New project revamp, fun mail, and some banners

Hi all!

I have been wanting to update, but have had little time to do so. But I have some time now and want to share a few things with you. :)

First, I have been inspired to do a springy, happy scene lately (blame it on the cabin fever) and have been digging some cute owl pillows that I bought from Whimsy Cottage on Etsy. These are SO cute and I have yet to put them together. Maybe later tonight when I park myself in front of something on Netflix. :)

Anyway, the owls and my current musical fascination (okay, obsession) have led me to make a roombox dedicated to the great band Canned Heat. They are well-known for the song "On the Road Again" and "Going Up the Country" but are so much more than that (here are just a few examples). I am currently reading a biography about Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, who was the musical scholar and creative force behind the band (though not to discount the talent in the other members) as well as the voice you hear in both of their hit songs. Okay, before this turns into a blog post about Canned Heat, I am going to quickly show you some pics! :-p

I was going to build a room box for the idea I had when I realized I already had one that would be perfect: the AG Minis roombox I picked up for an amazing price at the Real Good Toys Warehouse Outlet Sale last year (and blogged about here and here)!

Here is what it looks like now. I am going to be making some changes soon, but I wanted to share what I have now (because sharing is fun!):

This is the room so far. It's a bit frilly with the white wire furniture, but it really gives a retro vibe to it. I think I am going to put more posters on the walls.

These charms are from Hobby Lobby and are super-cute.

This is an old frame I've had in my stash for a while and finally decided to fill it with a picture of the band that I printed out on cardstock. (From front to back: Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson, Bob "The Bear" Hite, Henry "The Sunflower" Vestine, Larry "The Mole" Taylor, and Adolpho "Fito" de la Parra.)

I made these miniature albums and covered them in plastic to look more realistic.

Some baskets and a little chest charm that actually opens adds a little detail to the white wire shelf. I'll probably change this around quite a bit.

These fabric covered buttons are really cute. I bought them on clearance at Michael's craft store and they make nice little 1/12th scale throw pillows. Once I make up the owl pillows, though, I think I will remove these and use them for something else.

One more album sitting on the bottom shelf. :)

I plan on building a miniature turntable and stereo which will be in the corner where that wooden chest is. I'd like it to actually play music wirelessly from my phone, so I am going to play around with that idea.

The other thing I wanted to share was some lovely mail I received from Monika at PuNo's Minis! We had been involved in a lovely swap several months ago and she sent me a lovely surprise card for Easter with some cute little treats: a tiny chocolate bar and a little Easter book! I love them both! Thank you, Monika!

Finally, I wanted to share these little silk banners in my stash. I found them at a cool antique shop in Vermont and I thought I would use them for something. One is for Norway and the other for Peru. I haven't been finding any use for them and wanted to see if anyone here would have a use for them before I find something to do with them.

First come, first served. If you only want one, that's fine. Just post a comment below saying that you're interested and in which one if you just want one. We'll work out shipping details via email. :)

If I don't hear from anyone here who wants the banners by April 15th,  I'll likely find a place for them somewhere. :)

Here's a pic showing both:

(Note: That white sticker was the price tag on the plastic bag and are not on the actual banners.)

American Girls AG Minis Box

Jazzi had asked about the reversibility of the AG Minis Box decor so I thought I'd do a special post in case anyone else wants to know.

 When you take out all of the pieces of the box, this is what is left. There are magnetic panels on each wall, the ceiling is tape-wired and magnetic, and all of the outlets are in the floor base.

I turned the floor over and noted that it had these wooden boards. As you can see, there are holes in the floor piece for access to the outlets.

I added in the ceiling and there, too, is an outlet available for any fixtures.

This is one side of the wall decor. It's not my favorite; I like the other side better.

But, first, here I want to show you that the box does come with moulding and baseboards, both of which are magnetic. In fact, the wallpaper cards have a magnet inside which allows them to stick effortlessly onto the insides of the box.

The backs of the moulding and baseboards are labeled for easy installation.

I pulled out the wallpaper cards and turned them over. This shows the reversibility of the wallpaper. I am going to go ahead and assume the other boxes in this series have the same functionality, which is nice.

With the moulding/baseboards in...

Some accessories. As mentioned before, the only things that came with this box were the lamps. Everything else are items I have in my collection.

Currently, this box is being displayed in the bathroom linen closet. It's the only place where there's room at the moment. There's no adapter for this kit so I can't light it up at the moment, but my electronics-savvy fiance is going to figure something out for it. :-D

Hope this was helpful!

Vermont haul :)

So, I promised a post about my trip to Vermont and what I picked up at the Real Good Toys Summer Clearance Sale in their factory outlet store in Barre, VT. Well, here it is!

One of the bigger things I picked up was this neat room box. The wallpaper, ceiling, and flooring can be removed and are also reversible! And the whole thing is electrified! Unfortunately this one didn't come with a cable, but Jason has some expertise in electronics so he's going to figure out what we need so we don't get the wrong polarity...

Now, the box came with the orange and blue lamps. The baskets, vases and table were purchased separately at the Outlet store. While there, I also picked up some tiny books, doorknobs for the historical society, and some gifts for friends an family (early Christmas shopping FTW!). I can't show pics of the gifts, because I think some of the recipients read my blog. ;)

The shelves below were bought at an antique shop on Route 7 somewhere north of Rutland. I wish I remembered the name of the place because it had some other dollhouse furniture too!

Now you may be wondering who manufactured this awesome little box? Well...

...that "AG" stands for American Girls! One of the women who works at RGT told me that American Girls did a short-lived1/12 scale line, but I guess it never took off? Here's a link about the series, and apparently some electronic pieces were defective. We'll see about this one. There's also some stuff from AG Minis on eBay. Lots of mod stuff, too, if you're interested.

I think these were demo kits that they had in their warehouse. They even threw in the drawer for free!

Here's a close-up of the lamps:

We also stopped at a couple of other places on the way home. One was a great little bookstore called Monroe St. Books, also on Route 7. I picked up three PA Dutch books and two dollhouse books there.

And one more place we stopped was Camelot Village just west of Bennington, VT. OMG. This place is awesome. Both my fiance and I have passed it going to and from NH on our trips to see each other when we lived apart and wanted to stop. But we *finally* visited, even though the shop was only open for about another half hour. We did a quick breeze-through. I found some dollhouse furniture, but we definitely didn't see everything. This place is really big and if you like crafts and antiques it's definitely worth the stop if you find yourself in this area! On the way out the door, I noticed a dollhouse in the window, but they were closing so I didn't go back in. Next time... :)

Here's what I did pick up - table and chair set and a bag of marbles (for etsy stuff):

So...that's it for now. It was a great weekend trip. :) Hopefully more etsy and other updates soon!