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