The Old Laurels

A hoy hoy!! Another post already argh!! I gave myself the weekend off, which really isn't much when house still full of kids and a functioning phone but I donned it in spirit. I dragged this project out, left the dust (soo moody) and got to work. This will be for my mum and dad. So far it is called The Old Laurels. No pun intended really. Yeah I'm giving another house away. I love making them and I have seriously no where to put them. My RL house is teeny too. So off it will go!!! Amazing isn't when you restart a project and you come across something and you go 'what on earth was I thinking?' or better yet 'where was that going to go?' I had no lights for the top floor for starters. I have no idea why!! So in they went. Amazing how you can find places to run wires with the use of a drill. Not much precision required thankfully. But then of course one decided to fail once it was all done. Sob. Out it came and replaced with another. No joy like doing a light test and have them all work. Happy dance. The blue cooker I made some time ago. I don't know where I found the patience to do that. Must have been a fit of madness. The house kit has been seriously bashed. The front porch gone. A roof over the larger bay window will go in. One of the interior downstairs walls gone. Upstairs I have added walls as it is really hard to position furniture up against a sloping roof. So there are now three little rooms. One very teeny with a fireplace. I didn't take any photos of the upstairs set up. Remiss. Note to self for next time!! Stairs added. I adventured with darker timber treatment this time and used a whiter grout for the walls. Thought it would be a clearer canvas for a more vibrant pallette of colours for furnishing etc. Like the bright red floral upstairs bedroom. Love it!!! Couldn't sleep with it in RL. I would be ill I think. That's what makes minis so good yeah?!! Must be off, kidletts need feeding, they will start gnawing on chair legs soon enough. 

Be safe, be well and be Merry Happy Christmas!!!

Carriexx

Be happy mini!!xxx

Merry Christmas from Down Under

A MERRY HO HO FROM OZ!!!!

It is summer so hot with a side of really hot is on the menu!! I would love a cold Chrissie!!! Just once! So anyways I have the air conditioner on to work on my latest project which is fighting back currently through one light not working!! Of course it waited till everything was all glued in place. I have 'fiddled' with everything I can think of and it still won't work. So today will be spent pulling it out and replacing it.

But yesterday afternoon I pulled myself away from it and took my boys to the Water Park on the beach. It is just after 6pm. Sun is almost down behind Castle Hill. Best time to be out and most Villians (Townsville folk) usually are. It is still very warm about 31'C but the sea breeze makes it bearable. It stays on till 9pm with a Lifeguard to keep it safe. Best summer fun!!

This is where we will be spending just over a week. Ah a cabin on the beach!! What a way to bring in the new year!!! Just a couple of hours drive away. I haven't been up there since Cyclone Yasi but a beach is a beach. I am soooo looking forward to it. A cruise around the islands to might be in order to I think. 

I'll send you some sunshine! Carriexx

A Little Vignette

Good evening all. I hope this finds you well. Been working on a few little projects. They are easier to fit in between crazy stuff that we refer to as life. One being little frenchified vignette. My favorite wallpaper again, mostly because it was what I had on hand. I still hate waiting for mail. Oh to live in a town with a miniature shop!! I have been chipping away at a much bigger project that I am trying in vain to finish, argh. I hope to have pics of it's progress up soon as well.

All of my favourtie goodies inside.

 Window was $1.52 on ebay, I bought a box of them!! Such good value.

 Walls are just covered using a very fine spacfilla (not sure of spelling) and paint is a test tube you buy for a few dollars at a hardware store. I like thrifty.

This is the Coventry I have been working on. A lot of walls put in upstairs. I am up to shingling the roof. I have never done that before so tally-ho into the fray of "what am I doing!!!" once again. Must buy shingles first, that would help I think. Any suggestions, tips, advice and warnings will be warmly received!!!

Bye for now and be well!! Carriexx

A Room Box

Good day to everyone!!! I hope this finds you well. I kept myself busy the last three days working on a room box. I really wanted to do a house finally for moi self but time is always lacking and my real life house seems to be shrinking as my boys keep growing. Where would I do it and put all my mess/stuff?!! A room box I thought would only take up the kitchen for a week or so. It's school holidays anyway and that somehow means I can slack of too.  As long as the meals are made and some one washes up who needs a kitchen table to eat off I say! So far it's still novel for the boys to not use a table for meals. Must take full advantage of that!! Plus my parents are visiting and I can palm the kids in their direction. Especially when the youngest needs fueling up with up Vegemite sangers and copious fluids of all variety's. Was nice to do something different. My Etsy shop has become a full time job and so doing something different was a welcome change. I'm contemplating on putting this up for sale in my shop as space in my RL house is in short demand. Three rooms in all. I love using rooms and doorways to draw the eye in and add more interest. Plus I think the added advantage is less furniture etc is required to fill them up.

Beautiful chair by Lea Frisoni. My favourite wallpaper again. I love it.

Teeny room at the back. A faux entrance, cloakroom or washroom? Then either a hallway, bathroom, teeny kitchen area? Into a lounge or bedroom. I am making the exterior like a attic floor townhouse. Chimney stack and all. Very similar to the Maison de Livre attic bedroom.

Must go and do some RL stuff. Laundry doesn't wash itself unfortunately. And I should try to find the kitchen table this afternoon as well I think....Maybe. There is another project I could start ;0)

Hoo roo!

Carrie

Winter Clean Up

Hidey ho all!! I hope this finds you well. 

 It is trying, very badly I must add to be winter here. It is thus far failing. A warm afternoon with house still wide open and thinking of putting on a fan. Yes a fan. I do hanker for wild and woolly weather that can only be met with Chocolate Puddings and nights in front of the TV with a Good British murder mystery or period drama. But I filled my tepid afternoon with a bit of house cleaning. The mini variety not the full blown house version!!! Long weekend her in Oz and I plan to do traditionally nothing at all. No a mini clean up. So with my trusty soft brush I dusted out the Little Thatched Cottage. I really must get myself moving and make way to get an acrylic cover for it. I had a quote some time ago and while I won't have to sell my car to pay for it, it will still dent the humble bank account. But it is worth it I think. The tropics aren't the best place to preserve, well anything really. Here are some photos anyways, while it is still dustless and I haven't moved it back to it's resting spot in my lounge and all the bits fall off no matter what I use to stick em down.

I finally got the toadstools in the garden. Nikkie Rowe made these and the fantastic little snail is from Hummingbird Miniatures.

Hoo roo for now and be well!!

Carrie

Tuscan Book Room Mk II

Two posts in a week!!!!! Oh my and the sky didn't fall in. Bonus!! I liked my Tuscan inspired book room so much I made another one which was better and gave it away so I could keep my original one. I think that made sense. Anyway my Grandmother lives so very far away from me and my kidlets. I thought I would use the Tuscan Book Room as a showcase of all the mad mini-ing that I do. So she knows what I'm on about. It may seem wicked I know to give a woman of many, many mature years a gift whose items are so teeny she can't see them but that's what glasses and magnifying glasses are for. Electron microscope anyone?!!! Anyhoos it got put on the back burner what with Maison de Livre, New Zealand, kids and that life stuff. Today I finished it, yay!!! The crowd cheers!!! Any way here are some pics. The light is getting lousy for photos. Sun heading to the other side of the house like it does this time of year and the tree outside my window just keeps growing, as they do. Have a squizz, I got to put dinner on.

See you all and be safe!!

Carriexx

A Little Room Box...with one wall and no roof.

 For photos of larger items I had been using the attic room of the Maison de Livre. It was just perfect!!! But it needed to go with the rest of the house when my niece Bek finally took the keys. Argh what to do says I. Well an amazing thing happened, my brain worked! Yes in a mathy numbers and use of rulers kind of way. I usually work in the way of mmmm a gap...need to cover it...timber bit all shabbified will do. Bingo and all done. Actually it was probably motivated by what usually motivates me, a desperate need not to do more work than I need to. I didn't want to make another room box ergh too much work!! Now I sound like my kids. So mathy numbers part of my gray matter stirred from it's deep slumber and a light bulb turned on. Before it blew out I quickly sketched down the idea. And lo and behold drum roll please, it worked. It's just a little photo studio. No walls or roof. Let's in more light that way. I don't plan on talking panoramic shots here. Foam core 5mm thick. The base is two thicknesses. 5mm from one long end I have left a chanel 5mm wide. Lots of 5mm here, not too mathy. There are two wallpapers I just lorve so I wallpapered both sides of my wall. Added base boards 5mm up on both sides. So the idea is the wall just slides in and out. I can have a choice of two types of wallpaper for my pics. The base boards help it to stay in place. Did any of that make sense?? Anyways I thought I would share my mathy moment thinking it could help out someone else. I am very sure I'm not the only one to have done this but here it is, save you some Googling.

With the green wallpaper side, I can't remember the name of it doh.

Foam board is 20cm x 25cm. Channel 5mm wide and little bit at the back is 5mm. To glue on the baseboards (once the wallpaper was on) I slid the wall piece into the channel , glued both cut to size pieces of timber and bunged them on, holding them till they dried. Perfect fit then. The timber floor is just an image I found of the net and printed.

Other side, Emma in cream I think it is.

I think it works purty well.

Fizz pop there goes my light bulb. Ahh it was good while it lasted.

Nite folks!! Carriexx

Home Again.

Home again, sigh. The three hour flight over the Tasman did not disappoint. It was just majestic. I couldn't resist taking photos of the beautiful clouds.

See the dragon head? I thought it was neat. And he's even spewing out a bit of white frothy 'fire'.

I could tell we were close to Australia when I saw this cloud formation.  This cloud is a baby storm in the making. This time of year you can see them almost every afternoon hovering just off the coast. You wonder if they'll just fade away or explode into a ripper of a storm. I love the ripper storm. But not the mini cyclone variety. That's just a bit too much.

South east Queensland coastline. 

Brisbane, one more flight to go.

I was brave this morning and opened the special wooden box that was made up for our houses. I was worried how it had traveled thousand's of km and three separate flights. That is to say being tossed on and off multiple conveyor belts and the little trucks that zip around those big planes. Phew, glad to say it still in one piece. Now to clay the outside walls, the roof shingles, the landscaping and the idea of resin for the water. How am I going to decorate?!! So different to my usual fare but what a delicious challenge!!

Easy peasy.

New Zealand thank you!!!

Be safe you all!! Carriexx

Workshop!!

Rik Pierce Fair Rosamund Bower Workshop. It has finished as soon as it started. But what a blast!! A fantastic workshop!! Flat out for five 8+ hours a day. Up everyday before the sun. Great people!! A beautiful place. Totally wonderful.

The sun makes an appearance as we arrive every morning to get started. It was very cold. Well for someone like me who comes from northern Australia it was. Lots of hot tea was had.

 Redwood Valley Hall, built 1887, where the workshop was held. I just loved it.

The view out from the front of the hall. Ahhh. 

Rik's resin dormer window. Just fantastic!!

Upstairs. Paper clay walls finally conquered!! And it was terribly easy. Good quality clay really makes all the difference.

Rik working on my house. Eekk!!

Downstairs. The tile floor put up quite a fight. The very cold morning my the vinyl hard to cut.

Wow what an awesome experience!! I am so very thrilled to have been a part of Rik's final southern workshop. To everyone there thank you for five wonderful days!!

Bless you all, Carriexx

New Zealand.

New Zealand. What a beautiful country!!! So much to see!. I have only been here for three days and have seen so much. I am looking forward to tomorrow. Another day of driving this time along the north coast of the south island. Can't wait to see what other beautiful places I'll find. Seems I arrived in time for the first rain they have had for a long time. I don't mind at all though! The Rik Peirce class doesn't start for another three days yet. I hope I won't have worn myself out!!

Lake Rotoroa.

Lake Rotoiti

Take care, Carriexx.