Books, books, more books and an award

I made a start on the gazillion books I shall need for the skoolroom shelves and made 58 of the blighters over the weekend. Not all in one go though, I think I probably spent about 6 hrs altogether cutting, gluing, painting etc but Im pleased with them but its not as big a pile as Id have liked, but its a start .... I might have to schedule in a set day for book making as its gonna take me a long time to fill those shelves!

I also got a nice suprise, not just 1 but Wow, 2 awards in one week! I am still in a state of shock that anyone finds my ramblings that interesting, let alone likes it enough to award me for it.... but then we all say that, dont we! LOL I've been awarded the Kreative Blogger Award by Michelle at Michelles Mad World, who I only discovered recently but love visiting her blog to read what progress she's making on her Hogwarts mini project.

There are 7 rules and they are:

1. Thank the person that gave it to you
2. Copy the logo and place it in your blog
3. Link to the person who nominated you
4. Name 7 things about yourself that nobody knows
5. Nominate 7 kreativ bloggers
6. Post link to the 7 blogs that you nominate
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know that you nominate them.

Ok in no particular order, here's my 7......

1. I dont 'do' Horror Films, I only like happy films, I dont like my head being messed with by scary or disturbing stuff! Scary images are fine, moving scary images are a no-no! and even though I love to watch lightening, I will never answer the door during a storm in case there are frazzled peeps hit by lightening who need my help. Maybe cos Im useless in a crisis who knows? oh & werewolves .... cant watch them at all, they freak me out .... shudder. I suppose thats kind of odd for some-one who loves Halloween as much as me! LOL
2. I was thrown head first from a horse into the sea and dragged through the water, never been so scared in my life, before or since .... they are beautiful creatures but I doubt if I'd get on another horse ever!
3. I have a real sweet tooth & would be quite happy to live on a diet of fruit and puddings. Luckily I have the sense to have things in moderation and dont have problems with my diabetes.
4. When I was about 7, for some idea I decided that I must have been adopted as my mum ran a small childrens home and there were no baby photos of me for about 6 months. This was because there was lots of kids with whooping cough so I was quarantined away from everyone as I was only a few months old. Anyway.... I was convinced I must have really been a princess and wrote to the Queen to ask her to come and collect me and take me 'home'...... she never wrote back.... that was the end of that idea! I was a total tomboy after that.
5. When younger, I only ever wanted to want to be a lorry driver (apart from the brief spell of believing I was a proper princess) and the main reason becoming diabetic at 16 upset me so much was cos it meant I would never be able to get a lorry license. I never really new what I wanted to do after that.
6. I have fibromyalgia/M.E. which leaves me absolutely shattered most of the time and often in a lot of pain, but I'm a cup half full sort of person so it only really gets to me when I havn't slept for a few days, at my worst I was sleeping about 18 hrs in any 24! luckily I have found ways to manage it now and normally have a fairly average sleep pattern and am almost back to 'normal' (is there such a thing as normal? LOL)
7. A gift from the grave? my Dad passed away shortly after I met my (now) husband, unfortunately they never met. Hubbs had been told by docs previously that he couldnt have children so was more than happy to step into the dad shoes and care for my son from a previous relationship. After we had been together a couple of years, I began to get very upset about the fact that he'd never met my Dad and slightly obsessed wodering if he would have approved of him or not. I got my answer about a month later when I discovered I was pregnant with my beautiful daughter and to this day I'm convinced that was my Dads gift from the grave to say all was well and my hubbs was a keeper. Thank you Dad, you'd have loved her too x

I'd like to pass this award to lots of peeps but most of them have received the award already :o( will try to give it to some that havn't had it already, some though just have to get it twice LOL cos they really are kreative in their blogging!
Nikki of witch & wizard miniatures & Debbie of Tiny Treasures - these two peeps have become really good friends and seem to be the centre of the Miniature world Blog Universe! LOL
5 more ......
Dawn creator of OddFae & Lorell of Notes from the Fae side just cos I love their work!
Casey's Minis her writing of Tessies antics is so uplifting and amusing :o)
Tabitha Corsica who has a great blog full thats always interesting.
GrimDeva @ What's Bubbling At Cauldron Craft Miniatures? who writes about some great 'Dark' stuff
Ruth of a faerietale of inspiration who always posts such lovely things to look at and think 'oooh I want one!'


edit... oops, I'm no good at Maths!!! LOL theres another thing about me to equal the fact that I gave out 8 awards!

'Oops ...... thought I'd been waiting a while, is this what it means to have a skeleton in the closet?' :o)

This is one of the trainee witch dolls I made last year for my Skool of Majick, but I can't make my mind up whether she should be a Nancy Nightshade or a Violent Violet? any other name suggestions?
(The one in the loo is Cyril, dunno why LOL)

I've been making some books today from mountcard and leather scraps, as I need loads & loads for the Skoolroom shelves, have done about 30 so far which fills about 8 inches of shelving, but.... the shelving runs the width of the room (15" wide!) and its floor to ceiling.... which means I have umpteen tons more to make, ahh the joys of mini-ing.... back to work!!

Hello :o)
I havn't been very productive this week, aches and pains.... I wont bore you with it all! anyway, I did do some work on the Skool of Majick in between my off colour moments and put a dirty wash over the roof to tone the grey down, and I mossed the brickwork to 'age' it all a bit. The flash makes the green stuff look a bit bright but its really not that loud.

does anyone know how to resize the pics to stop them being so huooooge when you click on them?

Next on the 'to do' list is to fit the rooftop section of the chimney, then to work out how to fit a door into the odd shaped doorway and then the roof terrace will be all done! happy days :o)

I also managed to work out how to add a signature to my blog (call me mrs technowhizz LOL) using instructions I found at the cutest blog on the block (click the name and it will take you there) I was amazed that it worked and may even try to design my own blog background and header! .... but!! its got to go on the 'to do' list cos otherwise I wont get done what needs to be done and finishing stuff has got to come first!

You are my Sunshine ....

I had a fairly rubbishy day today and spent most of it either sleeping or ache-ing, so was more than happy when I had the eeyore cloud blown away by Jain of Giddy Kipper dolls when she awarded me ...yep me! a sunshine award! well it has made my day, so thankyou Jain for putting a big sunny smile on my face once again :o)

I now have to award it to 6 other blogs that I enjoy, so in no particular order......

Nikki @ Witch and Wizard Miniatures
Celia @ Secret Diary of a Mountain Witch
Jodi @ Creager Studios
Debbie @ Tiny Treasures
Ruthie @ A Faerietale of Inspiration
Inhae @ MIlk Toof

all of these blogs really do make me smile, and all inspire me, for which I thank you x there are more that have this effect on me ..... but rules is rules and it only said 6 :o(

Tomorrow I am hoping for a day where my body doesnt shout at me and I can get on and do 'stuff' ..... off to the land of nod for me now xxx

new banner

Well some-one has eventually took pity on me and given me a bit of a make-over!! :o)
recently over at The Shabby Hag there was a 'give-away' with a difference and I won a custom banner for my blog, this made me very happy as I have absolutely no idea how to create one!!! anyway, this is what she made me and I love it, thankyou Cindy x

Pancakes and Progress

I hope you all remembered it's shrove Tuesday today.... or just plain old Pancake day as its known in our house! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm How do you eat yours?
My daughter made fairy cakes this afternoon too so we had quite a piggie tea today :o)
I did do some work too........
The trainees at the Skool of Majick got one step closer to getting their flying lessons today when I painted the the roof terrace paperclay floor that I added the other day.
First I painted the whole floor with a dark grey emulsion, making sure the cracks between the stones were all covered,

I then rubbed most of the paint off with a damp sponge

which as you can see still leaves the darker paint in all the dents and dips

I then applied a couple of acrylic washes of brown/grey watered down about 50/50 paint/water until I was happy with the result.

tomorrow when its good and dry, I shall seal it with a clear matt varnish. It still needs moss in the corners and up the walls etc, this I will do when the varnish has dried and add the outside loo and other bits n bobs .... oh and the last bit of chimney!
The roof tiles had their first coat of paint too, so need ageing too as theyre not staying that colour. Slowly, slowly it's all coming together :o)

Have a 'LOVE'ly day

Even though hubbs and I don't usually bother with Valentines, it seems the rest of the world does! I really did laugh out loud at Debbie at Tiny Treasures blogpost today as it just sums my views exactly! pop over and see the pics, so cute!

I did however give in a bit this year as I found these cute balloons in the £1 shop! tightwad? moi?
....bahh luvbug!!! LOL

Ta Da !!!! (well, almost)

I had been wanting to post a pic of my finished roof on Thursday, but ran out of clay with just 2 rows left to complete!!!!.... Grrrrr! luckily I found some online and it arrived today so that I could finish what I'd been itching to get done for months!! :o) & I have to say I was very impressed at the speed of delivery as I only ordered it on Thursday evening !! and it was free posting too, which was even better! so if anyone needs paperclay @ a good price with a quick service, I would recommend using 'the altered element' as a UK supplier.


You can see the tiles I added today as they are slightly darker where they havnt dried yet. I was suprised at how much shrinkage you get with paperclay though, and have bigger gaps than I had wanted between the tiles , but heyho.... hoping the paint will fill some gaps .... or moss.... it may be a very mossy roof, hee hee! This was my first attempt at roof tiling so even though it's far from perfect, it went better than I thought, hopefully the paint and moss will help ...... or a small miracle?
Altered Element have a blog but I can't work out how to follow it ??? maybe just me having one of my blonde/senior moments? LOL, but there was an interesting job opportunity I noticed on their blog that may appeal to some of you who are mixed media/textile/altered art/jewellery artists (UK only though I'm afraid). Not a 'proper' job as such, but sounds an interesting way of getting 'out there'. Benefits and renumeration are listed on the page here http://www.alteredelement.blogspot.com/ and no, I'm not on commission! LOL

I'm off to lay a floor on the roof terrace now, so the trainee witches can have their flying lessons. If I dont get started on it quickly, it may have to wait a while, as I helped out at my daughters school disco on Thursday evening, and I think one of the younguns may have offloaded some of their germs onto me as I have been quite snuffly & heavy headed all day, fingers crossed it doesnt linger long as I seem to have had a relatively pain-free few days and it would be such a shame to waste it by having a cold!

The roof from hell is on!!!

At long, long last the Skool of Majick's roofing problems appear to be over and I can heave a big sigh of relief! (as long as nothing else goes wrong!!!) Firstly, I had miscalculated my original design and cut the side panels a fraction too short so that when I tried to fit the original roof, it wouldnt open (..... oops!) Maths and angles were never really my strong point, I just figured I'd measure the gap, cut the wood, add the hinge, job done ...... but Oh NO!, it's never that easy is it?! , I had to add an extension to the side panels and blend it in with the original brickwork and then 'just' re-fit the roof .... 'just'.... its a small word that whenever mentioned always seem to involve many unhidden steps along the way.... well, hubbs had to come to my rescue after much huffing and cussing about cross threaded screws and hinges not closing, took the offending roof into his shed and was gone a fair while, but came back having performing some sort of majick and I now have a roof that A, fits and B, opens! :o) actually I've just noticed there is still a little bit of barge board trim I have to add to the gable end .... see, it never ends does it? LOL

next is the tiling with paperclay, I've not tried this before, so may be gone a while ........

finished fireplace :o)

I am feeling very pleased with myself, I got up this morning with a manageable 'to do' list and it has worked! AND I have finished a project that I started over a year ago!!! I made the fireback yesterday and glued it to the wall to dry, however, my heart sank when I realised that I had to paint it in situ !!! as I thought I'd make a right mess up of it, anyway , the washes ran everywhere but the end result made me smile :o)

I was then very pleased how it all fitted together. I remembered buying a cauldron crane and fire basket with spit at Miniatura, & spent a while looking for them, as they were bought so long ago I had almost forgotten where I'd stashed them! the crane swings in and out and I had the silliest grin when I showed hubby how it worked .... he gave me one of those looks, you know, like I was six or something and had assumed he's never seen one before! he just grinned back at me .... I'm so easily pleased! I have always been able to imagine exactly how the finished kitchen/spellroom is gonna look and so far its all coming together nicely :o)

Next on my 'to do' list was to hide the side panel extensions I had to add in order for the roof to fit (see previous post for explanation) these were painted and while the paint dried I fitted the outside coach lamp. Then the brick compound was added using a quoin stone stencil from Bromley craft products. I had to put it on, and then re-use the stencil again the other way up to get even blocks as its designed for the edges of houses rather than how I decided to use it! The wooden strip has been hidden so I'm happy :o)

Tomorrow the roof goes on!!!! I have waited for sooooooo long for the roof to go on! :o)
Not bad for a days work if I say so myself!

I've just noticed that I seem to have aquired lots more followers in the last few days, so a big Hello and welcome to my waffling!!! when I get a chance, I will have a look at all your blogs, but right now I'm going to sit down and enjoy (hopefully) watching England play Rugby on the telly :o)

chimneys and roofing problems!

Yesterday I had a poorly day but by the evening I 'woke' up a bit and got the paperclay out, & thankfully today is a good day too :o) A while ago, I made chimneys for Hagathas Skool of majick from offcuts of MDF but only got around to paperclaying one of them, so last night I fixed that! I also realised that I had forgotten to stipple the clay with a brush for texture on the earlier chimney, so although they have similar colourings the textures are different......
am trying to decide if I can live with this error or add it back onto my neverending 'to do' list!

The larger one is going in the kitchen/spellroom and the smaller (smoother) one is the lounge fireplace. I made a fireback for the kitchen fireplace this morning, but it's not dry enough to paint yet, I shall do that this evening hopefully and then I can sooty them up and fit them tomorrow :o)

My hubby suprised me this morning by offering to finally solve the roofing problems I'd been having due to my huooooge measuring error when I planned the house, which is why it has been roofless for so long as when I originally tried fitting the roof, it wouldn't open because the doors were in the way!!! this has caused much sulking and frustration on my part! anyway, hubbs had an idea & solved this ongoing problem today with the majick of 'no nails' glue! he glued a strip around the edge which should give me the clearance to be able to open it and actually access the roof room :o) The wood will be covered up with more brickwork/clay so it wont be seen.

Apparently it needs a good 24 hrs to set firm so I doubt anything new will happen now until Sunday, as Im booked up for tomorrow already (I am really trying hard not to overload myself anymore), but fingers crossed the glue will work and I can get the roof on next week :o)
I'll keep you all posted on any progress.
xxx

Bargains

I had a boring day today doing housework and shopping so when it was all done, I thought I would re-aquaint myself with my dollshouse contents, and try to inspire myself into working out what to do next. Some things I hid away as they were fragile or expensive or was scared of breaking before the house was finished! other things I have just shoved into the house and forgotten about, but I have also found some real bargains along my travels and so thought I'd show you some wonderful bargains that I found in the local £1 shop, this pumpkin may be an ornament but it looks just right in Hagathas skool-house :o) it will probably live under the stairs with the trainee witches cloaks and brooms.

I also bought this Boyds Bear gumball machine ornament, I think it may be a little big for 12th scale, but not by much so I think I will get away with it in the toyshop as a gobstopper machine?

I had a good rummage to find all the things I had bought and put away for the toyshop, and was suprised at what I had stashed away, I had totally forgotten this lovely set of Snow white & the seven dwarves! I have no idea who made it, I think I got it from a dollhouse show in Plymouth? but I do remember it wasnt very expensive, I think the whole set was only about £7?

and finally, a few days ago I mentioned to Nikki of Witch and wizard Miniatures, that I also had a chimnea, on my witches roof terrace, it's not as unique as her wonderful creations though .... mine is a recycled Avon Incense cone burner!! I used to think it looked the part, but now I think it looks funny and I want one of Nikki's ones LOL she has just finished hers and they look fantastic!

(it's looking a bit like steptoe's yard on the roof at the moment .... one day it WILL be finished!)
I'd love to put a picture link to Nikki's work but don't know how!! pop over to her blog at www.nikkinikkinikki72.blogspot.com and have a peep for yourself