The Big Clean

Hi everyone!

I'm so sorry that I didn't get round to post yesterday. Real life got in the way, pain in the bum when that happens! I didn't get any work done on Bruion which has upset me alot! I've also got to mention to you now, that I have changed the name of The Enchantment. I've changed it to Bruion, which is Gaelic for Fairy Dwelling. I thought it fitted the property nicely and has a mystical ring to it. So there's my bit of news concerning my newest property.
I still haven't been able to do any work on The Bakers Dozen. I haven't been able to get to my local DIY store to get the Bostik I am needing to do the brick stencil work.

So yesterday, in between the RL issues that were taking place (nothing bad or serious, don't worry - just organising a New Years night out!) I decided to have a huge clear out. My room had all of a sudden become a big mess. I've always said, my room isn't messy - it's an obstacle course designed to keep me fit. It had gone beyond this.

I took this photo after about an hours worth of tidying up and trying to find a space for myself. You see that patch in the floor? It used to be small enough just so I could sit on the floor and play around making some mini's that would never come to anything. I'd managed to clear enough room so I could rotate in my little space.

I took this second photo after another two hours of cleaning and tidying. It still wasn't finished but it was getting there. I could lay roll down and roll around in my little space if I wanted too! Not been able to do that before! :D

And then I came downstairs for a cup of tea and a snack. I decided, because I had to go out and I didn't have enough to do anything constructive with Bruion, I'd try and make something from clay. So I went to my room, managed to find all my clay stuff straight away without spending another ten miniatures searching for the clay box itself!
I sat down at the dining room table. My mom screaming at me to cover the table with heaps of newspaper after I PVA'd it the other day! Eeek.
I found myself getting frustrated when I couldn't find the clay I wanted, or my nail polish remover or the embossing tool I needed. So I thought about having a clear out instead.

Yay! I'm so pleased I did. Here's a photo of my now tidyish clay stuff:

Doesn't it all look good? My clay tin is all organised, I had lots of little bags filled with clay that had obviously been mixed up and saved for a later date, but I hadn't a clue what clay was for and so took a deep breath and threw it away. There was a lot. Trust me. It was horrible, but it had to be done. Now my tin looks pretty empty... clay shopping me thinks! One-armed-Greg (we all call him that now as he lost his arm when I tried to make him a pj top) sat and watched me tidy everything up with interest. He was relieved. He's not in the cardboard box containing my blades, embossing tools, tweezers and all things pointy when I'm not working. Poor guy.

Take a look at my beautiful new blade set. My dad came across these and thought they'd make the perfect Christmas present for me. They are fabulous and I'm so happy with them! There's nothing like a new, clean blade to cut your clay with! Thanks Dad! :D

Here you can see my organised clay tin, and the bag of scrap clay. There doesn't look like a lot in it from this photo, but there was, it was bursting.



So, my New Years resolution regarding my clay stuff is:

To not allow for so much scrap clay!
To fix Greg's arm
To keep all my clay stuff clean, tidy and organised!

One last thing before I leave, I'd like to make a huge welcome to all my new followers! Thank you so much for following this blog, I appreciate it very much!

See you tomorrow!

The Enchantment, progress!!

Hello again everyone!

As promised, piccies!!
Today I went to town and picked up a few supplies that I was needing over the next couple of days. Came home and did nothing but painting and staining! Here's the result:

I apologise that you can't see the true colours very well. I will take the next lot of pictures in the day light tomorrow so you can see more clearly. If you click on the photo, it'll bring it up a bit bigger and it's a bit clearer to see the colours.

I wanted to get the outside beams put on, but it got too late. The windows are taped up so I didn't get paint on the inside, I'm very clumsy with paint!

Tomorrow I plan on painting the inside, adding the beams and hopefully I might be able to do the downstairs area.

I hope you like the progress so far, I'm sorry it's a very short post but it's late now and I'm very tired!

See you tomorrow! :)

Progress Made on The Market Cross, plus new name revealed!

Good morning everyone!
I have an apology to make. I promised you that I would show you the progress I made yesterday, but my camera died and I couldn't find the battery charger. This morning, before doing anything else I found that charger, allowed the battery to charge for all of 2 minutes - just enough to snap up a couple of photo's for you!

Yesterday, Thomas and I got the room piece all glued together. It looks fab now! Here is the building all standing and looking fab. I'm yet to put all the beams around the outside on, but I'm going to do that after I've painted it.

I put some wooden flooring inside the room yesterday too. This was very quick and easy! Still needs sanding down to neaten the edges a bit, but I'll do that today!

Over the past few days I've been thinking about what to call this project. I don't like calling it "The Market Cross" or "MC". The lovely people on the DHE forum have been helping me think up some ideas. So far we've only got The Enchantment. Thank you Joe for your suggestion!

I was thinking long and hard about it last night, and I really think The Enchantment will work! So there we go. I'll hopefully be back later with some more progress made on The Enchantment!

See you tonight!

Building The Market Cross!!!

Happy Boxing Day everyone! I hope you all had a great Christmas and I hope you got everything you wished for!

Today I've had a very busy day. Actually, it's surprising I've managed to find five minutes to post this!
I've spent almost the whole day searching for masking tape. I needed it for a reason I'll show you in a moment. Last time I saw the tape, I'd used it to tape down the lid to the box for Rachel's gift a few weeks ago as I couldn't find the cellotape! Haha.
Anyways, it wasn't in it's usual place, where I always put it - in the washroom. So off I went on a four hour search looking for masking tape. I went EVERYWHERE! Eventually, my mom piped up and told me it might be in a carrier bag in the garage after she'd cleaned out the washroom the other day. She was right. Hurrah!

So I set to work on the reason I needed it.

Remember a few weeks ago I told you I was getting the Market Cross from the Dolls House Emporium as a Christmas present. Well I set to work on building it. I got half way through dry building, masking taping it all together and then decided to just go ahead and glue it!

My brother is wonderful at building model items of all sizes and kinds, so he helped me. We got everything set out and ready and we set to it.

Here's how what we've managed to do so far.

I glued the base and the arch ways while Thomas set to work on the roof. The room piece you can see next to Thomas is just dry built.

The roof was fiddly. The instructions need updating. It should tell you in the "Equipment Needed" section that you need an extra pair of hands! We managed in the end, with a bit of help from dad!

We made lots of mess with scraps of masking tape. We got little wooden pieces strewn all over. We took up the entire dining room table. And we got lots of wood glue on our mom's precious table. Whoops. Anyways, the results are great!

Tomorrow, Thomas and I are waking up early to get the roof finished, the top room part glued together and then the beams glued on. If all goes to plan I'll be back tomorrow to show you the finished build!!

See you tomorrow!

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night

Hello everyone!

It's Christmas Eve here in the UK, it's 9.57pm and I'll soon be going to bed. I'm not sure if I'll be posting tomorrow, maybe Boxing Day, and so I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas!! Those of you who opened your presents today, I hope you got what you wished for! For those of you who are opening your presents tomorrow, I wish you a great day and I hope you get what you wished for too!

So I'll leave you now to read one of my most favourite poems. Enjoy.


'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

Poem written by: Clement Clarke Moore


Good night, sleep tight!
Best wishes
ShellbyFay
xx

A Little Gift In The Post

As it's December, strangely enough I've been receiving Christmas cards in the post and today I recieved another! This one was from Rachel at Miniaturemaids Blog.
A while ago now I won first prize in her giveaway. I promised her, at the time, that I would send her a special gift to say thank you. Unfortunately I hadn't found the time or made anything I felt was good enough to send as a present for someone.

A little while ago I made her a few items and sent them to her as a thank you and as an extra Christmas present. This is what I sent her: (these are Rachel's photo's, I hope you don't mind me stealing them Rachel!)

I made her a few Christmas cookies, a yule log,

a couple of hot chocolates, a lemon cake and a

fruit bowl made from a nutshell and filled with fruit (I will be making some more of these and putting them on my Etsy shop in the new year - if you like the one I sent Rachel keep your eyes open at Diddies!).

I know Rachel likes to make hats and corests and rugs,

so I sent her a square of fabric and some ribbons.

I also handstitched her a cushion, this nearly killed me!

This is the first miniature cushion I have ever made! I

was very pleased with it. :)

So in the post this morning, with the card, Rachel had made me another little rug, in Christmas colours. It's very pretty! Here's some photos for you: (click the pics to see a bigger image)

Thanks so much for this Rachel, I really wasn't expecting this and it's lovely! It'll look great in the living room under the coffee table and next to the tree!! Thanks again xxx

20% Discount at Diddies

Hey all!!

Only 6 more sleeps to Christmas! Eeee!
So to celebrate the end of the year and the opening of my Etsy shop, Diddies, I thought I would give you all the chance to get a special 20% off discount just for blogger followers of either this blog, or my new blog: http://diddiesatetsy.blogspot.com/ . You will find all details of how to get that discount at the blog I've just linked to.


Below is a picture of the 3 items you cn choose from in the shop and the price list of both the before and after discount, including the savings you could make!

Visit Diddies at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Diddies 

Have a great day and I'll be back soon :)

Diddies @ Etsy

Hello everyone!
I hope you're all good and you're all prepared for Christmas! Only 8 more sleeps to go... well for those who live in the UK anyways!

I've dropped by today for a couple of reasons. By the time Christmas comes around I'm going to be so busy, and you'll read why in just a moment, that I'll not have an awful lot of time to post much for a while.

The first thing I'm going to tell you, is that I've opened up an Etsy shop. It's called Diddies. So far there's only 3 items you can choose from (I have more than one of each!) so I definately have to make some more items, but I finished college yesterday, which means up until Christmas day I'll have time to make new mini's to put up, so keep checking back if nothing there takes your fancy. :) In the shop right now I have some Profiteroles and a selection of 2 different batches of donuts, one set is 4 brightly coloured donuts and the other set is 4 brightly coloured donuts, 2 chocolate eclairs and 2 chocolate buns.



My second bit of news is this: The Market Cross. Yup, that's my third project, well a picture of it. My grandparents have kindly bought me this property as a Christmas present. I can't tell you just how excited I am! I've got plans for this property, but you'll have to wait and see what those plans are!

Also, I big welcome to all my new followers! Thank you for following my blog, I very much appreciate it :)

Anyways, I've got to dash now, sorry this was a pretty short post.
I'll be back soon!!

Happy Mini-ing
ShellbyFay
x

Back From The Fair, With Goodies!!

Well good afternoon!!
Hope you're all okay and having a good Sunday!

Today was the fair in Woodhall, I call it Petwood but it's actually Lyndsey Fairs. I call it Petwood because it's held at the Petwood Hotel.

Anyways, enough rambling - here's some photos of the goodies I picked up!

I've split them into 3 different photos.

The first photo shows items I've bought that are purely for creative purposes. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with these things yet, but they were bargains so I grabbed them quick!

The second photo shows items that I've bought to finish The Olde Post Office. The post office is not completely finished, I'm still buying odd bits and bobs. It's slow work, the finishing touches, but these little bits were perfect and they were also bargains, so I grabbed them before anyone else could! There's also some glittery pipe cleaners there that I will use as tinsel for the Christmas tree when I start decorating the house for Christmas!

The last photo, the exciting one! I always save the best till last.. Items I've bought for the bakery! The image shows the tiles that'll I'll be using on the roof, the alley and inside the bakery. There is also a few bits there that I just had to have because I thought they looked great! I adore the little bread pot!!

So there we go, my new treasures. I'm going to dash off now to generate some ideas for what to use the creative items for, and I am going to give these new items a home!!

Happy Mini-ing!!
ShellbyFay
xx

Extension Finished!!

Good evening everyone!
It snowed. Humph! (I'm not a fan of the snow to be honest.) Everyone else seems to have snow, and I was kind of hoping we wouldn't have any snow for quite a while... but nope, the weather man predicted snow, we got snow. Grrr!
I planned on taking a drive to a dolls house shop I've found that's not too far away from where I live, but I've only been passed my driving test for 3 weeks, or about that, anyways, and so didnt fancy a drive in the snow to somewhere I've never been before...

Not all bad though, this snow business...

I convinced my dad to get the extension to the bakery finished..!!! (This is where I stop rambling on about snow and get down to the dolls house bit!)

After a few moans, grumbles, coffee's and head scratching he came up with this::

(Click the photos to see them larger!)

Now please, bare in mind this is the first dolls house related piece of woodwork my dad has ever done. He didn't have any fancy tools. Had no real idea of what he was doing, just my word for it. And ta da! It now has a door, a door I can open to get into and the roof is stuck on, but comes off! I'm thrilled to bits with it!!!

Today, I also realised that I went ahead and showed you photos of the new extension a little while ago without telling you what it was or why I was doing it... Bad huh?

Okay, I'll come clean and explain everything now. Well this part is going onto the back of the Bakers Dozen. The room part is going to be the actual bakery. The bit that just looks like my dad forgot to cut it off, will be a dirty, back alley which I'm just going to have a lot of fun with. I've not researched what Georgian alleys would've been like, so this will be my personal touch.

That leaves the orginal building empty, not for long though! This part will be the shop floor and the inside tea room.

Adding the extension gives me that bit of extra space to work with and means I can cram all my ideas into this project without having to hang most of the furniture from the ceiling and pretending the Georgians could fly...


So I hope you all like the progress so far, it's slow, but steady. I'm going to a dolls house fair tomorrow so I plan on picking up a few bits to start the messy work on the bakery next weekend!

Happy mini-ing
ShellbyFay
xx

The Building Work Has Begun!

So, as promised, this weekend the building work for The Bakers Dozen, has started. My dad and I drew out the templates on paper, for all the different pieces of the building. Then copied the templates onto the MDF. Then my dad cut all the pieces out individually and made sure they all fitted and matched.

And this was the result:

It's not all glued together and it doesn't have a door in it yet, we're still discussing what wall will open out and whether or not the roof will come apart, and then there's the "which door!?!?" issue - too many to choose from! Haha.

So there we go, work has officially started on The Bakers Dozen and next weekend, hopefully, the building work will be completed and I can get started on the interior and exterior decorating!

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit

This is the first Christmas I've had to be given the oppertunity to decorate and prepare my dolls house for the winter celebration! This week I've been eagerly making plans for decorating The Olde Post Office and drawing up plans for the new building work that will be done on the Bakers Dozen.. yes, I did say "new building work." You read it correctly.
Hopefully, fingers crossed, if the weather is dry tomorrow, my dad and I will be spending the day outside cutting pieces of wood and preparing the new part that'll be added onto the bakery.. so watch this space!!

So this week I've started the process of preparing The Olde Post Office for Christmas. I've decided that the kitchen, although not fully completed yet (will be for Christmas do not panic!), it'll be fully decked out with a Christmas feast on the table, garlands here there and everywhere and food keeping warm on the aga. I set to making a dent in the food making, and here's a photo below of what I've managed to make so far.
(Apologies for the dreadful lighting. It's only 5.45 here and it's already very dark and the lighting is not the best in this house.)

You can see in this photo the gravy boat, a couple of candy canes, some peas, a hot chocolate with a candy cane and marshmellows (i got the tutorial for the hot chocolate from one of the AIM magazines, can't remember which one though) the carrots with the turkey and if you look closely at the back of the turkey you can see a couple of roast potatos poking round the corner there. There is also some brussel sprouts round the other side of the turkey, but you can't see those. I will take a better photo when I've got the whole Christmas feast completed.

Hope you're not all suffering too badly from the horrible, cold weather and that you are looking forward to the festive season!

Happy Mini-ing
ShellbyFay
xx
 

Donuts & Cross Stitch!

Hello everyone!
I am sooo sorry that I haven't posted up any creation pics that I promised I would post up everyday for 28 days until the local fair. I think I've missed two nights now, so that's two creations to show you plus todays... Well my excuse is this: the annoying part that real life plays when you really want to get things done, you suddenly become busy needing to do things that, apparently, are more important than miniatures... humph.

So I'll show you these first of all: The donuts. Now I promise you, hand on heart that I intended to show you these on the second night of my promise.. but I lost them. I honestly lost all the little donuts. Well they turned up this morning so I spent what little time I had this morning and rushed to get them finished so that I could show you them now. I made two. One set for myself and another for a young friend who I promised I would make something for. Here's a photo:



Yum, yum, yum! The plate isn't brilliant because I made that myself when I first started making things from clay.. I really should do a second attempt at plate making.

Now for the cross stitch. I've been wanting to do some miniature cross stitch for some time now, but I wanted to start off with something basic.. it seems I always want to throw myself in the deep end and I end up choosing a design far to complicated for myself.

So I was reading the November's AIM magazine and came across a pattern of a lavender. Very pretty. It's supposed to be a cushion, but I think I've use an aida too big for this as it seems quite big. It's going to be a pretty big cushion. Any suggestions welcome for alternatives to use this design as, if not a cushion.

Here's a photo: 

You can get the pattern yourself here: http://www.scribd.com/full/40665430?access_key=key-67pda06urjyqo04jdk2 (the link is to the AIM magazine, skip to page 37 for the pattern.)

So tomorrow I have a day off, but I plan on catching up with a load of work I've got to do and by doing that I'll save myself some time for miniatures in the future.. yes? So depending on how tomorrow goes, I may/may not see you all tomorrow!

Anyways,

Happy mini-ing

ShellbyFay

Some news and my first doll! :)

Good evening everyone!! It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd share some news and a creation with you.

Please, allow me to introduce you to Greg! Greg is an incompleted doll that I sculpted a couple of days ago, but put together today. I'm not sure when I'll be able to make some clothes for the poor chap, so I thought I'd show you a pic of him now anyway. Not bad for a first attempt I thought. He looks a bit grumpy though. I took the hints and tips from everyone I spoke to about attempting to make my own doll, and they all said my first attempt would come out like an ugly old man - they were right!

Now onto the news!! Work is about to begin on the Bakers Dozen; my long awaited second project! I have no new photos to show you, but you can see a picture of the Bakers Dozen in it's bare form by clicking on the Bakers Dozen tag below this post, or by going through my archive and visiting my very first couple of posts where I introduced you to my dolls houses. I did try putting up a link, but it's refusing to work tonight. Apologies for this.

So yes very exciting stuff. My dad is kindly building on a extra part to the bakery for me, which he'll do as soon as I can get the correct wood and the supplies I've ordered have arrived for him. I told him it had to be done before the local fair which is only 28 days away! So I promise over the next 28 days, I am going to aim to show 28 new creations! And Greg is the first one :D

Happy Mini-ing

ShellbyFay



Flowers :)

So the past couple of days have been pretty busy, so I haven't been able to do much. Plus I don't have much else that I can do considering I'm still waiting for things that I've ordered to arrive...

But anyway, I managed to make some flowers last night. Here's a photo for you:

I'm really pleased with how the flowers for the vases turned out. The vases in white with pink roses are Dolls House Emporium vases I got a while ago and they are in the living room. The other vase is from a set I got from Minimum World.. I think.. and that'll go in the kitchen.

The bouquets turned out okay, I'm getting better at doing the paper bit but I'm happy with how they turned out anyway. These bouquets are for the shop - fresh flowers!

So there's my bit of progress on The Old Post Office, for now. Hopefully more to follow soon. I can predict that there will be at the end of November when there is another fair here so I'm saving up the pennies for that event! :)

Happy mini-ing

Shellby Fay



Books and Nursery Items!

Aren't I doing well with all these posts!? Certainly making up for those long gaps!

Here I have a couple of pictures for you of just some things I finished off today. I'm not sure, but you may have seen a couple of these items already dotted about in previous pictures. Today I just finished them properly.

Here are some books I made. They are mainly children's books but there are a couple of other books that I made for the study and to put on the parent's bedside table. You can make out a few of them. If you click on the picture it'll become bigger so that you can see them more clearly.

Here are some games and pictures I found for the childrens bedroom. I have taken a few childrens drawings from Google images and the picture of the colouring book. I also found the image in the picture on Google too. I made the blackboard myself, but I think I might re-do this as I'm not totally happy with the picture.
I found the jigsaw and the chess box on Jim's Printable Mini's. I cut the missing jigsaw pieces out with a blade and you can just see them next to the colouring book. There are also a couple of colouring pencils there too.

So not an awful lot to show you, but they have filled up the study and the children's bedroom quite nicely :)


Also, today I have been further inspired to make my own dolls for the Georgian bakery, The Bakers Dozen, which is my next project. If anyone has any helpful pointers they could share with me, I'd be ever so grateful!

Happy mini-ing
ShellbyFay

Progress!

Here's some more progress photos!!




This is the bathroom. Today I stained the corner unit and I'm really pleased with how its turned out and how well it fits into the room. This room hasn't taken a lot of work, and I'm really pleased with how it's coming on. It's nearly finished, just the last little bits to add!

This is the study. Today I stained the bookcase, desk and the chair that Harry is sitting on. Harry would say "hello," but he's insisted that he's far too busy writing. He's a book writer and on the bookcase you can see a few of his books - the brown ones. I'm not a particular fan... but sssh don't tell him! This room is also almost done. I just need to add stairs and a few finishing touches here and there.



  And the shop! Wow I am seriously pleased with how it's turned out. I was up early this morning and decided to add the items to the shelving. The shelves aren't full yet - therefore the shop isn't complete. I'm also searching for a customer for the shop. Penny is picking up the post and putting it into her bike basket. She's fussing because someone has really bad hand writing. Ernie is just setting off to deliver the milk! Hurry up Ernie I want a cuppa!

And my most favourite man of all! Malcom! He insisted on having a close up, he's, um, had a "hair cut" apparently. Not that there's a lot there to cut anymore, Malc my old pal. Behind him are some jars of sweets that I made. Also some different types of bread. Behind him are some loaves (You just had to get in the way Malcom!) And to the right (our right!) are some seed packets. On the counter are some tea cakes and some newspapers.

So I hope you all really like the progress so far, I do! And I promise there will be more to come shortly!

Happy mini-ing!

ShellbyFay

Flooring!!

I am a very bad, bad blogger aren't I!? I have been reading everyone's blogs and have found lots of wonderful pieces of inspiration - for current and future projects; but I can happily say that the reason I have not been blogging is because I have (honestly!) been working on the Post Office!

Here's the progress I've made in the last week:



Post Office Flooring. I made this with fat lollypop sticks, mahogany wood stain and stuck them to the floor with Tacky Wax!



Kitchen flooring. I decided I didn't like the card tiled flooring, so I made some wooden flooring just the same as I did with the Post Office. Only this time I stained the lollypop sticks with "Pine" woodstain.

So, no new furniture. You've seen the fireplace. That candle has fallen over. So whats new? Have you noticed the stairs? And the skirting? Yup - they weren't there a little while back :) A friend helped me cut the angles in my skirting, because it's wood and you know what I'm like with wood - I mean heck, God knows what came over me when I managed to make that fireplace!



So haven't I been a good girly :) I doesn't look like a lot has been done, but this was in a week - and now that I'm back at college that's a lot for me! I do have some more progress to show you, but I'm making sure I've got those tiny details sorted and then I'll post up some piccies!

Also, I would like to welcome all my new followers! Thank you so much for following my blog and all the lovely comments; they are greatly appreciated and really make me push to upload my progress for you! You're all stars.

Now, I've got some research to do for my next project - The Bakers Dozen, which is going to be done in the Georgian Era - so if anyone has any pointers they would like to share I'd be very grateful.

So, bye for now!!

Shellbyfay

Grapes Anyone? Ooh and a finished fireplace!

Hello there!!

Yesterday I decided to clear out the greenhouse. I haven't been in that greenhouse for ages and when I got in, it was like Jumanji! I had to fight my way through grape vines and tomato plants with small kitchen scissors! Hard work I must say. Then I found the big scissor like things (I forget the proper name) and the job was much more pleasing after that. This was the result:

Yum, yum, yum! 

So.... anyone remember the shop shelves I attempted building a while back? The ones that broke - as everyone predicted they would do? Well if not, here's a photo of the wreckage

And here's what the wreckage became:

The fireplace frame is in the first picture and it didn't get finished until I managed to mess up the shelving. I'm really pleased with the results. The frame needs a bit of touching up with the stainer, but it's fine for now. The brick work is actually a printie I had stashed somewhere and so are the tiles on the bottom. The fireplace basket was bought at the fair in August; as were the lamps and the mantel clock. I got the smoked effect on the brick work by simply rubbing on some black eyeshadow, I think it worked out quite nicely!

Now I would just like to say, thank you and welcome to all my new followers and my existing followers for your lovely comments and for reading my blog! I can honestly say that I keep up with your blogs and read them everyday, and it is because I do that, that I often find myself out of time to post anything! I find all your posts utterly fascinating and love all the items you create and wish all the time that I had your skills!

Big hugs

ShellbyFay

Look what I found today!!

So there I was, lugging around 10+ bags from various clothes shops through Oldrids hoping to find something sweet for my mum's birthday - which is next week and I still haven't found her anything EEEK!

I looked at all the C*******s decorations in disgust. It's far, far too early for those sorts of things! We haven't had Halloween or Bonfire Night yet (which are my milestones before I even begin to think of the 'C' word let alone pronounce the full word.)
So I walked past, shaking my head feeling like C*******s is losing the excitment and true meaning when I plowed into one of the circle stands, nearly knocking the entire thing over!!

My disgust soon changed when I realised what was on the stand! So lets forget the rant above - this has got to be an exception:::

Isn't it gorgeous?!

It's actually supposed to be an ornament for your real sized house, and you can buy stockings to hang on the 4 hooks with names on them and in different colours. I've decided to buy my family first and then I'll get the stockings.

As soon as I saw it I had to have it. It's the perfect size for my dolls house living room. It's about 3 ¼ " high and just under 4 ½ " wide.

There wasn't just this one either, there was another 2 or 3 different fireplaces, but this one suits my house best I think. I might be going back to Oldrids on Monday to get the others for future projects.

I apologise for the lighting and the quality of the photo, the colours are actually much brighter and the details are superb. I'm loving the carrot and the cat, (who I've named Tibs!)

I thought I'd share this find with you all, because this is something you do not want to miss! All the fireplaces are truly adorable and a warm cozy fireplace is perfect for those wintery nights!

This one cost me £4.99. I think the stockings are £2.99 each - bargain!

Happy mini-ing

Big Hugs

ShellbyFay



Extremely long over-due post! Giveaway recieved!!

Okay so first of all I have a huge apology to make to Rachel at Miniaturemaids Blog (sorry I tried linking but it wouldnt work for some reason.)  because I have not posted this up straight away. I won first prize of Rachel's giveaway a couple of weeks or so ago, and I recieved the parcel on Tuesday. I rushed my socks off to get the parcle open as I was so excited.

When I finally got it open (you sealed it well Rachel!) I couldn't stop jumping up and down like a little girl at all the adorable items.
Here's a photo:

Apologies for my awful photo skills, the lightening wasn't very good either which didn't help.

My mom asked me which was my favourite item, and I could not tell her. I love all the items massively and I cannot wait to get them put into my house.

I was hoping to have the bedrooms finished, which is where all of these items will go, and then I could photograph them in place, but sadly I haven't managed that yet. Boooo!

Rachel, thank you so much for this wonderful prize. I love them to pieces and I have kept the card too, so hopefully one day, when I am skilled enough to make something as equally wonderful as you, I can send you something back to show my thanks! 

Now another apology, gosh I am such a bad person, I have a lot of welcome's to do, but I haven't the time right now - I am actually supposed to be studying for college but this post could not wait any longer. So I will post the welcomes soon along with the progress on my house. 

Big hugs!

ShellbyFay 

My Future Project List & a question for you all...

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you are all having a good day.

So this morning I was having a good old nosey at all the blog's that I follow. I usually scroll through quickly looking for bits of inspiration or to see if there is any progress that I've missed on someone's project I've been watching. When today I came across Wanda's blog ( So Mini Projects ) And I was reading about her final garden swap, admiring the flowers she'd made and wishing I could learn how to make them, when I discovered her "Dream Project List" on the left hand side. Well this was at about 8.30am this morning and just 10 miniutes after reading through her list my mom called me to take the family into town to buy my younger brothers and sister their school shoes. So I found myself driving there, and then sitting in this car park, in my car, all alone...

I was bored. Terribly bored! Town was dead, no one around to people watch - I love that, people watching, you can tell so much about someone just by watching them walk past your car. So my mind wandered to miniatures, as it always does. And I thought back to Wanda's blog and her dream project list. And started to think about all the projects I would love to do.

I started thinking them up in my head and started to worry that I'd forget one or two so maybe I should write a list when I got home. But then, knowing me, I would lose the list and then I would forget most, if not all, of the projects. I know, if it's a project I really want to do I wouldn't forget it, but I like to jot down my instant ideas, as they are always my best ones.
Then I thought, "No, I'll do as Wanda did, I'll put it on my blog. So in months, years... maybe even decades to come, I can go back and find the list in my achive and I can make my way through it."

Now, maybe one day, if the lists grows much bigger, I'll make a list on the side of my blog as Wanda has done, but I'll leave it here in this post for now.

My Future Project List

• 
  
  A scene from the film Dirty Dancing. Dirty Dancing is my all time number one favourite film. I went to see it in a theatre in London a year or two ago with my grandparents as a birthday present. It was amazing. The performance was exactly how I imagined it. I bought a teddy dressed in a leather outfit and sunglasses, which still sits on my bed. I would love to do a scene from this film, any scene will do. I may even do a couple, but something small to work on first would be great.
• 
  
  A florist shop. I never really had much of a desire to do a florist's, until I saw Kim’s blog and her lovely flower shop, I thought I would enjoy perhaps doing just a small shop or maybe a room box for this project.
• 
  
  Bakery/Cafe/Tea room. Of course, this should've been first on the list as this is already my second project in line after the General Store/Post office and family home. I have always wanted to do a bakery, right from the very start so this one I am seriously eager to get going on.
• 
  
  Green Grocers. I'd love to do this as a single shop. I have a fascination with miniature food and the mucky potatoes in crates is one of my favourite green grocer items.
• 
  
  B&B. You don't see many dolls house B&B's, and it's a project I would really enjoy doing. I haven't found the perfect house yet, but I plan on book marking it when I do!
• 
  
  Farm Cottage, inc. stables OR Pub. I live in a country cottage and have horses myself, but I love April Cottage on the The Dolls House Emporium website. So I would like to do this as either a country cottage with a stable, or a pub. I'll decide when, and if, I ever get the chance to own this dolls house.
• 
  
  My House. Yes, that's right. I would love to have my real house made into 12th scale. I already have a small scrap book where I am collecting images and websites that sell items that look very similar to what we have in our home already, so I can get straight to it when the time comes. Here's a photo of my house:

So I'll leave you all with a question:

Does anyone know where I can have my house built in 12th scale???????

It's a very old cottage so the ceilings are low, then high, and then low again - I'm not kidding if you are 6 foot you have no chance in this house!!

So being useless at woodwork, not having all of the fancy equipment and tools, I am in search of someone who could build my dolls house to perfect scale and pretty cheaply - oh and they need to be in the UK! 

I am in no major rush, so I'll post this again some time in the future when I have the time and space to take on such a project.

So there you have it, my future project list. It's not a massive list, in my opinion. It's something that can keep me going for years to come. But who knows, this list can be added to very easily. :)

Bye for now!

Shellby x

Hello everyone, been a long time!

First of all, I am going to get on with all these followers that I have sadly not had time to welcome. But before I do, I would just like to say that I have (and always do!) look at your blog(s) and find them all very interesting and inspiring. Unfortunately today, I have a whole list of miniature projects to do so for most of these links I have not left a description - but that does not mean that I don't find your blog interesting..

So lets cut to the chase and give a big welcome to!:

Julie
Marions Miniatures first blog, where you will find links to her other blogs. I urge you to check them out, they are all lovely!
My Reality
Otterine
Karin doesn’t seem to have a blog, Karin if you do – please leave a link below and I will post it up
Marivigano
Lara
Minnie Kitchen
Monique
Lainie’s Little Things
Rosella - I love the music that plays when you visit this blog!!
Wanda
JessicaPooh

I hope you all enjoy reading my blog :)

So to explain my absence... um... I'm sorry there is no major explanation. But I have been extremely busy. If you've read that little description.. juuuuust - there>>>>>
you'll know that I am a student and we students who live here in the UK are going back to college next week, well I am anyway. So I have been busy preparing for that.. fun aye?

But in between that I have been doing a few bits and bobs, including some miniature stair painting and building, some miniature cake and sweetie making and cutting up bits of wood to make skirting for the houses - don't worry there will be pictures of progress shortly! And on my to-do list today, I have to finish the skirting and finish the fireplace... wish me luck - it's wood, I'm not good with wood. Haha.

Oh yeh - and before I forget the last reason that I have not been here blogging away - is because I have bought my first car :) It's a little metallic black Fiesta and I have been driving here, there and everywhere these past few days! Now just to pass my test and then those 'L' plates can come off! Whoop!

Lena's First Give Away!

Hello everyone! It’s just a quick post today, just to tell you about Lena’s very first give away! Click the link to see her blog and to participate! 

A very quick post!

Okay, first of all I have a some apologies to make.
First - I am very behind on the welcomes, I must remember to do these soon, but welcome to all of my new followers! I have had a nosey at your blogs and I very much enjoyed them all. I will have a better look at them when I have more time, and therefore give you a better welcome. :)

Second - I know I'm one of those people who post nearly every day, it is the college holidays and I have had heaps of time to concentrate on my miniatures, but there have been a number of real life issues that have side tracked me from posting up and updates recently.

But I have one for you today. Photos of the progress so far on my dolls houses :)

The kitchen is cluttered now with new buys from the fair and it's crying out for the stairs to be installed. The living room has some candles waiting to be placed out and wine bottles are in need of a stand too. Skip there is posing for the photo! And up in the master bedroom - some new carpet :) and some candles and some perfume bottles need putting into place also.

There's more on the shop below this photo. So moving upstairs we have the study, which as you can see still has no furniture! Grrr. The door I bought at the fair still needs to be painted and fitted. The bathroom is looking pretty bare. I need to make that room a little more 'lived in.' And up stairs we have the children's bedroom. I took the carpet out of the master bedroom and put it in here because I thought it would look nicer here. As you can see there is a big mess on the floor - children aye! No, this is me :( I will tidy this up soon, I pinky promise.

Now onto the most exciting bit!

Malcom was so excited about all his new shop furniture he had to get inside quickly for this photo! Penny the post lady claim's she more mature, and would rather all this 'mess' on the floor was cleaned up first before she set foot in the shop. Malcom doesn't call this 'mess' he calls it 'work in progress!' But the shop furniture arrived this morning, I've been staining it all afternoon. Look's alright I think :) Although the post office counters are a different colour - but Malcom say's they are new installments and I say these were bought this colour.

I love!

Today was a very stressful, tiring day. As you may remember, a couple of weeks ago or so, I was planning on making shelving for my General Store and Post Office.. well I got all the pieces cut, stained and glued together. I was centimeters away from putting them in the shop and, well, they fell apart! :( So that'll be me repairing them tomorrow then!

So not a lot got done today - however, I had 10 mins to make these:

I managed to get the unit stained (thanks to some help from the lovely ladies on The Dolls House Emporium forum). On top of the unit is 2 bloomer loaves - one is a seedy batch, the other a plain white bread. Then there are 4 bread rolls and a loaf of white bread. I have other items, but they are still in the oven :)

And in the middle - my favourite item of all - the jar of smarties! With all the smartie colours. I can't wait to have my shelves finished so these can sit behind the counter!

Also, please allow me to take this oppotunity to introduce you to Malcom the Shop Keeper :)

A welcome and some photos of over-spending!

First of all, welcome to Christine at Hollyhock Cottage has a delightful blog I’m sure you will all enjoy! She has just made a bed, which looks great! And it’s not just the bed she makes, Christine has recently made a lovely little chair for her miniature cottage!

x-x-x

Okay, so today was the local miniatures fair :) And for someone who is supposed to be saving up for a car, I'm not doing all that well! Especially when there's some bargains to be had out there! Just check out the photos below!

If you click on these photos you will see all the items more clearly.