News for Now

Hello again, my friends. The weather here has been amazingly warm for February.  I was expecting more cold, dark evenings which are perfect for staying warm by the fireplace making minis.  Instead, we've had sunshine and weather in the 50-60s.

The boys have been in love with the new RC cars. Justin has made some ramps in the backyard and strategic rock piles for climbing with the cars. He's has even ordered a bunch of new aluminum parts to replace the broken plastic factory parts.  The Axial Wraith is getting red and orange new parts. They even have a plan to change out the body for a custom painted one with a 49ers logo and flames. I'm not sure what they have planned for the Vaterra Twin Hammers. It's been out of commission. They've had issues with the battery charger not charging. I think it's defective.We even made a special trip to Carson City's hobby store to get a new one. No luck there, though.

Anyhow, I've been trying my hand a few new things as well. I posted a few things on the Greenleaf forum, but I will share them here too.

I've been working on a scratch-built bed to go with my redwork quilt. Together, it looks like something straight out of a Pottery Barn catalog, which is what I was going for. I had the bed assembled, but the paint wasn't behaving so I took it apart. It will get re-painted and reassembled now. Here's before it was painted.

Of course I love my mini kitchen stuff, so I've been making some kitchen utensils. I've made some whisks, mashers, wooden spoons, pastry cutters, and a big strainer. Eventually a few sets will show up in my Etsy store, and I've even been thinking of doing a giveaway. Here's a shot of a few things to give you a taste.

I'm still working on Haley's heart quilt. I was hoping to be almost done now, but I was sick last week and spent three days home from work. My head cold was so bad, I couldn't even see well enough out of my watery eyes to cross stitch.

My poor head has been brimming with ideas for other projects, too. I keep telling myself not to get distracted from things I've already started. Must. Finish. Something!

Good luck out there. Stay warm (if you're in the East Coast freakish snow zone) and I'll see you again soon.

Little Red Cottage Touches

I haven't posted anything on the red Lafayette dollhouse in quite a long time. That's mainly because I haven't done much to this house in a long time. I figured I had to finish it before moving on to Haley's house instead of letting it continue to linger. Here are some details to the finishing touches. I'm not 100% finished, but I'm so close I couldn't wait to share these photos.

  
I bought some plain 3/8" basswood strips and used that to enhance the exterior trim and also inside around the door and as floor molding. I painted it the same tan as the interior window trim before gluing in place.

The door was a huge pain to get in place. It took tons of sanding and grinding with the Dremel tool to make it work. I added a brass doorknob. I had to enhance the exterior trim (the pediment?) so it wasn't so plain. Also, the shutters were so plain and blah, they needed something. I used crackle medium to get some variation and texture. That also helped them to match the door.

Inside, I added trim around the bay window inside to hide the transitions between wallpaper and paint.  It was a huge improvement.

I figured out what to put on the downstairs ceiling to give it a little something extra. I scared up a printable rug and ran it on the color laser printer at full page size. It was perfect! After a little dimensional glue and decoupage, it really completed the scene.

Now, there are only a few minor things left to do.  I have some fabric saved to use for curtains. Then, I need to finish up the front porch steps and the spiral stairs. This little house has really turned out well and I'm so pleased with it.