HELLO!!

Hello everyone!
I hope you are all well, happy and are getting on brilliantly within the mini-ing world.
I apologise for my extremely long absense. I've been so busy finishing college (qualified at last!) and I have also moved bedrooms!

If you can remember my last post was about the moving of The Olde Post Office to the annex and the extreme lack of space in my bedroom. Well now I have moved bedrooms, to the biggest bedroom in the house! I have tons of room for dolls house, I could buy hundreds more now - and I have a balcony to fill if I wanted to!

I'm unable to post any photos at the moment, but I am quite eager to show you photos of the move around and then shortly to follow there should be some more progress posts on Bruion and The Bakery when I finally get round to spending some time on these projects! :)

Bye for now!

A Sad Day For The Residents of The Olde Post Office

This weekend I grew increasingly frustrated with the lack of space in my very small bedroom. You've seen the photos - it's ALWAYS cluttered and there's never a lot of walking space. So something had to go. And considering I'm now working on two new projects and I can't decide which one I like do the best, The Olde Post Office drew the short straw. I'm not getting rid of it. Ohhh no!! It's visiting the annex for a year or so while I finish Bruion & The Bakery. I'm planning to re-decorate The Olde Post Office and do it to some kind of time scale. It might not even be a post office once I've finished it for a second time. Who knows?
Anyways, here's some photos for you!!


Deciding on where to start was the trickiest part. I had heaps of boxes to put everything in and I found a box full of unstained furniture too!

Zena took refuge on my bed. The floor was too cluttered to move and around and the bed looked comfy. Yes, they are stones in the roof of Bruion. I am using real stones as large stones to decorate the outside part of Bruion. I needed somewhere to put them, the roof seemed like a good idea!

Here is my small collection of mini's.At this point I still hadn't finished emptying the house. I sorted everything into groups.

The residents of The Olde Post Office. Greg didn't seem all that happy, he was comfy in his bed and now misses his book. Penny hasn't shut up moaning, she doesn't find the laptop charger a very comfortable seat and would like to return to the post office. Malcom is happy, he keeps asking me if he can have a job at the bakery when it's completed. Ernie says fair well to The Olde Post Office, he knows it's not gone forever.

All the mini's now put away. Zena looked pretty confused...

*Sob sob* the empty space where The Olde Post Office once stood..

I tried to convince mom to let me leave the houses on the landing, but it appears everyone likes to use the bathroom...

  

Zena got mardy with me. She gave me a look to say "This is my bedroom too, shouldn't you consult me before making changes?" I guess she has a point. Now that she lives indoors and spend 90% of her time asleep on my bed, maybe she should have a say on what goes on in my room... to bad I can't bark.

So the Olde Post Office has gone upstairs to the annex, where it will stay for a little while. I'm not sure if I'm sad or happy. I'm sad because my very first dolls house has been removed and is now hidden away where no one can see it, but I have now space in my room - enough so that I can even do a little dance! - but the Bakery now has somewhere to go.


I'm off now to find a box to put the residents in... Penny is getting on my nerves!!

It's been so long!!

Hello everyone!
Blimey, it's been a while, has it not?! I'm sorry I haven't been here for a while, but real life has been getting in the way pretty badly just recently. Hopefully this weekend I've found myself some time to get some mini-ing done as I'm missing it so much!
I have a couple of things to show you this morning.

A few weeks ago I was making a trap door for the inside of Bruion. Making the trap door was simple enough, and if you would like a tutorial posting up on how I made this - just let me know! It's pretty self explanatory though by the photos.
Glueing the door into place, however, was the most tedious task going! I had to hold it in place for hours on end while the wood dried to the flooring and the string dried to the sides. If I moved just slightly, the glue untacked and I had to start all over! Eventually, I managed to find something that would hold it in place and it's been left like that for about a week. It's well and truly stuck now! Here's a few photos for you.

                                      

Please forgive the bad lighting!

 Those hoop hooks? Yes - there's another little something I'm in the process of making. I've made it once already, but I'm not happy with a part of it, so I need to tweak it until I'm happy. Then I can show you what the hoop hooks are for!





So anyways, in my depressed state last night - having finally snapped and deciding to forget real life and college for just a couple of hours, I went ahead and made a start of the "grass" effect for the downstairs of Bruion. Here's a photo:

As you can see, I've finished painting the stones and I've added some stepping stones and random stones here and there. I still need to add a second layer of "grass" to thicken it up a bit but I'll get that done this weekend at some point, hopefully!

So there we have it. You now know I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth! I'm still mini-ing and I'm still making progress.. just slowly! Hopefully, I'll be back later on to show you some more progress!

Also - I still have my 20% discount going at Diddies! :D

Have a good day!!

Progress On Bruion!

Hey everyone!!

I hope you've all had a good week and a constructive weekend!
I've been extremely busy this week with college work, hense why there's been no progress to post up... up until tonight!

Today I had a bit of a wobble over the brick work on the bakery. Thankfully, yet again the lovely folk on the DHE forum helped me see that the brickwork was authentic, and they told me to stop expecting perfect.. not in those words, but it was a general hint in some of the posts! So I soldiered on with the stencilling and now leaving the brick work to dry over night, ready for sanding and finishing tomorrow. So I wont show you now, as it doesn't look anything special, but I will show you hopefully tomorrow if all goes to plan!

Now onto the real reason for this post... Bruion. I've finished the painting on the inside, and outside. So today, while I can't do much else on the bakery, I decided to glue on the beams.

Here's what it looks like so far on the outside:

Ignore the gaps in the mossy roof... I have to buy some more mossy stuff to finish off the otherside of the roof and then I can fill in the gaps. Looking pretty good so far is it not? :D

Well, considering I was on a roll... I decided to go ahead and make something else. Now you all know I am terrible with wood, but I just about managed to make some windowsills. They were easy to make and took about 5 minutes! Fabulous stuff :D

Here's some photos of how they turned out:

You'll have to excuse my dad there! hehe

I'm currently making something else wooden. Considering I'm on a roll tonight, why stop? I might just carry on until I have no wood left!

See you tomorrow

Bits of progress, here and there.

Hi everyone!

Okay so it was Tuesday since I last posted. That's so long ago! And I have to be honest, not an awful lot has happened since then.
I'm still poorly with the cold. I've been sneezing and blowing my nose a lot today, so I think I'm starting to get it out of my system. Yay! Kind of wish my nose was a body part I could de-attach and leave somewhere while I worked... but then I'd lose it and look pretty strange for a while...

Anyways, enough of that. In between studying, sneezing, sleeping and sniffing Olbas oil - I've been doing just odd bits of work on The Bakers Dozen and Bruion. Not an awful lot, but every little helps - or so Tesco says.

I've been painting the outside of The Bakers Dozen gray, ready to do the brick stencilling. It still needs a second coat, but I can do that in the morning. I've also painted the inside of the extentsion. Here's a photo:

 The Georgian's didn't have many colours, not until the Regency times anyway. I found this shade of colour on a website that showed you different colours the Georgian's had. I thought this would look good in the bakery part. It's a colour that will open the room up a bit, as it isn't very big. Everytime I think about furniture, I have to remind myself it's not as big as The Olde Post Office kitchen. I really like this colour, although in some lights it can look too pinky. It's a homebase brand tester post (I never get the big tins or the expensive stuff!) and I think it's called Ballet. I might have to dirty the colour up a bit as I go along with the project, I don't want it to look too new and fresh.

Last night I painted the roof of Bruion. I've had a change of plan. My original idea was to thatch the roof, but during my research, getting some inspiration, I came across a few fairy dwellings that had mossy roof's. I've been doing that staring thing again. Looking at Bruion with unusually wide eyes while my tea gets cold and I've decided Bruion would look a lot better with a mossy roof. It would look more woodlandy I think... I hope anyway.

Here's the painted roof photo:

This colour is a Wilkinson's tester pot and it's called Oak Leaf. I usually use Wilkinson's colours and they are so unbelievably cheap and I'm usually in that area of town. This is actually a really lovely colour. I'm not usually a fan of green, but this colour is very calm and pretty.

Tonight I grabbed the bag of moss I found in Homebase and thought about sticking it to the roof. Only problem was, the moss was more like thin string. No. Didn't like it. So I put it back in the bag, gave it to mom as a late Christmas present (not that she appreciated it much) and dug out some other stuff I'd bought to use as grass for the downstairs part. Here's a photo:

Much better! The box I had filled just under half of the roof space and I pulled it apart and did it bit by bit. I'm really pleased with the effect so I've sent my mom to the model shop tomorrow to buy some more. This stuff is actually used for bushes on railway models. My brother got a model trainset for Christmas. I took him to the model shop to spend his Christmas money and found this. I don't think it'll make good grass though, looks a bit thick. But it's perfect for the mossy look! What do you think?

Tomorrow, I hope to get the rest of the roof done, and the second coat of gray paint on The Bakers Dozen.

See you tomorrow!

Good Evening Everyone

Today, I had the chance to show you lots of pictures. Pictures including the new Etsy item that will be listed within a few days, the progress I made on The Bakers Dozen and a few idea's I've come about for Bruion. But, I've decided to change my plans a smidge.

My blog is going to undergo a small make-over. You may not even notice it unless you visit every single day, but I'm making a lot of changes for the New Year. My Etsy shop, Diddies, will be going under a small make-over too! :D

So I apologise for not showing you any photo's today, I promise there will be an exciting blog post for you all tomorrow!

See you tomorrow!

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!