iseecerulean

mad, mad, mad me

I so very carefully made sure I had everything lined up perfectly, but the chandelier must have slid a little bit when I put the clamp on, because it's not centered on the ceiling medallion.  It looks absolutely horrible, and there's not a damn thing I can do about it...there's no way I could take the chandelier back down to reposition it without ruining it, the medallion, and the whole ceiling.

mad

Plus...the teardrop was hanging a little off kilter, so I tugged on it ever so slightly to straighten it and it came right off.  I can't put it back on now that the chandelier is in place, so it's going to have to stay off.  That doesn't upset me as much as the whole thing being off center, since I was waffling on using it anyway, but still...

mad

I suppose the ugliness won't be too noticeable once the whole room is finished...but it's always going to bother me at least a little bit.

mad

This isn't the furniture I'm going to end up using in this room, it's just to give you an idea of what it will look like furnished. And...since Melinda was commenting yesterday on how tiny the house is, I sat a 'regular' dollhouse scale (1:12) chair in front of it, so everyone else could see what she was talking about.

Oh yeah, the construction change I was going to tell you about today...

If you look closely (click the picture to enlarge it) at the finished chandelier from the first time, which is one of the pictures I re-posted on Wednesday, you can see a definite 'line' about a fourth of the way down from the top of the chandelier where I switched from 2mm beads to 3mm beads.  When I made the chandelier this time, I varied the transition a bit so that it wasn't so noticeable...if you click on today's picture you can see the difference.

And something else...look at the crown moulding on the wall behind the chandelier...I used yellow tack to hold it in place while the glue dried and it left yellow goobers in the trim.  I tried to tease the yuck out with a toothpick but I didn't have any luck.  If anyone has any ideas on how to get it out, please share them. (Dry ideas, not wet ones, I don't want to ruin the wallpaper.)  I'm thinking that the next thing I might try is to take a dry toothbrush to the trim to see if I can scrub the yuck out...what do you think?

odd picture day

I finished the chandelier last night.  I did make a couple of changes, one of them in the manner of construction, which made things a lot easier, but which you won't be able to see...the other change I'll explain tomorrow, when I can get a better picture...today's picture is rather odd.

This morning I glued in the ceiling medallion, chandelier and the living and dining room fireplaces...when I come home after work I can take the clamp out, plug the wires in, then glue the floor down in the room above. 

what is it with shipping companies lately?

This is for my new PC (at work).  It's traveling slower than Susan's Halloween present did.

Date/Time	Activity	Location
Oct 28, 2009 9:47 AM	Arrived at FedEx location	FORT WORTH, TX
Oct 24, 2009 4:21 PM	Picked up	EL PASO, TX

What did FedEx do?  Walk it the 600 miles from El Paso to Fort Worth?

chandelier re-do

Blog archives are great. 

I tore apart the chandelier I broke and am making it over again.  As I was working on the bottom I thought I'd change it a little to make the drape longer, and perhaps leave the center teardrop shaped crystal out.  I backtracked in the blog archives to discover why I made it the way I did, because I remember it took several tries to get it right the first time.  I don't want to go through all that again! 

This post tells me that I want to leave the drape alone...although it would look better longer, it won't fit in the dollhouse if it's longer.

I keep looking at the picture of the finished chandelier, holding my fingertip over the teardrop crystal to see what it would look like without it.  I'm not sure if I want to put it back on or not.  What do you think?

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p.s.  Pop over to Melinda's blog to see the picture of her jack-o-lanterns, they're really cool.

uh-oh

I screwed up.

When I got the dollhouse back out I found three additional wall pieces that I started on eons ago then forgot I had.  They're trim pieces,not structural pieces, they go on the edges of the open sides of the house.

When I put the crown moulding up I extended it to the edge of the side walls, which is where these pieces need to go.  I briefly contemplated not using the three pieces of wall, but decided it would look better with them on.  Now I've got to saw off the ends of the crown moulding without damaging the wall and ceiling.

Plus, I've got to finish the three pieces...I've got the parts for the painted rooms done, but not the papered rooms.

Oh yeah...I got the living and dining room floors done.  I haven't polished the new pieces yet, so the colors don't match in the picture, but they will eventually.

 

Chicago

We're having a company meeting in Chicago on November 16th and 17th.  It's on a Monday and Tuesday, but Bessie and I are thinking that we'll drive there on Saturday morning, instead of Sunday afternoon with everyone else...that way we can go to the Art Institute of Chicago on Sunday. 

We want to see everything, of course, but are particularly interested in the Thorne Miniature Rooms collection.  There's going to be a Victorian collage exhibit there during the time of our visit that looks intriguing too.

We're hoping to leave early enough on Saturday morning that we have time to go to a miniature store in the afternoon, before we check into the hotel.  I've got this one picked out, but I've got to run it by Bessie yet.

Happy Halloween!

Susan got her presents yesterday, yay!

Now I can post pictures of what I working on the week after I finished Mz. Crowe's pumpkin...you know, the week I was posting dorky stuff like pictures of my haircut.  I made a second pumpkin for Susan...just a little one, as a surprise.

whoo hoo, today is the day

	10/21/2009	5:19 A.M.	OUT FOR DELIVERY
	10/21/2009	1:39 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	10/20/2009	10:39 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/20/2009	7:04 A.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	10/20/2009	3:21 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/19/2009	11:34 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	10/19/2009	8:15 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/19/2009	6:40 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
	10/17/2009	2:29 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

how cool...

I saw one of his pieces of art on the cover of a magazine that crossed my desk...I had to google...

Red Nose Studio

grouchy

	Date	Local Time	Description
	10/20/2009	3:21 A.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/19/2009	11:34 P.M.	ARRIVAL SCAN
	10/19/2009	8:15 P.M.	DEPARTURE SCAN
	10/19/2009	6:40 P.M.	ORIGIN SCAN
	10/17/2009	2:29 P.M.	BILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED

Look at this! I purposefully took the box to the UPS store on Saturday before they closed for nothing...it sat there until Monday night.  Stupid UPS.  I wanted it to get there yesterday or today, instead it won't get there until tomorrow.  Grrr.

nice weekend

What a nice weekend.  It didn't rain.

I finished packing the box and took it to UPS on Saturday.  It ended up being kind of heavy, be careful lifting it.  You should have the tracking number in your email Susan, let me know if you don't. 

I got the witch finished.  Her glasses aren't on her nose as much as they are in front of her nose.  I'm going to have to live with it, because I squinched the side of her nose to get the glasses to sit straight.  If I move the glasses up then her nose will be funny looking.

After I finished her I went on a baking jag...I baked a cake for Matt, chocolate raspberry brownies for Kate, and apple pie cookies to take to work tomorrow.  Mmm...

I'm going to spend the rest of the day putting up more Halloween decorations, I think.  Either that or I'm going to finish the paperback I'm reading in an hour or two long bubble bath.

browsing flickr

No progress report today...too much time spent browsing flickr.

very cool picture

potion labels

Halloween in the Time of Cholera

Foggy Graveyard

miniature downtown

I made the miniature at TiltShift.  It's a pretty cool tool.

~

I haven't done anything with the witch yet.  I've got a lot of stuff going on at work...I've been coming home so tired that all I want to do is collapse on the couch in front of the TV for the evening. Ugh. 

The cold, wet weather isn't helping either...it's been downright gloomy for about three weeks now.

~

Your box is a little fuller than it was yesterday morning, Susan, but it's still not ready to go yet.  I had an idea for filler, but all the tourist gift shops are closed for the season, so I've got to think of something else.

decided

I'm going to finish the witch.  I'm tired of feeling guilty about unfinished projects.

I took a close look at her to see what needs to be done.  I need to:

• give her eyelids and new eyelashes
• put more hair on, it starts too far back on her head
• either find glasses to fit her or fix the glue yuck on her nose left from the pair that didn't stay on
• color the dings on the crow's beak
• figure out a way to keep her arms up so that she's holding her spellbook in front of her, not underneath her 

If you see anything else that looks like it needs attention, please say so.

monday

I've got to figure out what to work on next, I'm driving my family crazy.  I cleaned the whole house this weekend, put out the Halloween decorations, then walked around aimlessly commenting (apparently too many times) on how bored I was.  At one point Matt told Kate to take me outside to play...all she did was roll her eyeballs.

It's too wet to play outside anyway...my back yard is turning into a mushroom filled fantasy world.

I wish I had some little army men...I could have spent an hour or two staging photos of them battling the mushrooms.

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Your box is almost ready to go, Susan...it's got a little more empty space yet...I'm trying to decide whether to fill it with tricks or treats.

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Some more little stuff came in Saturday's mail.  I got two kits to make end tables, a fireplace insert for the living room, a bicycle (which I'm planning on painting), and a bird cage for the attic. 

cut and color

eye candy...again?

I'm pretty sure I've posted a link to Amyla's dollhouse photostream before...but if I did, it was a long time ago and it's worth another look.

kitchen stuff

I got some cute kitchen accessories over the last couple of weeks...I didn't show you then because I was busy trying to get the pumpkins done.

Another tea set, a potato masher, spatulas and spoons, faucets for the bathroom sink (ok, so it's not all kitchen accessories), water taps and waste pipe for the bathtub, a bean pot, little can of Planter's nuts, cookie jar, little gourds, flower pots, a beer tankard, and a cake plate with dome.

I get cute stuff like this, then I look over at my half finished dollhouse and just sigh.  I've got a lot of work to do yet.  Somewhere in the blog, before I took a break to make Halloween minis, I posted a to-do list...I'll have to find it.

I had a thought the other day...I had originally picked out gray paint for the the exterior of the house, then changed my mind and bought green paint instead...then I painted my studio green.  I'm going to need to switch back to gray.

Here's another picture for you, so that you get an idea of how teeny this stuff is...this is the kitchen utensils next to the leaves I used in the pumpkins.  You'll have to wait until your pumpkin gets there, Susan, then you'll see what I mean.

I haven't mailed it yet...am thinking about other things to maybe stuff in the box.  When I opened up the pantry door this morning to get the coffee out, I saw the huge bag of dried cherries Matt bought a couple of months ago that hasn't even been opened yet...sometimes his eyes are bigger than my tummy.  I know your honey is getting more cherries.  I'm not sure about the girls yet, Melinda's step-daughter got my girly odds and ends in the big box of stuff I gave her after the studio remodel.

oooh...Halloween sparklies

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what next?

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I want to get the Halloween decorations out, but the weather is still yucky.  I'm not going to wait much longer though...if it's still rainy this weekend, that's just too bad, I'll have to get wet.

My work table is empty, and I need to spread out a project.  I can't decide between working on the dollhouse, the art studio roombox, or finishing the witch I started three or so years ago.  I should probably finish the witch...she's been sitting on top of the bookcase staring at me...she needs eyelids, her stare creeps me out.

I also need to make curtains for my studio, trim the top of the shelving units that are over my work table, and paint the underside of the blue boxes that stick out over the edge of the top shelf.

Sigh...I don't know.

the trailer for the next Doctor Who special is out, but there's no air date yet...

second pumpkin done

I took them both over to my parent's house today...they think they're gorgeous.  Mom and Dad are biased, I know, but I soaked it up anyway.

So...now that I've got the easy part done, Susan, you have to do the hard part.  You have to decide which one goes to live at your house and which one stays here with me.

shoot...

...I ran out of pumpkin leaves.

I cut, wet and pinned more last night...they should be ready for me as soon as I finish my cup of coffee this morning.

fabric contest giveaway

Lila Tueller is celebrating her new line with a fabric contest giveaway.  Head over to her blog to get your name in the hat.

perspective

It's funny, I had the pumpkins arranged just so, but now when I look at the picture it's obvious that I need another one on the right, behind Mz. Crowe.

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I punched out leaves, let them dry, glued them in, let them dry, put the vine in, let it dry, put the pumpkins in, let them dry....and glued rocks in too.  I'd be done now if I didn't have to stop for dry time.

Unless I have a brainstorm that changes things, all I have left to do is to glue in the pumpkin leaves, scatter some more fallen leaves around, and put on the copper trim around the edge of the opening.

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Hmmm...

and maybe I'll take a crow out of the tree so I can stand it on a pumpkin instead...

grounded

Mz. Crowe's  skirt is hiked up to keep mossy glue off it...which didn't prevent it from catching a dollop of glue off the back of my hand.

guess what!

Kate and I are going to Paris next June!

Whoo hoo!

I'm so excited.

pumpkin patch progress

I googled images of a pumpkin patch...in some of the pictures the leaves are really droopy, but in others they're not droopy at all...it depends on how badly their garden needs to be watered, I suppose.

I decided my leaves needed some shape to them to appear more realistic.  I dipped them in water, draped them over the edge of a cork, pinned them in place, then let them dry.  Once they were dry I glued them to a piece of paper covered wire. 

I may adjust the shape once they're in place, this is just my starting point.

My leaves are a much lighter color than any I've seen in pictures, but a darker green would get lost inside the big pumpkin.  I thought about painting them, but I don't want them to be all exactly the same color...too uniform means less character.  I also thought about painting the pumpkins, because I didn't like the speckles, but now the look is kind of growing on me.  Besides which, the species Cucurbita ickyspeckle has lighter colored leaves...

what does a pumpkin patch look like?

I've seen a corn field, but I've never seen a pumpkin patch.  I need to google images so that I can figure out how to put one together.

I googled images for pumpkin leaves (I never realized they were so big), decided on an "average" shape, then made a pattern and cut some out of a natural fiber paper.  I've got no idea how many I'm going to need, I may have to cut out more.  I tried to find a punch at the scrapbook store, but they're out of business.  I could just cry every time another small businessman trying to make it on his own goes under.

The cornstalks have been attached to toothpicks, dyed with coffee, and arranged...they're ready to go in.

I started on the pumpkins too...tore out the brown plastic stems and inserted my own green paper-wrapped wire ones, so that I can have vines.

As soon as I figure out what a little pumpkin patch looks like, I'll start putting the stuff inside the big pumpkin.

what a long, drawn out, tedious, painstakingly meticulous, exhausting torment that was

And messy too, there are yucky glue boogers everywhere...I'm going to have to clean before I can go on to the next step.

Thank goodness I got a break halfway through for some of this, or I'd have lost my mind.

My husband is a lasagna genius!

first attempt

This is the first corn stalk.  It's not very good, but it taught me how to make the rest of them better.

I'm going to try to dip it in tea to make it the right color.  Hmm...maybe I'll use coffee instead, since I've got a cup in front of me and won't make tea until this afternoon.

I used some ivory colored paper twist stuff to make this one.  The directions called for raffia, but this was already in my stash...It's the same roll of paper twist I bought to make angel ornaments for my first Christmas tree nineteen years ago...back when I was broke and made my own ornaments because I had to, not because I wanted to.  Obviously I had no idea exactly how much was on a roll...I'm not sure I'll use it all before I die.

I've still got a couple of those ornaments, though I don't hang them on the tree anymore.  Remind me in December, when I get the Christmas decorations out, to show you.

I think I'm going to get the Halloween decorations out this weekend.  The leaves are starting to turn colors, the stores are selling caramel apples, and it's starting to feel like autumn.  I love autumn.

the second pumpkin

I can't decide how to finish the second pumpkin.

I had thoughts of putting in a pumpkin field, or a corn and pumpkin field, but I think that might be too much...I'm not sure.  Maybe I should put in moss covered with fallen leaves. 

Another thought was to put a 3-D paper cut-out of a haunted house like this on the back wall...with maybe a tree line on the horizon...but I'm afraid that it would make the whole thing look less artsy, more craftsy...plus it might be skewing with scale too much.

I just don't know...I'm still feeling a tad bit under the weather, which makes me whiney, grumpy, and indecisive.  It also makes my husband spoil me rotten, so I guess it's not all bad.  Last night he came home from work with a metal jack-o-lantern 'bag' filled with chocolate chip cookies..."just because".

Kate caught my cooties, she didn't go to Aikido last night...said she didn't want to sneeze snotty germs all over the mats and make everyone else sick...I told her I was sure they didn't want that either.  Susan caught my cooties too...I must have sneezed on the modem.

Sigh...somebody tell me what to do with this pumpkin!

one done...one to go

I decided

I decided not to use the roses.  The focal point of the piece is supposed to be the tree, and the roses were their own focal point...the piece isn't big enough for two focal points.  I decided the urn had to be filled with neutral colored material, like the baby's breath.  I went for a walk, came home with various dead plant life, then used thistle to fill out the urn.  After I glued it in place I didn't like it...it was still too much of it's own focal point...so I squished it down some (which is when I took the picture).  I still didn't like it, so I tore it all out, to leave the urn unplanted.  I filled it with moss, glued some baby's breath flower heads on top of that, then added some fallen leaves.  Now I really like it...it fits.

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The leaves were a brainstorm I had when I was planning to use the roses...to scatter some more red throughout the piece.  The red (same red as the roses) and copper colored leaves are painted tissue paper, and the brown leaves are punched from real maple leaves out of my back yard.  I used a maple leaf shaped paper punch.  The real leaves turned out awesome.  I wonder if they're close to 1/12 scale?  Once the maple drops colored leaves I could punch a bunch out to either give away or sell on etsy...I'll have to measure them.

just dead baby's breath (only more of), or roses...I can't decide