Painted Plus

With the help of my committee (FH, Brad, Castor) I picked the green.  One coat was put on last night and a second one this morning.  The door is stained with rosewood.  Its frame needs at least one more coat of white though.

I also cut some foam board to see about using it for the interior back and side walls.  I'm honestly not too sure about it, I'd much rather use wood.  But that comes with it's own issues too.  For the moment it's nice to use for placement of interior details.

I'm adding these two doors on the inside to give the illusion of the house being bigger.  The door on the back wall may get centered on the middle window.  Still playing with that one.

I have wall paper picked out but haven't decided about either the inside or outside floors.  Of course I can't do anything with it until I decide what to do about the back wall.

I saved the best for last.  Katie sent me a little something in the mail.  Two adorable signs which I have homes in mind for already.

The cupcake sign belongs in a bakery.  It's too perfect!  The other one will either go into Shabby Chic or the inside of the Porch scene until the Big Dollhouse is finished.  Thanks so much, Katie!  These really made me smile today.

Peril

One of the many perils of not having a room with a door to keep miniatures and pets separate.

"Aren't I simply divine?"

Quick Tour Through the Incomplete Work Area

Pictures say it all, so I'm taking you on a virtual tour through the mini work area today. Things still need to be unpacked, sorted, and shuffled but at the moment it's usable for projects.

The desk faces the fireplace and television in the main part of the basement.
The larger dollhouse buildings on those handy counters serve as a movable wall to separate the two areas.Books and finished (mostly finished) minis.Three structures that need some work. I love putting mini scenes in old console TVs. The tall house is what will become my witchy department store. (More on that later.) The dresser along the back wall will eventually be home to several roomboxes. I need to get a shelf for the empty corner so I can move teddy bears of of it first. The drawers are filled with beads, buttons, leather, and other supplies. A handy closet for storing more supplies and unfinished roomboxes.
Maddie resting in the unfinished (read: needs major over-haul since I didn't build it) cafe'.It's really much safer for her in there while I'm sorting, etc.

That's all for today. More real life chores are calling my name and then I'm going for "coffee" (tea for me) with Holly.

Don't forget about the giveaway! There's a little over a day left.

Happy Day!

Usually the mail on Tuesday is filled with coupons, advertisements, and other uninteresting things. However today this arrived along with the regular lot.
I am beginning to think our postal carrier is officially curious about all the packages from all over the world. ;-)

Earlier this month Debie of Piskies and Poppets had a giveaway on her blog to celebrate her 100th follower and I was lucky enough to win!

When I opened the tube I found a bag of fabric and embellishments, one of Debie's adorable face pins, and a lovely doll. :-)


Love this purple pin! As many of you know I think purple is the best color on the planet.I still have no idea what to call this lovely lady.

So far nothing seems to suit her therefore I will have to keep thinking. As you can see she has already been introduced to Confetti.Thank you Debie for such wonderful gifts!

Bits and Pieces

So many things are happening this week.

First I would like to thanks both Jayne at Tallulah~Belle Originals and Betty at Live Mini! Somehow I managed to win both of their wonderful contests. I'm so happy right now. The Cheerful Fairy has nothing on me. ;-) Thank you again, ladies!

Last night was the June meeting for the local miniature group. Our group has gotten so small we met at one member's home. Our hostess had prepared some kits for jewelry boards out of card and the "velvet" off of the little boards that real earrings are attached to in the store.My "chains" are a little lopsided, but I think they're cute for first tries. No clue where they will go yet. The jewelry bits are made from micro holeless beads and those shiny iron-on transfers for clothes.

The new wallpaper I ordered arrived.

This is what I'm going to use in the Big Dollhouse's kitchen.
This is for the girl's nursery.
Love the baby bunnies! :-)

The next bits of news is I was chatting with The Mini Maker the other night and we were both wondering how many of our fellow bloggers would be interested in starting a swap circle of some sort? Please let one or both of us know what you think.

That's all for now. I'm going to go enjoy the day. I hop you all do the same. :-)

Fun Filler

FH is off to the Rendezvous without me. I'm not feeling the greatest and didn't want to be "roughing it" today as a result. He did take a friend's so with him... along with the camera. To be fair I told him to take it and made sure he took extra batteries too. So I can't take any new pictures until tomorrow or Monday, dependent upon the possibility of them going back tomorrow.

However I did come across some pictures of things going into the BD (big dollhouse for any new readers) that I hadn't shown off yet.

Some frilly and feminine things for the master bedroom.
Bathroom fixtures.
Pieces for the Library.
A closer look at the butterfly case.
I will be working on the Greenleaf today. I need to put the trim on the door and windows, get the baseboard finished, sew a mattress, cut another rug...

See you later! :-)

Finally the Sewing Cabinet

A picture is worth a thousand words so this post will be as picture heavy as I can make it. I'm going to show you how I used some wallpaper and paint to turn a craft store cabinet (don't remember if it was a Michael's hutch) into my sewing cabinet.

Here's the wallpaper I used:
Here's the original cabinet, inside and out.

I popped the original knobs off the door and filled the holes with wood putty. At this point I wasn't sure how I would decorate the cabinet so I wanted the holes filled in.
The interior painted and with the extra shelf I built from scraps.
14-count Aida cut to fit the inside of the doors. Did this while the putty was drying. After the putty was dry and sanded I coated the whole thing with off-white spray paint.
Blue paint for the top and trim based on the blue from the wallpaper. Had to mix it since FH had the car and none of my blues came close.
Crackled over the blue with pink.
The wallpaper has been cut and decoupaged in place.


Here's the finished product with as many goodies as I had ready tucked inside. I made the bolts of fabric. The notions, patterns, and tape measure are printies. I will be cuttig more of the printies out later on.



It's kind of Shabby Chic. I think seeing pinks, blues, and creams together in other people's projects has had an affect on me. But I really like the paper I used and those are the colors that fit. Now I get to decorated the BD's sewing room around this cabinet. But at least I have an idea of what to do with it now. ;-)

I still have to make the handles and cut a few more printies. I got myself so excited over this that I just had to share now. ;-)

Enough Fooling Around...

I have to get back to work.

This weekend FH and I mostly ran errands. Saturday he helped dig and set 13 support posts for a ramp in concrete. His shoes were covered in good old Portland cement when he got home.

Sundays are his "grumpy" days. I think it has to do with the weekend ending and the inevitable commute to work the next day. I packed him off to an impromptu picnic at the nearby park in an attempt to snap him out of being grumpy. It worked!

We ate lunch in a gazebo on the lake shore and watched a pair of mallard ducks wander around.
Then we drove to the riverfront to check on the flooding. It was down a bit since my post in March.
Then we went exploring some of the back roads around the area and discovered new ways of getting to certain areas.

Today I picked up Castor's medications from the vet and started him on his treatments. Let's just say it's going to be a long next couple of months.

On the mini front I wetted down and draped the barn star quilt on a chair for the Independence Day vignette. It's currently letting the hairspray set.
I primed the interior of the Greenleaf with Gesso, tried making the little pompom animals from Casey's Easter post but can't find my beads or paper in a suitable color (ugh)- they are deaf, blind, and footless right now... poor things...
...and started playing around with a Michael's hutch that will be a cabinet in the BD's sewing room. Pictures of the sewing cabinet will come soon.

I did get a smile today when Alice of Double Purr sent me an email saying her package of goodies arrived. I put a few little things together on Friday morning and sent them to her. Glad you like them, Alice!

I'm going to finish watching what's left of House (ahh.. Hugh Laurie!) and then see if the quilt has set. ;-)

Have You Figured Out...

...that I have the attention span of a gnat on most days? ;-)

After being stabbed by the junction splice I decided I needed to not look at the Greenleaf today. Things to go inside it are fair game, since they aren't involved with the electrical. Other unfinished projects are ok too.

First, here is a picture of the furniture I have for the Big Dollhouse. This gives me a great idea about what I still want to purchase or make in terms of the furnishings and gave me an excuse to play with it for a bit. The middle attic room is currently playing host to the electrical schematics.
I'm really not sure about the furniture in the master bedroom. I don't want to modify the pieces, other than redressing the bed, and I don't really know if I like the wood color with the room's decor. I thought I would try it out and see if it grows on me. As I stare at it I believe a lighter color would be better...still thinking.

The library is missing it's bookcase. I left it on the kitchen table to decoupage and forgot to put into the room for the picture. No, I haven't started the decoupage either. I need to build or modify a fireplace for the living room. And I think I have settled on a big, white couch for that room. The kitchen will get more Reutter pieces because 1. I like them and 2. they will go well with the Reutter stove that is in there already.

I have drawn up a design for a headboard for the girl's room. Have any of you ever seen the headboards like look like a dollhouse and has little shelves to put 1:144 scale furniture in? I fell in love with one when I saw it years ago and plan on recreating it for the room.

The other thing that I've played with so far today is my Independence Day vignette. It's not finished yet, but there's enough complete to show off. I'm debating whether to build a quilt rack or display the quilt draped on a chair.
If I build the quilt rack I would need to do something for the empty patch of floor. If I drape it on a chair I can have a cat or dog napping on the part that has reached the floor, thus taking care of both issues.

The other dilemma is what to do with Franklin's picture. Currently he's propped up next to a bag of teddy bears. He doesn't look bad there but Washington and Jefferson are shown off a bit better. It just doesn't seen right to have the old womanizer on the floor. His personal habits aside he did alot for this country and it just doesn't fit well to have him down there. Maybe if I made a frame for him it wouldn't look as bad.
I just got tired of messing around with frames. That's why Jefferson is being held by the big teddy bear.

Holly took me to the "Lobby o' Hobby" where I was able to get a new junction splice. But I refuse to fart around with the Greenleaf still. I think I will go take advantage of the light and get some stitching done.

I *would* be playing with the chunks of pineapple cane that Katie so kindly sent me [Thank you, Katie! :-)] or working on sculpting a doll, or Pallas, or a raven, or some reptiles... but the whole punctured thumb it putting a cramp in that thought. Stupid bloody junction splice....

Ok... Here is the Big Dollhouse

Ok, here are the front and back views of "the Big Dollhouse." As you can see the door, windows, and porch railing have been removed for painting and the shingles are only half done.

Of the three rooms with both floors and wallpaper cut, I'm only happy with the bedroom, which is the one with lilac carpet on the second floor. The living room wallpaper is horribly bubbled. So much so that I think I will have to take it out and do it over. The kitchen wallpaper didn't do well either. I think I want something different in there anyway, so no big loss. None of the floors are glued down and there are no baseboards yet.
The lighting still works on the first two floors. Apparently I need to redo the junction from the second to the third floor. Not bad since it got moved twice.

The ceilings are all bare. I need to do something with them too. I have to replace a post on the bottom porch. The whole thing almost fell the first time I moved and Brad was barely able to catch it. I'm happy to loose one post versus the whole house.

I had planned on putting some of the goodies into their respective rooms and taking some pictures for you but the camera batteries barely let me get these pictures downloaded. So sometime after we get another package of batteries because these were the last two from the package. That's how it always works. [We recycle our batteries in case you wondered.]

FH and I determined that the transformer and lead in wire that we purchased for the Greenleaf do work. The junction splice does not. In fact in figuring this out I ended up being stabbed with the splice in my right thumb. Not quite sure how I managed that one. FH came running down the hall upon hearing my cries for help. Isn't he grand?

Now my thumb looks like it's bit snacked upon by a 1:24 scale vampire...

Upon further inspection the two prongs on the splice are bent. So I think we've discovered the problem. We are going to get another splice and try again on the Greenleaf.