I've been away from the blog for a bit because I've been celebrating my 40th birthday!  :D  It's been great fun, but I have missed working on minis.

Today, I tried my hand at making something exceptionally tiny for the bathroom setup: a mini compact of eye shadows with an applicator.  It's made from a scrap of basswood, black paper, a sliver of acrylic and four assorted paper-punched circles.

It's a little larger than 1:12 scale but the difference is negligible.  I started with a 1/4" square of 3/32" inch thick basswood.  I cut a piece of black paper to cover the bottom and sides, leaving a bit to form the lid.

On the underside, I scored the paper.

This allowed it to bend cleanly.

I glued the wood scrap into the box created by the paper.

I scored another line to bend the lid down and cut the top to fit.

I used a nail set to push in circular shapes and cut out a tray for the applicator with a sharp craft knife.

I painted the wood black.  I touched it up after this photo - even with magnifiers it's hard to see the flaws until you photograph a mini!  :D

I cut a tiny sliver of acrylic and dabbed paint on the tip to form the applicator.  I ended up repainting it a lighter color after this photo since it got lost in the dark color of the compact base.

Using a 1/16" inch hole punch, I made four circles from scrap paper, two of which had a nice sparkle to them.  My paper punch, though new, didn't really like any of the papers I used.  So, my circles are a little rough around the edges.  I glued the paper dots over the circular indentations I had made earlier and glued the applicator into its tray.

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Here it is on the vanity with the makeup bottle I made by painting the inside of a frosted bead and gluing a silver bead on top.

click image to enlarge

My compact is a little rough when photographed up close, but I like it for my first attempt.  :]  I think it would work well to paint the dots, too, as long as you could get a reasonably good circle.  The plastic mirror sheet I have is a bit thick for this size mini, but I have a few ideas for making a mirrored compact.