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  1. I waited 10 years to get a Beacon Hill. I didn't want to build one, and I couldn't have one shipped off ebay, so I had to wait until one showed up locally. In 10 years, I saw 1 perfect Beacon Hill (finished and furnished) get away due to the seller being 3 hours away. They were only asking $75! But then many years later another one appeared. The house was done nicely on the outside, and the interior was unfinished but primed except for the hallways. They wanted $200, but it sat for weeks and went down to $60. Seller delivered it to my door amazingly! It was meant to be and I love this house. My 1:12 miniature collection is now complete! 

    It all happened so fast, I felt like this house was making it's way to me as much as I was trying to get it into my collection. Definitely meant to be. Fate is great.

     

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    ItzKathyP
    Latest Entry

    I've never done a blog and hardly know where to start. The genuine excitement I feel in working on my Fairfield is my reason for starting this blog, and to be able to share each step of the way with others who understand my enthusiasm.

  2. I finished the castle and obviously I have not gotten any better at the whole blog thing. I was never much for the computer and sitting and writin etc. I just want to get up and work on things but really this might be a nice place to jot thoughts down.

    I haev been asked by a friend of mine to make a tutorial on aging techniques I have learned from the forum, reading and just playing. I am nervous about that, plus I have been working on miniatures for only three years , sooo what do I have to teach anyone ? lol

    I guess my ideas come from reading old books on miniatures from the 60's and 70's because I don't always have a lot of money so what I can't make I have to figure out HOW to make ....how ever says war is the mother of invention !! I think poverty is lol.

    Here is Claudia's castle :

    and the aged Gris Gris house

  3. So yesterday I started putting the first coat of paint onto the house. I listened to my husband this time, (instead of trusting my gut) and painted the house green...(well bad idea)...

    The green that I painted it, looked more like grass, baby peas or maybe even something that comes out of my infant's diaper...it looks AWFUL!!!

    I moved away from that and started priming the rest of the house pieces, I used plastering compound to fill in the holes on the porch roof where the kit porch posts should go also. After they were dry I assembled the rest of the first floor, the porch roof, the bay window and the kitchen bay window. I used tacky glue and then some of the plastering compound into the holes and grooves to make it look nice and flat/even.

    I also worked a little bit more on my furniture kits. After placing them into the house I realized that I needed to make some adjustments. I took the two cabinets apart so I can cut them down and thinner so they will fit into placement better. I also put a varnish on the dining room table, the wing chair, and the couch. I have some more adjusting in the kitchen to make everything fit the right way, but I'm pretty happy with the results so far.

    The next thing to do is more sanding!!! :banana:

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    CraigWoozy
    Latest Entry

    I have been doing cedar shake staining for the last two days or so and now I'm at around 400 shingles at least. Two of the cedar shake shingle sheets came with this beautiful wood that didn't need anything but a clear coat to look great. Almost half way there!

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    amandabee154
    Latest Entry

    So this isn't going to be an everyday blog, but I am going to try and write every time I make some worthwhile progress on my dollhouse projects. So where I'm at right now...I have completed my Orchid, my spring fling 2008 gardening shed, and finished renovating my Duracraft Lafayette from my childhood.- I have pictures in my gallery of these, and I will try to get some updated photos with finished products posted ASAP. Other 2 dollhouses I have completed- there was one which I did when I was 4 years old with my mom and cannot remember what is was and what has happened to it, and then the Greenleaf Brookwood...which was the first dollhouse I made on my own- needless to say I was not too happy with the outcome, so I gave that one to my little sister. Anyways, getting to my newest project- I have ordered the Greenleaf / Corona Miniature Travel Trailer!!! yay! :ohyeah: This is actually going to be a project I do with my 5 year old son....who has a great fascination with dollhouses. So we are supposed to get delivery tomorrow of our wonderful little treasure and he and I are so excited!!! We already have been talking about plans for our nice little camper. We both love rvs and hope one day to get a real one, but for now we will be happy with making a mini version. Not sure if we are going to do a more retro version or a modern version...but either way he wants to make sure it has all the need to haves,,,like potty, oven, sink, bed, and a small fan...haha. Well will close for now and make sure I will track our progress and post more pictures.

    Amanda :banana:

  4. Well well well i finally did something on the half scale house ;)

    I stuck the roof on...put on the battons and did the first coat of paint.....yay me :D

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    Linda :blink:

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    Alright, I ordered my kit yesterday, and they shipped it yesterday. I expect it to arrive hopefully Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, I have gathered copious amounts of sandpaper, my paint, wood filler, and glue. I also got some wallpaper. I'm probably jumping the gun on that one, but hey, that's okay! :banana: So, I am all ready to be scared, intimidated, frightened, and ready to pee myself when it gets here. :banana:

    Here is a picture of the actual Victorian home's color scheme that I plan to use on my pint-sized property! :ohyeah:

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  5. LifeUponTheWickedStage
    Latest Entry

    Man have I had a hard time posting this. Computer issues I guess. But I'm back and feeling very guilty for dissapearing for a large chunk of the year. I blame being a first time mom to a one year old who fears NOTHING! Its not a normal day if the kid doesn't get hurt once. I'm considering investing in one of the sumo costumes so he's got some extra padding ;) .

    Anyways back to Sirius's house!

    I started playing around with FIMO clay. I've made some fruits and veggies, and continued into the HP world.

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    The next photo is a Troll foot umbrella stand :D I'm thinking of going over it with some stain, and ploy and stipple it to make it look like skin. In the background you can see the floors, which I stained a darker color, and the wallpaper that I'm still working on.

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    Next was probably my favorite thing I've done with clay. I made some shrunken elf heads. Its just scrap wood from a laser cut set, stained, and once I made the heads and baked them I glued them to the wood. I'm going to also eventually make little copper plaques with names of them.

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    My next clay project was a totally improv. The roof of the tower had a giant hole in it so I made a fun little steeple thingy. I just added clay to a broken paintbrush handle and set it in there with a bunch of woodglue. I'm thinking of making it look like metal. Not sure which one, cooper ( greening or not) , shiny black, or silvery.

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    I'm going to try to make snakes a very pronounced but understated theme of the house ( Slytherin it up ). So my first snake it wrapping around the weird middle window that I hated. I'm going to do the same metal treatment as the turret. I also made some stainglass with a coloring book from Michaels. In greens of course.

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    Next, I took a cheap Hobby Lobby pie cabinet, took of the metal fronts and added some of the HL little bottles full of various spices and colored waters. I also attempted some clay books. Its hard to see how they turned out but I'll definatly make some more. They turned out super darling.

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    You can also see it that pic that I stained the floor in two different colors. Unfortunatley there was some bleeding but nothing intense.

    Finally is the outside's color. It seems a little blue in the pic put its grey. Whereever its still yellow is going to be paperclay brick. I'm still unsure of how I want the outside to look. I'm just playing it by ear. I'm thinking I was to distress the grey, but since I just did my base coat I have some time to think about it!

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    Let me know what you think. I'm really curious to see if anyone reads this haha. Have an amazing day!

  6. I saw this idea in an old Nutshell news magazine. There were no instructions, so I just figured out my own way to do it. Sorry my pics are a little blurry, it's very hard to get clear pics of small items.

    Materials:

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    Two small buttons, different sizes (canopy)

    small piece chain

    wire ( to make rings to connect chain)

    3 beads

    3 jewelry spacers

    a triple fish hook ( be very careful with the hook, you can cut the tips off, please wear safety glasses. I didn't cut mine off)

    gold paint

    E6000 glue

    jewelry pliers

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    Glue the beads to the bead spacers. make a ring of wire to connect the fish hook to the chain and then use a small piece of wire to connect the chain to the buttons (Stack the buttons and use the holes for the wire to go thru). Make sure to get the wire as flat as possible on the top of the buttons so that it will lay flat against ceiling.

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    I used gold paint to paint the buttons, chain and fish hook, since they were all different colors.

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    Now glue a bead assembly to each hook prong ( I didn't cut the points off since they were going to be covered anyway)

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    Here is my finished light fixture glued to the ceiling with E-6000 glue.

    I would love to learn how to make these electric, but that is for another time!

    Some more ideas:

    All of these are in my Michael's puzzle house, which is my current project.

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  7. I'm baaaack!

    Shame on me for not pursuing this blog. But as it so happens, GL revamped their site, and I had trouble settling in, so I got frustrated and gave up. Now I'm back, and determined to learn our new format.

    I've gotten a lot done since I last posted here. Most of the rooms in Moggie Manor (RGT's EastSide Townhouse ) are wallpapered, and I've managed to come up with some very nice furnishings, although many of them are not permanent. Still it does my heart good to see the rooms with furniture in them.

    My latest furniture purchase is a Bespaq Chambre de la Luna vanity. I love Bespaq, and although I can't afford to buy many pieces, I'm going to try to eventually have one piece in each room.

    I've also gotten ahead of myself in another way..I've made a Christmas tree! Yup, I bought one of the simple, 'bottlebrush' trees, and using Lycopodium, fleshed the skeleton form out with lovely green branches. It now sits, waiting for ornamentation.

    Getting the tree actually made was an obsession of mine. I had great fears that I'd leave it to the last minute, be unhappy with the results, and give up on decorating Moggie Manor for this Christmas.

    Yep, in J.K.Rowling's world, Harry and his friends do celebrate Christmas. Those who love HP know that the witches and wizards in this world, aren't in league with the devil. Rather, they have been given extra gifts by the Divine..in the same manner that many other natural talents are given. And of course, it's how those talents are used, that makes them good or evil traits.

    I like to believe that wizarding skills and talent are just one more example of a Divine Plan concerning human evolution..an adaptation to the world at large, due to mutations within our DNA. Wouldn't it be fun if such mutations really came to pass, and magic was really real?

    OH well, I can dream, can't I? In any event, HP's Wizarding world is fun to play in.

    More later. Have a great day!

  8. I had just about given up hope that I would be able to stain the doors, windows, beams, and timber framing today, as I didn't think I would have enough time to finish all of the fussy sanding needed in preparation for the staining. As it turned out, I was able to finish the sanding yesterday so it was staining day! For the exterior timber framing, I mixed an earthy green, brown, and sienna oil paints and thinned them down with turpentine to make a mossy green. For the beams and mantle I made up a batch of walnut colored stain using my oils and turp. I wanted something that looked like stain but moving toward a purply mahogany for the interior window framing and was very pleased with the color I mixed using brown, red, blue, yellow, and white with the turp. I plan to make curtains using medical gauze that I dye with mulberries which should look good with the framing color.

    Now I just have to wait for the stain to dry and I can put the windows together. I can't wait!

  9. Fitting for fireplace to set in the wall. And starting to glue down floor tile. This part of the tile is grouted now and ready for the next part to finish this floor area.

    Nothing new will be up untill next week,around march 5th. The castle is dismanteled right now. Putting in the beams on ceilings and cutting out for the staircases. And the outside walls are being painted,while waiting on the stone for the outside, and rest of the stone for the floors to be delivered.

  10. shamrockgirl18
    Latest Entry

    I haven't been on here in a while- not because I haven't been doing any mini work, but mostly b/c I haven't even had time to breathe, let alone type a nice leisurely blog entry.

    I've been incredibly busy because I now have 3 jobs: a day job (school librarian), a night job (writing instructor at local community college) and also a weekend job (local history museum).

    I was working this past Sunday at the museum (which is really a small historical village) when they had the Fairy House tour. Here's the link from the event, direct from author Tracy Kane's website: http://www.fairyhous...smouth-nh-2013/

    Towards the end of the day, I happened to meet the lady who arranged these Fairy House events. She told me that every year, there are a few houses that never get claimed, and they end up in the dumpster. I thought that was apalling! Not just the idea of the wasted materials, but also the idea that these beautiful little houses don't get a chance to be seen again!

    I told her that I am a dollhouse/fairy house builder myself, and that I also work in a school library. Our school has a little courtyard that the library windows look down into, and I told her I'd be happy to take any unclaimed fairy houses to display in the school's courtyard. She told me to come back on Monday (yesterday) and just take any houses that were left b/c Sunday night was the deadline to pick them up. So I went yesterday, and ended up taking 3 fairy houses back with me! banana.gif

    Not to mention- they also inspired me to make some more of my own! I made 2 little ones last night from these little wooden, decorative birdcages that I picked up at a thrift store last year. And now I am working on a 3rd one in a larger, metal decorative birdcage that was also bought at Goodwill.

    I cannot wait to set them up in the courtyard, and then casually tell teachers/students to go out because "I think some fairies have taken up residence in our courtyard!" biggrin2.gif

  11. pdlnpeabody
    Latest Entry

    Well, I guess it isn't actually "new", but It hasn't been posted here yet- I'm working on a 2D art piece, currently.  

    About 18 months ago, I started to plan a new pen and ink/stipple piece.  My little ones do so much damage to my minis, thanks to the lack of a separate workroom, that I have had to leave it dormant for at least another year or so.  A drawing, on the other hand, I can lock in a closet or someplace else that the kids shouldn't get into.  So, I started planning on the new piece.  During the first week of April, 2017, I spent the week in the hospital for a scan to detect seizures (I don't have them, it turns out), and I knew I would have endless hours of nothing to do and not many distractions, so I started plotting and inking in a massive 30 inch by 40 inch drawing of a Union Pacific Railroad Big Boy.  At 120 ft long, over 1.2 million pounds and with sixteen drive wheels and a firebox bigger than my first two apartments combined, they were the largest steam locomotives ever built.  I worked on the picture the entire week I was there, but did little after I returned home.  After my motorcycle accident this past February, I had time again to work on it in the rehab hospital, so I did.  I have been working on it at least a few hours a week since then.  If I can get some free time, I hope to have it done by early 2019.  

    I'm also posting a few more photos of the accident.  After a couple of near-death experiences from it, I'm finally riding again, but not as much.  While I was still on a lot of pain meds, I was able to borrow a sharpie marker from one of the nurses and marked up my cast.  I was really out of it, but I think it turned out well.

     

     
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  12. August 12, 2013

    I’ve been trying to get my hands to cooperate with me so I can cut the hay bales on the mini saw and finish off the coop. Unfortunately carpel tunnel is relentless and my hands are just too weak and shaky to confidently power up that saw. The CP is bad enough, cutting off a finger – not in the game plan, so I’ve set that aside for now and moved on to something more manageable – building a needlepoint stand and creating a mini needlepoint piece for the Bronte House. I was so excited when I got the little kit in the mail that I couldn’t wait to put it together and in my haste I forgot to take pictures of the unassembled kit. So, Yankee ingenuity in tow I scanned photos from the instruction sheet to give you an idea of what it looked like before. So here are pictures of the notched bottom, the decorative stand, and the frame. Simple pieces that were quickly done.

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    And here are the pictures of the completed assembly.

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    This is the pattern for the needlepoint piece.

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  13. kellee
    Latest Entry

    I have started on the walls, the wallpaper just flakes off,except where the glue is. So I had to sand it off. I spackled the walls, let them sit overnight and gave them a good sanding the next day. I am starting to prime the walls now and they are sucking up the primer. !!! Even after a coat of spackle. I'm still working on the foundation, still have a few pieces to prime. Then to decide how I am finishing that. I am thinking of cement blocks, gotta go measure them on my real house before I start though. The porch will probably be painted gray. That is as far as I have planned so far. I have no ideas for the exterior color or finish.

  14. September 10, 2013

    Spent 4 hours today removing more paint, paper, varnish, and glue. After the last few days of disassembly and cleanup I have to say I have a renewed respect for sanding the product before assembly. As I said before, this was my first house and I knew next to nothing about finishes. Although I gave the pieces a light sanding to remove splinters and jagged edges before I put it together, I see now the benefits of doing a complete and thorough sanding.

    As I took the house apart I saw close up how rough some of the glued edges were and in future I will be sure to take this step more seriously. Close examination has shown me how much better the finished product can be with careful attention to this preliminary step. I’m still deciding whether I will change the color of the house, so there may be a few more hours of sanding in my future, but at least now it has been made easy with the Multi Max.

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    The Hobbit House Blog:

    This will be the start of my blog for the Hobbit House build. This house is a last minute request for a Christmas present, and I’ve had to put both my Bronte build and the rehab on my Fairfield on the back burner to get this done in time for the holidays. I’m starting out with these supplies, I’m sure there will be more as I go along but here’s what I had to buy to get started:

    1. 6 - pieces of 3MM Birch Plywood x12x24
    2. 1 - quart of Dap Dry Dex Spackling
    3. 1 - quart of Minwax English Chestnut 233 wood stain
    4. 1 - 18 pc. Carbon hole saw set
    5. 2- 1 inch round windows and 2 ½ inch round windows
    6. 1 – Piece of x12x24 inch Plexiglas

    At this point everything else that I need for the moment is in my stash. I started out by taking two of the boards and cutting them in half to make my two outside walls and two inside partition walls. I measured and cut a third piece for my front wall cutting out a 4½ inch round front door and the four round windows (Two 3½ inch large windows and two 1 inch round windows.). I then cut two 1 inch round holes in the outside wall pieces for my side windows and two 4½ inch openings in my partition walls for the doorways.

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  15. I started painting and staining the floor today. I gave up on the idea of stucco since Fairies probably don't want to be bothered with it either. I painted the outside and the ceiling of the first floor. Starting to get ideas already. :)

  16. Last night while working on the windows, my son refilled my tea sippy (a cup with a screw on lid and a straw) but didn't secure the lid.. I didn't notice, and went to pick up the cup to take a sip. The cup slipped out of my hands and spilled tea all over my doll house wall. :( He grabbed a towel to help mop up the mess. The majority of it wound up in this silver tray that was sitting on top of the doll house part, that held tools (tweezers of all sorts, a mirror on a telescopic stick, swabs, and face masks) needless to say it took me a bit to clean up the mess and dry off the part of the doll house. This morning I began applying primer to the doll house walls and noticed one wall developed a crack. The crack doesn't go all the way through the board, fortunately. I don't know if I need to try to repair it, or if it will be ok, my concern is that this will weaken the construction of that wall. I suppose I could try to staple it back together on that side of the wall to strengthen it. Any other ideas?

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  17. Thursday 5/21/15

     

    I've completed the main gable over the front of the Orchid. I had a bit of an issue figuring out the alignment of the gable because I tend to invert things and of course I don't follow direction very well but I did get it to work out.

     

    I'm thinking of papering one attic room with newspapers, I found a free printie site with 1:12 scale newspapers and now I just need to find paper that will work as newsprint and print them out. I'm thinking of aging the paper with a weak tea solution.

     

    I'm not progressing fast, but I'm not in a huge hurry either. Just letting the house speak to me and tell me it's tale.

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    I finished the Columbian a few days ago. This is a picture of the front of the house... egg carton stone front. I really like how the egg cartons turned out, and it was a fun project. !

  18. pats
    Latest Entry

    My progress is so slow I'm wondering if I should even bother to post an entry. But it's keeping me working on the build, so I'll just add a picture when I get a little more done.

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