Celebrate!!!

Let's get the party started!!! Happy Halloween!!!

I don't know about you, but I am going to party today. Back to minis tomorrow, bright and early!

See you then!

Welcome!

I am behind in welcoming new people. Sorry about that.

There is one mystery guest. All I have is the name Icubed001.

The other is Angela at Written by Angela http://writtenbyangela.t35.com/www.Writtenbyangela.t35.com/Welcome.html

Welcome to you both.

Absolutely and Positively the Last Time...

Yesterday I started ripping out things I didn't need on Tessie's Teas. "Hey! You left of the E!".

Darn! I didn't think she would notice.

Today, I found a brown slate floor that I could cut down. I made it for something else and it was just right for this shop. I haven't glued it in yet and Tessie is already swishing her broom around. For someone with a messy cottage, she sure likes clean floors.

I need to do a wall treatment of some kind before the floor.

I did complete the inside of the loft walls and floor. I used every speck of the wooden blind slats that I had for the floor and the rafters. First I put newspapers all over the slanted roof with Yes Glue and then slapped the beams on over that.

Tessie has been stashing newspapers just about all her life. There are some from the First World War....Second World War and she even pilfered a few Racing Forms from Zar's stash. She reasons that the races in question have already happened and he doesn't need them lying around the cottage.

This is going to be one of those buildings without stairs. Tessie is the only one allowed in the loft and she can zap up and down anytime. She even manages quite well with Spike under her arm.

I feel like I am making a lot of progress, considering I was gone all morning shopping with April. I didn't buy even one thing. Unusual for me.

When I returned, I found Tessie up to her elbows in the sack of House of Miniatures kits. She is looking for stuff to put in the tea shop.(Don't tell her the I left off the 'se' part.

She seems to think that this silly little shop should have some Chippendale. I might let her have a piece or two. We shall see if anything fits. This is a very small shop. The room itself is only 7 1/2" deep by 16" wide. The porch brings the depth to right around a foot. I don't think that there is going to be a lot of room for Chippendale.

I am off to see if I can find some tea boxes, cookie boxes and other printables to go in the shop. I will probably start here http://picasaweb.google.nl/sherree2 and dig until I find what I want. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

Family Feud.......

This morning I got up in the cold and promptly bundled up. Walter went to set up for winter last night and the burners on the furnace wouldn't light. I am freezing. I know it's only 63 degrees in the house, but it was 36 degrees outside. When I started moving around....It didn't help. I was still cold.

I grabbed Mookie and hid under a blanket for a while, but nothing was getting done. I put on a jacket and went for it.

I dragged out the $5.00 mystery building. If you poke the photo and look closely through the top of the right hand window, you will see Mookie staring at me. He was disgruntled for losing his cozy lap.

The first thing that I did on the "shop"(Let's call it that for now.) was to saw out all of the crosspieces in the windows. They were way to thick to be in scale. Next, the shutters went away with very little effort. A hammer and a flat head screwdriver did the trick. Whoever put the shutters on put them on backwards and with some really weird glue. It stuck them up there, they were easy enough to get off, but the glue liked the building and wanted to stay. It took elbow grease and an exacto to get that off.

Mookie settled in and by the time I was done with those, he was fast asleep inside. I had to wake him up and kick him out. I needed to move the shop around and figure out how the porch would be held up. It cantilevers out over the base with no visible means of support. It was lacking something.

Anyway, as soon as I got Mookie out, Tessie moved in! She looked out the window at what I was doing and immediately started directing.

"That post should go farther to the left."

Then, "You do know that this would make a lovely tea shop for me to run, don't you?".

I ignored her and went on working.

"We could call it Tessie's Tease. T-e-a-s-e"

"That's not how you spell teas, Tessie." I told her. I know what she thinks of as tea.....She mixes up concoctions of strange herbs and spices and tells people that they are tea so that they will drink them. They are really potions. I have never once heard her speak of them as potions.

She makes things like Sleepy Tea. It puts you right out. You should not be standing when you drink that one.

Mookie tried to get back in to take another nap. That lead to an altercation. Oh, lets just call it what it was. It was an out and out fight over territory.

Need I say, Tessie won? She did.

I guess I am now making a tea shop. I am going to sit her down in the cold light of day(literally) and tell her that she either lets me spell the words correctly or it will be turned into a cat bed! After all, this will keep her mind off of Spiderwort Manor and is a lot easier to work on.

I hear her out there messing around in the spice cabinet. I had better get back an see what is brewing now..... I am NOT drinking anything she stirs up! That could be dangerous.

See you tomorrow.

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble.....

How do you hide an unfinished house when a party is about to start? You make it part of the decorations.....Tessie and Zar were not very happy with me when I started to drape the Clockwork Cottage with various and sundry pieces of material and then topped it with spider webs. They sat on the roof and cringed. I think that they thought that I was having a wake for the house. It was a worrisome sight to them.

I had to explain the whole idea to them and promise to rid the house of all of the trims as soon as the party was over.

They relaxed a bit when I scattered decorations everywhere else in the room. The centerpiece for the table was a bare branched, black tree with gold covered bugs and snakes. In case you can't read the stone sign on the doors of the bookcase, they say "insane asylum". Tessie says that she has been observing the Wednesday Witches when they are here and the sign is quite appropriate.

We had our traditional potluck lunch. Everyone brought a dish that was somewhat ghoulish...I made an old family recipe of Eyeball Pye for dessert.

After lunch, we decorated miniature hats to look like pumpkins. My friend Joan made kits for them. They turned out really cute. She said that she had seen real sized ones somewhere and scaled them down.

Here's the one that I finished. We simply painted the crown of the hat orange and put a face on it with black. Then we decorated them to hang in a scene. Tessie immediately grabbed mine as soon as it was dry and put it on the porch.

In three days it will be Halloween once more. That just means that Tessie will be hassling me about redecorating the porch. I guess next week it will be the start of Thanksgiving decorating. Then Christmas. Then the New Year. Then Valentine's day. Then......I can see where this porch is going to be a busy place. I had better get back to work.

Did I mention that I totally messed up the workroom, getting ready for the party?.......Maybe if I don't open the door for a couple of days, it will fix itself........Hey! I can dream. Can't I?

See you tomorrow.

A Fascination With Shoes....

I have been working on refurbishing a pair of golf shoes for Walter this week. His group from work is called the "9/80 Golf Club". They are having a Halloween tournament this Friday and he wanted something spiffy to wear.(That's another one of my grandma's words that I just don't hear anymore. Spiffy is a great word. Why doesn't anybody use it?)

Anyway, he gave me free reign to do what I wanted with the shoes. As I was painting them, Tessie showed up. She loves shoes, even though she never wears them. I fear that Walter may have to fight her for this pair. Nope. Not her size, but everything else about them is Tessie worthy.

You see, I turned them into alligator shoes. You say, "What's so spiffy about alligator shoes?" I say, "These really are alligator shoes....."

Eat your heart out Nike! I may still put a few scales on them here and there. Tessie is already trying to put a spell on them so that they will come to life and fly. Never mind that alligators don't fly. I am hoping for spell failure.... If she manages it, Walter may never see his shoes again.

While I was at it, he needed a new patch for his golf hat to go with the shoes. He thought up the idea and I executed it. Pardon the expression....
He no longer belongs to a golf club....He belongs to a ghoulf club. My spell check is working. It just turned ghoulf a bright yellow.

He should look really spiffy if I can manage to snatch the shoes back. The last I saw of them they were flying in tandem towards Tessie's cottage.

See you tomorrow.

New to the Neighborhood...

But not for long...Somehow, I don't think that the porch is going to stay in the only spot that I could find to display it right now. It just doesn't fit with the rest of the things around it.....I am thinking that maybe I do have too many minis..... Nah! Never!

It looks like I am going to have to get busy and rearrange some minis once again....And just think, I am going to have to do it twice more. Why did I buy three structures at once? Oh! I remember. Good deals for all three. Not good thinking on my part though.

I forgot to tell you. I went to a sidewalk sale at my favorite antique mall yesterday...Yes, the one where I found all of the House of Miniatures kits. No more kits, but I did find an old German souvenir clock for a dollar. It didn't run. I didn't expect it to, at that price. It did have lots of parts for Zar's projects.

As soon as I started taking it apart, I called Zar in to see everything. Unfortunately Tessie followed. Zar was delighted that I thought of him when I found the clock. Tessie was not! Her first words were, "Where's mine?"

I took the little clock apart and Zar started figuring out what he could construct from the pieces. Tessie planted both feet firmly on the hand painted face and said...."Since you couldn't see your way clear to buy me anything, I am taking this! It is MINE!".

Zar just laughed because he had no use for it anyway, but just to give her a hard time, he asked,"What are you going to do with that thing, Tessie?".

"I have two words for you, Zar. Surf...board!"

Zar looked at me sideways and whispered out of the corner of his mouth, "Surely she can't be serious!"

Seems like that phrase is used a lot around here.

See you tomorrow.

As Monte Python Would Say......

"And now for something completely different......" After finishing the porch yesterday morning, I decided that it was time to take a break from minis. I will get back to it on Monday.

I have been reading the blog of an artist from Mexico City that I stumbled on a few days ago. One of her methods is carving her own stamps. I remember doing a crude form of this when I was in grade school long ago. I also remember it being lots of fun to do and pretty easy. Sooooo....
Yesterday morning I found some of the erasers that she uses for small stamps at Walmart in the stationery department. You know, with all of the pens and pencils. I can get in so much trouble in that department. I love new pens, pads of paper and pencils. Even erasers float my boat.

Anyway, these are the plain white erasers that come in a three pack for under two dollars. I already had the tools(You can get them online from Dick Blick or You can pay a lot more at your local Joanne's.)

While I am talking about this, I probably should send you to the website and the instructions just in case you want to try doing some yourself. The name is Geninne's Art Blog and the part about the stamps is http://blogdelanine.blogspot.com/search/label/handcarvedstampstutorial

These are the three tools that I used. The center one is a fine linoleum cutter and the other two are really wood cutting tools, but they work in a pinch.

First I drew out the designs the size that I wanted the stamps. In this case, they were about 1" x 3". I transferred them to the erasers and started with the fine tipped tool, gouging the outline. Then with the bigger tools, I took off the excess around the design. That is basically all there is to it. I did print them a couple of times to make sure that I got off all of the part that I didn't want to print.

By the way, you can also purchase larger format sheets for carving these blocks at the places listed above. In both cases they are cheaper on line. You do have to pay postage, but in the case of the sheets for carving you get two for the price of one over the price at Joanne's. And the lino cutters are much cheaper there too.

I found a set of colored ink pads from Walmart(Martha Stuart) because every ink pad that I own is dried up because of non use.

Here is the results of my labours. I cheated and carved both sides of the stamps.

The one at the top has not been carved on the second side yet. I made that one so that it could be used side by side to make a border on something.

The one with the flower can be printed in whatever color you want the flower. The other side of that stamp is the blue leaf stem that you see at the bottom of the photo. On a couple of the examples I went back in with a .005 Pigma pen and did some detailing.

The leaves in the center are the ones that I like the best. Those are all on one eraser so that I won't lose one of them if I want to use them together.

I don't think it took me much more than an hour to carve all of them and now I have a bunch of stamps that I can use over and over.

If you want to see how it's done right, go to the above website and watch the video at the bottom of the page. It is fun to just watch her carve. She makes it look so neat and easy. It is easy, but mine definitely doesn't look as neat.

Geninne does wonderful watercolors and other graphic work. I could look at her blog for hours....In fact, maybe I will do that right now.

See you tomorrow.

Surely He Can't Be Serious.....

I put up the Halloween decorations this morning. I must admit to cheating here and there. I have decided to leave the windows without curtains. That way I can put in fabric matching the season. I opted for the skeleton material for Halloween. I simply cut one piece to cover both windows and masking taped them to the back. When Halloween is over, I rip that off and do another piece to match the next holiday.

It looks pretty good from the front. The main thing is, Tessie approves.

Tessie raided the Witches' Warehouse once more and we had more than enough to fill the porch.

Here you can see the whole thing. I used some sparkly black mini trim for the swags around the top. Tessie found all of the pumpkins. The ones on the lawn are a string of four that go with the Halloween villages that you see at Michael's and other craft stores. They actually light up. It's kind of hard to see in the photo.

I dug up the skeleton that you see in the corner....No. I didn't really "dig" him up. He was in a drawer in the workroom.(Notice that I am calling it the workroom again. I need to get in there and straighten.)

Zar is back....Poke the photo. I don't think that Tessie is falling for the false nose and glasses. As I said before..."Surely he can't be serious!".

How gullible does he think she is? And why would she want to invite a stranger with a big, bulbous, pink nose and fuzzy wrought iron eyebrows to her party anyway? He has to be kidding!

I may still add a few more things to the scene before Halloween gets here. If I do, I will show you how I do it.

Right now, I am going back to watch the fun. I want to see how long it takes for Tessie to kick him off of the porch. I am surprised that she even let him get that far. Maybe it was so that she could kick him farther when she does it....

See you tomorrow.

Welcome!

There are three new people at the party today. First there is the mystery person Karola. No info on this one.

Then there is Sandy at Random Meanderings http://invokinglibitina.blogspot.com/ and Donna from The Hidden Life http://athomewithdonna.blogspot.com/ Please welcome them and go visit their sites.

Tomorrow We Decorate....

Essentially, I have finished the porch. I need to paint the inside of the windows and door, that are actually on the outside of the box....Confused yet?

This morning I got up and went to work. When I started on the roof, Tessie even joined in and handed me shingles. I hate to admit it, but sometimes she can be very useful.....When she is in the mood.

I just used about 200 of the HBS bag shingles that I had on hand. That will probably put me short when it comes to the houses that I need them for, but HBS has more.

Anyway, I glued them on with Aileene's Fast Grab white glue. Love that stuff for shingles. It sticks right away and you don't have to tape them.

While those were drying, I cut up wooden strips from one of those printed Japanese scroll calendars and painted them for the slats in the under porch area.

As you can see, I scrubbed some black over the brown to make it uneven before gluing in the slats.

That took an hour or so. It always seems like it is going to take less time than it actually does.

Then I stained the roof with Early American Minwax stain. Hey! While I am thinking of it, did you know that Minwax has a web page with lots of real sized furniture and accessories that can easily be scaled down to mini size? http://www.minwax.com/projects/ Cool stuff. There is also another site that has even more.... http://www.buildeazy.com/fp_start.html All you have to do is divide by 12. Have fun....OK back to the porch. I finished the roof by going over the edges where the shingles over lap again with the stain. That gives them depth.

I was on a roll, so I decided to keep on keepin' on. I dragged out a bunch of landscaping material. I put some white glue where I wanted the grass to be and thickly sprinkled on railroad greenery. I put some bushes in front corners with reindeer moss.

Then I found the hose that I have been saving for many years, for just the right project. It fit perfectly on the left wall.

Tessie has shut up about the swing. As long as I leave the wicker in place, I think it will be OK.

As you can see, Zar is still trying to worm an invitation to the party. And I do mean worm. He wants to be invited in the worst way. He has been hanging around for the past hour. Tessie still won't let him on the porch. I heard her say, "If I'm not welcome in your secret workroom, you're not welcome on MY porch. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, you rat. I know what you have been doing to keep me out!" It went on from there, but it got worse and I am a lady, so I shan't(one of my grandma's favorite words) repeat it.

I wonder why nobody uses "shan't" anymore? It is ever so much easier than saying "shall not". I seem to be wandering off the subject a lot today. I guess I should stop rambling and go see about decorating the porch for Halloween. Tessie has already started.

See you tomorrow.

A Little Bit More.....

I didn't get a whole lot finished today. There were other things besides minis that needed to get done.


When I finally got around to it, Tessie was there on the porch, bored and watching. She was bored because I wouldn't let her help and watching, hoping that I would mess something up so she could say "I told you so!"


In this photo, she reminds me of me when I was little. I remember standing on the bottom railing like that and pretending that I was tall. A few inches makes all the difference when you are a kid. She has worn the broom down to a nub sweeping the porch, again and again.


As you can see, I have painted the panels in the porch foundation dark brown. I am going to do some sponge painting over that to make it uneven. That will give the appearance of empty space below the porch. Then I will put in the lattice work. Shades of my grandma's porch.


Here's an end view. I put in some molding under the roof line and on the edge. Next step, shingles.


Zar dropped by to see how it was going. Tessie wouldn't let him on the porch. She claims that he has dirty boots and she would have to sweep again if she let him up there. I think that she is really still mad at him for all of the tricks that he has pulled to keep her out of the Clockwork Cottage.


I think that he had an ulterior motive for stopping and playing nice. One of her sisters told him that there was going to be a big Halloween bash with lots of bug beer and spider punch. He has taken a liking to that stuff.


Tessie has already started pilfering decorations from the Witches' Warehouse. I guess it is her prerogative, as part owner of the store. I am still wondering how she gets out of working there. The other two sisters put in all the time and she has all the fun. I have asked about it a couple of times and she always quickly changes the subject. There is definitely something going on there.


I have to chase everyone off of the porch and get back to work now.


See you tomorrow.

You Go....I'll Decorate.....

I went ,with trepidation, to the Wednesday Witches mini meeting this afternoon. Why? Just read the title. I should never have told Tessie that I was hostessing the Halloween party for the witches next Wednesday. She was green with envy. Literally green. As soon as she found out, she started making decorating plans.

As I was getting ready to go, I heard her voice out in the kitchen. I looked out and there she was. Plotting with Mookie. He is a co-conspirator in a lot of her plans and schemes.

Unfortunately, when I was cleaning closets last week or the week before, I found all of the Halloween decorations. She was watching closely and making a list of what was there. She was telling Mookie what they had to do and where everything had to go. Mookie just sat there nodding his head in agreement. They are two of a kind. If trouble can be found, they will find it.


"First off, we have to make Casey finish the porch. I need a comfortable place from which to watch the proceedings.....And eat cake." Mookie couldn't care less if the porch is finished. He doesn't fit in there.

She tried helping while I was gone. She knows where I am headed with the porch foundation....Thank goodness! She couldn't get the glue bottle open and Mookie was no help at all. He hates glue.

She did manage to cut some of the slats that I am going to use, but she couldn't glue them in place.....As I said before. Thank goodness. I still have some painting to do before the porch is ready for that.

She did manage to do some decorating. She poked a few buttons on the computer and changed the wallpaper. Being very pleased with her actions, she made me take a photo of it as she posed precariously atop a magnifier,balanced on a glass candlestick...

Yup. I now have the world famous photo of her attempt to make a pie from candy pumpkins as my wallpaper. I am going to have to start shutting down the computer when I leave the house. I fear that she may filch my credit card and start surfing E Bay!

I guess, to placate her, I will leave the photo up. I can stand it for a week and a couple of days.

Then she will want to find a costume for a Christmas photo. I wonder how she would like to be one of eight tiny reindeer? We could paint her nose red and call her Rudolph....Oops! She heard that. I don't think she likes the idea. I gotta go!

See you tomorrow.

A Step Up...

I finished putting together and painting the steps this morning. I cut pieces to cover the end from 1/32" bass. When I finished, they looked a bit bare, so I added some double bead molding to the sides.

Whilst those were drying, I finished the front door all except the handle. It had to be lifted a bit to fit the hole that was in the kit's wall. I simply raised it about 1/2" with a block of wood.

I went and looked and our real front door is like that. I never really thought about that step going into the house.

Tessie was trying to fool Spike into thinking that there was a house behind the door.....He didn't bite on that one.

When I put the front steps in place I decided to just run some molding up the sides of the base in a few places. I am still debating what to do with the space in between. I suppose I could faux paint some bricks. I am thinking that most of it will be hidden by landscaping. I don't know if I want to go to all of that trouble when the work won't be seen.

As it is, I still have to shingle the roof, put molding around the top and edges, landscape, put in curtains and build a swing. Tessie is not compromising on that. She knows that I am going to take back the wicker that is there now because it really belongs in the greenhouse. I guess I had better get back to it. There is more to do than meets the eye.

See you tomorrow.

Starting Up The Steps.....

Now, about the steps....The porch was missing the front steps, if it ever had any. I don't know if that kit came with them. I decided to take the easy way out. I have been wanting to experiment with this method for a while now.

I noticed that 3/4" cove molding in real life is about the same size as a stair step in miniature. If there is a shortcut, I will take it as long as it looks good.

I cut three strips of cove the width of the opening in the porch rail. I dry fitted them in place and they were meant for this particular application. With Tessie's approval, I carried on.

Next I took the bottom two and ran glue along one of the narrow edges of one of the pieces of cove. I butted that against the second one and put them in the gluing jig.


I let them dry...That's the hardest part. Waiting for the glue to dry.

Then I flipped them over and glued the third one to the first one, forming the two steps. Again, the jig. Again, I let it dry. Almost instant front porch steps, but I wasn't finished.

Next I cut two pieces to simulate the treads. I cut them about an eighth of an inch larger on the front and sides.

Here you can see the unfinished steps. The treads haven't been glued in place yet. They still need a bull nose edge on three sides and I will paint them before putting them on.

I also still have to cut a piece to cover either end of the cove so that they will look solid.

I think that this same method would work for interior stairs if the cove was glued to a base, corner edge to corner edge. That's an experiment for another day.

Tessie is quite pleased. She has been running up and down, as has Spike. I am not sure why they both get so excited about stairs. Maybe it's because she doesn't have any in her house and she has to spell herself from first to second floor and back. I would think that it would be easier that way....She says it takes lots of extra energy to do it. And "In Spiderwort Manor, there will be stairs connecting alllll of the floors!"

I am not so sure that I like that long drawn out all. It sounds to much like the house is getting taller and taller as she plans.

I am going now and finish the real world chicken veggie soup and biscuits that I am making for dinner. Tomorrow I will have the finished steps for you.

See you then.

The Six Year Old Doesn't Like Lots of Black...

Yesterday Karin Corbin told me to get out my knives and files and get to work. She was right. I didn't do a lot. I may do more, but just rounding some corners and filing down a couple of place made quite a change.

The six year old mind changer got up this morning and decided that she(I) didn't like the black around the windows and door, or for that matter, the bands around the porch posts.

I got to work and erased them with more of the Trail Tan. I did keep the black door. I still like that part.

After doing those changes, I watched "Sixteen Blocks" with Bruce Willis and laid the rest of the floor. Someone asked the other day what I was using. It is more of my trusty "woven wood" blinds. Unfortunately, I am almost out and they no longer make them out of the luan mahogany. They now make something similar out of bamboo. I may have to try those one of these days. Those would take more work though. I think that they are tougher and wouldn't cut so well with scissors. In answer to the other question that was posed, I didn't stain them. They are that color when you get them.

Here you can see that I sliced off the corners of the entry way posts. Still no steps. I need to do those, but I need to finish the under porch first and I can't decide what I am going to do with that.

Tessie is letting bunny down to wander around and get acquainted. So far, no big battles between bunny and Spike. I think that she has high hopes of using Spike as a baby-bunny-sitter. I am not so sure that Spike isn't thinking...."Hmmmmm.....Lunch!".

I did get this one photo of the three of them sitting on the edge of the porch. It should be interesting. Unless Baby-bunny turns into one of those Monte Python bunnies with fangs I am going to have to watch them closely. Hey Bunny! Toughen up!!!

I have other things to do besides bunny-sitting.

I am going back to work now. There is still a lot to do to get the porch ready for Halloween.

See you tomorrow.

The Chinese Food Was Good......

Today was the Tucson Miniature Society miniature show and sale. The show part was great. Lots of nice displays. The sale part was not so great, at least not for me. I woke up with a headache this morning and it stayed with me.

I couldn't seem to find anything to get really excited about. I bought some silk ribbon for the classes. Then I wandered around all of the tables carrying on conversations with people that I have known for years. That part was neat. I enjoy seeing mini people from years back and catching up with them.

On the way out to eat lunch, I bought a book called Indian Basketry. After lunch, I came back and took another spin around the sales room. I managed to fine some tin snips and pliers for Zar.

When I gave them to him, he thanked me profusely and started opening wine bottles with them.....I thought he wanted them for the time machine?

Next I found the prize of the day. Tessie would not be happy if I didn't bring her a present. She is now the proud owner of a little gray rabbit. She immediately pushed Spike off of the couch and grabbed the bunny. I think that Spike is not a happy bunny, as the saying goes. The bunny and Tessie are both happy bunnies. But then that's Tessie. Next week it will be a turtle or an aardvark.

My last purchase of the day was a bunch of mini magazines. That should keep me busy for the rest of the day. That is, if I can get around the headache to read them. Yup. It's still here.

I am going to go work on getting rid of it now.

See you tomorrow.

A New Award...

Kathi of Beautiful Mini Blessings http://beautifulminiblessings.blogspot.com/ has created a new award. I am honored to be one of the first to receive it. I especially like it because of Snoopy. Walter is a big Snoopy fan and I have a small collection of them in different costumes.

It is called the Friendship Award. Here's what she says."The rules are simple. Just pick three friends - I know that's hard! Choose someone who has inspired you or brought joy into your life. Let them know how much you appreciate them by giving them this award and ask them to pass it on! Then please link back to this post so I can see who receives this award! That's it! Hope you enjoy sharing this award with your friends!" Thank you so much Kathi, I am honored!

If I could, I would pass it on the each and every one that I have met in blogland. Since Kathi says it has to be three, I am going to pass it to three.

I have to pass it to Katie at Katie's Clay Corner http://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/ Katie and I share a rather strange sense of humor when it comes to minis, cats and other beasties.

Next I will pass it on to Tiffany at Mini Mischief http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1 We are both short red heads and can manage to get into trouble in any art or craft that we find the least bit interesting.

And third, Rosanna at La Stanza Di Giuggiola http://lastanzadigiuggiola.blogspot.com/ She lives in the most beautiful town in Italy and makes beautiful minis, especially the needlework!

OK. It's your turn to spread the Snoopy Friendship award.

Welcome and Awards...

We have several new party goers. First we have http://esensdollsandpuppets.blogspot.com/ . I am correcting this one. Esen very kindly wrote and gave me the right addy for her blog. It is bright and beautiful, now that I have found it.

Then there is Daisy of Antique Daisy at http://antiquedaisy.blogspot.com/ She is just starting a blog. Please go see. Nice minis. There is also Chris V of Candid Canine http://candidcanine.blogspot.com/ She has several blogs. I will lead you to the first one which will lead you to the others. Go visit. Interesting stuff. Welcome to all. Have a cupcake and stay as long as you like.

Now about the awards. I have several people that have added to the awards list of Creatif Blogger. C. from Confessions of a Minin Addict http://www.lidilstuff.blogspot.com/ . There was one in Spanish from Sofia, but I couldn't find a website for her. I am not sure which the award was.

Then there was the Dream Blog Award from Rosanna at La Stanza di Giuggiola http://lastanzadigiuggiola.blogspot.com/

And also from Cristina at Crisminiaturas

http://crisminiaturas.blogspot.com/

And from Elosia at Casa De Bonecas De Elosiahttp://casadebonecaseloisa.blogspot.com/

And from Julie at Yummy Miniature Foods From the Crow http://yummyminiaturefoods.blogspot.com/

Thanks to all of you for passing on the awards to me. I appreciate each and every one. I have already done both of these awards before, so I am going to cheat and give them to all of my followers this time. Go and visit all of the above sites. You will be in for a treat at every one.

I am off to the TMS Miniature Show this morning. I will report back later today. I am NOT taking Tessie along! She would want one of everything!

See you later.

Porch Progress...

I am slowly , but surely gaining on the orphan front porch. Tessie is still insisting that I need to build a house behind it for her......Not in this lifetime. She is going to be lucky if I put curtains in the windows so that you can't see through to what's behind it.

I experimented with the trim this morning. I like the tan, but I am not sure if I like the severe black accents.

I will leave them for a day or two and see if they grown on me. Of course Tessie likes the black. She says that it will be good for Halloween. I don't really like the square posts, but I also don't really want to tear them out and start over either.

The reason for the black bits of trim is the front door. I always liked the effect of a black front door. I think that it will lend itself to any kind of decorations that I decide to put up for the season. On this photo you can see that I have started laying the floorboards. I should have that finished this afternoon.

I am afraid that Tessie is winning on the porch swing idea. I remember, when I was little, I used to love to sit on the front porch swing at my Grandma Daisy's and read for hours. That was my favorite spot at her house.

We have one on the back porch now. It is almost as good. It doesn't seem like people in Tucson sit out on the front porch. We all seem to like our privacy. It's too bad in a way. You don't see the world passing by when you sit in the back yard.

I do think that I am going to experiment with a porch swing. This porch is large enough that a nice sized one will fit at the left end, facing the door.

Tessie dragged the wicker from the greenhouse into the kitchen, where I was working and, all out of breath, maneuvered it into place. I asked why she didn't just zap it in....Her answer? "Oh! I forgot that I could do it that way." Senility could be setting in.

Working on the floor may be a bit difficult with her sitting right in the middle.....Maybe there is a method to her latest madness. She looked me straight in the eye and said,"If you build me a swing, I won't have to interfere with your floor. I will be up in the air."

I will grant you that this makes sense, but it seems to me it would be simpler for her just to move out of the way. I guess that it's time for another long lecture on logic and the lack thereof in this household.

See you tomorrow.