Sparkles and Shines.....

This morning Walter and I went to see Sherlock Holmes and had lunch at Applebee's. Both were good, but it is my excuse for this being so late.

I told you that I would show you how to make mini jewelry. Here you go. For today, I am just going to show you the necklace that Tessie is holding in the first photo and the earrings that are laying on her arm and hand with it.

First of all, you need #32 brass beading wire. It is very inexpensive and comes on a spool like thread. Then you need the smallest beads that you can find. The ones in the photo are between #18 and #22.
In this photo the medallion in the foreground is made of # 15. They are the ones that I use for purses and mini bead knitting. They are really too big for jewelry, but if that is all you can find, go for it. I try not to use them for necklaces unless they are a focal bead among the smaller ones. They would be about the size of a large gumball in real life.

The green ones in the bag are # 18 and are the most common ones that can be purchased for mini jewelry. I usually get them at mini shows.

The tools that you need are wire cutters and either needle nose pliers or pointed tweezers.

This sketch shows you where we are going with the wire. First you cut a piece about 8" long. Don't skimp. You need something to hang onto. First you fold the wire in half and with the pliers, crimp the fold into itself as close as you can get it.

Put a bend in the end with your pliers for a hook. The holding the base of the hook with your pliers, wrap one length around the other about 3 times. Start threading beads on both wires in a pattern that you like. You can hold it around a doll's neck once in a while to see if it is long enough. When you are happy with it, loop one of the wires back through 4 or 5 of the beads and pull it down with your pliers or tweezers. Make sure you have the beads pushed down as far as they will go to the hook end. Then wrap the second wire three times around the base of the loop. Snip off the excess wire and curve the two ends up to meet. If you did it right, you have a hook and loop fastener so that you can put it on your mini person.

For the earrings, simply thread 3 to 5 beads on a 2" piece of wire. Twist one end around the other. With the wire that you didn't twist, form a hook. Then trim off both ends.

You just made earrings!

I have to stop writing now. Tessie has seen how easy it is and wants more NOW! I need to fill a jewelery box or two.

See you tomorrow. Have fun!

Skimping to Save......

Monday night we went out to see Avatar and then to Outback for dinner with April and Seth.

While we were waiting for our food, we started talking about how corners are being cut by companies to save money(or make more money for themselves). It is happening everywhere.

They were laughing at me because one of the things that I have noticed a change in is toilet paper rolls.....No less length to the roll.....BUT different companies have cut 1/2" to 3/4" off of the width of every roll, making them narrower to cut costs! I imagine the if you make the roll less wide by that much, you can make quite a bit of profit in the long run.

What does this have to do with miniatures? This is what. I bought a bunch of the little cards of 1/4"plastic furniture that has been around for at least 25 years, not too long ago. I opened one of the cards today and grabbed one of the chairs. I always have to do some carving on them with an Exacto knife to make them not so bulky looking.

This time, if anything, I will have to add to them!

The chair on the left is the old one. Nice, square and solid. The manufacturers have changed the molds. The one on the right is the new one. The legs are way thinner than the backs and the seats look like someone turned them around backwards. The front is narrower than the back!

I am much to picky, but come on! How much can they be saving by doing this? I am probably the only one that would notice that these chairs are really messed up, stylewise.

They are now using brown for everything that used to be black. Even the woodburning kitchen stove is brown and the back is reallllllly thin. Somebody in quality control dropped the ball and then stomped on it!

OK. I will get down off of the soap box now.

While I was looking through the quarter inch supplies, I found a kit for a little laser cut, Edwardian desk. It took about 20 minutes to put it together. It would certainly help if people would put a picture of what the desk was supposed to look like when it's done. OK. So I am a grouch today....

Tessie wandered in while I was putting the desk together and found a kit for a laser cut jewelry box next to it. She immediately pounced on it. "Mine!!!"

"Sure Tessie, you can have that one." I said.

"Put it together. Now!" She demanded this as she dumped the kit out on the desk. I quickly rounded it up and made sure that she hadn't lost any of the pieces.

This one took all of five minutes to assemble. Very easy.

As soon as I finished it, even before the glue dried, Tessie grabbed it. She flipped the lid open and closed a couple of times. She looked me straight in the eye and said accusingly...."Where's all of the jewelry? It's a jewelry box. It should come filled to the brim with bracelets, necklaces and earrings....Oh......and rings! Lots of rings!"

Tomorrow we will be making necklaces, some rings, bracelets and earrings. Hmmmmmm....I wonder if I can talk Tessie into letting me pierce her ears? Probably not.......

See you then.

The Third Dimension....

Did you ever try to explain 3-D to someone that insists that you don't need glasses because everything is already in 3-D? That's Tessie. While I was working on a New Year's party apron that she insisted that she needed, she found the 3-D glasses that we had to wear to view the movie yesterday.

She kept peering through the lens and saying in a puzzled tone, "Nope. Everything still looks the same. Even the TV." It is impossible to tell her about anything that you can't demonstrate.

I gave up and decided it was time for a face lift for the blog. She had to have her say and after three tries, we agreed on the one that you see now. I am not sure how long it will last. Neither one of us were satisfied. It was a compromise and you know how Tessie compromises. Her blog, her rules.....Wait a minute. When did this become her blog?????

Anyway, after I got her out of my hair, I decided to continue with experimentation.

I have been doing loop work spirit bags for years. I didn't see why the same technique couldn't be used for mini rugs and/or bags in different threads.

I started with some #3 Perle cotton. It is really too big, but I wanted to take a few photos as I went along so I did the first bit with that.

Loop work is the same as buttonhole stitch in embroidery, but it is done in a continuous manner adding a row of loops to the row below, thus making a "fabric" as you would with knitting or crocheting.

I learned this technique from Piecework magazine back in their Jan/Feb issue in 1994. I just went to their website and, lo and behold, the original article is there! http://www.interweave.com/needle/projects/Treasure-Pouch.pdf

If you want to try it, please go follow their instructions...They are much better than mine would be.

If you follow them exactly, you will get a bag. I you keep increasing every row like the bottom of the bag, you will get a flat piece that will grow into a rug.

Here you see three rows and I am about to start on the fourth row. It comes out in a hexagon shape if you do it in the manner of the bag bottom. I have done larger bags with this stitch and larger yarn. It is fun to do because it is mainly mindless work. Once you get going it is just round and round.

Let me know if you try it. I would love to see what other people do with it.

Tessie is yelling at me about the "blasted glasses" that don't work, from the other room. I guess I should go and try to explain again.....and again.....and once more.

See you tomorrow.

It's About Time!

I have been lax in greeting new people to the party! Sorry. My excuse is the same as every other person out there. Holidays get in the way.

Anyway, here goes!

We have a lot of new people.

First is Diidem at Bu Blogda Ara http://diidemm.blogspot.com/ She has recently started blogging and hers is very interesting. It is in Turkish, but Blogger easily fixes that.

Next is Angeles at El Rincon de Baldu http://elrincondebaldu.blogspot.com/ There are tiny bears living in her dollhouse. Cute!

Then there is Pandora Box and Miniaturemade. I don't have information for either of them.

Next is Kate. She says that she is planning on starting her own blog soon. Get to writing Kate! We would all like to see your work!

Then there is Lotte. She is at Was ist los in Wuselhausen. http://gisela-wasistlosinwuselhausen.blogspot.com/ She has lots of nice minis for you to view.

And the newest guest is Moni from Moni's Miniaturen. http://monisminiaturen.blogspot.com/ Minis and more minis to see!

Welcome to the party, all of you. Sorry I took so long to greet you!

For a First Try.....Not Bad....

It worked! Yesterday I showed you the first step of the cupboard covered with Fimo.

I kept working after you left and this morning I "fired" it. I put it in the oven, wood and all, at 275 degrees for 20 minutes.

The tools with Tessie in the first photo are the ones that I used. I used what I had as far as rubber stamps. I used just sections of the ones that you see and repeated the designs.

I then cut the pieces to size and stuck them to the cabinet with the liquid Fimo that is hiding behind Tessie's left elbow. That's so that you will be able to find it in the store. Red label....Small bottle, but it goes a long ways. There are many uses for it.

After it came out of the oven, I painted it with Antique White Ceramcoat. I used what I had. I let that dry and whilst it was drying Tessie said, I don't know how many times, "It needs glass or something in the windows. My stuff will fall out!"

I did repeat that it wasn't hers. She didn't seem to hear that part of the conversation...Ever.

Oh! The feet. I forgot the feet. As I remember, this particular armoire had a skirted bottom. No feet. Just some boards were around the edge.

I found four wooden pieces that I think may have been meant as candlesticks. The small end was hollowed out. I upended them and glued the wide part to the bottom. Hey! This is an experiment. I am not going to get all fancy. I used what was there in the drawer. It was either these or some that were twice as tall....Not good.

Next I pulled out some sage green glaze. I can't say that it is my favorite, but again, it was what was there.(Aren't you getting tired of hearing me repeat that?)

I painted it on, one section at a time and wiped it off with a paper towel, leaving the green just in the lines of the imprint.

"Yes, Tessie. I know that there isn't anything in the windows!"

I don't have time to mess with that now. I also need to put a coat of varnish on it to protect the finish.

We are going to see "Avatar" at noon and I have to get ready. She will just have to wait until I get back to do the "windows".

All in all, I think that the technique is viable for a number of applications. The only drawback is, you can't do a wall or a roof. It has to fit in the oven..... And you can't do it on any kind of plastic. Deadly fumes and melting would ensue.

"No Tessie. We will not be covering Spiderwort Manor in Fimo. It won't fit in the oven!"

See you tomorrow.

I Had an Idea.......

This morning I decided to do one of the gifties that I did for others for Christmas. It was destined to sit on my kitchen counter. I can tell you now that they were salt cellars. This is the first one that I made.

After I finished it, I realized that it didn't match any of the kitchens that I was building salt cellars for.....Oops! It matched mine.

Now I can tell on myself. I carefully pried it off with my trusty Exacto knife in one piece. Then I proceeded to do three that were mostly seventies colors. Remember Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Goldenrod and Antique White? Sure you do. Those were the only colors to have in the seventies if you wanted to be in the in crowd.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the finished jars. So....You get a kind of rerun. This is a new jar that I bought this morning. Walmart is selling them now and they really are salt containers. If you look closely at the side, you will see it is embossed with the word SALT. I guess they don't want you to put anything else in them. Ha! I will if I want to! I can cover the "salt" on the side with more clay.

I made seasoned salt to put in the gifts and I had some left over. That was all the excuse I needed to make another one.

Too bad I don't have need for more salt cellars. They were fun to make. If you try it, be sure to use some liquid poly on the lid so that the rest will stick to it.

While I had the clay out, I decided to try something that popped into my head about 3:00AM this morning. It seems like that is when I get most of my hair brained ideas. Some of them work and some of them even sound hair brained to me. This one was somewhere in the middle.

I have a few of the infamous Michael's hutches in a drawer. I woke up and started thinking that it would be easy to use some poly clay and some rubber stamps to make one of them look like they were carved.

This was one of those "I can if I want to" ideas. If it didn't work, I could just rip off the clay and do something else with both the clay and the hutch.

This one reminds me of the Mexican cupboards that you see in the southwest, so I decided on a kind of Mexican folk art kind of stamp.

I don't know what happened to the feet on this particular cabinet. I am going to have to find some to put on it.

Tessie came in while I was working on it and naturally, the first thing out of her mouth was....."Is this for me? I don't like the color. Where's the glass in the doors. It doesn't have any feet." Then..."If you expect me to store things in here, it's going to have to be fixed!"

"Tessie, it's not yours."I said.

"Why can't I have it? Please???" She asked.

Somebody please tell me where the logic went in this house! It seems to have flown out the window when Tessie moved in.

Here's a close up of the bottom part. I like that. I am not so sure about the rest, but I am going to play with it for a while and see what happens. I am not worried about the color. After I finish covering and baking it, I will paint and antique it.
As soon as I start painting, I imagine that Tessie will put her two cents in about the color. Then she will have plans for it. Most likely the hints about starting Spiderwort Manor will start all over again.

I am going back now and see what else I can do with the hutch. Here comes Tessie. Wish me luck!

See you tomorrow.

Never Give a Witch a Wand......

I won't dwell on the party for long. Tomorrow things should be pretty well back to normal. That is, as normal as things get around here.

Tessie only had to use the new wand on one big guest. He tripped over a package and fell into the tree. Luckily, the tree didn't go over. The guest, however, didn't do to well....He was a gargoyle for three hours before I persuaded Tessie to change him back. Her tree. Her rules.....


Actually, I thought he was kind of cute as a gargoyle. He didn't think it was very funny.


Tessie wanted you to see the other gifts that she received from April. It's hard to see the dark brown, elbow length leather gloves. There was also a pair of cream colored ones.

The most interesting one was a sack full of some kind of seedpods that look exactly like miniature pumpkins! She keeps waving the wand at them and trying to turn them into coaches a'la Cinderella's Fairy Godmother. I keep telling her that she needs real pumpkins for that spell. Not seed pods. Who knows what kind of results she is going to get with those?


She gave up on that idea and wandered around for a while singing, "The party's over. It's time to call it a day....." Both parties were great fun.


Then she happened to spot the toy that I received in my "Happy Meal" a couple of nights ago. I didn't feel like cooking and we had McDonald's. They are on an "Avatar" kick right now and the toy was way better than the meal.

It is one of those six legged, horse like, beasties from the movie and it lights up and flashes in three different spots for about 15 seconds at a time.

It was love at first site. At least it was on Tessie's part. You know the drill. Sparkly, colorful and bright is her thing. She has a new friend. She thinks that she stole him from me. I am not telling her that I saved him for her. I knew she would like him. And I knew she would like him even more if she thought she pulled one over on me by grabbing him when I wasn't looking.

She can't figure out why he lights up, but doesn't move. "Tessie! He's a toy!", I said.

"But he should move when I wave the wand.", she whined.

"He's plastic." I explained.

"I want him to move!" Oh, the whining!

I think that she is going to spend the rest of the day occupied with waving the wand in front of the beastie's nose. Good! I can get things cleaned up whilst she is practicing with it. Would you please not tell her that I changed the crystal for a glass bead while she was sleeping? Thanks.

See you tomorrow.

Merry Christmas Once Again!

PARTY!!!! We did. All day.....I won't go into details until tomorrow. It is 7 PM and I am finished for the day.

I will leave you with a couple of shots of the tree and surroundings. Tomorrow there will be more details.

When we pulled all of the gifts out from under the tree, I found that the three witches had set up a real feast under there. They ran out of branches on which to put things. Someone zapped the kitchen island in to hold the food and no place to put it except under the tree.

Tessie scored big time. She got a whole trunk full of spell building ingredients from Walter. I am not sure if that was wise.

He also got her a wand with a crystal ball in the end. She has been waving that thing around at everyone to see what she can do with it. Zar is not happy.....She turned him into a bunny rabbit. She turned around and grinned at her sisters and said, "See! Vast improvement!!" It took her a couple of hours to figure out how to reverse that one!

She also got a crystal ball on a stand. And from April, she got two pair of big people, leather gloves to make leather items and the gold image of King Tut that you see in the lid of the trunk. It is a tie tack. Very pretty.

She finally figured out how to put Zar back into his own skin. It's Christmas, so he forgave her. He had better watch out though. The last I saw, he was eating a hamburger and she was waving the wand at his head again.

If he even looks at her cross eyed I do believe he will be turned into an alligator or maybe a fruit bat. The later would be easier.

I may have to confiscate the wand tomorrow. I will let her have fun with it tonight.

I have to go collapse now. I have had all the fun I can stand for one day!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

See you tomorrow.

Dress Rehearsal...

OK. This is going to be a short one. I am cooking up a storm. So far today I have made two batches of cookies and I am working on an ice cream cake and some Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes. Both the cake and potatoes require 24hours. I am slowly getting caught up. Kind of....I think....Maybe.....

Tessie was quiet until about an hour ago. Then I started hearing a guitar playing. I went to see what was going on. It seems that the entertainment has arrived, at least part of it. The gang from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are all on the porch.

You see, Tessie is a good friend of Willow(Allyson Hannigan). She's the resident witch on that show in case you don't watch. Oz(Seth Green) is on guitar. He's waiting for the rest of the band to get here. I do hope that the girls have a spell for making the music unheard by big ears.

Spike(James Marsters) is Tessie's favorite vampire and if you invite him, you have to invite Buffy(Sarah Michelle Gellar) too.

See. Tessie does know some celebrities. I guess that was the Oz that she was talking about. Ozzy Osbourne hasn't shown and I doubt that he will. Thank goodness. Talk about loud parties!

Anyway, that's what's happening here today..... Tomorrow we PARTY!!!

See you then. Merry Christmas Eve!

Only Two More Days......

"Zar cheated!!! He opened a present early!" That was Tessie wailing because I received one of Chrisie Friesen's books on poly clay work yesterday.

As soon as she saw it, she naturally thought it was for Zar, since the title was "Steampunkery". It is really a book on clockwork animals and bugs that she makes and how she does it. If you would like to see some of her things go to http://www.cforiginals.net/ She does wonderful clay work and has a real sense of humor in her writing. I downed it in one night. It's great.

Anyway, as usual, I had a lot of explaining to do. No. The book was not for Zar. Yes. The book was for me.

"Well! Why do you get to open it before Christmas?" she demanded. I countered with, "Because it's not a Christmas present."

Tessie has decided that almost everything that comes into the house now is a Christmas present and should be wrapped accordingly. She tried to wrap a couple of bags of chocolate chips that I bought to make cookies. I had to take them away from her and tell her if she wanted to eat, she couldn't be wrapping all of the food and putting bows on it. As I was explaining this to her, I opened the refrigerator. There sat a gallon of milk with a big red bow, a block of cheese with a green one and some carrots with little gold bows on the end of each one.

She quickly jumped in front of me and whisked away the bows. "OK. No bows on food. Can I at least put one on Santa's cookies?"

I told her that it would be OK for the cookies, since they are a gift for Santa.

When I finished wrapping presents, I went to stash them under the tree and what did I find? Yup! You guessed it. Tessie had gone through all of the gifts. To her delight, there were two for her from Santa. No. I didn't put them there. The secret Santa is Walter. He showed them to me yesterday. I told him to hide them. Evidently they weren't quite hidden well enough.

She made me take the photo to document her very first Christmas presents ever! In the picture, she was sitting on the taller of the two holding a plate of cookies for Santa.

I had to burst her bubble and tell her that he wouldn't be here for at least a day and a half.

She jumped down, stashed the cookies in the tree and stomped off. I heard her say as she wandered away, "I'm ready for Christmas. What's the holdup? I want Christmas now!!!"

She went and found Zar, and they both went to find Cordelia.

Since her house has been banished to the bathtub along with the Clockwork Cottage for the duration, she is temporarily homeless.

Zar did his best Santa imitation to cheer her up. Unfortunately, he comes off more as Groucho Marx with a peppermint stick for a cigar. He's going to have to work on that.

Tessie told Cordelia that she could move into the cottage. She said, "After all, I will be getting a new manor house soon."

To make a long story short.....Cordelia will be moving back to her own house after Christmas, so there is no need for starting another house right now.....

Alas. It was going so well until a few minutes ago. I think that I can put Tessie off until the 26th. Then there is going to be a great deal of trouble, once again. Any bets on which one of us is going to win? As my dad used to say....."I will give you three guesses and the first two don't count."

See you tomorrow.

Caution!!!!

Tessie finished the yellow caution tape this morning......She had to get fancy and dove tail all of the ends. Don't tell anybody, but I helped her do the printing on the computer because nobody can read her writing most of the time.

The first rule of the party is to have a good time. Not much to argue about with that one.

I wandered around the Christmas tree trying to find all of the tape. The next one was below a group of three of her brooms. I guess she figured that if she "seeded" the area with her own, others would figure out that was the parking lot.

The sign on this one was a bit more worrisome....Being towed might not be too bad with a broom, but I am not sure about being toad!

Our Tessie is being a bit cautious this year.....Rule #3 is in the entryway.....A party without dueling wands is going to be a little boring. I am sure that someone will get around that one by spiking(spelling) the punch. It always happens.

I guess that lets out Zar's Steampunk rifle and pistol....Or does it. The sign says "magical". Technically his guns are mechanical.

This next rule is the one that I don't like much. It creates a problem. Tessie is always yelling at me to do things. If I stick my hand in the tree, am I going to be a gargoyle for life or is it just for a couple of hours?

Last but not least! The most important rule of the party! I don't know about you, but I am not going anywhere near this section and I will obey this rule, above all! Just in case you can't read the caution tape....This one says, "Do not annoy the dragon. You are crunchy and taste good with catchup!"

She still has more rules that she thinks that the party needs to run well, but I talked her out of most of them. I just don't think that the guests will appreciate being turned into swamp rats or wombats.

I have to go now. More party preparations, both mine and hers, have to be done.

See you tomorrow.

Plagued By Penguins......

The food for Tessie's party has been arriving by messenger all morning. She is trying to stay ahead of the game by setting up tables with food and various chairs to accommodate everybody.

She is employing several of the round, skirted, tables that is in a tutorial here. http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2008/04/tabled-for-today.html

Logically, the first one that she grabbed was the party table that I did for last New Year's Eve. She decided that it would be a good one for all of the boxed crackers and cookies and a pitcher of punch.....However, she didn't anticipate the penguins getting to the party a few days early. They are polar opposites of Santa(pardon the pun) They never go by the clock and usually show up unannounced when there are Animal Crackers or Oreos to be eaten.

These two got here before the rest and were very hungry from the trip north. They saw the label "Animal Crackers" on a couple of the boxes and decided that this was their table.

Then one of them saw black and white Oreos and of course, those were especially put out for penguins, being the colors that they were. The littlest penguin was eating his way through the box. The other one was fascinated by a pitcher of punch that matches his beak and feet. I didn't say that they were smart. They simply like food that matches their coats and accessories.

The other table that she is using, she "borrowed" from my stash. It's the one with the secret compartment underneath. Remind me to check that, to see what has been stuffed in it, after the party is over.

I fear that the tacos and sangria that Eskiaga sent may not live to see the party. He has a terrible time with her begging tacos from him. Then Theo begs them from her. I am not sure about the sangria. That might be safe.

Speaking of sangria, I should give you a quick tutorial on the pitcher. It is about 25 years old and has been in the Mexican room box that I made out of a stereo speaker case way back then.

Considering that it is made from a plastic bead tube and some two part epoxy, it has held up pretty well.

I was without money to buy a pitcher at the time, so I decided to improvise. I took a bead tube that they sell #11 seed beads in, and cut it about an inch above the bottom with an Exacto knife, evenly all around except for a spot on one side that I left a long strip about 3/32" wide. That would become the handle.

Exactly opposite of that, I took a pair of needle nosed pliers and pulled on the top edge of the plastic to form a spout. That took a bit of work, but I just kept at it until I liked the shape.

I bent the strip back to form the handle and fastened it to the body with glue.

For the silver on the bottom, I used a trick from long ago. Did you know that you can change gold filigree paper to silver simply by rubbing it with acetone nail polish remover? You can!

I glued a piece of that around the bottom.

As a complete experiment, I took some clear, two part epoxy from the hardware store and added some color to it with tube oil paints. Surprise! It worked. You have to work fairly fast, because the epoxy hardens quickly. So I poked it into the pitcher with a toothpick. At least I think that is what I put it in with. That was a long, long time ago.

I was afraid that it would turn yellow after a while, but it doesn't seem to have.

Anyway, that's about it for today. I have to go round up the penguins and tigers to make sure that they don't start fighting over food before the party even starts. Did I mention that the animals have invited themselves. Hey! Free food! What's not to like?

"Tessie! Put down that taco!"

See you tomorrow.

Three Rooms With a View.....

When I got home from town this morning, I heard all kinds of commotion coming from the Christmas tree. I immediately knew what was afoot.

Tessie was clearing space. She had a pencil in her teeth, a tape measure in her fist and determination in her eyes.

Before she could put the boxes in the tree, I had intended to decorate them. I found some neat wired holly leaves in the ribbon section. I guess it was meant for around packages, but it was perfect for a border around the boxes. All I had to do was bend the wire and wrap it around. Not a speck of glue or tape was needed.

I went to the family room to start filling the boxes. Tessie beat me to it. They were finished!

The first one was decorated as an entrance hall. I don't think that she was really decorating. It looks as if she just got back from shopping and dumped stuff on and around the settee.

At least the guests will have some place to hang their hats and leave their coats (and brooms).

I think she has started early. She left her party hat on the back of the seat.

The second room is the area for serious munchies. There is pizza, cookies and cake so far. Since it is a pot luck for both food and drink, I am sure that there will be more to come.

She had a go at browbeating Zar into letting her use his espresso machine. It must have worked.

The shelf that the food is sitting on is one of the very first pieces that I built from bass wood. I took the pattern from a book on Early American furniture. It has been through the wars, is well loved and still gets used now an again.

The two chairs are both Chrysnbon kits. For some reason, I never put any finish on the one on the right. I am not going to paint it until I decide where it's permanent home will be.

After a little searching, I found the third room. It is evidently the room where the guests will go for a refill. There wasn't room for a bar, so Tessie stuck a tray in there, along with some bread and some cheese. I think that she made it hard to find on purpose. She doesn't want any broomstick accidents when the guests leave.

Since she doesn't have any idea how many are going to show up, she is going to have to put some seating here and there in the tree. I requested that she keep it towards the middle of the tree. I don't think that it would be a good idea for her guests and ours to interact.....I may not have to much to worry about on that count. I don't think that she wants our guests messing with her people either.

She is still busy making signs and printing on yellow warning tape. She is very secretive about those. As soon as she will let me, I will take some photos of those.

Since she has the tree under control, I am going to go get the mess that she made under control....How does one tiny witch make such a big mess in such a short time? And why do I always elected to clean it up when she is finished? Now. Where did I park that bulldozer?

See you tomorrow.

The Christmas Tree's the Place to Be!

Tessie came up with a way to accommodate her friends at the Christmas Party this morning. I wouldn't let her build rooms in the tree, so she decided on mini boxes.

She dug through the workroom and found an old wooden cigar box with a liner. It wasn't hinged so it was an easy start.

Then she found some Christmas scrap booking paper and some scraps of Hermes paper flooring. Oh! and more of the sticky paper lace.

The paper was a small 4"x6" pad and the width was exactly the width of the box. The height of the box was 5 1/2" so she had to snip off one end. Before she stuck it into the back of the box, she added some of the lace at the top for a fancy border.

Next came the floor. She stole some of my handy dandy cat food dividers and cut one into thirds. Each of those were covered with her flooring of choice. They stick out of the box about an inch. That gives more space on which to sit things.

She only stuck the wallpaper and the floor to the box in a couple of places. If I decide to use the boxes for something else later, I will be able to easily pop them out.


The next thing was running around the house and pilfering seating for guests. She wasn't really particular, as you can see.

The first one was a footstool. She is thinking of adding a tiny table to that one so that whomever sits there will have a place to put refreshments.

Next she found a settle that I had in a display case. Of course she added a couple of spare stockings to that one. She says that she is going to leave cookies and juicy eggnog in each box as an apology to poor Santa....I think she is still trying to stay on the "Nice List".

The third box is the liner of the cigar box. The last seating she found was in her stash in the computer room wall. She dragged it out and made a complete mess by the mini door.

That piece is a Chippendale settee from the group that I bought when I got the low boy and shelf units that she is using in the tearoom. I recovered the seat on that piece, but never refinished the resin part. I like it the way it is.

She also found a real antique. It's a Pic'n'Save shopping bag that I made when April was little and I was first starting out in minis. Pic'n'Save later turned into MacFrugel's and then to Big Lots. Like I said, it was from a LONG time ago.

Her plan is to stash these little boxes in various spots inside the tree, so that mini people can enjoy the festivities. She told me, "I don't want your heavy footed friends and relatives stomping on my company."

Somehow, this has turned into her party for her friends and she tells me that I am not invited. She is currently working on yellow tape, similar to the stuff that they use at crime scenes to keep out the general population. She is on hands and knees with several long pieces of quilling paper. She has one of my micro pens and is writing over and over....."Keep out!!! This means YOU! Trespassers will be turned to toads!!!"

This should be a very interesting Christmas.

See you tomorrow.

Complete Chaos

I met April this morning to go Christmas shopping. Every year we do one big shopping spree. We don't necessarily get much bought, but we have fun doing it. I can't tell you what we purchased, because there are recipients that read this.

When I returned home, I heard Tessie ranting and raving on the porch. When I looked in, I saw total chaos. Trees were tipped. The snowman was melting sideways. The chair was tipped over and Tessie was very angry.


I told her I would be happy to help straighten the mess, if she would stop yelling.

I also told her that we would find the culprit.

First she went into the bedroom where Widget was napping and accused him.....He just placidly stared at her with an evil grin on his face. If I were her, I wouldn't push him too far. He is thirteen pounds of cat....She is a couple of ounces.

I talked her out of that one, although I suspect that he was the guilty party.

She went flitting back to the porch and as she approached, I saw what she saw....She spotted Santa on the roof! She landed on the roof a couple of inches away and started waving the peppermint stick at him. "I have a wand and I'm not afraid to use it!" She paced up and down the roof. Then she turned and pointed the stick at him. "You will get off of my porch roof and get back to work. I know that you haven't finished all of the presents for everybody yet! Those poor elves are working their fingers to the bone and what do they get? I'll tell you what! Bony Fingers!". She was on a roll. Then it was "I am going to talk to the elves about a union. You sit here slurping up eggnog and candy whilst they do the work. Shame on you, Santa."

Poor Santa couldn't get a word in edgewise.....When he did, all he said was, "Tessie, I see that you are rapidly working your way onto the naughty list! You'd better watch out!" Then he vanished. He can do that, you know. He sees you when you're sleeping......

Tessie turned to me and wailed "What have I done?"

I explained that her decorum would have to be exemplary until Christmas if she wanted to stay on the nice list.....

Since then, she has swept the kitchen floor with her tiny broom, cleaned the bathroom with MY toothbrush. (Remind me to use the new one that I have hidden at the back of the drawer.) and now she is helping me wrap packages and butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.

This has been a very good day. All I have to do is say,"Santa wouldn't like that." and she stops whatever she is doing. I am going to enjoy it while I can. I don't expect it to last.

See you tomorrow.

Don't Light My Fire!

Here's the rest of the tiny log of peppermint candy from yesterday. The other half has already pretty much disappeared.

There are a few pieces left and they are being devoured as we speak.

I am doing big people things today so this will be short.

I am, however, frantically looking for a mini fire extinguisher.

I just went to check on Tessie and Zar in the hideout. I think that they both overdosed on peppermint sticks....They are at it again!

Tessie found a fireplace that Jo made me a few years ago. She says that it is great for hanging her socks. She has six of them pasted on. There is one catch. she has installed it in the hideout and is trying to figure out how to light a fire so that Santa will know where to bring the presents.

I am trying very hard not to lose my temper whilst explaining that she can't light a fire in the Christmas tree, because there is no chimney. What am I saying? "Tessie! You can't light a fire. Period! NO FIRES! Just hang out a sign for Santa! And NO we don't have a fireplace or a chimney, either one!" I have to go hide the match box!

See you tomorrow, if the house is still standing!