Prizes From Jazzi!

Roughly a year ago, Jazzi sent Mini Jazzi on a trip around the world. Being a doll, you'd think decent travel accommodations would be tricky to come by, but thanks to a string of miniature/dollhouse-blogging hosts, Mini Jazzi seems to be having a wonderful adventure (She get's stuck in the mail sometimes, but other than it sounds like it's going well).

While I'm not one of the hosts, (I'm sure Mini Jazzi is seeing plenty of the U.S. for one trip), I have been following along. Some time ago Jazzi had a little contest to see who could guess which blogger would be hosting Mini Jazzi next, and by guessing that she'd be visiting Molly in Virginia next (who promptly whisked Mini Jazzi off to Africa, I think), I was one of the winners. ^_^

A few weeks later I received a package in the mail from Jazzi;

Jazzi, I was not expecting all of this, Thank you so much!

I don't know what it is with the mail lately, but I've had 3 packages clear customs in the past month and only 1 made it to my house without being,...my guess is that someone felt the need to beat my mail with a large mallet. U.S. customs sure has a weird screening process...Luckily, as you can see everything inside the package was fine. A+ for packing Jazzi.

Whenever I get miniatures in the mail I try to set up a quick scene, especially when it takes so long to blog about them. I didn't get everything into this one (there's so much to choose from), but so far I'd say everyone seems to like their new widescreen TV, Australia pillows (I should show them Australia on the map sometime), and teddy bear-Actually I think the Octopus is stealing that one.

It appears that a bunny has moved in now too.

Didn't have a TV stand of any kind, but the weird vintage dresser from upstairs fits in really well (and I never liked it upstairs anyway). The doll that lives here is out with a foot injury (his foot fell off-needs more glue), but he'd better get back soon, it's starting to look like a zoo in his house and he's missing all the cool stuff.

Thank you for the prizes Jazzi, I love them, and I look forward to seeing more on Mini Jazzi's travels.

My Prize From The Shopping Sherpa!

So a few posts back, I mentioned that I somehow managed to win two different blog giveaways in one week (Again-Such a lucky week-anyone know how I can do that again?).

I already made a post about my prize from Fabulously Small, so now it's time to talk about what I received from the Shopping Sherpa;

All the way from Australia,  Anna Maria sent me this lovely plastic kitchen set that she picked up at a recent show. You can read more about it, by clicking here to read her blog post.

The plan is to use these for Billy, a dollhouse I already have built and am in the middle of decorating, but recently I've been cleaning and it's turned into a catch-all. No really, there's even an octopus in there;

(just a side note, this little guy was a gift from an IRL friend. 

How awesome is it that someone sees a plastic octopus and thinks, 

"Kyle would love this"? ^_^ )

Ok, so now that you've heard my excuse for why my little house is such a mess, here is quick scene using the kitchen set, which I promise will look less disheveled after I finish cleaning up everything in my world (big & small);

If you're a regular reader, then you know where the plates and conveniently on hand "Fruit salad" came from. The penguin is also a regular, guess he lives here now. He's an adorable and top heavy creation I made out of Sculpey before I had any idea of what I was doing. XD The pretty green salad bowl is one of those paper pottery bowls I still have to do a tutorial on. I keep saying that I'll talk about that room divider I also made (I will, soon). Table/chairs are super old dollar store purchases. The sink unit is a mystery piece that was found inside a Strawberry Shortcake house (sadly no longer with us), that someone was throwing out.

Thank you again Anna Maria for the prize, I love this kitchen set, and am looking forward to finding more ways to use it in my mini scenes. ^_^

Time Waits For No One

It's been over a week since my last post, and when I promised to get back on track with blogging. I followed through with the already planned posts, but clearly I'm preoccupied with something. Well it's a few things.

Firstly, which I have to keep getting reminded of for some reason this year, my birthday is on Tuesday. It's weird though, because I tend to feel down about it. I like birthdays, but it's something about the time of year I guess. Crazy weather, not really winter, not quite spring yet. My brain can't figure out what to do, and due to my family's schedule this week, celebrating keeps getting moved to different days (kind of hard to get excited about sketchy plans). I kept being told Monady until this morning, my birthday dinner is now tomorrow. Oh, but when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said pudding. Gift/dinner doesn't matter, I would just like pudding. I'm pretty low maintenance like that. Supposedly, I'm getting a batch of chocolate and vanilla-awesome. My plan is to sit in the kitchen for the next day or two until this birthday thing happens, I'm sure that my family will figure it out.

I've also been a bit light on work lately which means I have to spend more time talking to potential clients, until I find someone with design needs that match my talents. March must be my slow season because this happened last year too. Anyway, to combat this annual funk I dove into what I hope will be a successful attempt at getting my illustration work going again. More on that once the project launches, hopefully sometime this week (thought I'd have it up two weeks ago, but learning experiences always taken longer than you think they will).

My Steampunk house for Undersized Urbanite is also understandably falling behind on the to-do list. I did get a chance to work on it a little, but there's nothing finished enough to show off. In terms of what the new thing I'm trying to start is going to do to this challenge: I'm trying to plan it out so that any major new projects won't start until this ones is finished. Fingers crossed that I'm timing everything right.

And actually I wasn't even going to post this weekend, I've been cutting back on everything lately, but I received a package in the mail today!

It was from Neen. I was one of the first 5 to try and help identify her mystery house, so as thanks for the help(if anyone can ID that house, please let her know), she decided to send me a blue elephant and a white CB2 igloo chair, AND two wooden books AND some bottles, which I didn't know about until I opened the box. So thanks for the gifts and the surprise Neen, I know that you didn't know about my birthday, but your timing was non the less impeccable.

I made a quick set up with Billy and some of it's furniture. That elephant goes really well with the colors in this house and my still unfinished doll seems to like that chair. I actually tried to buy one from CB2 months ago, but my order got screwed up, and it never panned out, until now (thanks again Neen). Must be why he likes it so much.

I really need to do something with his house, it's still Christmas in there. Luckily, I could just slide it all to the corner and cover it up with a room divider (Did I ever post about that project...nope, guess that gets added to my list). I let the penguin join in though, because penguins are just delightful birds. He might be moving in now. If a stuffed elephant is the decor why not keep a penguin around too. Billy's not supposed to be a normal looking house anyway.

Ok, now that I've gotten completely side tracked by a dollhouse(it's just so much fun sometimes), time to go back to working on the thing I can't really talk about until it launches. Adios and her's hoping that I'm a little more prepared for blogging next time.

Merry Christmas ~ 2012

I wasn't planning on a Christmas scene, but since the Billy, happens to have a tree now, it's small resident decided to put it to good use and throw a Christmas party.

He invited his cabbage patch friends, various other random dolls, a penguin, and the Catrina from Halloween (she's been sitting outside the house since October, so he invited her in). It was a modest celebration.

Props used;
The tree, if you're not following along, is JS Miniatures.
The cabbage patch dolls are old McDonald's happy meal toys from my childhood.
Everything else is misc. gifts from friends, garage sale/ebay finds, recovered items from the Van Buren, and/or my own handmade originals.

Speaking of which, if you've had your eye on one of my mini gingerbread houses or any of my other works currently available in the Etsy shop, they will remain posted until January (unless they're sold, of course). After that, some of the listings will expire, and I'm not planning on renewing the seasonal items until those holidays roll around again(that includes fall and winter holidays).

New things are in the works for after Christmas, including progress on my entry in the Undersized Urbanite Contest (I hope), but until then,

Merry Christmas everyone!

The JS Miniatures Christmas Tree

I was lucky enough to be the winner of the Christmas giveaway over at the JS Miniatures blog. I've never won a blog giveaway before, so I was pretty excited. Jennifer, who is very nice btw, has a couple online shops, so I'm going to try and promote her work a little.

First, what did I win?

The Decorated Christmas Tree Kit with tinsel & baubles

I set it up inside Billy's kitchen/living room. The house's (still unfinished) resident was surprised, he didn't know that he was getting a Christmas tree. Here he's taking a break from hanging baubles on the tree, so I could take a photo. (I would love to make a Christmas scene, but I've got a deadline this week. So it will have to wait.) I like the natural wood color, but I might paint it if  I decide to keep using it in this house (it doesn't go well with the floor...maybe I should try a rug).

The tree is perfect for 1/12th scale and it's surprisingly sturdy. Little trees have the habit of falling over on me, that's not a problem with this one. And the baubles are pretty.

Jennifer also included fool-proof assembly instructions and tips for finishing the tree. All you have to do is slide two pieces together, but I could see a novice miniaturist running into trouble with paint and glue without that info.

This is a Christmas decoration, but she makes and sells beautiful minis year round.  
If you aren't following her blog yet, you can find it here.  
And here's her Etsy shop. (The fireplaces are gorgeous).

Thank you for the giveaway Jennifer! The tree was a nice Christmas surprise and I appreciate it.

 

 

A Small Surprise

Last week was St. Nicholas day. Wikipedia has a pretty accurate description, so I won't waste your time poorly re-explaining it. I'm in the United States where it's not an actual holiday, but since my ancestry is a mix between German and French, some European traditions are still kept up within my family. I always liked getting a visit from St. Nick when I was little. It gave me something to look forward to in-between Thanksgiving and Christmas (that's a long time for a little kid)

Since it's Christmas time, yes there are stockings hanging up in the living room, but I'm in my 20's now. I thought it was safe to assume that I had outgrown the tradition.

Nope, I was wrong, "St. Nicholas" showed up. I was doing some design work when I noticed that the stocking with my name on it had something tucked inside. Guess I was good this year;

It's furniture made for mini outdoor/fairy gardens, a local garden store carries them. I don't have a garden, but I was at this store a few months ago with my mother. She knew I thought these were neat, and that Billy has no outside furniture. But how St. Nicholas knew these things, I do not know...

Cubebot Challenge-The Subtle Sleepover

It turns out that people like playing with Cubebots. So much so, that the first three times I tried working on this challenge, one of my brothers would come along and mess up whatever pose I had the little guy in. First time was fine, but after the next two incidents, I decided to work on my set up in secret.

That's reason #1 for why this took so long to finish. #2 is the Etsy shop (tis the season), and #3 would be that I needed to figure out how to make some semi-decent looking twin beds...for a clubhouse...a nice clubhouse.

Before I get too ahead of myself:
The Cubebot Challenge. <-For those just tuning in.

How did I get a Cubebot? ...Internet.

Why? Uhhhh...Last summer I was reading the blog, Mini Modern, and in one of her posts involved a small Cubebot. Loved it, looked it up online, and found that I could actually afford one (yay!). So I bought a small Cubebot, patiently waited for it in the mail, and guess what? He was just a bit too big to live inside my little 1:12 scale house (although he's welcome to stop by anytime). I really love it though, and was looking for more excuses to take it out the box when Call of the Small posted this challenge.

Previously listed excuses/reasons notwithstanding, this is my response to the Cubebot Challenge;

"The Subtle Sleepover"

To big to play in the house, the children thought it would be fun to build a club house with (well, out of actually) Cubebot, so that he wouldn't be stuck playing outside this winter. And since they're just across the yard, the parents don't mind the occasional weekend sleepover. Especially when the, mostly responsible, aside from eating a few crayons now and then, Cubebot is keeping an eye on them.

Happy to have participated. A big Thank You to Call of the Small & David Weeks/Areaware for the challenge.

Some WIP & a Made Up Holiday

I've got some family that lives out of town, and as it turns out, we won't be together on Christmas or Thanksgiving this year. The solution to this problem? A Pseudo-Christmas celebration, like right now.

OK, I did get a two week notice, but let's see you try to both buy and make a handful of Christmas gifts in two weeks when you normally would have a couple months ( *Mmhmmm* ).

And, while I'm typing up this post-I'm also working on throwing together an adorable table top Christmas tree for my mother. Basically, after my stint at a craft show last year, she thoughtfully bought me a faux-tree better suited for a show table (sadly, no shows this year though), which I then volunteered to use for Pseudo-Christmas. First, I was told not to bother, but any other tree we might have would need to be dug out of storage, along with all the ornaments. I've still got some leftovers from the show, a couple experiments I haven't quite figured out yet, and some new ones that should be up for sale on Etsy this week. Plus, let's face it, I'm a crafty person (So I got this).

And while all that can be summed up rather quickly, I have been a little pressed for time, making a few gifts (for my niece again) along with an assortment of Christmas items for the Etsy shop. On Friday, I was hoping to have all gifts made, bought, sealed, and wrapped, but then I got caught up in running errands. Was I annoyed? A little, but some of it was kind of fun. And I came home with some remnant bin finds, which led me to my fabric stash in the basement, which is when/where I decided to post some teasers about what I'm working on right now.

Since Billy has a semi-permanent table to sit on now and it looks terrible as-is, I decided to add a yard(or at least some sort of ground cover). No budget, but I had this gray, liner type fabric (Billy's upstairs carpet is the same stuff-in blue) that I thought could work...if I paint it maybe... I tried it out with the Halloween scene and then left it there, hoping it would grow on me. It didn't, that's OK though because my remnant find of the day was that same material in, "Outdoor Green", 30% off (ha-Ha!...I'm such a dork).

 

Didn't have time to work on it, so I just rolled it out to see how it looks 

(already much better than brown beat up table).

So that's WIP 1.

WIP2.  Maybe it should be #1 because I'm currently working on it, but...Christmas stuff!

Been working on these since September, I'll let you guess what they are.

Mixed Media Ornaments 

The bottom one is a gift, top right still needs paint, but the other two I'm hanging on the tree tonight. More on the way. I keep looking for excuses to do mosaic work, sort of as practice for some ideas I have about the Van Buren. Speaking of which...

...No that's not the Van Buren. It's a neat little shelf/cabinet I picked up at an antique co-op 2 summers ago. It's not really an antique, but I got it for $20. From my understanding, front open houses are pricey, so this really was a find. I'm mentioning this house because, like the Van Buren, I want to do exterior stonework siding of some sort. So I think I'll use this little guy as practice. Better to have to redo a botched siding project on the small house instead of the big one, really though I can handle mosaics. How hard could faux stone siding be?
This isn't gong to happen for a while though so, oh hey, did I ever post about my type set drawer?

I got this one last summer at another co-op. I've been wanting one for a while now. They're neat because: A) If I were a graphic designer and/or printer, "Back in the day", (like before I was born) I'd probably use a printing press, and would have a bunch of these filled with letter blocks. And B) I wanted something like this to display my mini work. I had to glue together some spots, and clean it, and seal it (because there was so much smeary ink/grease in the sections, I couldn't use it otherwise), but I still think I got a deal on it. The WIP part is that I'm still considering adding some scrap paper to a few sections for color.

If  you're keeping score, I think this next one is WIP #5...

Progress with what I'm doing with the lamp shades, and some other house accessories. I like where it's going, but it's slow work, so it might be a while before any of these make it to the shop. Also, I think I made more lamp shades than I will use for a while, so maybe I'll start selling batches of lamp shades? Or DIY lamps, what do you think?

Lastly, (I really need to go finish decorating that tree) WIP #6,

Wood and vinyl...hmmm, What am I making?

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this, and are intrigued. Will I finish it all? Maybe...I'm also working on a couple challenges too, we'll just see how it all goes.

I'm going to finish decorating so I'm not up ALL night (and then it's family time).

 So...Happy Pseudo-Christmas!

Halloween Scene

If you follow the blog Mini Mod Pod, then you know about the Halloween challenge.

I love Halloween and minis, so of course I'm joining in on this. Here's what I came up with;

Yeah, I know I was supposed to try for spooky, but I had this image in my head and just went with it.

The assorted mini ceramic pieces, furniture, metal jack-o-lantern pail (under table), and some accessories are all purchased items (craft shows, garage sales, found items, ebay)

What I made: The flower arrangements, the polymer clay jack-o-lantern on the ground and the box on the table, the punch bowl set (still have a few up on Etsy), the leaves (They're REAL), the polymer clay gourds scattered amongst the leaves, and the "Day of the Dead" styled skeleton woman(sort of). The backdrop is one of Billy's side exterior walls.

Now back to that skeleton woman. It's not part of my culture, but thanks to several years of high school Spanish classes, I know a few things about, "El Dia de los Muertos", and sort of admire some of the visuals used. I believe these dolls are called Catrinas and I've been wanting to try and make one for a while (wikipedia for more info).  I'm pretty happy with the results.

It's a little late to make more for the Etsy shop this year and I think I need to find some sturdier material and sealers for the next time if I intend to sell these(quality first). So as a small Halloween gift to my readers/followers, here is a brief tutorial on how to make your own. (apologies for the poor lighting/rough layout-I did most of this at night).

                                                                        

 

Finally, add clothing(I just wrapped her in strips of cloth), some props, and-Ta da! You've got a Catrina.

 

If you try to make one, let me know. I would love to see how yours turned out. :)

Despite the east coast weather, I hope everyone has a great week and eats lots of candy!

 

Happy Halloween

Van Buren-Concept idea

I apologize for putting this off for so long, (but it was a lot of thinking and typing).

First, since it's been a while, Ta-da!

I think I've pulled enough wallpaper off the walls that I can sand the rest down. Most of the busted flooring came out, a couple problem spots and some glue to remove. Everything is going good,..
Except this room-The kitchen;

                           

I've been asking around, and now I've got a small list of things I can try to get this floor out. I'll let you know how it goes. The loose bits of wallpaper came out, but I've lost my patience with this room. I'll probably just sand the rest down.

Since, aside from the floors, I completely painted Billy, and this house would need extensive sanding for me to attempt that again(I am tired of painting anyways), this house is going to have a lot of wallpaper, tiles, and wood paneling.

And now for the concept idea part;

Some ground rules for the colors (so it doesn't look like a larger Billy)
before I forget to mention it;
Warm colors. reds, browns, greys on the exterior. The interior is a little more flexible, but I'm still trying for the muted warm feel.

This isn't a new house. It's been, "lived in", by a couple different people and abandoned for who knows how long(there was a tiny calendar from the 80's inside-true story). I've watched people fix up old houses/buildings in real life. Not to take away from all the work they've put into their homes, but I'm doing something surprisingly similar...on a 1/12 scale, of course. So I want it to look like someone happened upon this house, liked it, and moved in.

Also unlike Billy, this house is going to have a permanent family living in it (dolls?, I dunno). I'm thinking a couple with a child or two. Somebody's going to be an artist or craftsman because I'm seeing a studio on the 3rd floor. Before I get ahead of myself, let's look at the plan;

Master bath in the attic/3rd floor? At first I thought someone bashed in that middle room(the other rooms are just too big to be a bathroom), but no, that's just the Van Buren. Check out the hallway/crawlspace between the bathroom/roof. It's a rather large space that I can barely reach(my only complaint about this house design).

It's kind of weird to have to walk up to your attic just to find a bathroom, so my solution is to make the right half of the attic a master bedroom(weird, but old houses make you do weird things sometimes), left half-the studio space. And since I've got two stairway closet spaces, but I'm only excited about the one on the first floor, I might try to cheat in a half bath, you know, so the, "kids", have something on their floor.

                                                                                                  (Maybe)...

This is the living room on the second floor. The mid-wall molding is something I'd want in a dining room(which should be on the first floor with the kitchen), so I'm going to pull this out. I'll move it downstairs, or buy more if it turns out to be rotted like some of the door frames.


Not sure what's happening with the doors yet, but I've been pulling out all the frames so I could remove the busted hinges(they'll be clutter in the closet or something-I've been trying to save/reuse what I can) along with the window trim so I could remove the old aceate(decided not to replace it-I like being able to reach through the windows). Some rooms should have doors, but some would look better without them. I'll think it over.

Now the exterior;


                         
           (aside from the shingles and chimneys being gone, outside hasn't changed much)

 The widow's walk will probably be a rooftop garden,accessible through the studio.
I might just scratch rebuilding the balcony and just make a big window to replace the doors. Two reasons for that: 1. I'm missing a door and the one I do have was attacked by a crayon and needs to be remade anyway. 2. When I move the house to another room, it just clears the doorway. It won't fit through anymore once I rebuild the balcony. The house has a widow's walk, does it really need a balcony? I don't think so.

This house doesn't have siding, which I wouldn't have noticed, except that Billy has milled siding(and I really like how it looks). As a result, I have slightly higher expectations now. I want to try something new, so I'm (in theory) going to make my Van Buren a cobblestone. Talked my family into saving me egg cartons and other packing material, so I won't have to spend a fortune on clay to do this. I need enough to cover 3 walls and a few areas around the open side. That pile looks promising, but I think that I could still use a few more.

...So that's the Van Buren, thus far...If you read this whole post,
I salute you...onward!

What's new-Billy

About a month or two ago I started furnishing Billy...and that's pretty much it.

So I'm going to share the progress thus far, and hopefully that gets things moving again. (Is it weird that I'm stuck at the fun part?)

First, the concept idea. (btw, this is a loooong post)

The house is a Swiss Chalet design, so it's basically a ski lodge. That said, I live in Western New York, we have ski resorts that turn into golf courses in the summer. So I decided that Billy is a weekend cabin/timeshare/vacation home. And thanks to being near a couple of the great lakes, I can also justify pretending that the tiny inhabitants occasionally spend time at the beach. No specific season, as people stay there year round. No specific characters to design around, other than assorted vacationers.

So in terms of furnishings, I'm trying to make it look like every cabin and family owned hotel I've ever stayed in. Happy colors. Vintage/slightly worn, visibly refinished/repaired furniture that only sort of matches. Out of date appliances. Random items left behind by past visitors. If you've ever been to a place where it looks like the decorator's been reading Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, but just didn't have the budget to go out and buy the stuff in the pictures, you've got the idea. I also decided that I'm ok with it looking just a little tacky in a, family fun vacation sort of way.

The current exterior;

I started decorating for summer, but then things got busier around here and now we're into the fall. I'll probably just pack up this stuff until next year and start making some leaves now.

Tried making bunting to sell on Etsy, but this string took so long, I don't think it's worth the labor to sell them unless I come up with a faster way to make them. (I do need to make 2 more just to reach across the railing though).

What I've got;
The flowers are older minis I made last year. (bunting is from this year)
"Welcome" rock is from a local store.
Lantern, ebay find.
Glass(Pelican?) is from a church rummage sale. My brothers are all grown ups now, so it's safe to use in a dollhouse without having to worry about any "hurricanes" destroying it(hopefully).
Birds nest on the railing,
is a vintage mini I bought at a local co-op. 

I ended up aquiring a table/cabinet that the house can sit on 24/7 (I used to just move it from room to room as needed), so now I'm thinking Billy could use some grass and landscaping. The table top is pretty beat up, so I'm covering it either way.

Here's, the first floor;

It's a mix of found, bought, handmade, and repaired items, I'm not going to talk about everything right now (feel free to ask).

When I was, 10 I think, my mom and I were out for a walk and found an old Strawberry shortcake house that had been set out with the garbage (family history of garbage dollhouses). We took it home where my brothers eventually destroyed it, but I kept the random furniture from inside (none of which was Strawberry Shortcake, btw). This is a plastic sink unit from that story. I never thought I'd find a place for it, but it sort of fits in with my concept idea, so I guess it finally has a home.
The teapot came with the bird's nest and the toaster is from a hobby shop. It's a lot of silver over here, so clearly I need to rethink this(or just break out the paint). There's a new fridge too, but to save some money I bought one with a crooked door/missing hinge pin-half price! Easy fix, but of course I haven't gotten to it yet.

(the store selling the fridge also had tiny rubber chickens-score!)

The fridge is going where the pear picture is (for some reason the printer spit it out, I liked it, now it just needs a frame). I just bought some mini hold wax, so I can hang up the pictures now.

WIP, fixed and soon to be refinished cabinet/secretary. Handmade paper bowl, co-op item (books), Rement jar, and The Lamp.

Don't know the scale of the table, but it's too small. Record player is actually a WIP clay Victrola(will talk about later). Couch/bench is from a Dura-Craft furniture kit, that came with a dollhouse kit, that I was supposed to have built, when I was twelve (it's still in it's box-no room right now. Billy was a smaller/easier build). That ceiling lamp (another co-op item), was also waiting for mini wax.

Another painting to hang (I think it used to be a business card for a realtor or something). Got it when I was younger, and it was packed up with some of my old dollhouse/mini toys. I just painted some balsa to match the house, and block mounted it. Pottery and WIP doll are more of my handmade work.

So that's the first floor so far, and the second floor..

...I don't like it. The black furniture doesn't work for me, and the bed is the wrong scale. And since I think multiple people would want to stay here, I need more than one bed in this room. The rocking chair might stay, but the rest is going as soon as I decide what I want to do with the space.

So, that's Billy.

I'm still pulling wallpaper and busted parts out of the Van Buren. I spent a good portion of last Sunday working on it, so it's starting to look less like it's haunted and more like an empty house I need to sand.

I'm going to talk more about this house, but in another post, on another day because this is getting too long.

Done & Done

I'm so happy that I finally have some finished work to show off. It's been a while, I think.

As mentioned, I've been working on a gift for someone. That someone was my adorable baby niece. She's an infant, there's not much I could make that wouldn't be a choking hazard. So I opted to just make something cute and functional.

Originally a beat up stepping stool, I fixed it and then drew/painted my own rendition of the nursery rhyme, "Hey Diddle Diddle", on it.

The rhyme includes a little dog, but they have two little dogs in their home. So I made sure to include both of them. I think it turned out pretty well.

 The photos were taken in two different rooms-I was trying to wrap up my present while photographing it (I don't recommend doing that, btw).



 Next on the list-Billy! The dollhouse is done!

Yes, those are glow in the dark stars on the ceiling.

The hardwood floor is made from Popsicle sticks, several coats of polyurethane, and lots of patient sanding. Just about every person that has seen this floor in real life let me know how impressed they were by the craftsmanship. Dollhouse hardwood floors-apparently my calling in life.

I'm going through the furniture I have and working on decorating the inside now. Last I saw it, the interior was a mess, but it's fun to keep rearranging things. I'll post pics of that once I decide on the layout. Then I get to make more stuff. Yay!

...Oh hey look, I've got followers. Hi everybody! :)