Tilly Wants Cake

*waves* long time, no see – again! Life has been so crazy! I thought I'd have all this spare time after the wedding was over, but no dice! We had lots of house guests (staying in the crafting/computer room, of course), I switched jobs, started Soo Bahk Do lessons and have been working on some freelance websites, in addition to commissioned doll face painting. I am very giving of my spare time! I'm really hoping to get around to finishing my bakery build and starting to craft mini foods. I even went to Michael's today to buy a pasta machine, but no luck! They either moved where they keep them or are sold out. Just as well, their lines were too long to get back to work within my lunch hour! Tonight I have my Soo Bahk Do lessons and then I need to keep working on these websites. I keep saying when I'm done with them, NO MORE! But family just LOVES to tell their friends about how I can build them a website in no time... So four websites and one doll face from now, I will get back to Tilly's bakery! (And I really wanted to make her some Halloween treats for a photograph, too. Darn!)

A friend of mine has recently been pushing me to finally get out all the fimo I bought last year, and finally sculpt for Tilly, my baker, and Nettle, who is not specifically food oriented but will definitely need plants, and the occasional Tudor meal. I will crumble as soon as I find the time. And of course Nettle is in need of that Glencroft.. or rather is in need of it not being in a flat box... Consider this a warning.

Got most of my friend's Manhattan apartment room box done over the weekend. I just have a couple things to finish on it tonight and then I pack it up to mail it tomorrow. Her birthday is Friday!

I started right after dinner on Friday evening. By the end of the evening I was feeling high and mighty, certain I could finish the room box with Saturday afternoon to spare. Sunday afternoon I was still going! LOL, isn't that always the way? It worked out very well that it was extremely warm here in New England over the weekend. My husband and I, who normally cloister in the bedroom, performed our respective activities downstairs, sharing the dining room table (plus 1 leaf). MUCH more room to work than I usually end up with, and the bedroom stayed cool without the video game systems, laptop and occasional sewing machine running, too! So Friday, I: Cut the exterior wallpaper and glue it in place, cut the flooring and glued it in place, printed a photo to put behind the window glass, ran the tapewire, glued in the lamp and built the structure for the brick interior chimney. I also removed half the depth of the window unit (since I didn't want it to be a real portal to the exterior of the room box), at which point my little saw claimed a victim: The chimney piece: On Saturday: I finished hooking up the electrics. As you can see, the junction splice's screw and prongs were a bit long for the thickness of the wall! I had planned to put the window towards the left wall, but moved it in the end to cover the breakthrough. As you can see, I also got more work done on the chimney bricks. I actually finished this up before the evening was through, but it was too dark to photograph by then. I also experimented with the exterior trim paint (intended to simulate concrete). Sunday we started with a supply run for glitter to add texture and possible some sparkles to the concrete, sandpaper for the roof of the 'high rise' and felt for simulating my friend's little plushies. Once back at work, I started by gluing in the chimney, which had dried overnight. Not shown til the final photos below is the trim, which drove me mad! The floor molding was made from birch siding strips glue double-thick and then cut lengthwise in half. I also repainted the desktop in shades of gray (which helped to hide how AWFUL the carving is on this thing. No space bar? Really?), printed posters for two of my friend's favorite movies, cut the plushies from felt and painted eyes on, glued the molding and window in place, painted the exterior trim and then, finally, glued the sandpaper 'roofing' in place. All that's left is to print out some computer screen displays on glossy for the laptop and desktop. If there's time tonight (I need to mail this tomorrow!), I also want to add a shade to the window. I have a sheer white fabric that I was using last week that I *really* hope I didn't toss the scraps from, as it would be perfect for letting the view come through! So there! Almost start-to-finish in one weekend! Not too shabby! My husband also agreed that hot days this summer would be spent the same way, so I'll have *plenty* of room for the Glencroft he got me for my birthday!

Due to sickness, injury and company, I have not yet begun to construct my friend's roombox. ... Which means I'll be very busy this weekend! I'll charge the camera batteries so I'm sure to take snapshots as I wait for glue to dry! Step one: cut the back wall for the window (or find photo for placing behind plexi).

My husband used the coupon to get me the Glencroft for my birthday! I'm hoping to have time to start it before my NEXT birthday.

A month ago, nearly, I posted my plans for my friend's Manhattan room box. Unfortunately I've been sick or injured for most of 2009 so far, and haven't gotten anywhere. I have other projects I owe people, and we had company two weeks ago, more company coming this weekend.. it's just been hard to get to the room box! I hope to get started on it this weekend. My husband ordered me the Glencroft for my birthday, and I had him toss in a magazine rack table with the order because I forgot about work space for my friend's plush making. So I'd love to make the room box in time to be ready for that to arrive. I don't know how I'll attach everything for display. I think of Room Boxes as pretty static, so maybe just dots of hot glue? Will museum wax survive the mailing?

Tilly's bakery finally has its name! I admit to Google searching for inspiration (since she probably won't be in direct competition with anyone, LOL). "Cake & Crumb" I'm so content with it! Reminds me of the "Fife & Drum" restaurant in a nearby village. So now I'm working on signs for it, haven't quite hit on the perfect graphic to go above the name. This is the fifth draft but I think it may be a bit busy (plus it's not the same kind of stove as is inside).

I love wiring. It makes me feel so industrious. Like I want to go change my own oil next! I re-read the wiring tutorials a hundred times before doing it, but it was such a joy. Can't wait to see photos of your build!

My back is really aching today so I'm hoping to leave work early and lay in bed and see if I'm capable of doing minis in a reclining position. If not, I'll decide on a name for the Buttercup and design the sign which has been waiting for me. It's also waiting for hardware, since the eye hooks that were supposed to be included are not, and I can't find any that tiny! I'd really like to start the room box for a friend, so I'm hoping I'm more capable of being industrious while laying down than I realize.

Ooh Anna that will be very cool! I think a little staircase kit with solid risers, and a solid wall on the outside would be great. And a little single-pane window to let some light into the loo (And let you peek at all your hard work)! You could put a tiny chest beneath the stairs with a little plant on it to use the space, have the toilet face the door, perhaps, and then put a sink beneath the window. And lovely wallpaper inside to distract from the clomping feet above! I can't wait to see your process!

I've decided to start posting about a project I'm working on for a friend's birthday. As far as I can tell she doesn't read this blog so I think I'm safe. She's busy enough she probably won't trip over it. ;) My friend is a writer who currently lives in Florida, but has always intended to move someday to Manhattan. Recently she was lamenting about the area she lives in, so I decided as a combined Holiday/Birthday gift, I'd build a roombox to be her Manhattan apartment until a time when she can move into a 1:1 scale version. I picked a relatively small roombox, since the apartments are so small. I'll be doing just the 'living room' area, figuring she'll have her writing computer set up there. I imagine the space as a low-rent walk-up. Old, painted radiator under a single narrow window - with paint sealing the panes shut, of course! I'm trying to find a photo online of some view of a bridge between other high rise units. There'll be partial-brick wall from original construction, plus wood floors, plaster ceiling and white walls. I'll cover the outside in brick paper and seal it well (to cover the electronics and to make it look more realistic from the outside). Probably put a dark sandpaper on top for roofing tar. I thought I might be able to recycle some furniture from a full bedroom set I had that I only used the bed and nightstand from, but the room box is pretty small so even those bits don't look as good in there as I'd thought. I bought that built-in computer desk set, but it looks even worse in person than in photos. I think I can fancy it up, but there may not be any doubt they're poorly-sculpted blocks of wood. But like all people these days, that desktop model will be the backup for a laptop, which should be shipping today. I also ordered a pretty little Victorian chair that looks like it could be both a hand-me-down and comfy. May sand the cushions a bit to make them look worn and a little threadbare. My friend also sells small plush figures on etsy, so I got a sewing kit and will make little felt versions of her products and pile them in a corner. I want to put a poster on the wall over the computer but can't decide what to get. I know the movies she likes but I also think she's the type that, if she finally had her NY Apartment, she would get nicer things for the wall. Actual framed art, I think. I know she likes black and white photography, so maybe I'll go find some of the photos she took of Manhattan on a trip a few years back, and put those in frames. I have some lighting that will work.. a ceiling piece and another lamp. I have everything I need, I think, for the tapewiring. That will go on the outside, though, under the paper, since I want to leave the walls white. Because of the lighting I'm tempted to make the window a nighttime scene. But maybe I can rig it so that she can swap it out or remove the scene entirely and peek through the back. (I was going to cut the window in half and just glue it to the interior wall, but of course typing all this out has made my brain grind.) I have a bit of molding from Tilly's bakery that I think should cover the ceiling, and I'll use a strip of clapboard siding for the kickboard. I think I'll probably want to put down a little rug or something once I see it. But that's mostly it! Looks like the window and lighting will be the toughest part, so I could probably knock the whole thing out in a weekend, with drying time. Her birthday is May Day so I have some time, but I do want to start early in case I hit snags or decide I need to order something else (I wish I had a minis shop around here!). So that's post one, I'll hopefully post again soon with photos!

Inspiring! You give me hope for my first attempt. I have the clay, but now I have a cold! Yours are even nicer than the ones in my new book.

LOL thanks Corwin! Thank you! We had a working woodstoce in our kitchen up until last year and it was brick-backed and had tile floor below, and with my father a fireman I can't imagine it any other way! :groucho:

I'm really surprised at myself! It took me four days to place an order from HBS once my mini buying ban was lifted! I was just worried that I'd forget something important, like I usually do, and was keeping a list. It was only because that 25% coupon expired last night that I finally ordered! The bakery is in a bit of a quagmire. There are little things I can do, but I've slumped into vacation mode so I only seem able to tackle items that fill a day (such as the shingling which I finished Sunday), and the little things (cushion for the window seat and stones for the veranda) are being ignored. I took down Tilly's Christmas decorations and now I'm bummed out. Not because I miss the holiday passed, but because it made her shop so warm and cozy and now it feels empty. At the same time I hesitate to fill it back up because of the little projects that still remain. So here's a list and maybe at the end I'll have decided what I want to do next! Items with an asterisk are waiting on my HBS order. Interior: - make window seat cushion - install knobs on cabinet doors - install outlet and swap plug for bedside lamp - make bed linens - replace chandelier bulb* Exterior: - install trim under roof points - touch up paint - sculpt and paint stone floor on veranda - find tiny eye screws - paint and design shop sign - install sign - make greenery for window box - decorate and install cupola* - install door knobs* - install doors* - install veranda railing* After that im really looking forward to trying my hand at sculpting miniature food. I bought a bunch of fimo half-priced at JoAnn on Saturday, and DH gave me a magnifying glass for Christmas, so I'm ready as soon as I finish the house! I also ordered a mini book off Amazon since I've had trouble finding tutorials online. I also have a new project to tackle for late Spring, parts for which are coming in the Ernie order. ;)