Monday 30th August 2010

A little fluff ball has adopted me

Kylie and the boys were given a little ball of fluff about three months ago, and the boys insisted on calling her 'Fluffy'.  She is a cross Shitzu/Maltese and was the runt of the litter.  The breeders had to get rid of her because they had the maximum number of dogs permitted, but no-one had bought her so they gave her to Kylie. 

Fluffy was spoiled by the breeders and continues to be one very spoiled little doggie indeed.  She is very small even for the type of dog she is, but that doesn't stop her from thinking that she is a big fierce guard dog and she protects her family and property against all comers with defiant barking lol!

She has adopted me and loves to climb up on my lap, where she quickly learned to lie down and not fidget.  When she gets too warm she climbs off and this morning she squeezed between me and the arm of the lounge while I was reading the comments on the blog.  She was thrilled that finally someone sat still for more than a minute to cuddle her. 

Things are not good for our darling daughter, in fact they are more complicated and stressful than we even realised before we came to visit, so I just hope and pray that my visit here will be supportive for her and I can offer some help.  I won't talk about it, but I can show you photos of the gorgeous little Fluffy.  These ones are not the best quality because they are the ones that Kylie sent to my phone but they are a start. 

Right at this moment Fluffy is cuddled once again at my side, since my lap is occupied by the laptop.  Earlier she was draped around the back of my neck and licking my ear.  Not my favourite thing, I am more a cat person than a dog person but if I ever did have a dog one of these little white fluffy furballs would certainly tempt me.

Peter has just finished moving the caravan to a better spot on the wide grassed footpath outside the house.  We were planning on bringing it through the double gates into Kylie's back yard but when we measured the opening he decided that there really wasn't a lot of leeway (about 4 inches) and considering he would have to manouver around a tree to get into the gate we decided to give that a miss.  Instead we have moved it further forward so that when he and Nathan leave tomorrow I can access the gate more conveniently to go into the house.  And he is making the van more level by using the big wedges.  So I will now go and set up again. 

Sunday, 29th August 2010

Great to be with our family again

Nathan was up bright and early and over at the house with the boys this morning. We slept really well again in our ‘cocoon’ as I call the caravan. Once we were up and dressed of course the boys were over at the caravan to check everything out while I tidied up and got things organised. Luke thinks it is very 'cool' because there are lots of cupboards and everything has it's place.  He told me today that he really likes the wardrobe because the handles have buttons on them.


Peter took Nathan and the boys ten-pin bowling; it’s part of our ‘tradition’ when we see them. Usually I go with them too, but today I was feeling woozy with fatigue after the long trip yesterday, and planned to have a rest. When they returned the boys, Kylie and I spent some time on the bed with my laptop looking at photos of Luke’s birthday party yesterday.
Cameron made up a booklet from some paper I gave him and started a ‘book’ of his adventures. Our visit has already helped them slot into some of the regular things we do together, which I guess brings a little bit more stability into their life during a time that’s difficult for all of them. We love our daughter and grandsons so much and just wish we could help them all more.

I took photos of the interior of the caravan this morning to show you. First, looking from the rear of the van to the front, you can see here our bedroom, with the wardrobe and bathroom on the right. On the very left you can see the partial dividing wall, and the strap that is folded around it holds the concertina door in place when we are travelling.

This second photo of the same end of the van is slightly more to the left side and shows the side window rather than the bathroom side. Sorry about the mess on the bed – just as I was about to take photos Peter brought things in from the car and I hadn’t put them away yet. And of course my laptop lives on the bed during the day vbg.
The space between the end of the bed and the wall doesn’t show in these photos, it is about 2’6” and part of the wheel hub is there. That gives a handy support for a small shelf to fit over it so I can put the computer on there at night, along with anything else I want to put there too. On our long trip I had a couple of large crates stacked on it but I prefer to keep it uncluttered.

The bathroom on the right is not large but there’s room – these two photos show each side- because of the layout I can’t get it all in one photo. The little handbasin is fine for washing your hands, the loo is comfortable and the shower gives a great shower! There’s enough hot water in the tank for me to have a shower and wash my hair if I turn off the water while I scrub my hair.

There is a light in there and an exhaust fan. And just the warmth of the shower keeps you warm enough even in the cold. The hatch opens to let the steam out when you want to. And it’s great to open it wide in the warm weather and look up at the stars at night.

Next, here is the view of the other end of the van. The lounge at the end is wider than a normal couch because it doubles as a bed. It is where Nathan sleeps when we don’t put up the annexe with his camp bed in it. In cold weather it is much better to have him inside. You can also just see the back of the second seat on the opposite side of the table. The photo has come out dark because the sun was shining in so brightly – I always find that funny.

This second shot of thesame side of the caravan (looking
from the rear) also shows the back of the second seat, and the rest of the ‘dining’ area of the van. This side has the fridge, and a cupboard with slide-out wire baskets for food. The DVR, TV are on the sliding shelf and above it, the controls for the satellite dish. We can pull the shelf out and turn it so we can watch TV, satellite or DVDs from either the bedroom or the other end of the van.


When the ‘guys’ go back to Sydney the table will become my mini work area, if I do any in the caravan. Naturally my first priority will be my family but I’ll also be conscious of giving them their own space as well.

Standing at the rear end of the caravan and looking back to the left, it’s the kitchen. When we designed the caravan I chose the bedroom from one caravan on display and the kitchen from another one and we mirror-reversed the kitchen to fit our design. The makers liked it so much that they then released several others in two different lengths, the same design as ours. And a customer saw ours waiting to be picked up and ordered one in another colour as well. So I took that as a compliment vbg.

These two photos show the entire kitchen. We had a full oven put in, so we could have one of Peter’s lovely roast dinners if we wanted it while away, cook a cake or whatever. The fridge on the other side is actually larger than normal too but could be bigger. The large board you might be able to make out behind the hand towel on the rack above the sink fits over the sink and draining board to give extra work surface area if you want it.

The panel on top of the oven area lifts up and the stove is underneath that. It works on bottled gas, as does the oven. The microwave of course just works on electricity so if we are in a place without power we can’t use it.

The fridge works on AC or DC electricity or bottled gas, and the lights on AC or DC electricity. So we can stay at unpowered sites for several days, though Nathan prefers not to – he really likes to have his television.

So why am I telling you all this? Because lots of people have asked lots of questions lol! I know caravans are called by different names in different countries, but I think they are fitted out pretty much the same. Ours is several years old now, we bought it in 2003. So styles and finishes have changed but we are very comfortable when we are in ours and we love it.


The only way we would change it if we could is to trade it in a longer van so that Nathan could have his own room at the end, with space to set up his own things and an area that he could call his own. He is less independent than we thought he would be at this age, but fortunately he really enjoys travelling with us and at present wishes to continue to do so. And having his own area would be nice now he is an adult. Better than having to set up the annexe when we are moving on quite frequently or the weather is cool.

So although I won't publish photos of our darling boys on a public site like this, I can at least show you our 'other' baby!

Saturday 28th August, 2010

Happy Birthday, Peter - and Surprise!!!

Peter celebrated his birthday for the second year running by driving all day vbg! We slept well, and woke early, enjoying to the magpies carolling to greet the dawn then drifting off to sleep again. But by 6.30 we were awake and refreshed. For once before Nathan vbg. We did the ‘Happy Birthday’ thing with Peter, giving him his presents and coffee in bed and prepared for a reasonably early departure.

Our daughters phoned to wish Pete a happy birthday and when Kylie phoned I told her we had gone away for a few days for Dad’s birthday. She accepted it, but seemed surprised. We decided to just drive as much as we felt comfortable doing, and see how far we got. It was still 600 or more kms to Toowoomba because we left so late yesterday, but it isn’t worth pushing too hard when you are fatigued. When we left Scone the skies were blue and it was 13degC; within an hour the sky had clouded over and the temperature had dropped to 10deg. It didn’t rise above 13deg until late afternoon.
 We stopped for morning tea after a couple of hours at Tamworth, then at Guyra for lunch. We stopped beside a lovely park, quite small but nicely set out and I made some bread rolls for our ‘picnic’ lunch. Only we had it inside because of the chilly wind. Kookaburras are plentiful here and their cheery chuckling was a nice background while we ate. Several came and sat in the trees nearby as well and had a good look at us to see what we were doing.

I couldn’t resist taking some photos of the pretty garden that caught my eye when we pulled up. The splash of colour from the daffodils and the contrast against the silver trunks of the trees and the red of the shrub behind was very pretty. A Willy Wag Tail in the branch of one of the trees flicked his tail and made

 his sweet call too as though telling me how nice it was that spring is here, until I came too close. These little birds look so smart in their crisp black and white feathers - as though dressed in a dinner jacket.  And they never stay still, always hopping and wagging their tails. They are such busy little creatures.

I loved the daffodils and also the snowdrops in the garden – I wonder whether the ones I have in the pot at home will bloom soon? Probably while I am away.

Peter kept driving and driving. I took a spell after lunch too for a couple of hours. I could see that Peter really wanted to make Toowoomba even though he didn’t admit it, and we did. And once we arrived, we promptly proceeded to get lost!  Pete was so sure that he knew exactly how to get to Kylie’s house but it turned out we turned just one street too soon, then there was a street closed off and a detour and of course that meant we lost our bearings hopelessly. So he pulled in to the first service station and we were soon on the right track again.

 

The dogs came out barking, soon followed by our daughter (not barking). She seemed quite calm and unfazed but said she was in disbelief. She had looked out the window to see what the dogs were barking at and saw the end of the van. Thinking to herself that it was the caravan but that it couldn’t be, she ventured out to investigate. Luke had just fallen asleep after the excitement of his birthday party today and Cameron was snuggled up in the play room with his doona, half asleep also. He had heard our voices in the adjoining kitchen but didn’t believe what he heard and when I walked in to the room his eyes just got bigger and rounder and bigger and rounder! I said hello and he said ‘Hello Marnie’ (their name for me) with a great big smile then jumped up and gave me an enormous hug over the back of the lounge. What a wonderful welcome.

He was of course then so excited that it took ages before we could get him settled but he and Nathan ended up in the Play Room watching a video and he finally he went off to sleep again. It helped that Nathan told him that he was having an early night and we were having the same. It also took a while before Kylie could quite believe that we were really here vbg. She said she felt that she was dreaming.

 

Kylie’s neighbour and friend (and her daughters) also had to come down and say hi. Fiona also calls me ‘Mum’ and it was good to see her again too – it didn’t take her long to know that we had arrived as she and her husband Gary keep a good eye on Kylie and look out for her. They are good friends. Fiona had kindly brought down the photos of Luke’s birthday party so I could download them on to my computer because she had taken her camera to be official photographer for the day.

After such a huge day and the excitement of seeing our family we are of course ready for another good night’s sleep!

Friday 27th August, 2010

Feeling right at home

Yesterday, as soon as we got to the caravan it was as though we had never left it. We felt right at home. I haven’t slept so well since we moved out of the van into the house. Not even now we have our new bed.
 The estimate of a lunchtime departure was right on target, unfortunately. It would have been good to have left earlier but at least we are on our way. What a relief to get out of the city again! The freeway going north is ablaze with bright yellow wattle. 1st August is Wattle day but they are looking beautiful even now, and different varieties will come into bloom progressively throughout the year – virtually all year.

There has been a lot of rain through this northern New South Wales area and things are looking so green. Nature takes no notice of the calendar as we know, and in spite of spring not starting officially until September, it has already been spring for a fortnight. The magnolias are in bloom, the blossom trees are bursting out, azaelias are blazing with colour and everything is full of life. It is still cold at night and during the day a cold wind is taking the chill factor waaaaaaay down. But if you can stay out of the wind, Sydney temperatures today were 20deg and we were actually too warm in the car.

We stopped mid- afternoon to buy something to eat in a little town – can’t remember the name. We were parked outside an antique shop with some delightful and tempting things for sale – boy, did my mouth water at the sight of a beautiful marble-topped washstand with tiled back! And just beside it was a lovely old building occupied downstairs by a hairdressing salon. Peter took some photos of the building for me – can’t you see this as a lovely quarter scale mini project? I stood against the verandah post for one of the photos then he took some like this. It took him quite a few minutes to get several shots, partly because we were on a main highway so he had to wait for a break in the traffic going both ways, and partly because he was constantly being swooped by a magpie!

Fortunately it didn’t make contact even with its wings let alone pecking him, but I was a bit anxious for Peter – that maggie was quite determined to ‘protect’ his area! In spring Magpies become very territorial, swooping people who venture into an area near their nest. They might buffet you with their wings or even peck you with their very strong beaks as they pass by. I’ve googled a photo for those of you who aren’t Aussies to show you what Magpies look like. They are 38-44cms when mature, and become very tame around households, quite often coming to be fed tidbits of meat and such. Their beautiful carolling songs make up for their unpleasant habits during nesting time though!

We hit a lot of traffic before and in the Hunter Valley and the caravan parks were full. We pulled in to one hoping for a spot and while I was waiting in the car, Eastern Rosellas were swooping around the car. They are really pretty birds, I googled photos of them too. They are medium-sized parrots, around 32cm or 13inches long and are characterised by their white cheek patches. The females are similar to the males but perhaps a bit duller. When they fly you see these brilliant flashes of colour. I used to see lots of them in Sydney but don’t see them where we live now.

Nathan was really disappointed that there were no vacancies there because there were two figures outside the office, one of a full-size mare and one of a foal. I wish I had taken a photo for him but there wasn’t really time before Peter came back to the car. I was in the driver’s seat in the meanwhile in case the car and caravan needed to be moved to let other traffic through.

Finally we went on to Scone, which isn’t that much further on and calls itself the ‘Horse Capital of Australia’. It is considerably larger than the previous town, which surprised us. First caravan park we came to was full but the second one had a spot and we are all settled ready for another good night’s sleep.

Thursday, 26th August 2010

On the move again – briefly!

My ‘Sandra from Sydney’ blog is supposed to be the travel blog but since this is just a short trip I am writing about it here on ‘Snippets’. We actually are on the way to Queensland to pay a surprise visit to our oldest daughter Kylie so I won’t post this until we arrive. She needs a bit of family support at the moment, and I hope we can give that. Peter and Nathan and I are driving up and they will leave me and the caravan there for at least a couple of weeks then come back for me. They will stay a couple of days each time to rest (it’s the best part of 1000kms each way) and we will take a couple of days for the trip.


It has been a spur-of-the-moment decision, made last Saturday, so this week has been very busy indeed. Of course my packing started with choosing the minis I would take! I have packed a quarter scale ‘Petite Properties’ project (#1, The Corner Shop) – just in case there is time to start on it vbg. Also lots of Paper Minis things to put together in small bits of time. Flower kits, and more.


Then there are mini needlework projects. I hope that once I am with Kylie and not so worried about her wellbeing I will be able to concentrate a bit better and able to stitch again. And some full size cross stitch too – have to get a move on with those Christmas stockings for the grandchildren after all.


So I don’t think I’ll run out of things to keep my fingers and mind busy when I’m not doing Nana things with the boys and Mum things with my daughter!!!


After those essential things were dealt with – that took a couple of days to get sorted – it only took an hour to sort out my clothes. But I also needed to wash the curtains in the caravan, give it a quick dust to get rid of any that had come in while we left it airing, make up the beds etc. As well as tidy the house and clean it; appointments to keep; Peter’s birthday presents to buy (that’s on this Saturday); Church Bulletin to do and deliver ready for this week; Mum to visit then again just before we leave; other appointments to cancel; rearrange Nathan’s work schedule; and so on.

We had planned to leave first thing this morning but here we are in the caravan all of five minutes from home! At my brother’s house in fact, where the van is parked while the storage container is still in our driveway. We are spending the night here, will do a couple of last-minute things in the morning, do the last visit to Mum, and be on our way by lunch-time at the latest.
 I’ve included some photos of our caravan. It is a Regal brand 18’ long, and we tow it with a 4WD (Mitsubishi Pajero). We love our caravan! The photo at the beginning was taken last year in winter at our house, around a month before we left for our trip. The bare garden (lacking it’s usual winter colour) was mulched in the hope of keeping weeds down while we were away, and we were packing the caravan in readiness. My Holden just fits on the driveway with the caravan there, as does the Pajero. As you can see, we live on a small suburban block in your average small suburban house.

This next one photo was taken on our trip, at Coffs Harbour north of Sydney, where we stopped for the first night of our trip around Australia last year.

Friday 20th August, 2010

More 1:12th scale revisited: Conservatory

I did have this conservatory assembled too, but dismantled it a couple of years ago and it has been in storage, then repacked by Mark and moved to the storage container for several months when my workroom was cleared out. I had never done the brick work on the walls but being on a roll after doing the Corner Toy Shop I went on with the walls for the conservatory. Believe it or not, this proved more tricky because the spaces were inset and quite small and the stencil didn’t want to bend at the edges.

Finally I cut a piece out of a smaller brick stencil I had and used that. I could then get it right up against the sides of the sections so there was no build-up underneath the stencil edges.


I also experimented with colours of the bricks a little bit, to see how it went. This project will be set in the present day and I want an aged brick appearance. So I added some of the grey/neutral compound I have to the red brick compound, to make a lighter colour.

Peter cut me a rear wall and a base for the setting. I plan to add other features around the conservatory itself, and have made the base and wall quite large – over 5 ¼” wider on each side than the building. Originally I wanted to put it on another base as well, to give it more dimension with steps leading down to a lower level, but I’ve put that part on hold just for now.

When I had nearly finished bricking that rear wall I realised that I had goofed – you are supposed to paint the timber first, to be the

grouting.  And I was doing the bricks on raw wood. I was really, really well and truly over it by the time I had finished bricking that large area. I made the mistake of doing too much – sticking to it for three days between both projects, well into the evening hours. Something to remember when I tackle the massive job of bricking my ‘Cadogan Gardens’ kit from Dollhouse Emporium.

I had to then undertake the extremely tedious task of going through and painting between the bricks with a dirty wash of different shades to cover that bare wood. It also got on to the bricks themselves no matter how careful I was but in the end I realised that it just added to the old, dirty brick effect of the wall that I wanted anyway. Some of the bricks have actually fallen off – they are really fragile at this stage. I will glue them back on and hope that once it is all varnished they will be more durable.

Back in February, when I unearthed the flowers and conservatory that I had previously had stored in Peter’s shed, I found that some of the flowers had disappeared – simply melted away. They must have been made of bread dough or something dissolvable, which wasn’t mentioned on the boxes that they were in when I bought them. I thought that they would have been properly made from clay or something lasting. How annoying when they weren’t cheap in the first place. I bought them online and the vendor is no longer in business. I have no clue about their maker.


Fortunately on our trip around Australia I bought some beautiful, beautiful, flowers from Kathy B in Western Australia so I have lovely things to put in there anyway. I will post photos of some of them another time.


Big decision – do I remove the bricks from inside the rear of the conservatory or do I leave them? Opinions please.

Friday, 20th August 2010

Revisiting 1:12th Scale - Corner Toy Shop

Unpacking things from storage is going sooooooo slowly.  To get anything out I have to mobilise my husband Peter and nephew Mark (he lives with us too).  That's because things are still stacked right to the roof to save space in the half that is left to unpack.  Nathan of course can't do a lot of lifting or climbing for safety reasons because of his balance and vision problems.  And then when I do get some minis unearthed (finally!!) I have to find somewhere to put them.  However I managed to get two projects out of the container the other day: the corner Toy Shop and the conservatory.  And surprisingly (since they weren't packed by me) most of the pieces of each were there together in the same boxes.  Amazing!! 

I had both of these assembled several years ago then dismantled them because of lack of space.  However they weren't finished.  I wanted to add brickwork to them and landscape around them.  Now, wonder of wonders, I have found the bricking compound, the stencils, and the projects over the last few forays into the container.

Spatula and bricking compound at the ready, I first tackled the easier-to-access two straight side walls of the shop, then the fronts of the bay windows.  The sides of the windows weren't difficult either and the walls beside the windows weren't too bad until you get to the top where they have to be shaped over the roof on the windows.  But the wall between the window and the side trim was really fiddly.  It came out okay though, and here is the result so far.

  

As you can see, I haven't attached thewooden top trim yet (that's it sitting on the removable glass roof).  The door is also just sitting there at the moment.  And one thing that wasn't packed with the rest of the shop was the perspex for the windows!  I've kept the floor, but removed the floorboards because they had become buckled and uneven from storage.  I'll start afresh for that.

Aging the bricks? Since it will be set in Victorian times and it is red Victorian brick it is a fairly new brick - but then with the Industrial age that it was and all the coal fires, the air wasn't exactly clean either, so some aging would be appropriate and it always makes things more realistic than 'pristine'.   Any suggestions welcome.

After being stored for so long, some of the pieces tended to stick together a bit and bits of the paint is in less than wonderful condition so I will have to fix that up, which will probably mean taking a piece of the top to the harware shop to have it matched unless I can track down the original tin.

I have ordered more stencils from Bromley Craft, including cobblestones for the footpath.  Peter cut me a base that allows a quite generous footpath on both sides, with a curved corner.  I will be placing dolls on it - more about the story and background of this project later.

And in case you are wondering what the house is behind the shop, it is my 'Carrington Villa', the large commission-built house based on a RL house here in Grafton, New South Wales.  Here's a better view of the two of them.

So now I need to locate the container with the shelves and counter for the shop, get the guys to dig out the large container that has the wallpaper and flooring from the storage container (it is under a pile of other containers supporting them, and they reach to the roof) Ladders and I do not get along so it is frustrating to have to wait on their pleasure - grrrrrr!  And I think I have already unpacked the box of toys that I have that pretty well stock the shop.

Monday 2nd – Thursday 5th August, 2010

It’s that time of the month again....

Town Square time, that is! This is the third in the Town Square Series and it arrived a little late this month due to shipping delays from the US to England. However it arrived last Thursday and I was able to start it tonight. I usually do these little Town Square buildings over two or even three days. They could be done in one long day if you started early and finished late, but I like to take my time and spread it out a bit. This time I have spread it out over a week.


I haven’t taken step-by-step photos for the Village Toyshop; I was too pleased to be getting on with constructing the shop after a migraine over the weekend and then a busy day on Monday. And every day since.


Everything in these kits is so well cut and prepared it is a pleasure to work with each kit. And Judith has even included a tiny little toy to start us off in populating the shop once finished – don’t know if they are all the same, but mine is a lovely little clown toy. Really sweet. I bought a QS teddy bear ages ago too, and somewhere have a white metal bicycle and some kits to make up for other toys. Not many but a start.

Here it is with the shell assembled, ready to start papering the outside. As usual it went together beautifully and I discovered that if I did two stacks of Lego blocks they were just the perfect height to sit the ceiling on so that it was level with the top of the front wall as it was supposed to be.


And the second photo shows the brick paper on the outside. I brought it around ready to wrap around and glue to the sides. The instructions say to add strips later on, but I am not very clever at doing that neatly so I decided to do it before papering the floors and walls. That way I can get a neater finish.

The wallpapers are really sweet. There is an extra border supplied which I pasted over the Teddy Bears that is on the ground floor paper. It matches the border on the first floor paper and is really pretty. A hint here if you are doing it – don’t cut off the white above the border or it won’t cover the teddy bears properly. It would be better to cut the paper from the bottom and not use the teddy border at all; that way you wouldn’t have to worry about it. And as a bonus you would have the teddy border to use on another project.

I found here that wrapping the brick paper around had one
drawback – I should have fitted the wallpaper first, perhaps even glued it in except for the very last half inch or so and trimmed it precisely, then wrapped the brick paper around, glued it in, and covered it with the wallpaper. As it was I found it very difficult to trim the wallpaper as precisely as I like to without damaging the brick paper. But it is still neater than when I try to add a strip of paper to the edge. The photo was taken before it was properly trimmed – after this I found my small sharp scissors and it did make a difference lol!

The dormers were easy to cover with the brick paper.And while the wallpapers and brick paper on the dormers were drying I used the time to paint the shingles, putting them over our column oil heater to dry. This time I added the dormers before I shingled the roof, remembering the way the bell tower in the Wedding Chapel didn’t sit as well on top of the shingles. I took the roof off each one though, to allow room to shingle around them, then added them again later.


I sprayed the plastic doors and windows early in the morning, letting them dry while I went on with housework and the never-ending effort of trying to fit two rooms’ worth of miniatures into my one room! I really am getting desperate there. I have pruned down all the ‘extras’ – and haven’t even unpacked all my minis from storage.


The kit comes with two shelves on which to display toys, along with the sales counter and the ‘cash register’. This time I’ve done the sales counter white, and I’m trying to decide on some graphics to put on the front – something that goes with the border on the wallpaper but isn’t too fiddly to cut out. Probably a bit too much to ask for in quarter scale lol!

Except for the dormer windows, I had to do the rest of the doors
and window pieces again the next day with a second top coat. I was surprised that they needed the second coat, but was probably too lighthanded with the first one. It is too cold to spray outside at the moment until about lunchtime (going by the directions on the can) and after an hour or so I had to bring the pieces inside again to dry near the heater. Interesting ‘air freshener’ but the worst of the smell had gone by then. That night I could do the rust-coloured contrast pieces, and they didn’t take long to dry being done in craft paint. What a difference once the door and windows are in!


Debbie Young provides a double set of both windows and doors in her kits. She says it is because she doesn’t like doing interior trim. It’s really a great idea too, because the thickness of the ply would leave some of the openings uncovered if there was just one single set. As it is everything is nice and neat. The door frame does need sanding down a bit but that’s all. Here’s the interior view:

Now it was truly on the home straight so to speak, and the last bit to do after gluing the shop to the base was the landscaping and adding the shelves and shop counter. And of course putting the sweet little clown on the shelf in the place of honour!

So here is the end result, first from the inside. The cash register is there, ready to cater to happy customers, and the clown is on the shelf – all it needs now is some more stock! I was going to wait until I made up the toy kits I have before I posted this but I have had several comments from friends that I haven’t posted for so long, so I am putting it up after all. It is nice to know that someone noticed. When there are no comments I sometimes wonder vbg.

And here is the exterior view:

Thursday 19th August, 2010

Welcome new Followers!

I've been really remiss and haven't welcomed new followers for quite a while now.  And today I opened up my Snippets blog and found there are two more.  Welcome!! I hopw you enjoy sharing my mini world with me.  I started this blog because there are few people locally that share my interest, and as all miniaturists know that is a large part of the enjoyment of our hobby.

But there hadn't seemed to be a great deal of response for a while and I hadn't bothered posting.  Then several of my friends started to comment that they'd been checking my site and noticed there was nothing new.  So I realised that not everyone has listed themselves as a 'follower' even though they follow and not everyone makes a comment even though they read.  That was encouraging during a rather flat time for me.

And to open up the site and find two more followers really gave me a boost as well!

So I've decided to keep going after all and continue to share my progress with you.  I'm not stitching at the moment, but am trying to finish off a couple of the 1:12th scale projects that I have managed to unearth from storage.

So I hope you enjoy seeing some new things.

Mini hugs to you all,

Sandra 

Thursday 22nd July 2010

Now it’s ready for landscaping

It sure looks better with those Front Annexe Trims up the right way lol! Last night and tonight I finished working out the stairs, covered them with Creative PaperClay and did the rocks beside them, building them up into something similar to the photo of the model. I didn’t want the pile of rocks at the bottom of the chimney that the model has, just put some around the bottom of the Annexe trims. I know the side bits aren’t quite the same height but probably won’t worry about that, at least for now.


So here it is, with the rocks in place, brown paint where the garden beds will be, more or less, and green paint where the grass will be.

I really like the way the colours of the rocks and the outside of the cottage and the roof all blend together without being too similar. I know I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again: I love this cottage!!


Here are two more photos, showing views from each side.

On the layout plan supplied for the garden, there is a garden shown on the lower level at each side. In the photo of the model there is no garden and there certainly didn’t appear to be sufficient room for a garden of any size when I did the two bases with rocks – the most it would have been was a space of about ¼”, which would have only been equivalent to 1’. So I decided not to worry about a garden either. However I might end up putting a few bits of greenery draping over the sides, depending on what it looks like after I do some planting.

I have the twig bench to put on the lawn on the left side and that dictates what the nature of the rest of the garden accessories will be. They can hardly be formal, can they? So now I need a bird bath that is in character. Maybe I’ll try making one out of PaperClay. And I think the birdhouse with the coneflowers might fit into this garden.


And I’m considering a small tree too. I won’t go overboard with this one like I did with the larger tree for the Australian Colonial Cottage vbg. That ended up twice the size it was going to be in the beginning – but it sure was fun!


And then I have lots of flower kits to finish because I have used quite a few of the ones I have made up on Rose Cottage (formerly Miss Marple’s Cottage).

So there's lots of fun to go yet, even before I start to furnish and accessorise the inside.