Glencroft update.

When it rains, it pours....when it comes to blog posts, that is. :) Well, since it's technically Sunday, I am not doing two posts in one day. ;)

Anyway, I just wanted to show you where the Glencroft was in its construction. As you can see below, the roof is on, and pretty much all of the half-timbering is up. The only thing is that the outside wall next to the chimney is not timbered. That sheet from the kit was IMPOSSIBLE to take apart. I did contact Greenleaf and I hope to get a response. Anyone know if they'll sell an individual sheet. I actually got this kit from Overstock so I don't think the guarantee would cover it. Anyway....
She's looking pretty, though she needs a lot of touchups.
Ignore the white paint where it doesn't belong. I will fix that. :) Pay attention to the lovely egg chair though. Manorhouseminis.com has some *cute* inexpensive chairs. :)
Behold the giant DVD collection through the window. :) The mini collie came from an unlikely source. Smalldog.com is a computer company specializing in Macs. I bought Jason, a total Machead, a gift for his birthday from them. Well, I hadn't realized that they include little dogs with the purchase. They sent me 6 of them with my order. :-D Many of them I sent to folks on Small Stuff. I have two left. This guy and the poodle who lives upstairs. :)
The fireplace needs some touch-up. I can't wait to fill up the bookcase!

Here's the poodle. :) The dresser is from a neat shop in Maine (on Route 202, not far from the NH/ME border) that sells all kinds of used treasures. It's very Japanese to me, with rounded corners and painted flowers. The drawers do open, so I will fill them with some nice handmade clothes. :) The "rug" is a handmade napkin (I think) that I bought in Texas last March. There is a matching one in the shop now. :)
Close-up of the chest.
The bathroom. I am not sure what decor I am going for here...the Glencroft has low ceilings in many places...kinda limited for shower space.
The kitchen. Yeah, I am not sure if these walls are gonna stay white.

Well, that's it! Hopefully I soon get some motivation to put in the windows, doors, and the rest!!!

It's been too long, but I am back!

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged in my mini blog (or any blog for that matter, though Facebook has been addictive lately.) But I've been getting very interested in my mini hobby and am back to the craft table. :)

I am participating in this year's contest for HBS, and excitedly working on some cool stuff for that. :) (If you haven't heard about it, check it out here: HBS Creatin' Contest. You have 'til December 15th! :) Jason and I have already started on our respective ideas. I can't want to see the finished results!

I was inspired to make some minis fit for selling at festivals with our bathsalts, so I tried my hand at crafting today. Below are some of the results. I decided to put together a scene of someone in the middle of wrapping homemade soap.

First, I designed a very simple work table. Skinny sticks + Michael's hutch bottom = :) .


Then I put the goodies on top. There's a mold of soap ready to be cut, four soaps ready to be wrapped and two already wrapped with really simple labels. :) I have a lot more soaps to be wrapped which will go in my shop I've blogged about earlier.


This is another project I am putting together. It's a meditation area. :) Here's a fountain (in progress) a bench for incense, candles, etc. and a nice meditation cushion. It's for all faiths and beliefs so I didn't add anything specific yet. :)

And the last thing that I put together this evening. I was cleaning up my mini mess the other day and noticed I have a lot of little items packed away. I don't have that many dollhouses (the Glencroft is *still* under construction!) and my shop has one specific purpose (as eclectic as that may be)...but I wanted a way to show them off, even if not permanently. I went to Michael's and picked up one of their sturdy decorative cardboard boxes, set it on its side (not sure where the lid might go yet) and made it into a miscellaneous shop. :) I even gave it a name: "The Chic Boutique."

This is a possible wallpaper I may use on the sides of the box, or maybe the whole thing...I haven't decided yet. I am not sure how much I am going to finish the inside as it's a temporary place for my minis, yet decorative. The minis in here will go to the shop when I finish them, to the Glencroft, or perhaps in a mini swap (if anyone's interested).
An unfinished Michael's hutch with some jars I made tonight (clear pony beads + paper fasteners) which will eventually get labels.
Another hutch with some weird bunnies that came in a grab bag, some dishes, and my chair which is broken, but you can't tell due to the little cover I made for it. (Ain't I clever?) :)
The name of the store, which you can't see...darn shadow. That door is not attached. I bought it at Earth and Tree without measuring it, silly me. It was too short for my shop...I am holding on to it, just in case, but would be happy to swap with it.


I am really excited because Jason and I might make a trip to Earth and Tree tomorrow! :)

And I've made two purchases on eBay recently:

1)


2)
3 books for < 15 bucks and a bunch of mini stuff for just over 20 bucks! Not bad, eh? I have plans for most of the lot of furniture. :)

Mini goodies and update

I got one of those cool Manor House Minis grab bags. :) They are fun! 8 bucks for a bunch of goodies, and most of the fun is in the anticipation of the contents! :)

Anyway, here is a terrible cell phone picture. ( :( I need to get a camera that likes me).

I got Easter bunnies, piggies, a cool bedding set, a doll stand, a dish set, two fancy dishes, some shopping bags, a glass vase/light cover, and ceramic vases. The bedding set will be used as a "sheet set" in my Glencroft bedroom as I got two dark blue hand embroidered Mexican linens in Texas two weeks ago. One I will use as a blanket for the bed in the dollhouse, the other might be a tapestry... Anyway, the dish set will be divided between the shop and the Glencroft. The canister-looking things will be painted with magical symbols for the shop, and the bowls and coffee mugs will go on the hutch in the kitchen. The shopping bags and glass vase will go in the shop. Not sure how the rest of the stuff will be used but I will put them in my random mini collection for future use or swaps.

I also got another goodie from Manor House Minis:

It's an egg chair! :) Yippie! It's going to go in the Glencroft's living room. I am obviously going for an eclectic unique style for the decor. :) After getting this chair and looking at how nicely it was made, I think I may have to get one or more chairs from the collection and build a roombox scene around it. :) All mod-like. :-D

As for the Glencroft, itself, I got the half-timber on most of it. I am stuck on the left wall because sheet 13 was not completely cut the whole way through and it's a pain getting the individual pieces off of it. :( *sigh* There's always a hang-up. Oh well. (Again, sorry for the bad picture :( )

Floors and roof

I finally put the floors in on Friday evening! Stain + skinny sticks for the win!!!!!!!! :) Well, in the bedroom, living room, and kitchen, that is.

Also, I put in the roof supports...and UGH, make sure you have some decent clamps!!!

Mini hunt in Maine

Jason and I went on an antiquing trip yesterday in Maine. We started on Route 9 in our town of Somersworth, NH, crossed the Salmon Falls River and went into Berwick, ME. Route 9 goes through Berwick, then cuts over to Wells, joins with US-1, then cuts away again to follow the coast line. We continued up US-1 to Arundel, then turned around when the shops started to close around 5 to follow US-1 South to Kittery and hit some backroads to head home.

During our very pleasant trip, we stopped at quite a few antique shops. The first, Bo-Mar Hall Antiques and Collectibles, didn't have much in the way of dollhouse miniatures, but it had a lot of train goodies. My dad would LOVE this place and I will probably take him to check it out if they come up to visit this summer.

The next stop was at a group of shops further up the road on the right. I believe the group of shops is called Wells Union, and it includes a wonderful shop, that sells items made from recycled materials, named Smith - Zukas. They have small porcelain "water balls" which could be useful for all kinds of non-mini purposes I suppose. :) Also in this group were two smaller shops, names I cannot recall right now, one which had an amazing 1920s antique New England farmhouse and barn. It looked to be about 1/2" scale. And I am kicking myself for not taking a picture. We may have to go back to get dimensions and take some pics. The price was well over a grand, and it probably won't be going into my collection any time in the near or far future, but it's such a lovely piece just to admire.

Further up the road, also on the right was a shop where I hit the mini jackpot. Pay close attention, readers, if you end up in Maine and are hitting the southwest coast antique shops, go to Reed's Antiques and Collectibles. Here's the sign as I took it standing in front of the building:
It had antique dollhouse furniture and accessories in its glass cases, plus TWO dollhouses out on the floor. I was very excited!
The first dollhouse was a model of a home somewhere in Massachusetts, and I am not sure it was exactly to 1/12th scale. The rooms were very deep and the ceilings were somewhat lower than my Glencroft. Yet it looked to have 1" scale doors and windows...
Here's a picture:
I can't remember the price, but I remember it being between 70-100 dollars.

The other dollhouse was a pleasant surprise when I first saw it, because it is one of the dollhouses on my wishlist! A Westville by Greenleaf!
They were asking about 225.00 for the house. Some of the gingerbread was broken off, and whoever put the house together went overboard with the wood glue inside. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to rehab this beautiful little house, or the money to purchase this particular one, but it may be a nice match for someone out there who would like to put the time and energy into taking care of this pretty thing.

But having seen it reinforced that I do indeed want one. :)

I did leave with some lovely items. First, I want to mention that they were having some reasonable discounts on many of their items, including my new-to-me hutch:
It looks GREAT already in the unfinished kitchen of the Glencroft I'm building. :) As you can see I also took home two very lovely little pots, striped with my favorite colors: blue and green.
Here's a better picture of those:
They are going in the herb/world goods shop for a mini person to buy. :)

There were a few other pieces of furniture, some pewter minis and many accessories. It's worth taking a look around the shop. :)

The next, and last, shop we went to, was the HUGE Antiques USA building in Arundel, past Kennebunk, on US-1. We ended up not buying anything here, but my mini-addicted self was enjoying some of the fun finds, including one really old dollhouse and one very detailed little church (probably 1/4" or 1/2" scale - I really need to bring the tape measure along next time...).

Pretty, huh? There were also one or two 1/12th scale mini pieces, lots of 1/6th scale pieces, and plenty of accessories that were quite old in many of the glass cases. It's definitely worth taking a look!

Once we left this store, it was near 5, when all the shops were closing their doors, so we headed back to NH. :)

Spring Cleaning!

Well, Jason and I decided to clean house today. I've had a lot of craft stuff all over the dining room table and through the living room, and it was time to get it all organized. Clear plastic shoeboxes are my best friend, as I used these to sort and store all my mini/dollhouse supplies. :) The Glencroft-in-progress is also placed next to the Herb Shop (still needs a name!) on the hope chest while it's not being built.

Here's a glimpse into our life today. :)

Organized minis and building supplies!



The Glencroft-in-progress next to the Shop.


Oh my, it looks like we have customers!
Jan Pu is entertaining the kitty as a catgirl...

...while Yasuna and Ayuki came all the way from Japan (and still in their school uniforms!) to shop for items of interest! :)


That's it for now! I plan to do some planning for another mini project I'd like to start in the near future. After the Glencroft is done, of course. ;)

Glencroft Day 4

I worked on the Glencroft during the evening, and finished the beams. I also painted the fireplace wall on both floors. Also, I put the bay window in on the right side.

I will have a lot of touch-up to do, but I am glad most of the painting is done. Some of the beams were difficult to shove into the slots, but I made them fit. *ahem* The camera really brings out some discoloration you can't really see with the naked eye, or at least with the lighting in my living room...it actually looks a bit cleaner than in these photos. Oh well. It's like standing in the dressing room of a department store under fluorescent lights. Every flaw is illuminated. Yuck.

Next, I will be tackling the roof!

Anyway, here are those photos...