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

Introducing my houses

Well, I did say I wasnt going to blog for a while, but decided I had been wallowing in gloom for far too long and had to pull my finger out from wherever it was stuck and get on with 'stuff'! I will probably still have more off days than good ones, but at least I will feel like Ive occasionally acheived something!
So ...... hubby obligingly helped shift tons of my 'stuff' about and totally reorganised my workroom so that I now have some space to work on my two neglected dollshouses :o)

this is 'Hagathas Skool of Majick & Witchery' which I made from my own plans a few years ago & never finished

and this is my newest house, it's going to be Santa'sToyshop
(I bought this over a year ago and all it's done since is gather dust!)

I have an awful habit of starting things, then starting more things and never actually finishing ANYTHING! which sort of perpetuates my feelings of inadequacy, so I thought I had best do something positive to change these feelings. I still may not finish anything very quickly, but by putting it all on the blog, I can maybe give myself a nudge to do a bit more every know and then, after all, not much point making dolls that have nowhere to live, right?
anyway, I made a start on the santa house by decorating the main 'Toyshop' room. I couldn't find any wallpaper I liked, so scanned in some xmassy holly fabric from my stash and printed it out onto paper.

I need to paint the window frames and fit the glass next I think as I want to get the room finished as soon as I can so that its an incentive to do something to the rest of the house.
I've taken lots of pics of things to add to the blog but will leave it here for now, Id love to hear any ideas about colours for the front of the house, as I dont really know what I want to do to it , other than put paperclay tiles on the roof and have the sides of the building (which are plain) have some exposed brickwork showing through cracked and crumbling plaster ....... I just need to learn the skills and find the time to do it!

Life grinds to a halt once more

This is NOT one of those 'please give me sympathy' posts ..... I dont want any, but I felt it fair to tell friends and followers, that I won't be posting for a while. I shall continue to follow other blogs when I can, but am taking a break and readjusting for a while.
Over the last few years I have endured so much pain and discomfort from one ailment or another and have tried to put a brave face on for the public, but I just can't do it anymore! I thought after the last hospitalization that I was due some pain free time for a while, but no, my body thinks otherwise and has hatched another breakdown plan! I so want to spend my life making miniatures and creating in my workroom, but its a dream thats just not happening. The lights are on but no-one seems to be at home!!! The drugs that the docs have given me for the latest ailment have left me feeling like a total zombie and I just can't focus on much at all at the moment. So, I'm now gonna stop conning myself that I will be creating a masterpiece for everyone to see for the next time you see me post cos its just not gonna happen. I have unfinished stuff, lots of unfinished stuff, inspiration isnt my problem, it makes me sad knowing I dont have the oomph to finish it all and this doesnt help me. I'm just going to try and concentrate on getting better and not keep putting pressure on myself to be something I don't have the energy to be. If I finish one doll in a year, then I will be happy :o) so this wannabe doll maker is just going to enjoy watching life for a while and Granny Weatherwax is just gonna have to stay as she is and cuss me all she wants!!

New Year , New Me?

New Year , New Me? I very much doubt it ! but slight adjustments are a feasible possibility even for me!
I have been a bad blogger. I have missed so much of what you have all been up to... I even missed my own birthday, xmas and new year with you and so I am really, really going to try to do much better this year! I don't make resolutions, its like setting myself up for a fall, I know I will continue to be the same dizzy headed, last minute panic type person I'm sure, although I would like to think that as each year passes, I become just a little bit more routined & organised, maybe thats a natural progressive thing but I shall claim it as an acheivement anyway! after all, I now have organised shoeboxes and a tidy wardrobe (that wasnt thought possible last year) AND I now have an ironing pile that fits into ONE basket, which had never dare even be imagined before it actually happened!! I am sure I shall continue to procrastinate just the same, but hope that the gaps become longer between each daydreaming session so that I may actually get something created occasionally to ease the pressure in my head of the queue of mini characters and things that that have been waiting (quite impatiently at times) for a phsyical body. Some now have the said physical body but have no clothes, which in the middle of winter is a bit cruel I admit, but I 'm getting there albeit slowly. I DID make a doll after I received Debie's lovely inspiration parcel and decided to let Granny Weatherwax out of my head first, but........ she is definitely glaring at me more and more each day at her enforced nakednesss which is most unbefitting for a witch of her calibre .... I shall be punished Im sure, its bad enough that I put the wrong boots on her and had to remove her legs!!! to say she aint'nt happy is an understatement!!!

so please, nobody call the doll police just yet! it wasn't just my fault .... I blame all the kerfuffle on the time out for xmas.

and ......
who would have thought that a friend getting a new teapot for xmas could lead to a new blog? well it has..... Mini Madness : Virtual Tea Party (Top Hats Optional) was borne after a strange conversation with Kathleen (here after to be known as Kat-kins!) of Little thoughts from an average mind , we have no idea where its going, but for now it seemed like a good way of getting a few friends together (even though thousands of miles separate us) for a cup of tea at the same time to ramble on about our mini musings. I just hope that the new blog is a place of inspiration for me and not just another distraction to stop me doing the things that were already on my to-do list!!!

(these are my favourite tea-cups!)

and on that note, I am off to look for my 'to do' list........................................

My lucky week!

Oh I am a happy bubble today !!!
Yesterday I was the lucky so & so that won Mags' nificent xmas cake give-away :o) it really looks good enough to eat! and seeing as how Ive been on an awful diet for the best part of this year, I shall have to remember it is made of clay!! LOL (I shall put a photo up of it as soon as it arrives)
Today another happy moment happened when I received a parcel that I wasnt expecting, opening in dread to be honest as it was rattling ..... a lot, and I feared that whatever was within had broken en-route (always worst case scenario LOL) so imagine my suprise to discover all this stashed inside

the rattling was just copious amounts of beads running free, nothing broken at all !!
There was a challenge inside the box:
I challenge you to make a doll using some of this stuff.
Lots of love
Debiekins x

Debie is a wonderful person! I have felt poorly most of the year and had seriously lost my oomph for mini-making, and this really has given me a large kick up the backside to get going again .... I needed one! Debie, thankyou from the bottom of my heart for being so sweet and thoughtful, I shall get creating something wonderful A.S.A.P! xxx
(P.S. I love that green hair!)

I'm REALLY back this time !!

I feel like I fell off the planet a bit over the last few months and have totaly missed Halloween :o( gasp ..... I know! how awful is that? but I had good reason as the gall-bladder grumbles are now all over with as its been removed at last and I can now look forward to getting my life back on track! :o) I was really looking forward to receiving a little jar/pot after the op containing the offending gall-stones and was a bit miffed when told I couldnt have them as it breached the hospitals 'health & safety policy' to let me keep them !!!!!! so the gallstone gremlin thats in my head waiting to be made, will just have to stay there as he now wont have a pile of rocks to sit on....hummph! I'm not sure how soon I'll be getting back to the sculpting but I do want to get back to it as soon as I can, my confidence has taken a bit of a knock where Ive not created for so long and Im convinced I will have forgotten how to do it, but Im sure I'll be up to no good and making a mess pretty soon LOL

slap my wrists for being such a bad blogger!!!!!

Life got in the way !!!! I've missed Blogland!
DIY, kids, gardening, my health, and then theres the facebook farmtown addiction to deal with too LOL, excuses, excuses I know but I hadnt realised how quickly time flies! Most of the decorating after the re-wire has been done and the overgrown garden is beginning to look like some-one actually loves it once more, my gall bladders still grumbling away and giving me grief, and Im getting fed up of eating low fat food!!! I even had a dream about eating bacon & hot melted cheese rolls!!!! (don't get me started on how much I miss cheese & onion crisps or my beloved jaffa cakes!!!!) so I will be glad when they take the thing out. I'm beginning to think its old age and wondering what body part is gonna break down next ! LOL Ive been told the op will be done by xmas so fingers crossed the new year will bring a fixed & revitalised version of me as Im seriously missing my mini making. I can't let Halloween pass without a spurt of creativity on my part, I've got so many ideas in my head that if i don't get back into my craftroom soon , there will be a lot of my dear friends getting commissions from me so that I can see my ideas in reality a bit quicker!
Right, :o) I'm off to catch up with everything in Blogland ............