First purchase for Hildred House!!

I've been plotting, building and buying for Hildred House really, but nothing worth showing off until now.
A lovely lady called Hazel commissioned me this beautiful picture for the secret nook in Hildred House. You don't know anything about this "nook" yet, because it's a secret ;)

Hazel paints in full scale mainly, but has recently ventured into painting miniatures after one of her customers asked her for a 12th scale miniature painting. She paints in wax, and the effect is marvelous - particularly in miniature.
I asked Hazel for a worn, damaged looking painting that would fit in with a room full old treasures. Hazel created this painting using gold card to achieve the sepia effect and it worked really well!

Click here to check out Hazel's Blog where you can see more examples of her miniature paintings, and there are links and a gallery of her full scale art.

My photo really doesn't do the picture any justice, I'm a crappy photographer!

Hildred House - Copper Wire Advice Please?

You may remember a few weeks (months?) ago I did a post, asking for your ideas and opinions on two options - a governors mansion and the School for Girls from the film Madeline for my Hildred House.
Well forget those ideas, my inspiration didn't flow enough for me, so instead I decided to turn it into my dream home. I'm not sure how well it'll turn out, but hey, I'm trying to be optimistic here!

Anyways. I've got as far as this.
The windows are painted white and the walls are painted a colour called Warm Beige.

Today I started painting one of the rooms when something occurred to me. This house has a copper wire lighting system and this totally baffles me!
I have watched no end of video tutorials, read no end of tips and tricks but I am still so confused.

The house has all of these wires that lead to the centre of all the rooms. As you can see, there are a couple of little gold "holes", maybe screws pinning the tape to the ceiling. I'm not sure. If I get really close there is the tiniest little hole that has been drilled between the two wires and then comes up through the floor of the next room. But it is really tiny, not big enough for a lighting wire.

I hope it's okay to paint over them??

Is this teeny tiny hole for the lighting wire and once through, then what do I do with it? There's no grooves or hole in the back to thread it through?

The videos I have watched show that you have to trim the wiring right down and solder it to the copper tape, but how will that work for a ceiling light, wont it be at risk of falling down or coming unattached from the ceiling?

Also, I want to add a ton more lights in the form of table lamps, floor lamp, fireplaces etc. How do I go about doing this? Can I just go for the socket method that I'm used to or would it be best to *attempt to* continue with the copper wire?

Also... what is this about? What do I do with this? It's on the back of the house.

Any help that you guys can offer me on this will be very much appreciated. I feel that I can't continue with this project until I get my head around this lighting system, it's totally baffled me.

Feel free to copy my images and draw diagrams all over them if it helps to explain. I can post you my email address if needed.

Thank you!
Shellby
 

I'm Doing A Sky Dive in Aid of Ambucopter!!

On the 5th June 2013 I will be slipping into a hideous diving suit, getting in a plane, rising to 15,000 feet and then I'll be jumping out of it with some stranger on my back with our lives hanging on the threads of a parachute!
Honestly, I'm extremely nervous. 

But it's an incredibly small amount of effort in comparison to the time, commitment and dedication of the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance crew who work day in, day out to save the lives of our loved ones. 

When I was 6, my Dad was involved in a fatal lorry accident. It was a head on collision with another driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. My Dad did everything he could to avoid the collision, but sadly it wasn't enough. 
My Dad was trapped in his lorry for several hours before emergency services could free him. His right leg was crushed and he was losing a lot of blood. The road ambulance crew knew they would not be able to get him to hospital in time to save him. The only option was the Ambucopter. 

They flew my Dad to hospital, saving his life once already when he died in the sky. The entire team of Police, Firefighters, Paramedics, Doctors and Nurses saved his life that morning. They saved ours as a family. It seemed like months until I saw my Dad again. 
I slept in my Mom's bed to keep her company at night when she returned from the hospital visits. I blame this incident for the reason I don't like chips. Chips, chicken nuggets and beans was the standard meal for me and brother whilst we were babysat by different friends and family members for weeks on end. I remember not knowing what was going on. No one seemed to know.  

Finally, after much begging and pleading, Mom took me to see Dad in hospital. It was not long before Christmas. I remember driving to Lincoln Hospital looking at the Christmas lights in the streets. We went into a shop, I believe it to be Dunelm Mill, where Mom bought me a Sleeping Beauty towel. It's funny how you remember the little things. 

But one big moment will be the first time I saw my Dad. I hid behind Mom because I was shy! It had been so long. His face had small cuts and bruises, his leg was in pot and raised to the ceiling on some kind of pully contraption. He had a clip on his finger, but he was smiling. I love my Dad. So, so much. Enough that I shared my profiteroles with him! 

He was home for Christmas. I got a set of coloring pens and he let me decorate his pot with drawings. The next year he came back from another umpteenth hospital visit with some scary metal cage with pins. It looked barbaric. There was blood around the punctures where the pins were holding a metal plate in his leg in place. Because his leg had been so badly crushed in the accident, the surgeons had to replace his knee and shin with a metal plate. He had gazillions of staples and stitches he almost resembled a dummy from a dress makers! 
Had it not been for the incredible work and determination of the surgeons, he would more than likely had lost his leg.

Almost 14 years on and he's walking about living life to the full. He still lorry drives for a living, as well as owning and running a pub with my Mom. His hobbies include motorbike riding and quad biking. He recently did a trip from Lands End to John O'Groats with some biker friends - going by the group name of Skankii Pigs...! 
He may not be able to run, but he can still kick a ball around the garden. 

He's also a very proud grandaddy to two beautiful girls - Destiny and Diamond.

He's my Dad and I could never imagine life without him. He's taught me everything I know. He's brought me up as a strong, capable young woman, determined to make the most of everything I work for and what's given to me. He's been there through the tough times - when I worried I might be a boy inside because I didn't have my periods yet (I was fine, they started two weeks later.), when I fell in love for the first time, when I was practicing for my driving theory, when I passed my driving test (he cried down the phone!), he was there when I bought my first and second car, he took me for a practice drive in the snow and ice down our lane (ice road truckers you ain't seen nothin' yet!). He stood by me for my prom. And I know he will be there to take me down the aisle.

This is not a sob story. It's a true story, from the heart, signed with tears. We all have one. We have all lost, or almost lost, people who are incredibly close to our hearts. We all do what we can, but is it enough? 
I'm asking you please to donate as little as £5 to this cause. It is not a charity. It a necessity. Vital to our society. 

• Almost all of the income to fund the Ambucopter comes from charity work and donations. 
• The Ambucopter and the team receive no Government Funding! 
• £1.7 million is needed to fly the helicopter each year. 
• The Ambucopter travels at speeds of up to 154 mph to enable it to reach a patient anywhere within the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Region in just 19 minutes. This is because it does not have to negotiate traffic, road works or pedestrians. 
• The ambucopter can then get its patient to the nearest hospital in an average of 6 minutes. 

For more information on the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance please visit the website here.

Thank you.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Even if you cannot help, please post a link to your blog and encourage as many people as possible who may be able to help. There is a link on the right hand side of my blog to my JustGiving page. If you would like to help me further and spread the support around our blogging community, I can send you a code to enable you to paste this badge on your own blog page. This way people can access my fundraiser through your own blogs. As Tesco says, Every little helps.  

*The images of my dad's lorry, my dad and myself are my own, please do not copy. 
*Images of Air Ambulance crew have been borrowed from the Air Ambulance website. and are not of my own, please do not copy without prior permission. 

Old Generals Farm - Some Progress

Hi Everyone,

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a few days. Life has been a bit crazy and it's left me feeling fuzzy headed - like I'm drunk, I can't quite focus on anything right now and my head seems to be buzzing like my thoughts are having some kind of rave party in there.

First of all, the interesting bit - Old Generals Farm Progress - my little brother helped me cut out the panels. We spent two freezing cold evenings in the garage cutting out the panels until we ran out of MDF. There are still a few panels left to cut out, but I wont get to do these until next week now, at the very earliest.

This is what's been achieved so far. These aren't glued into place yet, so they're propped up with various items to show you the size and shape of the house.

 

Then "Best Friend" Thomas had a play with the panels and did some glueing...

 

 

Yes... I did say "Best Friend" Thomas...

This is why my head is fuzzy. Something isn't right here.
But I guess only time will tell - hopefully it will heal and sort my head out.
I'm glad he's back, but his reasons for his silent treatment were beyond childish, and I just can't understand why he's making up with me now, after a month of ignoring me - and why he never thought to ask my side of the story, instead he believed all the lies his so called "friends" gave him and what hurts the most - the lies are totally out of character for me, so I thought he'd know me better. I guess not.

Anyways, I'm going for a walk. Old Generals will no doubt have no new progress until next week sometime, but hopefully I'll find something interesting to tell you about in the meantime.

Bye!
ox