Last night it took me forever to cut out the cabinet from the Michael's basswood. Then I only had my 2000 sandpaper to smooth the edges. I know I've got a sheet of 600 somewhere, but it was hiding from me.

So I cut the pieces out, dry fit, sanded, dry fit, stained, and then waited impatiently for the stain to dry and gave up waiting for absolute dryness before gluing. Hopefully I won't regret it too much. I do intend to make better ones another day, but I needed a surface for my holiday decorations!

I have house guests coming this weekend, so I have to figure out if I have time to build a cash register counter before Christmas. I probably do, but with the tree and the new counter I'm not sure where it would go! Maybe everything's free as a holiday special. ;)

I'm afraid to turn the lights on without figuring out my transformer imbalance, and unfortunately I get the impression that Oakridge Hobbies no longer exists - they haven't claimed my paypal payment from last Friday! So I probably need to reorder at least new outlet male converters and maybe buy another lamp or something to even out the power feed. So you're stuck with bad lighting in these photos. ;)

(edited to add - Oakridge finally answered the phone! They were sitting on my order because they didn't have everything in stock. Well GOLLY, wouldn't you want to yaknow.. LET ME KNOW? So the order is canceled and I've placed a new order directly from Cir-kit. Sheesh!)

So here is the bakery with the Christmas tree that I finished on Saturday, powered off. I still need to make a skirt, and I was going to wrap the battery pack like a gift but it seems to do just as well tucked behind the tree. You can see the door in place. I originally considered this trim as outdoor features, but I think it works better inside. The outside is more plain, so a fully-pink door doesn't look wrong, where it totally would indoors! Anyway, the door is just wedged in place, as I need to order knobs before I bother attaching the hinges to the wall.

In that one you can almost see my little counter that I made. For being pretty impromptu I'm very happy with it. If the wood warps (I was too impatient to let the stain dry before gluing), I will make an upgrade one someday, but if not I can see this one just being detailed out to make it the upgrade. I like the size, though I wonder if cakes will actually fit on the lower shelf (or if they'll look totally bizarre and cramped there).

I'm going to JoAnn tonight and hope to find quilting fabric for a tree skirt and the windowseat cushion. I didn't find anything in the fat quarters so I may have to browse the bolts. Hopefully it's not as crowded as it has been this season.