mini-mumble

You Were Always on my Mind

2009-10-15T12:33:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought I was gone for good, huh? Nope,nope nope! I'm back,in a new ( old ) house; one with a "Gabby House" already built in! Ok, so it's the spare bedroom upstairs, but it's big enough where I can now do my minis and crafts all year long; no $400 electric bills, no long trek outside in the cold & snow, and yes, this room is also known as "The Gabby House".
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Gabby House (TGH), it was a cottage on my property in Framingham where I did my crafts and minis. It was a lovely place for 7 months... until winter hit, and I had to don hats, boots, & coats on to get out there. And woe unto me if I got all the way out there and had forgotten something back in the main
house...OY! And actually, even the summer afternoons were waay too hot out there.
I have been in this house since the first week in June, but until now TGH was so cluttered with dollhouses, dollhouse furniture, boxes of craft supplies, and empty bookcases waiting to be moved out into the hall, that there hasn't been any activity with my hobbies to speak of. However, I knew it was all close at hand and if I had wanted to start a project at any time, I could have! Fortunately, I've recently been able to re-distribute a lot of stuff into the spare bedroom and the hall, which freed up space to organize the remaining stuff. It feels just wonderful to be able to be amongst my minis and crafts again! You do not know how depressed I'd been in that last year in Framingham. It was awful!
Here are some photos of TGH as it has been since I moved in, and then just a few days ago after cleaning out some things. Note missing bookcase in bottom photo. It now is just around the corner in the hall.
Next stop: where do I position the Addams Family House in the room? Gina, I know you have yours on rolling kitchen carts, but this behemouth is sooo big, if I did that, I'll have to 'fuse' two carts together! ( My carpenter says he can do it.) I want to make sure I have enough room around the base of the house that I can landscape the yard with Addams Family-appropriate landscaping! maybe I'll just keep it stationary, but with a wide enough area to walk completely around it. We'll see.
More organizing to do!

One Hit Wonder /Swan Song

2008-08-16T09:04:00.001-07:00

Hi, Haven't seen me for a while here, huh? That's because I have been wrestling with my thoughts-mini tho they might be!

You know the story... years ago when I was in my early 2o's, I got an idea into my head that I would love to build a dollhouse...someday. I didn't want to build just any dollhouse, but one with a little bit of a gothic persona. I waited a long time to do it, and then one day about 4 years ago I found a house that I liked; that I thought would make a good "Addams Family" house. If you've been reading here for a while, you know it was The Newport, from Real Good Toys.
Along the way, I really 'got into' minis. They are coool, fun, and definitely keep your interest. I actually got a little sidetracked here and there, and played at building a couple of other things, but in the end, my grand focus has always been The A.F. house.
During the past two winters it has been hard for me to continue with my mini fun. If you don't already know the problem, ( it's back in the archives someplace,) but basically, I can only work in the cottage (where my minis reside ) for about 7 months out of the year. The cottage is poorly heated, plus being a ways from my house, so my enthusiasm cools, shall we say, during the cooler months.

Sadly, this last winter just about killed my interest. I was so looking forward to the summer when I could resume my mini fest, but the truth is, that I've 'Lost That Lovin' Feeling' for my minis. Try as I might, I just cannot get out to the cottage and get the spark going again. It may come back eventually, but until I find a house that has a room large enough to accomodate my hobbies, I just cannot continue.

The A.F., for the most part, is 'finished' - but you miniaturists know that's not really true. I accomplished my basic goal, however, by building a dollhouse from scratch, and I'm proud of myself for getting as far as I did with it.

I wish you all the most fun with your mini lives; I will continue to read what you all are up to; I just won't be participating again anytime soon. Thanks for reading my blog when you did. And thanks for the comments you made.

Caitlin

Stupid Girl

2008-06-02T17:16:00.000-07:00

So I took my little conservatory idea down to Federal Glass In Framingham, to ask them to make up some acrylic pieces for me. ( I had also brought in a $300 order for life-sized glass china cabinet doors...you woulda thunk they could have humored me just a little with the acrylic conservatory...hmm? )

Apparently not. The girl who waited on me was a new employeee who immediately called for the boss, ( who I think was also having problems with a couple of trainees in the glass cutting area.) My glass cabinet doors he could handle, but when I asked him about the dollhouse conservatory and explained to him what I wanted, he just shook his head as if in disbelief, and put his head down on the counter. I thought he was about to cry! I'm not kidding, either.

There are a few thicknesses of acrylic, and the thickest he had was too thin for the wall supports of the kit. To get me off his back, he cut me a piece of the thicker acrylic and told me to go home to play with it to see if I could get a thinner piece to work instead. I'm going to see if two thin pieces will work in each slot; like maybe two thin pieces = 1 thick piece. We'll see.

I'm a little afraid to go back...I'd hate to make that poor man cry... (again.)

P.S. I wrote this entry a while ago. The glass store is still jerking me around about my glass doors- that was back on May 27th, and now they claim they can't get the right kind of glass or something...

I have also written a newer post that I will put up in a day or so. It will explain my long abscence.

I'm So Excited!

2008-06-02T16:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm prolly not as excited as The Pointer Sisters, but I am excited.
See what I got by UPS a couple of weeks ago? It's a one story addition for my AF/ Newport. But wait! When is a one story addition not a one story addition? Why, when it's a conservatory, of course. Okkk, well, in order for it to be a conservatory, it's gotta have glass walls so the sun can get in to help the plants grow, right? But my addition is milled MDF...what's up with that?

I am planning to take my MDF walls down to my local glass store, and have them make up some acrylic 'glass' walls to take the place of the MDF, and then continue making the conservatory. I think it will be great fun. In all of the Addams Family 'productions'- cartoons, TV, and movies, as different as all of the houses are, they all have a conservatory. I may not be creating a one-size-fits-all, authentic "Addams Family" house, but at least the conservatory will be one thing that is authentic!

Communication Breakdown

2008-05-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hi, I've been gone awhile, eh? Sorry...the arriving Spring, a possible new house in the form of a beautiful old foursquare, and a mild depression, all kind of hit me at once. I love the Spring; that means I can get out to the GH now.

The foursquare house is lovely; I could get it for a song, but it has stairs, and my older animals and I really can't do stairs, and it would cost $$$ to update.
I could prolly swing it financially, but as BB said .." Caitlin, I just don't think you're up to it." I thought about it for days before coming to the same conclusion. BB's seen me thru two house rehabs, and this one would be the ULTIMATE challenge. No, I'm going for a nice sedate little one story these days...with a built-on GH!

The depression is a bummer; it's related to health issues, but I am coming out of it slowly. I'm so behind in my housework I have to catch up before I can do much playing in the GH for now.

I haven't been totally ignoring my minis..see the photo? I painted one of the windows of the Gothic Mansion (!) (LOL) before I read the directions and found that it's easier to paint the pieces before you take them off the sheet.

Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?

2008-04-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, sooo, I have been trying out a few ideas on the AFH, as well as the 1:144 Gothic mansion. See my experimental placement of the furniture in Fester's, Pugsley's and Wednesday's rooms? In the last 2 photos I have the 'invisible wall' up so you get the idea of a wall, but still can somewhat see into Pugsleys room. Poor Pugsley...you never heard much about him in either the TV show or the movies. That's prolly why I chose to put him out of the way. I had no clue as to what his room looked like, so I invented it. His room is the one with the ghosties on the wall.
As for Wednesday, I remember that in the Charles Addams cartoons, movies, and the tv show, her bed had an octopus on the head board, or was it foot board? I have to go run thru my films again. See her dollhouse? It was a printie, and I added 'smoke' aka cotton wispies!
Uncle Fester's room needs work too. I have to paint the trunk and make up bedclothes for the bed, and get a couple more pieces of furniture in there, as well as some maps on the wall. His room is the one with the angled bed.
Seriously...neither the outside of the house nor the inside is really trying to be copy of the Actual Addams Family abode; it's just to give a broad suggestion as to the type of family who lives there. I fashioned it after The Addams family because I could incorporate some of their tv & movie props into props I can use in my house.

On to the Gothic Mansion...code name GM from now on. I have been wanting to start working on it, but I really waffled as to whether or not I wanted to paint it. I have never seen an unpainted specimen, as I suspect that it might look kind of plain and boring. What I'd really like to do is teeny tiny shingles-to make it a shingled house, but I'm thinking it wouldn't be a whole lot of fun so I'm sticking with paint!
I've finally decided on a mint chocolate chip kind of scheme. The body will be mint green, the trim will be chocolate brown, and I might put some cream in there, too, maybe the windows inside the window trim. Sorry, no photos yet.

Can't You See?

2008-04-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

No, of course you can't see, because there's nothing to see,... now. I'm talking about all the fine tuning I've been doing on the AFH. Before I began there were gaps, painting mistakes, and missing parts. And you may not have seen them in a photo anyway. But I assure you, they were there. And now most of them are gone!
I admit I'd been dragging my feet a little getting back to working on my lovable behemoth of a house. There were so many things to do to it, I wasn't sure where to start! Plus, all my other projects are scattered around the GH, and sometimes I just can't resist a little painting here, or a little gluing there, so I don't. Resist, that is. lol.
I went to Dollhouse Treasures in Braintree(Ma.) today, as I had a gift certificate that my sister gave me for Christmas. I am planning to begin seriously thinking about furniture placement within a week or two, but I really want to make sure I have all the finish work - inside and outside - done first.

Eyes on the Prize

2008-04-21T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Bay State African Violet Society annual show and sale was held this last weekend. As usual I participated, but in addition to bringing the usual potted, blooming plants for show and/or sale, I had signed up to do a design. This particular design is created within a 6" square niche, using very small objects; a mini design, you might say.
I have done mini designs before, (even before I realized I liked miniatures!) and I thought I would share with you a litle about my project this year.
The theme of the show this year was Heavenly Violets, and the design 'title' was Cosmic Dust. It was up to me and the other entrants of the class to create a small design within the 6" square that suggests Cosmic Dust. I must have done OK, because I got a blue ribbon. Now, before you get all excited about the blue ribbon, let me explain that if you have an exhibit or plant in the show, it can win a blue ribbon on its' merits alone; you are not competing agaist the plant/design next to you. However, once you have won a blue ribbon, the judges then decide the best design out of the blue ribbon winners, and award the 'Best in Class' ribbon. Finally, out of all the different design classes in the show, one design wins Best Design in Show. I'm happy with the blue ribbon; I was trembling in my boots while doing this design, because I couldn't get the flower to behave. Fortunately they judge very soon after the designs are completed, but the show goes on for two days, and by the time the second day rolls around, you're lucky if the violet blooms are not completely shiveled up!
Mine is the first one; the white design; I took this photo about an hour before the show closed. (That's why it looks so bedraggled.) The pink one belongs to another club member, and I believe this design won the Best in Class. It was just lovely, and that meshy stuff was real sparkly and really conveyed 'Cosmic Dust." I love mini designs!!!

Four Days Gone

2008-04-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Our annual Bay State African Violet show is coming up this weekend, and since I have plans to sell, show, and create a special 'mini' design with some violet blossoms, I'm not going to be posting for a few days. But you just wait, I hope I have something nice to show you next week. Meanwhile, I'm just letting you know I haven't totally 'disappeared' again!

Some Day Soon

2008-04-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is weird. Did I ever show you this dollhouse before? I was sure I had, but I can't find any posts about it. Maybe I posted it on GetCrafty when I was blogging over there. I dunno...but anyway, pardon me if I'm giving you a repeat here!

This is a Fisher-Price dollhouse that BB decided I might do something with. He has the same dollhouse, only all of his lights/doorbells/sounds work. Only a few of mine do. The outside color scheme, it's kind of bland, don't you think?? Of course, a little girl isn't really going to be too concerned about the outer appearance...she just wants to play house with her dollies. Me, I want to gussy this place up on the outside; make it a real showcase. And yesterday, I had an idea....

I actually had mentioned to BB a while ago, when he first gave me the house, that I wanted to try to paint the outside, and he kind of pooh-poohed that idea.
( Will somebody puhlease tell me why all the guys I know pooh-pooh my ideas? Especially when they end up copying me in the end??? LOL )

The other day as I was cleaning out the drawer of furniture, I had an overwhelming urge to go get a paintbrush,mix a little paint, and to try my idea, just to see if the idea was feasible. I got a little carried away and painted the blocks of 'granite' on the corners of the walls in addition to the 'bricks', but quickly realized that I should leave the large 'granite' blocks white. It brings out the brick more, I think. I will eventually get to this a a full fledged project, but for now, I am content knowing my plan will work.
Oh, I'm also going to paint the roof a different color. Having a blue roof is bad Feng Shui..it denotes water on the mountain, not a good thing!

Today

2008-04-12T04:06:00.000-07:00

The other day was sooo beautiful, and I definitely was in a Springtime mood. Here it is two days later, and I'm gazing out at the puddles forming in the yard. It is April though, so you gotta expect those April showers. April showers are a whole lot better than April Blizzard conditions! Besides, the temperatures are mild today, so I headed out to the GH this morning.
My goal out there today was to go thru the accumulation of furniture and other items that BB periodically gives me. A lot of the items are things I'd never use, no matter how many houses I build or buy. He knows this; in fact, he's prolly gone thru the stuff before he passes it on to me! lol. He just drops the things off like a little surprise bag every now and then - he calls them 'trinkets'- and I can pick and choose what I want and then send the rest on to wherever.
The first photo is the drawer where everything ended up together. I threw out some things that were obviously in need of a better/more interested crafter,and kept a few other things that are in the I-may-or-may-not-use-but-you-never-know category. That is the second photo, all the BB items laid out on top of my craft table.
I think today was a success. Not that I did much, but I was able to rearrange the drawers all my building paraphernalia were in.

Tiny Dancer

2008-04-10T14:48:00.000-07:00

I think when I first started writing this blog, I decided to abbreviate some frequently used names that I use. I am going to start that up again.
The Gabby House = TGH... Addams Family House = AFH... and Billy Bob = BB. Oh, BTW Billy Bob's real name is Bill, not Billy Bob, lol. I just call him that. Sometimes he calls me Caitey Bob.

Ok, so here's the project I mentioned in a few posts, and never showed you. I have been fascinated with these teeny weeny houses...the 144th scale ones, and I finally bought one last year. OH, wow! I just realized where I got it. I think I got it at the mini show I was complaining about a while back. Hmmm. So Ok, there were a couple of decent dealers there!
I haven't really started the project yet,(obvious much?) besides popping a couple of windows out to fit one set together. I'm trying to decide if I want to paint any of it first. I've seen some really pretty photos of completed houses, but maybe I should just build it without trying to paint the thing.(?) I think it's going to be hard enough to just get it together, let alone figuring what to paint and where. Any advice, hmmm?

Do you Believe in Magic?

2008-04-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks I have been organizing my non-sport trading card collection. That meant I had to take frequent trips out to The Gabby House to get supplies for the cards.(I had moved my collection out there last summer.)The first photo is of the (front) of the cabinet I keep the binders in... bad, bad, photo. The second is of all the binders full of my card collection.
Seeing as how it was still cold on my trips out to the G.H, I didn't stay very long for the most part. However, during my frequent outings, I did find some time to clean up a couple of messy areas out there. I was getting ready to take advantage of the coming warm weather when I knew I would be out there quickern' a duck on a June bug! I didn't want to start a new season with old messes hanging over my head.
Yesterday was a BEAUTIFUL day...temps in the 60's, sunshine, and a sweet breeze blowing. How could I not just peek in the Gabby House, maybe check out the drawers full of furniture slated for The Addams Family house? I ask you, HOW COULD I NOT?
I tellya, it's Magic being out there. I'm out there 5 minutes and fall under the spell of the miniatures once again. Oh, I convince myself in the middle of December that I've lost interest; that I want to just get the Addams Family house finished in the far-away Spring...and then I'm done. I'm bored with minis. I'm going to give my waiting projects away. It's too expensive. And I tell myself those lies just to keep my sanity, because I can't bear to think about all those mini projects waiting for me less than 50 yards from my back door, and not being able to comfortably work out there. Whew! And that is also the reason I stop reading mini blogs; they inspire me way too much, and I can't do anything about it.
So I was out there yesterday looking around, and thinking how I really need to spend time going through all my acquired furniture and accessories, and how I also need to make a project list to help me decide how to proceed with the rest of the Addams Family.( This might sound like drudgery to many people, but to me, it just makes me salivate to get started.) It was just the start; just the beginning. Ahhh.

Desperado

2008-04-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

I was just re-reading my last couple of entries, and I see that before I 'went away' for the winter, I had said I was going to tell you all about my big day at the Mini show I had attended recently. It sounded as if I was going to be gushing with delight over attending the show, but in reality, it was pretty much a bust.
The show was held in a convention room of a Holiday Inn off the highway in Dedham(Mass.) My friend Billy Bob and I have gone to a couple of toy shows (not mini) there, and they usually have a good mix of vendors.
This mini show was pretty lame. I have been to very few mini shows over the four or so years I have been miniaturizing, but enough to know that there should have been more dealers than there were.
I embarrassed myself in front of one 'dealer', because I thought he was a dealer with good prices, and I started picking things up to purchase, and he glares at me (glares!)and says "This is the childrens' table!!!". I didn't know. Maybe if I had really thought about it, him being in the corner with a small card table, and prices that were like, 10c for things, I'd have figured it out, but I was so bummed by the lack of real vendors, I didn't even notice.
I bought a couple of things (from the real vendors),including two 1/2 scale dolls, but they were waaay overpriced and I should have passed them by, but, you know how you get desperate sometimes to just BUY something...anything? That was me. I usually get that feeling when I'm clothes shopping. You should see some of the stuff I have come home with...and returned the next day. Either that, or I lose the receipt and then the item ends up in the Goodwill donation boxes.
The photo shows what I pretty much bought in the hour or so I was there (minus the two 1/2 scale dolls; I gave them away.) I even went around the room twice, hoping to find somthing I wanted to buy.
The items are a beautiful hat, and the hat stand for it. My sister says that she'd like to maybe some day build a room box and perhaps with a millinery theme, so I bought her the hat to get her started. I also saw this cute little Chinese Checkers board. I have to use some teeny tiny 'marbles'/beads to put in the holes! Finally, this cute jug that has a vey pretty painting of a large elm tree next to a house. That's it.
Oh, and pardon my photography. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, other than using my dopey digi camera (as opposed to the one I traded my son for.) No, wait. That didn't sound right. I would NEVER have traded my son for that camera. A better one, perhaps, but not that camera!!! lol

April Love

2008-04-01T15:54:00.000-07:00

It's NO JOKE!!!!! I'm here!!! It's April 1st, and the temperature was up near 60 today, so I came out of hibernation. Seriously. There's a warm air blowing around out there, and I am a happy girl. I haven't gotten to really go play in the Gabby House since November, and you would think I'd be out there the first real chance I've had in 5 months, but since I couldn't, I did at least want to leave a post as a goodwill gesture; to dip my toes, so to speak, back in blog-land.
One of the photos is of a book (Murder In Miniature) that I read last week. When I saw it in the bookstore I was so excited! If I couldn't be out playing with my miniatures, I sure-as-shootin' could read about them. Well, the first few pages were good, but then I lost interest. Whether it was the plot or me, whatever it was, I ended up skipping to the last few pages. I was so disappointed. I guess the author has plans for another mini book, so maybe I'll give her another chance...we'll see.
Speaking of books, I had forgotten I had also read this book quite a while ago. The Dollhouse Murders was in the Young Adult section, but even so, I liked it better than Murder in Miniature.
In the winter I read a lot, and it is nice to find (fiction)books that relate to my hobbies. Now that Spring is beginning, I will be able to get out to the Gabby house again and play with my dollhouses. I have missed them! Yaaay, Spring!

It's a small world

2007-11-07T05:20:00.000-08:00

Well, COLD happened. It always does, sooner or later, and this year, it sure was later. I mean, here we are in November, and we're just now starting to get the Autumn feel?! It's a good thing, really, the change to the cooler weather...it's just that...I hate going out to The Gabby House when it's cold like this. And this is nothin' compared to a month from now when there could be snow and ice on the ground...YIKES!

Yes, I have heat out there, but I keep it to a minimum; just enough so things don't freeze. But, to actually play out there I need to crank the heat up for a good 20 minutes or so before said playtime...and in order to do that, I have to go out in the cold, into the the cold Gabby House, crank the heat, and then come back in the house to wait for it to warm up out there.

I know, I know, we all should have such hardships to complain about!

Since I haven't been out to play in The Gabby House for quite some time, I have been playing with my African violets in my house. Now, you may think African violets have no place being in a minis blog, but you know what? There are such things as MINI African violets..(see photos above). The three plants pictured are Allegro's Winsome Pink, Baby Doll(with no blossoms) and the trailer is Pixie Blue. I apologize for having so little bloom on these plants; that's partly due to my recent monthly grooming session, but mostly due to the fact that I just got the idea to post photos of these plants in this entry!

The definition/description of a mini African violet is that it must be less than 6" around. In a show the judges actually use an embroidery hoop (6")to ascertain whether or not a particular plant is eligible for a ribbon. Also, generally the size of the leaves are smaller than a standard A.v. Pretty much, if you buy an A.v. at a local supermarket, or garden center, you will most likely be buying a standard; rarely a mini. ( For anything unusual, you really need to mail order from some of the A.v. vendors that are online.)

I don't know when I'll be getting out to the Gabby House again; Prolly not til I get in the winter mode and get used to the cold weather. I do have a project I am planning to begin soon, here in the house. I'll talk more about it in my next post, when I also will tell you a little about the miniature show I went to a couple of weeks ago.

Give Me One More Shot

2007-10-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

This is sort of a P.S. To the last post. As you may or may not know, I am not a computer whiz...hee hee, and I seem to have a great deal of trouble loading photos to show with my posts. This last go 'round, I was only able to load 4, I think, but I have two more that go with that subject. Here they are.

I looked through my posts pertaining to the Birdhouse house, and I can't find any thing about how the gigantic snake that's hanging out in the back of the house came to be there. I may have told my sister, but now I'm telling you.

When I first began to work on the house, I was trying to fill in gaps with Paperclay(not Celluclay.) I had a long, thin line rolled out to fill in a gap that ran along the length of the back,(where the back wall came out.) One minute it was a long thin line of clay, and the next, when I looked at it, it had morphed into a snake! I did nothing to this piece of clay; I didn't put a crimp in his tail, I didn't make his eye; they both just appeared. Really. All I can think of is that Rene (my ghost)played a trick on me.(He used to use one side of the Gabby house before it was the Gabby house as a work shop.) Who knows, maybe he still hangs out there from time to time.

And no, this is not a story to get you in the mood for Halloween! But anyway, I like the snake, so he's staying. I guess you could say he's like a guard snake to Polly and Pauly.

The other photo is a close-up of the roof. I just used broken pieces of shingling and just glued them on. Again, the shingle material is just stained that way; I don't do anything to it.

Ok, so that's all I have on the Birdhouse-house. Now back to our regularly scheduled Addams family house, A.K.A. My creepy dollhouse.

Deja Vu

2007-10-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

I know you've seen the before photos before, but since all good home re-habs should have before and after shots, I now also offer the after photos. Not bad for a little $3.49 birdhouse I bought at Michaels, eh? Ok, so it's not 100% yet; I have a little touch up to do on the snake, as well as the base of the house, but it's pretty much finished.(Yaaay!) And I do mean finished.

Is It Over Yet?

2007-10-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I hesitate to post photos of stuff that I haven't finished, or still have to work on. Since I usually work on more than one project at a time, however, it sometimes seems as if they'll never get done. But if I were really strict and didn't show you WIPs,* then you'd never get any photos! And anyway, very often, as we all know, a project might never really be truly 'finished,' so I might as well show you the struggles along the way. It is after all, about the journey, isn't it?

The only trouble with that, is, is that I am very slow to accomplish anything. I dilly. I dally. I paint. I re-paint. I painted this staircase three different times before I decided on its final colors!!! ( And I still have to touch up the 'wood' part.)

*Work In Progress

Our House

2007-10-04T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to find another occupant for The birdhouse-house; I just didn't want Polly to live alone. I bought another Polly Pocket, but there's only room for one bed, and even if the other Polly Pocket was her sister, I didn't want them to sleep in the same bed. ( I cannot imagine sleeping in the same bed as one of my sisters.)

Unfortunately, the 'community' of Polly Pocket seems to be Amazonian in their approach to life; it doesn't have any guys in the group, so I have had to 'invent' one. Introducing...Pauly Pocket. Pauly is Polly's boyfriend, and although he doesn't live with Polly all the time, he's a frequent visitor. Very. Frequent.

( I'm still not totally happy with Polly & her beau living here. I think they're a little small for the place. I might move them to another house...when I finish it.)

I got you, Babe

2007-09-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, she certainly did. it seems Kate from
http://girlsavage.wordpress.com has tagged me. Yeah, I definitely feel like a cool kid now, myself.

O. K. So here's the deal. I write out 6 things about myself...and then tag someone else. 6 someone elses, in fact.

1.I read about 1-2 books a week.

2.I have a dog and three cats.

3.I am a pretty good shot with a bow and arrow.

4.I have lived in four different states, and about 15 different towns.

5.I laugh at everything(especially myself)

6.I love to play the slots at casinos.

Hmmm,uh, all have is Gina...so I tag Gina. What say you Gina?

(Just so you know, this is not a usual post. We return to our regularly scheduled blog tomorrow, or, whenevah.)

True Colors

2007-09-23T17:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was in Michaels', and what do you think I found? a tub of 18 clear squeeze bottles to put paint in. And it was on clearance for less than $4.00. There were two tubs left and I bought both of them, giving me 36 bottles in all. The only trouble is that each bottle is 4 oz, and all I need is 2 oz. But that's o.k. I can actually see what the color looks like easily. Plus, no more I-forgot-to-flip-the-bottle-lid-shut scenario.

I 'posed' the bottles around the picture, just because I like it. It was a book cover off a book by an author who wrote inspirational fiction more than 70 years ago. I loved reading her books when I was a young woman; still do.

After I had transferred a lot of the paints into the bigger containers, I began to paint the birdhouse-house! Wheee! The basic color is dark olive green, and the window trims are purple. Then I have gold trim in there, too. I goofed, though, because you can see where the white of the walls I installed inside show in the windows. I remember Miss Gina mentioning something about painting something a while ago, and making sure the unpainted side did not show out the other side thru the windows. There's no way to fix it, unless I put trim inside the windows as more window trims....that's a lot of fuss, tho. As The English call it, that's getting 'fiddly.'

Gimme Shelter/ Closer To Fine

2007-09-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

You know, I have always loved working in the Gabby House. I get out there and I turn on talk radio or HGTV, and just immerse myself in my little world of miniatures. I have my tools out there, materials, and even the phone. Sometimes the cat(s)cruise on in, the dog hangs out on the floor, or just outside the door, and all is well.

It sounds idyllic, doesn't it? It is...from about the end of April until the end of September. Then it starts to get a little colder...I have to leave the(electric ) heater on all the time. I have to put a coat on to go out to the GH, and then, then(!) when it's 20* and snowing...or has snowed...I hafta practically get a snowsuit on, and wear boots to get out there. And then I get out there and I have forgotten to bring something out, or turn something off in the house...and I hafta go back??? FOR--GET IT!!!!!!! Who the *bleep* wants to go outside in the middle of an ice or snowstorm???

For the past three weeks I have been looking into buying another house. My present house has about 1400 sq.ft, really perfect for lil ole me...or at least it prolly would be if I didn't have three cats, a dog, a couple of hobbies ( non-sport trading cards, dollhouse/minis, and African violets on plant stands ) that all take up about another 500 sq. feet! That's why the GH has come in so handy for the trading cards and mini stuff. But as I've said, it's a pain sometimes to go out there; I want everything to be in the same place,so that I don't have to get all ponied up to go do my hobbies! It's actually only about 40 steps from my back door, out to the GH, but the ground around the pool is uneven, and slippery when there's ice on the concrete.

I'll prolly stay in Framingham, because I like it here.

Next time I'll have photos of the birdhouse-house, I hope. I did finish the furniture, but I didn't begin to paint the outside of the house. I did play with paint however, and you shall see the results of that too!

Long Time Gone

2007-09-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hiya. I am alive and kickin', in case you were wondering. My sister has been here visiting from Indiana since Monday. She likes minis too,and has quite a collection; no place to put them, however (as in a dollhouse.) Although she prolly won't ever build or even decorate a whole dollhouse, I think I may have her convinced to try a room box. Maybe someday.

Yesterday we took a trip to Dollhouse Treasures in Braintree, which is about an hours drive from here. I usually keep my spending somewhat under control when I go there, but they have a lot of cute, gotta-have stuff there, so I always manage to put a smile on the lady's face when I go, if you know what I mean. I think my sister kicked in quite a few bucks for her own little finds, too.

I don't have any photos of recent work, because there has been no recent work! However, I have included a guest appearance from Max the cat in his zen position (his favorite)

Tomorrow I finish up the birdhouse-house furniture, and maybe begin painting the outside.

She Has Funny Cars

2007-09-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

I went into Toys-R-Us to get a game the other day. While I was in there, I decided to look for a small doll that would go in the bird house-house. I was kind of thinking of Polly Pocket.

Although I had only noticed it once or twice before, I just was always a little fascinated with her 'genre'. I think I had even bought my daughter a Polly Pocket something few years ago, prolly cause I thought it was cute. I don't think she was thrilled with it; she wasn't ever much into dolls. She had horse fever and instead of people dolls, she had horse 'dolls.' LOL!

Now see, If I had known then that I was into minatures and the like, I would have kept that little Polly Pocket myself. As it was, it took me a few more years before I found this wonderful hobby, and DD's Polly Pocket is long gone.

When I started the Birdhouse-house rehab, I knew I would have a difficult time with ascertaining what scale to go for. 1" was definitely out; 1/2 scale was, too. 1/144 was waaay too small. That's actually why I've been making all the furniture; there is no official scale size that can go in it.

Back To Polly Pocket. I didn't know if she would fit in with the furnishings and non-scale scale, but she only cost $2.99 and came with a cute little car. I tried her out in the house, and she seems to like it. The toilet is a little big for her, but if she hangs on, she won't fall in. (I worry about things like that.)

As for Polly Pocket, man that is one confusing group of dolls. There are two sizes of Polly Pocket dolls...one about 1 1/2" and then there are the 3" ones. There are about a zillion ka billion different ones, the little ones have cars, the bigger ones are more into fashion and come with clothes. I love to read up about fun little things like that, but the Polly Pocket website is really just set up for little kids to play games. Oh well, at least I now have a human who will dwell in the birdhouse house, along with a couple of non-humans.

If You Were a Carpenter

2007-09-03T16:32:00.000-07:00

Well,I'm not. A carpenter, I mean. I have made all the furniture for the birdhouse-house, though! Look, I don't mind buying furniture for my Addams Family house, (1"scale) and I have a 1/2" scale project for which I will be buying most of the furniture, but I think it's kind of fun to make stuff, too.

At this point in my miniaturist 'career', I pretty much stick with cardboard when I make my furniture. I seem to be cutting up a lot of small cardboard boxes because pretty much everything I've made has been square. The little square boxes already have straight, square corners, and that's a good thing when you're trying to make furniture that looks halfway convincing!

Today I 'made' my visiting son and his friend come look at my dollhouses. I am just so proud of myself for my accomplishments in this hobby; I just had to show off. When they saw the Addams family house, they thought that was cool, but while my friend's son was looking at the birdhouse house, I saw a look in his eye-just for a second, but it was definitely a look of wonder at the tiny little things he was looking at. Now I ask you , how can anybody not have a look of wonder on their faces when they see a mini scene, (especially one much more sophisticated and more highly detailed than mine?)

Paint it, Black

2007-09-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

That's what I'm doing, painting all the nosing for the Newport, black. I've been painting all daaay, it seems! ( Today's Labor Day. How appropriate.) I don't really mind, though, because when I look at the few pieces I have put up already, it really streamlines the house; makes it look finished, or at least more-so than without it! (Gee,that was a really long sentence, wasn't it?)

OK, now it's two days later. I have finished painting, as well as putting all the nosing up around the outside of the house. Next, for the outside, I have to think about how I'm going to install the brackets, as well as the railings around the porch areas. I'm pretty sure I'm going to abandon the railing idea. Instead, to keep the creepy mood going, I think I'll prolly get some creepy looking 'wrought iron' fencing to put up along the edges. One of the Addams family movies had that kind of fencing, and since this house needs a parapet of some sort, I think I'll go see what I can find to use. Oh, it'll be creepy, for sure.

Stuck On You

2007-08-31T13:32:00.000-07:00

I put the walls up. Yeppers, I did. That's what all the laughing in my last post was about...I bet you thought I'd put it off again, huh? but no, once I got that paper mache stuff going, and had slapped a bunch on the castle, I realized that IT WAS TIME!!! I am so proud of myself.

Now I have to put the roof tops on, but first I have to paint them, because the underside of the roofs are going to be the ceilings of the third floor, and so I have to paint all that stuff before I glue them down.

I think the paper mache as mortar was a good idea. That stuff dries hard as a rock...in fact, here's a photo of a rock I made out of paper clay a couple of years ago. See? hard as a rock! ( The official name of the paper mache stuff I use is Celluclay. )

Monster Mash

2007-08-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Arrrgggh, me MON-STOR HAND, and me been playing in paper mache paper clay...(not to be confused with the white Creative Paperclay)

Honestly, it just started out as an idea. I mentioned in my last post that I was partly afraid of gluing the third floor walls down because there were a couple of gaps between the walls,(and they weren't going to able to be fixed with a little spackle, either.) We're talkin' MAJOR gaps. I needed thick, clumpy, heavy-duty-gap- filler for these babies! So, I got to thinking. I had some of that paper mache cellulose stuff hanging around from when I was in my paper mache phase (that lasted about 2 weeks.) Would that work? If I mixed some Aleen's in with it, and used it as mortar?

I also had another idea concerning the paper mache. The little Fisher-Price castle I was (thinking about) working on has some gaps where windows open, or the cannon rolls out, etc, and I wanted to close them permanently. I figured the grey color of the paper mache would blend right in with the grey color of the plastic walls, so had been thinking of trying that theory out.

Well, today I got me a big old bowl, put some water in it, and then added the paper mache cellulose. (cough cough) Man that stuff is dusty, so be careful. Seriously, I took precautions not to breathe it.

And then I began to play. I was just going to fill in the little seams in the walls on the castle, smooth it out, and go on with other projects...but instead, I realized that although I could just use the paper mache to just seal all the seams up, and then paint it to look like vines climbing up the walls of the castle...I just couldn't stop putting it on the walls. The plastic walls look like stone blocks, and would have been fine if I had stuck to my original plan, but it looked even better where I had smoothed on the paper clay. And so I continued. This is as far as I've gotten. Tomorrow means a trip to A.C. Moore.

Of course, do you see what's really going on, here? The walls of the Newport. I got all that 'mortar' ready, and then used it on the castle instead of on the main project! Or, wait. Did I? let's see next time...on Mini Mumble! hahahahaha

Dancing Queen

2007-08-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

My friend Nancy loves to watch Dancing with The Stars, but I don't. I'm too busy fancy dancing around my Newport; shingling, painting trim, gluing trim, and cleaning the Gabby House for the third time(this week)..all because I'm afraid to take the final step of gluing the walls of the third floor on. I went thru this with putting the third floor-floor down, and I got thru that just fine, but the actual act of gluing all 5 sections down is so...well, final, you know?

If I knew things would line up perfectly, and joints and walls would mesh together, it wouldn't be so bad. But I know I made mistakes along the way; A supporting beam put up wrong; the floor not being as level as it could be...I've done a dry run and I see the problems. Oh, I think I can fix them, and maybe it will all turn out ok, but still.

The part that has me worried are the four outer walls (two on each side of a supporting wall.) The scary part is that when I glue the corners together, they have to hold each other up. There's one supporting wall in the center of the house, but because something isn't quite level, there's a gap of about 1/8 of an inch between the supporting wall and the walls that need the support; the ones that have to hold each other up on one end. YOWZA!!!!!!!! oh, I'm just not looking forward to this at allll.

ABOUT TODAY'S PHOTO:
On the good news end, however, here's a little project that I have completed. it's not very exciting or sophisticated, but it was fun, and pretty much instant gratification. I actually had pink sand and a blue bench, but my son Gabby (22) said the bench needed to be brown and the sand needed to be sand colored. lol. I knew he was right, but when I had started the project, all I had was pink sand and wanted to use it up. Besides I was too lazy to go buy sand at the craft store! In the end that's what I did. I'm thinking something else should be in the right corner, but then it might cover up the sharks in the water.

Tomorrow...the third floor goes on!!!!!!!!!!!

I Got a Name

2007-08-23T11:26:00.000-07:00

Since I have started in on this wonderful hobby of miniatures and dollhouses, I haven't known just how to describe what I do. Now, I love building my dollhouse and the other little scenes I create, but it never occurred to me to refer to myself as a...a miniaturist? Me? naaw, that's for all those other people; the ones who make and sell their beautiful items, or own their own stores, or have written about the hobby. But me?...no, I just,um, play with dollhouses...build dollhouses, and yes, sometimes make furniture. But to call myself a miniaturist? aww, that'd be puttin' on airs!

Note: The definition of a miniaturist according to Merriam /Webster is technically 'the art of painting miniatures'

A few weeks ago I was visiting a new neighbor who is from another country. As I was leaving, I mentioned I was going to work on my dollhouse. The young mans' ears perked up, he smiled and said..."Oh? A dollhouse? Who are you building the dollhouse for?" I replied, "For me. It's my dollhouse!" The look on his face was one of confusion, as he was prolly thinking "This woman is building a 'toy' for herself?" I just smiled and walked away.

A couple of weeks ago I was in the Gabby House painting something mini-related, and my pool maintenance person was going in and out of the little room next to where I was working, and I didn't know if she knew I was there or not, so I said to her " don't be afraid, I'm in here painting" and she said "Oh? What are you painting?" ( I think she thought I was an ARTIST.) I said..."oh, well, I'm building a dollhouse..." and she just dismissed it and walked away.

Last week I was at our African violet club cook-out, and my friend Janet and I were talking about our hobbies,( besides the obsession with African violets) and it just popped out of my mouth that "I'm a miniaturist"... and she looked at me and said " Ohh? You are?" She seemed really impressed that I did that for a hobby. Now, maybe she had no clue what a miniaturist is, but the fact that I put a name to what I do, instead of just saying something like "I play with dollhouses" got a reaction out of her; a favorable one! So, the next time someone asks you, don't be afraid to say "I'm a miniaturist."

Making it in Massachusetts

2007-08-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Since I have a lot of projects going on, as I complete construction and move closer to the need for furniture, I realize something has got to give.
Let's face it, the mini hobby can be expensive...especially when it comes to furniture. And all of my projects need furniture.

I allot a certain amount of money every week for my trips to the dollhouse store(s). I spend every penny of that, and occasionally, more. Eeek. I mean, I have some nice things, and I'm happy I bought them, but they're all pretty much impulse buys. You know how some people go crazy buying shoes? I'm like that with miniatures.

Once I get my Newport built, I know I'll prolly fill it up with the majority of the furniture and most of the knick knacks, so there is some purpose to my buying the items. But then we have the three other projects I have going on. And they are more like half-inch scale size, so even if I have things left over from the Addams Family, they just won't fit inside the smaller spaces.

When I look at prices for 1/2 " scale, I don't see a 1/2" price! lol. Nope, the smaller scale is also expensive. And then, to make matters worse, some of the 1/2" scale things I bought are too big for the projects I bought them for. Aww, eventually I know I'll use the pieces I bought, but meanwhile, what to do about furniture for the birdhouse house? And don't tell me about the next size smaller, because that's tooo small.

I've been reading online, as well as magazine articles, about making your own furniture. I got to thinking, and planning, and tried a little bending, and cutting, and this is what I have so far. I mean, it's the basic shapes, but it seems to be a good idea. Sort of reminds me of the old truism....give a child a toy, and she ends up playing with the box. And that's just what I did, played with the boxes!
So far there isn't much to see, but I wanted to share the vision, and the next time I'll have it looking more like the furniture it is going to be. I hope.
At any rate, I don't think I'll be putting Ferd Sobol Editions out of business any time soon!
And still more shingling...

Oh Yeah, Ricky?

2007-08-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

A guy friend/neighbor of mine came over the other day and I showed him all my projects, which, admittedly, have not all been started. I showed him the Fisher-Price castle, two empty boxes, The Newport(1/2 finished) the hatbox, and the birdhouse-house. I wasn't really looking at his face, but I think his two eyes were prolly rolling around in his head as he burst out.. "you have too many things going on!" Hahahahaha.

Sure, I have a lot of projects I am working on, or planning; so what?! I pay my bills, I feed the cats & the dog when they're hungry, I shower every day, and eat three squares. I even make contact with the outside world at least a couple times a day...so please, the rest of the time, leave me alone when 'I'm in my own little world'. lol.

The first photo is the inside (so far) of the birdhouse-house. It is no longer a birdhouse; I think a family of dragons is moving in, due to circumstances beyond my control...
The second photo is what results when you hurry and don't pay attention to which side of the wall you are shingling. I decided to turn it into a kind of a 'bats in the belfry' scenario, but have to work on it some more.
The third photo shows my tower walls shingled and glued together-except for the one I goofed on. Ah, well, it's optional to put the back on; I can use the tower as a room, I think Cousin Itt would like it up there as his room.
I am also shingling the front roof panel. I really like shingling, and that's a good thing; there is a lot of shingling to do on this house!

Field Trip!

2007-08-06T12:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Sunday, and since I wasn't able to go to a dh shop on Saturday, I decided I would go yesterday instead. I chose to visit Earth and Tree Miniatures, http://www.dollhouse-miniatures.com/, which is amazing. It's located in Amherst New Hampshire, about two hours away, and makes a nice little day trip for me. Once I get there I plan to stay for at least an hour, and try to get out of there for under $200. Not that they're more expensive than any other mini store; it's just that they have everything you could possibly 'need', and I 'need' everything! Not to be mean, but,...I'm somewhat happy they're not closer. LOL.

Another place I have been to is Dollhouse Treasures. http://www.dollhousetreasures.net/. This shop is a little closer, and a little smaller. It is located on the first floor of a small colonial house in Braintree, Mass. I love this place, too. It is run by a mother and daughter team, and they are both very helpful whenever I go there. The last time I was there, I had an elderly friend with me who can't see very well, and while I was in another room with one of the women, the other one was spending time with my friend and entertaining her!

When I got home, it was too late to hang out in the gh very much, but I tried out a few new pieces of furniture in the room they are going to be when the house is finished. One thing I have noticed about mini beds, is that the pillows are always stupid looking. I'm going to have to remedy that, because I want the beds to look inviting (and be comfortable!) for the little people who will be living there. :o)

Hot house

2007-08-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

I generally try to keep Fridays and Saturdays empty of major household duties, as well as any social engagements. I do that because I like to dedicate those two days to me and my mini projects. On Fridays, I play pretty much all day out in the gh, and on Saturdays I can take a 'field trip' to a local dollhouse store. I have 2 tried-and-true-stores I visit on a regular basis, and 4 more that I haven't checked out yet.
For all the time I spent in the gh on Friday, I didn't get too much done. A little wallpaper, a little trim, a little sanding and planning on the birdhouse-house, and a whole lot of cleaning up the gh. Besides, it got waaay too hot after 3 pm, so I had to get outta there.

I decided not to go to the dollhouse store yesterday because it was just too hot again. Since I couldn't proceed with my Newport, I played with these guys a little.
Not that I did much of anything with them, but I took the front columns off the birdhouse..and wait 'til you see what's happening on the other side of the door!

Dolly dumps

2007-08-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

Now don't panic, I'm still working on the Newport, but decided to show you a couple of upcoming projects. They sort of fell into my lap!

The first one, a Fisher-Price castle, was in the back of BB's truck last week when he & J were here to do some work. I think it was on its' way to his girlfriends' daughter, but I got to it first. I have plans for it, too. The first thing to go will be the bright green 'grass' around it; it's a lot brighter than the photo shows.

This other project was found in Michaels'. I love to meander around craft stores, I surely do. My eyes are always peeled for cool little crafty/dollie/ stuff. Today I found this! It's a birdhouse! It was marked down to $3.49; how could I resist? I got it home, and decided to take the back off it so I can put a floor in it, and then put in a little furniture. It might be close to 1/2" scale. I didn't measure it, and anyway, I'm not going to abandon it even if it doesn't fit any scale exactly. I'm just going to decorate it so that it looks fairly mini-real. I have a little none-scale/ 1/2" scale chair that might fit just fine in there.

What was all the fuss about?

2007-07-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

After fiddle-fartin' around for weeks, I finally ran out of excuses and put the third floor floor on my dh. Looking at it now, I cannot for the life of me understand why I was so scared to do it. I think I was just scared I wouldn't align the sides right, and that the porches wouldn't line up, but it looks pretty straight and even to me. Of course if it does turn out to be a little off, I can still use the excuse that "it's supposed to look a little creepy and crooked. Or, "I planned it that way. "

At any rate, I don't think anything's off so much that it will bring the construction of the third floor to a crashing halt.* Ah, maybe that's what I'm really afraid of...I see some serious detailed woodwork coming on, and I'm a little scared of that... and shingling the roof...and assembling the stair railings...See? I knew there was a reason I didn't put the third floor floor on sooner...now I have to construct the third floor itself!

P.S... UH OH!!! Just now, looking at the directions...? I'm bleeped. Bleeped-bleepity bleeped. ( And just so you know, that's pretty bleeped.) I might have to call in the infamous team of BB& J for help! ( I knew I shoulda kept that fiddle-fartin' going a little longer...)
* Guess I spoke too soon.

Sheer Genius!

2007-07-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to create an invisible wall that would be a wall, but that you could see thru into Pugsley's room. I suppose I could get one of those wooden room-edge dividers to give viewers the same idea, but this works just as well. I may use the edge wall to separate the living room from the dining room later on...But I think I'm going to just use furniture to separate the two rooms.

Oh. From now on I'm going to use initials for frequently used words... 1. The Gabby House = tgh.....and 2. dollhouse is going to be dh. I realize DH usually stands for dear husband, but I don't have a husband..dear, or otherwise! Finally, 3. my handy men's names = bb&j.

Ok, no more fooling around..it's time to go put the third floor on.

Later same day >>>> I realized I hadn't stained the floor, so I did. I placed it on the second floor, and then noticed that I hadn't painted the edge of the floor that hangs over and you can see from the outside. And wouldn't you know, I didn't have any black paint??? I hadn't glued it down yet any way, so tomorrow I'll get the paint and then glue the third floor floor down. I think I've been dragging my feet for a while. After all, gluing something down is soooo final, especially a whole floor! but I'm starting to warm up to the idea, especially since I'm really happy with the way the second floor finally came together.

Over The Hump!

2007-07-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't been able to do much in the way of serious constructing of my Newport since I have been back working on it again. I wanted to install a couple of walls, but they needed to be shortened, and unfortunately I don't have a saw. I had to wait for 'my handy men' to come over and saw them for me. Today was the day.

By the time I got out to the Gabby House to 'play', it was waay too hot out there, so I had to come back in the house. Bummer. I'm not complaining, tho. The place stays cool well into the afternoon on the hottest days; I should have gone out an hour earlier.

Perhaps tomorrow the third floor will go on. I am really excited!

The photos today show 1.a small section of unpainted wall. It is going to be covered in the flowered wallpaper, but have a hinge on it; it will be a 'hidden' 'secret' door. 2. The bathroom. The 'family' wanted it to look like a swamp (it looks black, but it's really dark green)...and I jazzed it up with the magazine pictures ala Lady Of The Water theme. lol. Note The green wall separating the bathroom and Morticia/Gomez's room. It's the one that needed shortening. It will be glued in permanently. 4.The plastic-see thru wall. It only reaches to the 'tiled' floor(the hallway between Pugsley & Wednesday's rooms.) It will have trim on it to represent a real room wall, but you'll still be able to see thru it into Pugsley's room. Although, come to think of it, has anyone EVER seen Pugsley's room? Unless it was in a tv episode that I wasn't able to get my hands on.
5. Finally, the screen I made out of a weird piece of cardboard and a scrap of mural wallpaper.

Gee, for someone who hasn't had much opportunity to really build anything lately, I sure have been busy!

Slow but steady

2007-07-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

I think I mentioned someplace that I sorta, kinda overdid it when I began my foray into the world of miniatures. Let's face it, I was obsessed! I enjoyed working on my Newport, but I made a lot of mistakes because I couldn't be bothered doing things the 'right' way, and rushed thru various projects. Bad move, Caitey!

Oh, I put the structure part of it together correctly, but when I began to think about trims around the windows, flooring, wallpaper, etc., I rushed things, and ended up doing a sloppy job in a lot of areas.

I have since removed the wallpaper in Pugsley's room, and decided to paint the walls while leaving just a tiny bit of wallpaper up. I would have taken it all down, but it would have been too hard to get around the sloppy window trim job I did. Fortunately I can blame it on the Addams Family/ creepy house idea ..."It's supposed to look like that, you know..." ( altho in the T.V show, the Addams house is a very neat, luxurious house. The Movie versions have a lot of dusty floors and cobwebs.) Oh, btw, thee are going to be two different rooms on that side; Pugsley's room will be blue, and Wednesday's room has the pretty flowered wallpaper. I'll be putting in a see-thru/panel wall to separate the two rooms.

I am determined to get the flooring, wallpapers, and door trims finished before the 3rd floor goes down. I found that all that stuff is much easier when you can lay the wall down and do the paper and trim work that way.

I went to A.C. Moore yesterday to get more supplies. My goal for the next few days is to get the second floor finished enough that I can put the third floor-floor on. Then it's back to the actual structure building. I'm ready, but this time I'm taking it slow!

More on 'Emily's Dollhouse'

2007-07-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

As promised, here's some more about this fun little house. I decided the front looked kind of bare and so I made shutters for it. I think it looks ever-so-much better!

I just got the furniture placed pretty much where I want it, so I really don't want to take it all out. I am, however, showing a few pieces individually because they are really amazing.

When I started to read the instructions for putting the piano together, I was amazed that they actually include 2 pianos...one is for 'practice.' LOL. I did indeed manage to get one put together,and it's pretty much a rattletrap, but I'm putting the other one safely away, unmade, in it's protective wrapping. I never did like practicing piano!

Cardboard never looked so good...

2007-07-11T15:15:00.000-07:00

When I first got interested in this mini/dollhouse business back in 2005, I attended quite a few Shows & sales in the area. One of my purchases was this, "Emily's Dollhouse" by Ilisha Helfman. I paid $95 for the house and all the furniture. and I do mean ALLL the furniture!

For almost two years it reposed in a drawer, still in its original packaging. I finally opened it up about 3 weeks ago. What a treat!

I really felt quite indulged as I took the richly colored parts out. I punched each piece of furniture out and put it together. It all goes together very easily with tab and slot construction. The house itself just folds down flat if you want to put it away, but once you have it up and the furniture made,you really aren't going to want to do that. Where would you put all the furniture then? It all belongs in the house! I actually still have to put the grand piano together...don't know where that's gonna go!

Just so you know, there is a lot more furniture than I show here. This was a photo I took as I was just starting to put it together. If anyone would like to see the whole 'kit and kaboodle', I'll be glad to post a newer, complete photo.

My progress, thus far

2007-07-10T16:48:00.000-07:00

Here are views of the interior of the house. (I've only gotten up to the second story.) Since I have begun working on it again, I am taking my time and have been taking the wallpaper down in the blue bedroom, because it was all wrinkly. I may wallpaper it again; I'm not sure. Taking the wallpaper off is hard work, because the leftover glue is gummy, and it doesn't sand off easily.
The little doll in the photo reminds me of Morticia Addams, with the long black dress and sword. ( She and Gomez love to fence. lol.) I am watching a DVD of the original Addams Family t.v, show as well as the two original movies, to get ideas of items to put in the house when it comes time to furnish it. I actually have a THING ( hand coming out of a box that says Home Sweet Home!)

BTW, I am not an accomplished computer user; I haven't quite gotten the hang of posting photos yet. Hey, at least you get photos!

Moving right along...a year later

2007-07-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

I was going along like gangbusters...really I was! I had accomplished a lot in the 5 months I'd spent working on my dollhouse. I had finished the outside walls ( two stories ) and fiddled around with the inside a little.

Unfortunately I'd worked sooooo hard on it for sooooo long, that I O.D'd....BAD! Yeppers, one day I woke up sick of it, and soon the poor little creepy dollhouse was abandoned for other interests. I had my handy men move it to another room, thinking it would be easier to work on, but in reality...it was a good excuse to ignore it's existence.

And ignore it I did. I turned my attention to needlepoint, a hobby I had enjoyed in my youth.

Then my daughter moved back in with me to go to a nearby college, and I allowed her to turn the craft area (a.k.a The Gabby House, a small cottage on my property) into her study. By the time she graduated and had moved out with degree-in-hand, I had gotten bored with needlepoint, and was not doing anything resembling a 'hobby' (besides watering the African violets!)

After DD moved out, I aired out The Gabby House, then had the handy men drag the creepy dollhouse out and put it out in the front room, where it could no longer be ignored. It was time to get to work again. After all, it had been 17 months since I'd worked on it!

When I worked on it before, I felt like I wanted to rush, rush, rush to get it finished. BAD MOVE. Especially with a dollhouse, you want to take your time; enjoy the process. It is really a lot of fun. More photos, more observations to come!

BLOG # 4, post #1, or, How I got here today

2007-07-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

I love to write about my hobbies. Now, generally I just write in a book-type journal for my own enjoyment, but all that changed when I dscovered online journaling a few years ago. Over the past 3 years I have had 3 different blogs. First I had one about crafts over on Get Crafty, (a verrry coool site for crafters, btw.) I then branched out to Blogger, and started one about needlepoint. That lasted a couple of months. Finally, I tried keeping one about my beloved African violets, but that petered out after only one pathetic post. After that fiasco I thought my blogging days were a thing of the past.

( Right about now you're probably wondering what this all has to do with my creepy dollhouse, aren't you? Well, read the title. I'm explaining to you how I got around to starting this blog!)
Many years ago I got it into my head that someday I would love to build a dollhouse. Not just any dollhouse, mind you, but one that was maybe just a little different, maybe even a little, well, creepy. An Addams Family-esque type of dollhouse. You know, someday .

Fast-forward to 2005. My kids were all grown and gone, I was not working any longer, and I was crafting a lot. One afternoon as I cruised around A.C. Moore I happened to notice a dollhouse on sale and started thinking...I had a 40% off coupon, and the upcoming weekend meant no-sales-tax...that could get me started for sure. And so I took the plunge. I bought that dollhouse, 'The Newport', by Real Good Toys!

Sometimes I get all excited about the possibility of something, and then when the reality actually materializes, I lose interest quickly. I had no idea what to expect with this dollhouse. Would I stick with it? Stay tuned!