Happy Halloween

That says it all today. I have rounded up the trolls and put them in their cage. They tend to get really rowdy on Halloween. The eat every piece of wood in site.....Oops. I think I made a terrible mistake. The cage is partially made of, you guessed it, WOOD!!!

I am not at all sure that they like candy corn. I can only hope.

My friend George has been around for Halloween for many years. He doesn't eat at all. He just guards all of the mini buildings that I have made over the years and holds off the dollhouse trolls. Good old George!

I will give you a quick tutorial today. This is a class that I taught the

Wednesday Witches last Halloween. All of the things that I made it from are either cheap or free. The skeleton came in a garland from Wal-Mart. The little fence, Spanish moss and pumpkins came from the craft department there. The plot of land came out of an aerosol can from there and the tree came out of my back yard.

We started from the bottom up. I actually did the basic ground and tree before the witches gathered.

The land is made of "Great Stuff" insulating foam sealant. It's the "big gap filler" kind. You will find it in hardware along with paints and Spackle. It is really great stuff. You have to be careful with it. It is really sticky and they warn you to wear gloves and protective eye wear. I did just fine with garden gloves and my usual glasses. I took it out on the back patio and laid out some wax paper. Then I shook the can and squirted out a pile of the stuff for each plot of land. The stuff grows, so you have to kind of experiment with how much and what shape you want.

You have to let it dry well. If I do it again I think I will plan on overnight. This, I let dry for about 4 hours. Anyway, when you get it the shape that you want it, take a branch and poke it in the foam where you want the tree. I propped them up with various devices shoved under the branches and not touching the foam. This stuff will stick to anything so don't get anything too close to it.

After it dries thoroughly, the tree will stand up by itself. Then I sprayed the ground with basic brown paint. I had the witches put on other colors of brown and black to give more reality to the ground.

Then they decided where they wanted the fence and the skeleton to be in the scene. The fence is easy. It comes in long strips and you just cut of as many pickets as you need. You can push things down into the foam just like you can with Styrofoam. They made indentations, put in some white glue and then stuck the fences in place. They glued on the greenery here and there. Then they put a few little pumpkins, etc. around.

The fun part was placing the skeletons. Mine is fairly boring. One of the witches had her skeleton climbing the tree and another had hers hanging in a noose.

I think that the most valuable part of this whole thing is the Great Stuff. The possibilities are endless. It would be great for landscaping in lots of different situations. All we have to do is learn to control it. It's kind of like the monster that ate Cleveland when it starts growing! Did I mention that you can carve it with a steak knife if it gets out of control?

I will be back at the basket shop tomorrow.

See you then.

I'm Floored!!!

Well, almost.....I did the floor in the shop today. I have my own method of doing this. I am sure that others have come up with similar methods. This is just something that I figured out for myself over the years. Unless I find more of the"leather paper" that I have used for a long time, I may have to use another method. This is the last of the terracotta.

First I start with a piece of newspaper to make a template for the floor.

Next I trace the template on a piece of mat board or illustration board. It depends on which is cheaper. I used to get scraps of mat board at Michael's and Ben Franklin's. BF went out of business here a few years ago. This morning I asked at Michael's and was told that they no longer do the matting in the store. It is farmed out to someone else. So much for that source.

Anyway, I used a piece of mat board that I had. It's my last piece of that too. Oh NO!!!!

Some people like poster board and card stock. I don't. I like the heavier boards because I don't have any trouble with warping that way.

Next I took my favorite Ceramcoat hippo gray and smooshed it(technical term) all over the board with an old brush. As you can see, I don't try to get it even. In fact, I prefer it to be messy because the grout between old tile is never only one shade.

I then found the center front of the floor and measured out from there. It was 5 3/4" so I drew a vertical line from there and went 5 3/4" up. I then drew a diagonal from the center to that point to get a line to lay the tile in a diamond pattern.

I started by laying one whole tile on the center line with the side of the tile lying along the diagonal line. Then I placed another one directly above it on the line with a tiny gap between the two. I started building out from there one row on either side of the first tile. When I got to the bottom of each row I placed a half tile and let it dry. When it was dry, I glued it around the edge and to the back. This will create the front edge of the tile if any of it shows.

Here you can see the front edge. I haven't glued the floor down yet. I still want to do some color variation with pencil. It is too all one color right now.

As I went, I used a medium ball stylus and ran it along all of the seams. This is another reason for using the thicker board. The stylus creates a beveled edge on all of the tile and a depressed area where the grout would be. The way I do it there is no grouting. It was already done when I painted the background gray.

This is a close up of what the tile looks like when you are done. I sure do wish I could find more of this paper. It is really heavy and dense. The color runs all the way through. I found it years ago here in town at an art supply store. I bought all that I could afford at the time. It came in the terracotta, brown and slate gray. I still have some of the gray...Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

I went to Michael's this morning for more DAS. With coupon in hand, it was about 4.oo for a 2.2# package. Not bad. That will do the inside walls and then some. I still have about a fifth of the last package left after covering the whole outside and doing the extra stonework.

Now that I have the floor done, I can do the bottom edge of the back opening with stonework too.

Real life calls. That's all for today. See you tomorrow.

A Rough Roof....

I shingled yesterday afternoon. I forgot to take a photo of that step, but I am sure that most of you know what a raw roof looks like. I took the shingles that came with the kit and turned them upside down. I put the scallop at the top and used the flat edge down so that I could make a kind of a weathered slate roof.

It is far from finished, but I wanted to show you what I have so far since I will be going to the Wednesday Witches' mini Halloween party at noon. No time to do more mini-ing on the shop today.....BTW, as soon as I have time, I am going to change all of the "labels" from accessories shop to basket shop. I have decided that this is just to old and dilapidated to be a fancy accessories shop. I am going to break down the shadow box that I have the baskets in now and put them in here instead. I may end up making a few more baskets, but just think about it this way. More baskets, maybe more tutorials....

Here is the present state of the outside of the shop. I still have a lot more trim to put under the eaves and there are still the roof caps to think about, but I am really happy to have the body of the roof finished. Yippee! No more shingling!!!

Here's way I did it. I did the basic staggered shingles. I let them dry overnight.

This morning I trimmed the edges where it was needed and then I painted the body with a mixture of Ceramcoat hippo gray and a couple of squirts of purple dusk(that's a fancy name for lavender). I wanted the slate to have a cooler look. The hippo gray is basically a warm gray. After that dried, I added a bit of light ivory to the pot and did dry brush strokes from the bottom up on all of the shingles so that the bottom edges would stand out. The last step was to add a really light wash of a mixture of burnt sienna and black to the top edge of the shingles next to the bottom edge of the next row above. That gave them even more dimension.

When I get back to it, I will add highlights here and there with Prismacolor pencils. That will give the roof more of a slate look and not all of the shingles will be the exact same color.

Above, there's a close up. If you poke it, you can see the different shades a little better.

While you are poking at the pictures, I am going to slip out and put on my pointy hat. Then I am going to put on my pointy high topped witchy shoes and go to the party. I hope and pray that Dorothy doesn't drop a house on me! This is no way to spend Halloween!!! And that time it was just a table!

Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow.

Having Fun Now!

I finished sculpting the rest of the foundation and the trim around the door and window yesterday. I rolled out the clay to the same thickness as the walls. Then I cut it into strips and glued them to the existing walls. I did each element one at a time.

Here's the door trim. It was put on in three pieces. One on either side and one in an arch across the top. Then I just took an exacto and trimmed out pieces here and there as I went to make the stones uneven. I used the trusty credit card tools to make the cracks again. You have to work fairly fast when doing this part. The strips of clay dry out quickly because the dry clay underneath leaches out the moisture. It helps some if you wet the clay underneath. After that step, I let it dry.

This morning when I got up it was ready to paint. This is the part I like best. I mixed up a jar of paint to use on the body of the house using Ceramcoat red iron oxide, antique white and just a touch of yellow and golden brown. I used this combo with a lot of water and made sure that the paint didn't go on too thick. It is really all washes. If you look at the larger photo you can see a bit of golden brown washed on around the bottom. That is where there would be some discoloration over the years. I may still add more. I need to let it dry to see how it is going to look.

Meanwhile, I started the trim by painting all of the cracks between the bricks with a mixture of trail tan and white. I let that dry and then I started with the bricks on the step. First I washed them with straight trail tan and then used dry brushing to add a little more color and some antique white as the last layer. The bricks are just a little redder than the stones of the foundation and the trim.

Next I started with the door and did a solid wash of trail tan. I let it dry a little and then used a very dry brush with antique white to skim over the high spots. In turn, I then did the window trim and the foundation blocks.

After taking a couple of close ups, I can see where I need to go back in and do just a slight bit of touch up to the rock part.

Overall, I think that the finish is coming out pretty well. I am very happy with the imperfections in the plaster. The cracks are just about right for making it look old. If you poke the close up, you can see better what I am talking about.

I am going back now and do some touch up and maybe add a little more color over all. I have to wait for it to dry completely to see how it looks.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.......See you tomorrow.

Keep Your Credit Cards Handy!

I love to get credit card applications in the mail with fake credit cards in them. I love when credit cards expire. No, I'm not running up bills or getting my cards taken away. It's because the cards make great mini tools. I cut them in strips however wide and long I want my bricks or cut stones to be. In the case of regular bricks, I use one strip that is 1/4" wide and one that is 3/4" wide. When cut this way, they make a fast job of putting bricks in DAS or other clays. They are also good for getting air bubbles out of wallpaper and a number of other things. When they get messy I can toss them.

Ignore the green Halloween fingernails and pay attention. Here's the credit card strip in action! I did the markings here in about 20 minutes. It would take me less time if the pattern weren't herringbone. That pattern will be the death of me. I have to stop and make sure that the bricks are running in the right direction every row. It is very easy to mess up and have all of the bricks running the same way. There is another name for that. Don't ask. I can't remember it and I don't want to go look it up right now.

As you can see from the photos, I did the edge first. That way I have an idea of how big the area is for the herringbone. I got lucky with this one. I started in the bottom right hand corner with a diagonal and when I got to the left end, to my surprise, it came out so that I had the same diagonal in that corner pointing inward too! Usually if I don't measure it turns out with half bricks at the other end and then I get to start over.

The order is, cover the step with rolled out DAS. Texture it with the stencil brush. Put in the marks.

I am happy to report that the DAS is co-operating this time all the way around. I wanted the walls to look old, cracked and patched in places. It did just that. The part that you see here has dried for almost 24 hours and is showing just a few cracks here and there. There are just a few lumps here and there too.

I have all of the walls covered now. I need to finish putting blocks around the foundation and some cut stone around the door and window sill. I am going to finish that today and tomorrow I can start laying on washes. That's my favorite part.

I am going back to the real world for a while now. I have no clean clothes to wear. I have to do laundry. I would much rather get things dirty. It is so much more fun. Maybe I can combine the two.... While the washer is running I am going back to the DAS party.

See you tomorrow!

What Does Sugarplum Want to Be?

I woke up early this morning with visions of Sugarplums in my head. No. It's not Christmas yet. I decided that Sugarplum Cottage wants to be a French country kind of cottage. It is all in my head now and a little of it is running out of my fingertips onto the cottage.

I pulled out a brand new package of DAS and set to work. Just for the record, here are some of the tools that I am using for making an old looking plaster wall on the outside. See the handy dandy rolling pin at the top of the page? It is one that is used for rolling fondant when making fancy Wilton type cakes. I like it for all kinds of clay. It has never touched fondant. See the little pink band on the end? There's another one on the other end too. The make is so that you can roll the fondant/clay to the exact same thickness every time. It comes with two different sets and does two different thicknesses. I use the narrower ones. I would say that they are between 1/8th and 1/16th of an inch.

The set of tools in this photo are from Michael's and are pretty cheap when you have a coupon. They are also good with all kinds of clay. I especially like the spade shaped ones for working with the DAS. You can get into corners and tight places with them to smooth the clay. In this photo you can see how well the tool has done the left side. There are still gaps to close on the right side.

As you can see, I started at the roof line and worked down. I smeared plain old white glue for this just like when I am doing rock work. I know. Please don't write and tell me that I have more DAS on my hand than I do on the structure. I am not happy unless I am up to my elbows when I am working with that stuff. It comes off with soap and water when you want to take a break.

Here's the first side that I did. It looks pretty rough. That's the way I want it. I am going to finish the walls with washes and I want the texture to be like the cottage is old and been re plastered an number of times.

I started on the front. I am probably done for today though. I try not to do any straight lines except for where the plaster meets the roof line, or corners. I wrap the clay to the inside of the doors and windows and cut it off even with the back side. At the bottom left you can see where I stopped. I will wet that down a bit with a sponge tomorrow and just start with a new piece, blending it in.

After finishing the front and the other side, I will come back and do the steps. They will be bricks. There will be one course of square bricks around the base of the building. I am thinking Normandy type frames of stone around the front door and window. Or maybe I will do folding shutters on either side of the window. I am also wondering if I should make a basket shop instead of an accessories shop......Random thoughts are leaking out of my brain again. I need to go write them down now. I might lose something important!

See you tomorrow.

As Far As It Goes....

I replaced the chimney/fireplaces yesterday with a tall bay. I didn't put in windows because I want to use it as a display area. Maybe that part will be for hats on hatstands.

I actually had enough wood to make the whole bay with the second floor and the chimney that I no longer needed.

Here you can see the add on. I simply placed a ruler next to the roof line and drew a line parallel to the roof, the width of the ruler on both sides. I measured in from the edge of the building on both sides two inches and drew a vertical line on either side, making sure that the corners where the wall and roof meet were the same length on both sides. That gave me the shape that I wanted. I cut out that piece to use for the back wall.

I wanted the bay to be two inches deep so I cut two side pieces that were as long as the vertical on the back piece and 2 1/8" deep. I cut a bottom piece two inches wide and as long as the back of the wall. That was the floor.

I had to put 1/2" pieces under the floor and attach it to the building. Then I glued the side walls to the back and let them dry. That made the piece the width of the hole but 1/8" deeper. I glued the bottom edge to the base and the side walls to the sides of the opening. Voila! One bay. Oh yes. I forgot. For the roof pieces, I cut them 3/4 of an inch longer than the sides of the roof line and 2 1/2" deep. That gave me the overhang the same as the rest of the roof. I glued them on and then it was Voila.

Here's the after photo. I don't think that you will be able to tell where I added when I finish.

I did two coats of Gesso this morning. That pretty much covered up all the cracks, lumps and bumps.

Now I have to decide what style the shop will be.

As you can see, the benches on the porch are gone. It seemed to me that they blocked the way into the interior. Now it is more open and inviting.

Here's the inside view. I stood poor little Sugarplum on it's head and painted all of the interior with two coats of gesso as well. Gesso is my best friend when it comes to these kits. Usually a couple of coats will cover most of the imperfections in the wood.

I think that the extra bay is going to add a lot of display space. I am very pleased with it so far.

That's as far as I am going today. Real life is back again. Well... I can always try to think of a name for the poor little no name shop while cleaning the closet.

See you tomorrow.

The Sugarplum Won!

I took a vote. I was the only one that voted, so I get to do what I want. Those are the rules. Tiffany suggested, but she didn't get to vote.

The Sugarplum won by a landslide. It's small and looks easy to build.......Notice I said "looks". It is pretty easy, but of course I couldn't leave well enough alone. I decided when I got the kit that I didn't like the benches on the front porch. I took my trusty Exacto knife and chopped off the top part. The bottom part of the porch was attached to the sides and back of the benches, thus the chopping.

Then when I dry fitted it together, I discovered a couple of other problems. The bay on the side is only about an inch deep and five inches tall. No self respecting adult would try to sit in a window seat that size. It will now be built in shelves. All I had to do to change the structure is glue in the pieces that were cut where the window should be. Luckily, none of those were anything that I needed. I have already marked an arch at the top of the bay so that the shelf space will be a little taller. It will also cover up the slot that was there to hold up the second floor. Sneaky aren't I?

I also found that the ceiling of the first floor was only 6" high! So much for the second floor. It's OK though. This particular kit doesn't even have stairs to get up to said second floor. I now have a nice piece of luan ply to use for something else.

I haven't told you what is going to happen to this particular building. I thought that since it is so small, it would make a perfect accessories shop. I have lots of purses, shoes and other mini people fashion accessories.

The next thing that I am going to have to do is either close in the opening for the top fireplace or both fireplaces. Yes. This tiny house was super heated! A fireplace on each floor seems to me a bit of overkill. I don't think that a ladies' accessory shop really needs a fireplace. Maybe another bay on that end would be better, more room to display things. I'll have to think about that. Do I want to go to all of the work of bumping that side out? I have a nice piece of the second floor to work with...........

I do love starting new projects. It's the finishing part that's hard. See you tomorrow with a chimney or a bay.

Round and Round I Go...

It's that time once again. My mind is wandering in circles. I am trying to decide what I want to do next. Here are my immediate choices. I didn't include stuff that is already started, half done, or never to be finished.

You have already seen the Harrison and the Glencroft hiding with the trolls under my bed. I kind of ruled them out because I don't think that I want to start another big project right away. Double Buttercup was enough for now. Besides, I still need to work on the Mystery House some more....I will just keep tossing wood scraps under the bed to keep the trolls busy for the time being.

I have a couple of smaller kits. There is the Storybook cottage. I already know from the experience of friends that I am going to be bashing the floor/ceiling in this one. I love Greenleaf, but they goofed up on this one. They put the partition too high and there is a really high ceiling on the main floor and the attic area is just barely 4" high.

I have no experience with the Sugarplum. This one is really small so it is a contender. I am not crazy about the benches on the front porch. That means some bashing.......

I didn't take a photo of the last Sweetheart cottage or the second greenhouse kit because you have seen them before. I think that I have done the cottage about 4 different times as different things over the years. I got tired of those and sold them, lock, stock and barrel.

High on top of a bookcase in the corner, There are 5 collector's boxes that are about 8" square and 3" deep. I have two of those finished. They are nice for a quick project, like a collection of some sort. I don't have anything that I can think of to put in one of those right now. In fact, I have one of those partially wallpapered and carpeted with nothing inside. I saw you counting on your fingers. Yes. There are 8 of those. I got them on sale at Wal Mart when they were on clearance for two dollars a piece. I couldn't pass them up. They will get used eventually. Honest!

Are you starting to get the picture? Round and round I go.

In the opposite corner we have 4 wooden boxes, trunk shaped and flat topped. Please ignore the sewing box in the center. I think that just wandered in because it wanted it's photo taken. Last we have Tiffany's infamous birdcage. Every time I try to think of something to do, she tries to talk me into doing the birdcage. Keep trying Tiffany........

Yes. This is a 10 gallon aquarium. I taught a couple of classes on making a kitchen in these. They turned out nicely and my sample, with a little bit of help and accessories from my friends, went to NAME national one year for the raffle. It had a witch's kitchen in it.

Inside you see 7 of the 8 Beanie Baby boxes that I use for quarter inch scenes. NO. I don't want to do those.

I already have the quarter inch picture frame box that I started the other day. I just know that someone is going to try to guilt me into finishing that one because it is close to Halloween and the skeleton needs a home. Poor Skelly.

That is just a portion of the containers and houses that I have collected in the past. Like I said before, sooner or later they will all get finished........I am just not sure in what order they will be done.

I am getting dizzy from going round and round. I think that I will go sit in my desk chair and spin for a while now.

See you tomorrow, hopefully with a decision........

Wednesday Once Again.....

And we all know what that means. I don't get a lot of mini-ing done. In fact, I didn't do any. So I will show and tell an oldie but a goodie.

This is a "corner box" that we used to sell the Plexiglas for at the shop where I worked back in the eighties. One of these were the very first class I took from someone that knew what they were doing in miniature. It wasn't this one. I don't have the first one anymore.

These boxes were hand made from scratch to fit around the Plexiglas. We sold the bent Plexiglas in two sizes. This one is about 10" square on a side. The bottom base was made from ceiling tile cut a bit smaller than the base of the box. The box was made a little larger so that the Plexiglas would fit down in a groove on the sides and floor. We cut two sides and the floor from foam core. Then we edged the foam core with wood to hold the Plexiglas in place. The Plexiglas slides in and out of the front from the top.

When we were sure that all of that fit together, we cut a piece of foam core that was larger so that, with a lip added, it would fit down over the top like a gift box lid.

As for the inside, I added a beveled piece of foam core in the corner. I wallpapered the whole thing and put a photo of a garden outside and a Houseworks french door in that wall.

The floor is a commercial paper tile. The hutch is a take of on the one that I learned at AZ state day one year. I have used the recipe for that a lot. I change the legs, number of shelves and doors or no doors. It works well. Whoever designed it knew what they were doing.

The blue strips that run along the baseboard and up over the door are 1/8" ribbon.

Here's a view looking straight in from the corner. These are a great fast project.

If you can find someone that knows how to bend Plexiglas or can do it yourself, you too can have some of these boxes.

I still have a couple of small seven inch wide ones and another ten inch one. I may just have to do this again soon. They can be any kind of room that you desire and in no time at all.

I am still trying to decide what to do next.......I think that tomorrow I am going to reorganize the labels on the blog. I went looking for Spike's Crypt and even I couldn't find it! Time to change the labels.

See you tomorrow.

T.G.I.F.!!!

Yes, I know it's not Friday! It's Finished!!! You are invited to the grand opening today. That is if you can get in. There is already quite a crowd in the Buttercup Bookshop. They started showing up bright and early this morning. They heard about the free food, beverages and drawings for books every hour.

Here's what it looks like in the store. Don't for get to poke the pictures to make them larger.

Naturally the witches and gypsy showed up first. They knew about it even before I announced that the grand opening was today. I don't have to tell them what is happening. They just know. After all, they are clairvoyant. And they do love to party.

The gypsy found a dragon's egg somewhere and it is in the middle of hatching now, so she had to bring it along. So far they are behaving themselves, although I noticed that Esmeralda has been in the cash register again. It seems to be empty and her pockets and hands are full.

Down in the main shop Buffy's gang has taken over. As usual, she and Spike are arguing. The rest of them are dividing the pizza that they brought. Cake wasn't cool enough for them. They are here to make sure that no evil doers sneak in when we aren't looking.

Xander is guarding the door. You can only get in if he approves of your credentials. Have your passport, birth certificate and driver's licence handy. He's a bit power hungry. He's asking for three forms of photo ID. If he lets you in please have some cake and coffee.

I am wondering how they are going to take it when they find out who is on the second floor.......It seems that all kinds of fictitious characters have invaded that part of the shop. I am not sure if they are ghosts, optical illusions or just plain figments of the imagination.

I noticed Eskiaga, the Apache scout is back. He seems to be talking to the Elizabethan lady. They are not even from the same century, so I am going to suppose that they are one of the above. I am voting for ghosts in their case because they were both real people. The two others are from Jane Austin's era. I am not sure what to think of them.

The only part that seems to make sense in the whole shop is the dog in the top hat and the two cats playing with the mouse toy on the step stool. At least they are close to the section where they belong. The "animals" and "children" sections are right behind them.

I am happy to put a finish to this. It took longer than I thought it was going to take. Isn't that always the case though? I am off now to look for something new to mini or something old to finish.

I can see that it is going to take a while to clean up after these party crashers. Thank goodness they won't be staying. I will be at it at least the rest of today. See you tomorrow.

Grand Opening Tomorrow!

If I put that title up.......I will have to make sure that the shop is ready tomorrow. That's one way to outguess myself.

I have been working on it this morning. I semi finished the outside. I made the front sidewalk area.

I used my regular method for the front area. I like to have it so that it can be moved separately from the building. It is less cumbersome to move from place to place with that piece not attached.

First I laid a piece of newspaper under the front of the building and traced the shape that I thought I wanted. This is what I came up with. I tried not to make it stick out much more on the sides than the shape of the building itself. That way if I need to put several buildings close together it will not be a problem. I am thinking of putting a street of shops on the plant shelf in the kitchen. They will be visible but out of cat reach there.

Next I laid the pattern on dark green foam core. I cut it out and made sure that it fit around the building. I beveled the front and side edges with my exacto knife. Then I peeled off the green part from the part where I wanted the path. I wanted that area to be just a little lower than the grass.

I smeared Elmer's white glue on the path area and sprinkled it liberally with model railroad ballast. I let that dry and then put glue on the green area and spread that with railroad coarse greenery. I let that dry and fit it once again to the building.

The last thing I did was go out in the back yard and cut some rosemary and nandina branches. I will probably put one or the other on the outside of the building permanently. I use the rosemary a lot of times, stripped of it's leaves for vines on buildings. It has a kind of interesting gnarled shape as a basis for plants. I am leaning towards the nandina(heavenly bamboo).

The nandina that I cut is not quite dry enough to use yet. It still has it seed balls on it too. Sometimes, if I am careful, those will stay attached to the stems. They make interesting, kind of witchy looking plants that way. The seed balls turn dark orange and the stems turn almost black when they dry.

The door step is a slab of mica that I picked up somewhere in my travels. It was about twice as thick. I was using it as a step on the Witches' Warehouse. The nice thing about mica is it splits into layered easily. Now I have two door steps where there was once one.

If I am going to open tomorrow I had better get back at it. Wish me luck and keep your fingers, toes and eyes crossed. See you then.

I Was Framed!!!

I said I would get back to the book shop....I lied. I was looking at the website that I sent yesterday and thinking about the extra skeleton that I didn't have an ear for and started doing this.

I rummaged through my frame cupboard and found a small oak frame with an opening of 3" x 4 3/4". That is just about perfect for a large quarter scale room front. Then I grabbed some scraps of quarter inch foam core and cut a piece that would just fit in the opening on the back of the frame. This piece will become the back of the room box.

Next I determined that I wanted the box to be as deep as it was tall. the sides would have to fit inside the ceiling and floor pieces so I cut those 2 1/2" square. Then I cut floor and ceiling pieces that were that were 2 1/2" by 4 3/4". In other words the floor and ceiling pieces were the same length as the back piece and the depth that I wanted the box to be. Have I lost you yet?

In this photo you are looking in through the top where the ceiling will be when the box is in the correct position. If you tip it back, the wall on the top will be the back wall of the box and the piece facing you will be the floor.

I didn't glue in the ceiling piece because it is easier to do all of the wallpapering and trim before you put a lid on it.

I painted the frame black. Here you can see it in the correct position and the ceiling piece is loose on top.

Next I will do the inside. Here is some of the paper and windows that I am looking to use.

This is the closest to orange I could find in my stash. I may have to do a little more searching. This looks more peachy.

I will install the paper, flooring and paint the ceiling. Then I will find a scene to put behind the windows and glue them to the back wall.

I will paint or paper the outside to cover the foam core. Sometimes I put feet under the back of the box to level them off. Since this is so small, I think that I will just leave it slanted. That way it will be more easily seen.

This is a lot of trouble to go to for a 62 cent skeleton. I am at the point that I will do anything to get out of the bookshop for another day! I am having a good time. Just ignore me while I hide in the corner and make the skeleton a happy home.

Back to work. See you tomorrow.

Not Like Christmas.......

I was feeling fine when I got up this morning, so I went to the TMS Show and Sale. This was the extent of my purchases.

No, I didn't purchase the cat. I got a real bargain on the Miniature Collector magazines. They were 50 cents a piece. I got 20. One of these has some of my wicker furniture in it and one has a couple of my dolls that are in Pat's fairy castle. I bought 5 of the old small sized Nutshell News @ 1.00 a piece. One of them has my castle in it. There was a book on Chippendale and a miniature book from 1977 that I never bought back then because a friend had it and we traded books back and fourth all the time. Now I have it.

I also bought 3 small plastic skeletons to make earrings. Nope. I don't have three ears. I double checked right there at the table. They came three to the bag. I am going to have to figure out what to do with the spare. Maybe a 1/4" Halloween scene? I got a 5 x 7 self healing cutting mat with ruler marks on it and 4 rusty tin planters. That was the extent of the stuff that I brought home to live with me for a while.

I just plain couldn't find anything that hit my fancy. Usually I have no problem spending money at the show. This time some of my favorite dealers weren't there. I heard that some of them aren't going to as many shows because of the extra expense of traveling by car or by plane these days. Then when they get to the shows the people aren't buying as much as they used to. It is really too bad when the economy effects our shows like this. I don't know what the solution would be. It is fun to go and look. All year we wait, save our pennies and anticipate the annual show. It's almost as good as Christmas. Not this year......... OK. I am climbing down off of the soapbox now.

I may have to spend some money on line to make up for it. I found this site this morning. Their kits sound like a great deal. The shell is already built for you all you have to do is the finishing.

http://www.hansonminis.com/index.html This site has some wonderful 1/4" houses for sale. If you look around, there are also lots of great ideas. I love the way that they build the shell of the house so that the rooms can be taken out and worked on. You don't have to squeeze your big old hands into tiny spaces that way. Some of them are even stackable boxes to make a house.

Tomorrow I promise to seriously try to finish the bookshop. We will have the Grand Opening soon. I want to move on to something else. Stupid books.....

See you tomorrow.

Down for the Count.....

I am taking the day off because of stomach flu. Trust me. That's as much as you want to know. Just picture me laying about on one of my beds eating bon bons and watching TV.

I am going to keep up the tradition of entertaining you with websites since I won't be mini-ing myself.

Here you go. http://swallowhill-miniatures.com/shop/ Joy Parker is a long time doll maker she has instructions on making silk roses, ribbon bows and poly clay buttons. Take a look around. She makes some really nice dolls.

This one is a little hard to navigate. It is a European site and has several wonderful mini boxes. It's worth the trouble just for the Venetian mask shop.
http://www.butterflydazzel.moonfruit.com/#/miniatureprojects/4514656556

Karen Cary has a nice beginning tutorial for a wicker chair. There is also a page of helpful hints. http://karencary.com/projects.htm

I am sure that I will be back at it tomorrow. I have to be. Tomorrow is the start of the annual Tucson Miniature Society show and sale. I will have a report for you.

See you then.