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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Alleviating Cupcake Theft......

"You have to do something about the open windows in the tea shop! Do it now!!!" That was Tessie wailing at me about 3:30 AM. I have said before that some of my best ideas come about that time of morning.....I am now of the belief that Tessie helps out by whispering in my ear to wake me up with ideas.

I was not about to get up at that time of night/morning to fix her windows, but it stuck in my mind and I couldn't get back to sleep.

It seems that Tessie set up my camera to take photos of proof of theft. She caught Zar sneaking away with one of the strawberry cupcakes behind his back. He swore up and down that he didn't do it.......Sorry Zar. You are busted!

The tea shop building came without windows and I am not of a mind to spend a lot of money on it, so I went the old fashioned route. "Use it up, wear it out. Make it do, or do without." I decided to cheat. Shhhh......

I held up a piece of paper to the odd shaped windows and traced them. Then I went and got some illustration board from my stash.

While I was at it, I also picked out some heavy poster board, some scraps of plastic packaging and some #3 white Perle cotton.

I cut out 3 of the window shapes from the illustration board and fitted them to the windows, trimming them where needed.

I numbered them to the window that each fit into. Then I drew the shape for the inside of the windows and cut that out.

Next I took the Perle cotton and some white glue and edged both the inside and the outside of the window frames. Then I painted them with gesso on the side that would be showing. In the first photo you see these steps from left to right.

After they dried, I painted them to match the rest of the building. The outsides will be antique white and the insides plain old white.

Tessie couldn't wait until I finished them to show you. I fitted the first one in place and stuck the plastic behind it. It still needs to be treated to not look like plastic.

She was satisfied, but did suggest iron bars. I told her that wouldn't be very inviting for regular customers and she had to agree.

Then she turned and looked at me and straight faced she said,"You are going to put in a door, aren't you? I need that done today too." And then....."No more free cupcakes for anyone!!!"

She marched inside, picked up the Steampunk water gun, perched herself on the director's chair and aimed it at the door.

I doubt if she will have any trouble with looters for a while. I am finishing the windows and the door as fast as I can. She may decide to turn it on me if I don't finish today....I don't even want to know what she has it loaded with this time.

Someone please tell me why I armed her in the first place.... What was I thinking?

See you tomorrow.

7 comments:

rosanna said...

You are a real gold mine of ideas and useful tips.Thank you very much Rosanna

Kathi said...

Looking good! That should keep Zar out for a while. At least until he learns to pick the locks!
So. What do you do to plastic so it doesn't look like plastic??

Caseymini said...

Kathi, I use the golfer's lead tape and sharpies to make stained glass and then clear nailpolish to make it look uneven and wavey. I will probably do some of it in the next day or two and then you can see what it looks like.

Irene said...

What an imagination you have! I really like all the twiddly bits above the windows too. What a great idea.

Caseymini said...

Irene, If you go back a month or two, there are a couple of blog entries that tell how to do the pargeting.(That's the twiddly bits above the window.)LOL, I love your description of them.

miniacollection said...

It looks beautiful, you're very talented.
Geneviève

Dawn said...

Also interested in how you make plastic not look like plastic.
Looked back at pargeting another great idea, will have to try it sometime.