LisaN

I agree with Deb, this should be a cake walk after the beautiful way you've finished the rooms. Especially having to refurbish someone else's mistakes! I found some great bargains yesterday on ebay too, a book I've been wanting and an adorable cake for Miss Mabel's tea party. Unfortunately, Miss Mabel needs more substantial food than cake, that seems to be an addiction of hers!lol! This cake will probably be on the tea table outside of the cottage.... I've heard Barnes & Noble has great deals on the show series sets, and I am signed up for their coupons also! By any chance is 'hubby' <grin> the one who monitors your shopping habits! I always come clean, (after) the purchase is made--lol! I look forward to the pics!!!

I've used it as a mould release, and also to protect sensitive areas on my skin from sunburn. Also with the humidity, it is a great moisturizer for lips, to prevent them from being chapped in winter or summer.

I love the way it looks, it really is beautiful. I dub thee--'dollhouse rescue fairy!' (I call myself that on my yardsaledollhousestory.blogspot.com ! :lol: It is hard to believe how much life you breathed into this house, and made it look so beautiful!!! Isn't shopping on ebay addicting? I noticed some of your finds, they are really adorable. I couldn't get over Hyacinth's sisters! Rose and Daisy just about made me laugh --especially the stints when they had to chase after 'daddy' :lol: Ever now and then I surf for it on the channels, but it would be better to have the shows on dvd. One place you might try is Sam's club, online they sometimes carry these complete shows, and so does Target. :lol:

Wow Heidi. That is a good one. Guess I'm a little harder......... :lol: NO! I have an 11 yr old stepdaughter....right now the 'thing' is wearing mis-matched clothes, and camouflage, not a biggie. My cousin had all the piercings in her ears, never her nose, but she did get her belly button done. Chris had his ear pierced years ago but let it close up because it got to be too much trouble to maintain.

Heidi, love the room. It's looking really great! Near the spittoon, you could paint with acrylic paint tobacco juice 'splats' on the floor where they've missed! That would add some realism... I loved that movie Paper Moon! I remember seeing it in the theater! One of my favorite movies, especially her carrying around that cigar box! :lol:

Heidi, this makes me roll over with laughter....partly because I remember the ole stories of my great aunts and uncles telling about the wakes, and my mom too! You could have an old jalopy outside with some of the mason jars next to a gas can...some of the old timers would put it in their gas tanks to avoid the revenuer's ( if they can be believed!) :lol: Have you tried HBS? They might have a bloodhound! Another thing you could have is an old book or leather bag with his 'money' for the hooch sticking out of it, or better yet, money sticking out of the mattress in one of the bedrooms! Remember, they didn't use the bank unless they had to! :o This will be a cool room, I can hardly wait to see it. You could also have tin cans strung about on a string so anyone trying to break into the room would 'alert' the miser somebody is trying to steal his stash! They used to booby trap the places where their stills were............ ;)

I can hardly wait to see what you do with your conservatory, it reminds me of Jo Bevilaqua? work that is in DHM...she is a marvelous artist with plants and the like. Teresa, I got hooked on Hyacinth Bucket myself--it used to be Mom's favorite show. We used to absolutely love that show and are you being served? I even bought a couple of the shows on video for her birthday one year. I'm looking forward to seeing more pics, the periwinkle color is gorgeous in paperclay stucco!

Heidi, depending on where your 'family' gets their 'recipe' ;) (code name for homemade hooch, moonshine, white lightnin' ) you might want to have a bluetick, or a black and tan hound dog, or just a regular old bloodhound! Since my dad was from N. Carolina, there are 'recipe' and hooch stories abound. My grandfather used to know someone who sold it on the streetcorner! :lol: Definitely lots of mason jars, some of those gallon jug glass jars, a barrel next to your stash of sugar with a curly cue pipe coming out of it, and a shot gun too! Moonshiners were quite protective of their hooch. If it is prohibition, maybe an old claw footed bathtub filled with the bathtub gin! You could use glass stain or resin along with a water dipper and some glasses or cups nearby....... Also, one thing you definitely will need are little 'dixie' cups next to the gallon jugs.... that's what they drink out of at wakes(funerals) in the NC state....... :o Send us some pics! In one of the old issues of AM someone did a moonshiners' cabin, it was cool! There were pictures of the 'still'.

Teresa, I love your Beacon Hill! The conservatory looks beautiful! I too, have done those tiled floors, and that is right. It took me two or three evenings to do three floors. It is so wonderful to watch a house being saved, reminds me of my Strawberry Patch/ yard sale find that I am still working on. :lol: I also absolutely love how you bashed the buttercup and the canterbury, it is adorable.

Sounds like something may either be wrong with your pieces if they will not fit. the suggestion to lightly score(cut) the pieces so they can bend is a good one. Another alternative is if you're completely dissatisfied with the fit, take the measurements and use stripwood and birch wood to recut your pieces. I would look at the directions carefully, and see if your original pieces can possibly be made to fit before doing this, this is only an alternative that I suggest.

Your families are wonderful! April, I love the pics of your dad & male members protected while playing golf! ROTFL! My hubby wears some strange outfits while playing golf also! lol! Gigi is so cute! My smallest cat Henry is bigger than her! She is adorable!

If you bought them at a train store, they are the greatest places for finding landscape materials. What about rolled up newspaper like Holly mentioned, and draped with plaster cloth? You can use basically anything from foam insulation to rolled up newspapers, wire, to create your rolling hills. Most of all you wish it to be lightweight on your base. There was a great tutorial on how to make standing grasses in the July issue of American Miniaturist by Jo Bevilaqua? I dont' know if I spelled her name right, of Spencer's Nook. She is a phenomenal landscape artist (met her at a show last year ) and it's really simple how she makes grasses and clematis vines. If sandy dunes are what you're going for, sand is pretty inexpensive at the dollar & craft stores. I would seal your work or base with a craft spray of some sort after the landscaping dries. I use different things for my bases, wood, in different thicknesses. Anything from 1/4 to 3/8 depending on the structure.

This week Chris & my dad finished the holes for the poles to be mounted in! YEAH! We celebrated by having dinner at the Moose lodge last night. My dad helped him finish the last holes, so now we need to get the concrete and timbers. My yard looks like a bunch of meteors hit it! ;) I took time out and finally put together my shelves and organized my room. The display room now is organized, but since it is only about 8 x 12, I can hardly wait for the studio to be finished and the new workshop to go up and hubbie's tools have a home! <_< The old dresser Shelby Cottage sits on used to be Amanda's dresser, I saved it because of the drawer storage, it is stuffed with paper, I am a paper packrat. The old desk that the yard sale dollhouse aka Strawberry Hill sits on is my desk I had as a teenager in school from my old bedroom back home. The best thing about the shelves is they are collapsible and I can use them elsewhere if I wish. I like the way it is set up because I can turn and supplies are behind me, or in the drawers, if I need material or yarn, it's in the shelf buckets at the end. It is fun to see everyone's workrooms, Linda, your workshop looks great! Jimmy does beautiful work!

Isn't Martha's ideas great? She had a tutorial in a Christmas mag showing how to use pine cone shards for shingles on those little cardboard christmas houses that you put underneath the tree. I saved that article in that mag (like you Heidi I have it about somewhere!) and shingled my first primrose I built with pine cones that I dried and cut each by hand. Pine cone shingle shards would look great on the witches potion shack. And the little long thingy would make a crazy chimney, maybe put in a door to cook bat wings! ;) Yes, you need to talk about Halloween. I have already started making my mini skeletons Nutti! One is a colonial lass, Lady de Bone-e. (get it? <_< Bone-y!) the 2nd one I am still working on, I'm really pleased with them. I am working on several spooky themed minis at this time in preparation for October. Post the pics --would love to see!

I buy alot of cold salads, like greek pasta salad, mozzarella balls in olive oil, cheese ravioli --we had those too last night Heidi! ;) What we do not eat goes in the fridge. Our tomatoes are so big when you slice them they literally are bigger than the bread slice, Chris makes tomato sandwiches for dinner for himself. I cooked rice in the morning, and we eat it a variety of ways all day, along with cukes in ranch dressing or vinegar for a snack. Also yogurt, which is good in the moring for breakfast. Heidi do you just cut up your eggplant for grilling in slices? I used to make sweet potato fries, and would slice up the sweet potatoes like french fries, then throw them on the grill after an olive oil rub with a dash of cinnamon or brown sugar. I sometimes cook alot of hamburgers in the evening, then bag them up so we use our microwave alot. The heat index reached up to 110 here today! <_<

Funny you should mention that Nutti! My mini pieces began showing up all over the house too. Queen's Row sits in the living room that is now the dining room. I moved my computer desk into the den so all my office/computer stuff is together now. I have taken over the garage, literally, so hubby is building his own workshop. He is using his vacation to dig the holes for the foundation. So far he is working on his 12th hole --these will hold the poles for the building. He's been doing pretty well, and just started. When hubby moves the tools out of the garage(his tools take up most of the space) I can move alot of my minis and have a permanent table for the kits to be in various stages. Right now if I have a small cottage, I work on the dryer in the laundry room where an old antique dresser holds my paint, clay, and bits and bobs. I dont' like to work in the studio because we're still hooking up the AC, so working with paperclay is out because of the humidity and heat. Most of my collection resides right now in the spare room, and I'm cleaning that because I want some shelves int here to display dolls, etc. and am eager to start on the glencroft and finish the arthur. I can't begin the base for Olde Shelby cottage until I have somewhere for Mr. Bannisters emporium and the scrapbook store, since they are almost finished. Funny you should ask that question Nutti. Space is something we are constantly re-thinking about here because we spend so much time building the minis.

You've received some great advice here. Remember, if you get discouraged with this kit, BASH! Un-abashedly! Also invest in chocolate, potato chips, coffee, sodas, for instant congratulations when you stain the floors, open the kit, read the directions, etc....

I absolutely love this house! And the color is one of my favorites!

The castle is beautiful! I read her description and I think the castle that inspired the artist or builder I have seen on Masterpieces & Monuments or Castles of America? show--one of these. It is simply marvelous, the detailing. The size is simply overwhelming.

Too funny! Melissa, I went back and re-read your post and sorry you had such an awful day. I know how upsetting it can be when the car just won't...go. I hope things turn out better and this weekend turns around for you. I have finally had time to take and look at everyone's photo albums and pics and projects! Stunning work! As I write this, I made time for me.....<grin> so that's why it's almost 6 am in the morning here!lol!

Well, things are beginning to settle down. Heidi, congrats on your daughter in art school--sounds like she is really enjoying it and learning new stuff! Don't get me started on school supplies. Bought 10 spiral notebooks for Walmart's 10 cent special for Amanda's school supplies. She goes into the middle school this year and we still haven't received her school supply list. This week we have been getting geared up for Amanda's /birthday/party cookout tomorrow. She just got back from session at Job's Daughters and did really well! I'm really proud of her, she was one of the girls in her bethel to be picked for state representative position--the other girl got Illinois, Amanda received Montana. She also received a 1 st place ribbon for her artwork that she entered in the craft competition, so she was really pleased. So some of her friends in the bethel will hopefully be coming to her cookout party this saturday. Heidi, I know exactly what you mean about haggling! Amanda needed formals for her period at session, and at two yard sales I found a beautiful Ann Taylor dress for $1 and another lace cream dress for w/ tags for less than a buck too. I also found some beautiful skirts too for her. Children's clothes are so hard to buy when they get to the teen-ager years. I rely exclusively on yard sales and it is true, you will not believe what people will sell for a quarter--new shirts with the tags still on them simply because they don't want to be bothered with taking them back. I usually am always scouting for shirts and t-shirts to buy 2nd hand since I have a tendacy to ruin them with paint, working on dollhouse kits,e tc. Heidi. My tip for saving money--raise a garden! Because Chris & I planted a garden, we now have tomatoes, green beans, butterbeans, and peppers. We are currently planning on canning alot of things later and the garden is really helping out with having this cookout--I have already prepped the tomatoes for the salad, and the peppers too. Also, save your bread when it gets old and dry--chop it up and freeze it until you can cook into croutons. In November I start buying bread if I have none left and shop for Christmas tins or bags, and make friends and family a crouton bag kit. I save alot of money doing this, since I can get the bread cheap at the bread store. That's my tip of the day!

Peanuts, I still can't get over that 'dh' came clean, told the marriage counselor he didn't want --how was it he referred to it? 'cheap, meaningless sex' and the counselor said--don't tell your wife! 1- your friend needs to fire the marriage counselor, or stop going. With advice from 'experts' like that--might as well save your money and use the money for a really good divorce attorney. 2- sounds like hubby is a wuss. out and out. he's 30 and hasn't figured out life isn't a cakewalk. Doogster, I laughed myself silly at your answer! Way to go! 3- I would show 'dh' who's wasted his life the door and tell him to experience life as it really is, not with wife available to wash his clothes, cook his meals. Then let's see if there is time to flirt, send illicit emails, because of that extra part time job he will need to make ends meet. I know I'm being hard on this guy here folks, but I agree with Holly.....and Doogster...anyone who has time to waste on a pity party worrying about how he's wasted his life isn't a positive influence on adults, much less kids. My first ex was the same way....I too would ask for a list of his friends, since she will be available and will need to build up her social calendar--which will be free now that she no longer has to pick up and cleanup after this overgrown kid! ;) **Doogster, I have a Grand Prix, pretty old-- but they do rock! Didn't realize it was a midlifecrisis car! But she rolls on rails even though she is pretty old! I call mine Betty Boop (don't know why, she just "biddy-boops" down the highway................ B)

Rachel, though you don't know what to say to Sally, I think you already do from your post. This is an example of how divorce affects not just the two people involved splitting up, but their friends, and family. If I were you, I would just go over and visit Sally and give her some encouragement and support, let her know you will still be there for her and your children will still play together, etc. The best thing you and hubby can do is to be there as a support and not take sides, but listen and show you care. There is no winner in a divorce situation, and sad to say but the person who usually 'feels that way for a long time,' doesn't realize the impact of their actions. Just show you care, which I can tell you do. And it's normal to have thoughts such as those, I have had friends that split and it was painful to watch.

Fernando Hank Williams, Jr.

Don't feel bad. I am extremely challenged when it comes to moldings, and cutting. But I wanted to try something different with the library in Queen's Row, so I bought my moldings in long strips that would work in mini at Home Depot and just had at it with a miter saw & box, and exacto knife. just measure twice, cut once I think they say! ;)