact that I could work with a variety of colored flowers even in the winter. Sometimes it makes me feel like Mother Nature!"

In "Miniature Fimo Flowers," Volume 21 of the multi-part Master Miniaturists Video Instructional Series, Lavonne guides you through eight separate projects that incorporate the techniques she's mastered throughout the years.

Before getting started, you'll need to gather all the tools and materials you'll need to complete your projects. We won't go into detail here because the video does that quite well. Included in this section are tips for storing your clay and using the library for ideas and inspiration.

Once your tools and materials are ready, Lavonne will show you how to prepare your work area and the clay you'll be working with. Then you're ready for your first project: A Primrose. "I'm going to really challenge you," says Lavonne. "Because this is the smallest flower I make."

You'll follow along, step-by-step, as she shows you how to make the flowers, how to make them more than a two-dimensional shape, how to create thin edges, and how to make the greens that give your flower arrangements a natural look.

Camera close-ups let you see even the tiniest of details as Lavonne uses her tools and expert hands to make the flowers come to life.

After mastering this first project, you'll use the Primrose flower and leaf to make a strawberry. You'll watch common materials such as styrofoam and coffee grounds are transformed into potting soil for your plants.

And when potting your strawberries remember, blossoms like to face the sun, so plant them face up. Strawberries, on the other hand, like to hide. So, place them face down.

Once you've had a taste of these luscious strawberries, it's time to get in the Holiday spirit by making a Christmas Cactus. "No miniature house is complete without one," says Lavonne, as she urges you to, "smoosh the clay" to make it easier to work with. Very down to earth language indeed. But what else would you expect from Mother Nature.

Once the Holidays are over, you're ready to welcome Spring with three of the season's most beautiful flowers: Crocus, Daffodil, and Hyacinth. "Spring hasn't sprung until you've seen a hyacinth," says Lavonne as she shows you how to cluster flowers together. The Spring line of flowers ends with a lesson on creating tulips where you'll learn how to combine two colors of clay on a single flower.

Each project on this video builds upon the techniques you learned in the project that came before it. Your final project will be the most challenging one of all... the Petunia. When you first see the complexity of this flower arrangement you may be tempted to think, "No way can I do this!" Relax. You can do it. After all, you have Mother Nature as your teacher.

And not only will she teach you how to create beautiful flowers, she'll also show how to have fun decorating the outside of your miniature dollhouse with the flowers you created.