Halftime!

Getting the balcony railing installed for the New Orleans felt like a major accomplishment!  I kept at it, installing the last interior wall then starting in on all the trim work. Here’s where you find out just how out of square your build is and how good you really are with your measurements. I'll have some pics for you next week. I have a fair amount of filling and touch up painting to do, and that just got real boring, real fast. I got out the roof piece to begin making decisions on the ceiling molding and suddenly felt lost for direction. Oh how I long for step by step instructions where I don’t have to make many decisions and can kind of just mindlessly enjoy something crafty!

Ask and ye shall receive!

For Mother’s Day this year, my grown up daughter flew to California to visit her paternal grandma. She asked me before booking the ticket if it would hurt my feelings if she was not with me on Mother's Day. How sweet is that? Of course I told her GO! Have fun! We don't need it to be Mother's Day to spend fun time together, and we do it quite regularly anyway! But she went even further to sweeten the deal and will be spending most of this weekend here. Last time she showed me how to make her eggs Benedict recipe with homemade biscuits, but this time we'll be working on new mini projects together!

I have always been curious about the all in one 3D puzzle kits that you see everywhere, and have always wanted to see if I would really enjoy working in half scale. So using the generous Mother's Day Amazon gift card from the same thoughtful daughter, I bought two of them. Mine is the Chocolatier store kit by Spilay. Natasha has less room in her apartment, and because she has very little mini experience I picked the smaller Cake Diary kit by Cutebee for her.

In preparation for this weekend, I thought it was a great idea to crack my kit open to get familiar with the instructions. While there are very few words in English, the photos are pretty self explanatory. Once you get the key to how the instructions are laid out, it's pretty straight forward. The Spilay kit has the parts segregated into bags marked with a letter. Once you find the bag with that letter, you see a photo diagram of the parts you need for that piece of the kit. The instructions then provide step by step photos of how to assemble. The window film, signs and patterns are referenced in the same way as the parts for easy identification. Many of them have already been painted, and my kit included sandpaper, scissors, tweezers, ruler, razor knife, screwdriver and parts to make a dust cover.

I'll report on the other kit brand instructions after we've had a chance to work on it, though they look really similar.

I have only worked on the main large furniture pieces so far, a couple hours over the past couple evenings and am making steady progress. It is such a nice change to just be able to follow directions, and yet I have found some great opportunities to personalize and embellish the pieces as I go. I have added scrapbook paper, lace, different door knobs and even raised the tiny signs by adding wood back pieces outlined in gold leafing pen. We'll pretend that "always" is not misspelled on this one. :O) This person's English is still definitely better than my Chinese!

Aren't they adorable?!? I am truly enjoying this kit and expect to do more in the future. I hope Natasha finds it just as fun and that it turns into a regular activity for us to enjoy together.

As is generally the case, the universe synchronizes the timing on things. Imagine my surprise and delight this morning when I learned via email marketing that Hobby Builders Supply/miniatures.com is now offering these kits on their site!

The most delightful thing about this little halftime experiment is that I am discovering that I LOVE 1/24th scale! I can see myself doing many more projects in this scale, and because it's so much tinier, I'll have room for twice as many projects! Watch out Shannon! Soon I'll be coming for some of those amazing Red Cottage Miniatures structure and furniture kits I've coveted for so many years!!!

Have a wonderful, fun and creative weekend everyone!

xo xo,
Jodi

Do I Sound Frustrated?

In my last post I talked about wondering what I'd gotten myself into. I am still feeling that way, because it seems that everything I have touched lately goes wrong. I hadn't intended to wait three weeks to post about my progress, but it just sort of turned out that way. The first week I didn't have much to share. The second week I was having all kinds of trouble and forgot to take photos. By the third week, I was already doing such a lousy job chronicling the progress that I decided it may just be better to show the after photos. So here is where the exterior stands today...

I'm trying really hard to use up what I originally purchased for this house, even if I don't quite remember why I bought it or what the intention for it was. I am also trying to use up as much of the kit components as possible while still trying to make it have some unique character. Since I made the center dormer window into a door, I needed a door and frame. I used some of the kit's trim pieces and the dormer window pieces for the doorway.

For the french door, I used 1/8" x 1/4" basswood to make two panels with mullions, 1/8" x 1/8" for a lip, then sandwiched Plexiglas in between it. I made the door hinged, but was so liberal with the glue that the pin/wood join was stronger than the wood. Trying to coax it open just caused the wood to want to split out, so the door will be non operational.

I mentioned in my last post that I may make the balcony a little larger. I had a Walmer balcony kit that I picked up at Auntie Em's in Glendale, AZ in 2017, so decided now was a great time to use it. Below is what it is originally intended to look like. I wanted to replicate the New Orleans kit's plain, round dowel porch spindles so I replaced the fancier ones with ones I cut from 1/8" dowel rods.

I added an 1/8" x 3/4" trim piece around the second floor to add visual weight and give the balcony and large cornice trim an anchor.

I also installed pins into the balcony and holes to receive them into the second floor of the house for added durability. It will protrude and I know at some point it will likely get bumped into. This step may save a future repair! 

I scribed 1/2" wide boards into the floor to match the lower porch floor. The angled pieces on each side of the door are where the light fixtures will go. I had one, ordered another, received the wrong one and it did not match, realized the first one I had was really wonky so am waiting on two new ones from HBS.

I spent a lot of time waffling about how to finish the balcony railing. In the end, it felt like I needed to incorporate the copper from the dormers to unify the front. It's not attached or even assembled completely yet, and like the entire front needs to filled and have it's final painting done. The copper paint pen takes ages to get dry enough to do second and third coats, so it will be an ongoing and methodical process.

I also spent a lot of time debating about the front porch. The original kit pieces seemed a little too ornate to me so I knew I would not use those here. It seemed like white railing would have been too cold and stark. Copper would have been too much competition with the balcony. I made an upper piece with grills and fancy brackets, but it just began to look too Victorian and blocked the door and windows. In the end, I went with no upper and a simple lower rail painted the darker trim color.

Original Grill Too Busy?

Now we'll talk about the trim issues. I had four lengths of Unique Miniatures molding to use for the exterior trim between the first and second floors. This is where a lot of my struggles began. You see, even though all four pieces were the same product and were ordered at the same time, each one was different. Some longer, some wider, some thicker in areas and some that were completely crooked. I have experienced this issue before with Unique Miniatures pieces so was not shocked. The packaging said it could be heated and bent, so, I tried that with my heat gun. I didn't have any luck. 

I decided to try straightening them by drilling pilot holes into them and the house. I was hoping that driving nails in would hold and straighten the heated piece. All but one piece just ended up breaking and splitting. Instead of ordering something different as I may have in the past, I decided to live with the broken pieces and make repairs the best I could. I have used a lot of Unique Miniatures pieces in this build, and honestly, the next time I even think about buying them again I will tell myself two words: Sue Cook. I will have to live with them the way they are, and it is really disappointing.

To give the exterior knee wall some interest (between the first floor and where the mansard roof begins to angle), I employed the Cricut to cut some panels. In the centers of these I added some decorative resin pieces and some fleur de lis pieces made using wood and jewelry findings. I was able to adapt some of the kits trim pieces for wainscot rail. I also added corbel brackets under the Unique Miniatures cornices.

I used the Alessio Miniatures asphalt roofing strips I had purchased for the Beachside Bungalow. That poor project is having all it's materials pilfered! It was pretty easy to install, easily cuts with scissors, comes in strips of 34 shingles and does not curl up like wooden shingles do from wet glue. I used a hot glue gun after using wood glue on the first row as I realized it would be the quickest method. The only drawbacks are that a great deal of sand comes off during the installation and gets everywhere, and that it costs $15 per roll. I used just shy of 4 rolls on this roof. Luckily, I had 5 rolls for the BB.

The wonky rows on the sides are purely my own fault. Georgia, Woodson and Rusty like to be really close to me while I am working. Like having all three of their beds around and right under the table. Instead of disturbing them, I installed the side roofing while reaching sideways over them. Love and straight roofing rows do not go hand in hand, but I'd rather have a crooked roof than puppies who think a dollhouse is more important to me than being close to them. :O)  I was able to catch myself and mitigate the problem before too long.

Now that I am just about wrapped up on the outside, I can begin to tackle the inside. I have created a lot of challenges for myself in there, and I truly hope that it will become more enjoyable for me than the last few weeks have been. This is supposed to be fun, and I am supposed to look forward to doing it!

I hope life has been more gentle and cooperative with all of you lately. I know struggle is what makes us grow, and I am grateful. But I'd sure like my trials to come in smaller portions, thank you!

xo xo,
Jodi

You Know You're A Bear When...

Hello dear friends! I have let another couple weeks slip by without checking in, except the odd comment on your blogs or replies to comments on mine. Just wanted to stop by today to say that I have nothing much to show for my time, just a few kits, a couple attempted tutorials, and a bunch of projects in various stages of doing (which are waiting for some motivation). I just can't seem to get into the groove, and my body is telling me it's time to hibernate!

First, the kits. I started off by completing a sewing box kit from Jean Day. She has really nice feminine kits, artwork and doilies in many scales, so stop by her Etsy shop and daydream! I really enjoyed making the sewing kit, and there is so much stuff in it that your sewing box will overflow like mine! I even have leftovers to use in other projects!

Next up was a collection of Dragonfly International kits. I just love these laser cut kits because they are so easy to do and to customize, and Deb's site is so full of fun stuff to shop for! The candy box kit and purse kit were super fun!

The lady's screen kit got a whole new life as a fireplace screen. It was fun to customize it for the cottage living room!

I have a lot of bookshelf space in the living room and bedroom alcove, although a lot of it is allocated for delicate knick knacks. Not knowing exactly how many books I'd want on the shelves, I used part of the materials in a book making kit by L. Delaney on Etsy. I only made 27 of them. I've made plenty of mini books for my projects over time, but her method is quite interesting.

I've had these chipboard suitcase kits from Alpha Stamps for quite some time. They were originally intended to go into the flower shops a couple years ago. They don't come with instructions, but I am sure one of their staff crafters has a blog post about it somewhere. I just winged it, and since they are going to be filler pieces I wasn't too concerned about detail. They were fun though seem to need more shabbiness.

I made the laser cut side table kit (MenutmonShop Etsy but no longer selling?) and pitcher kit (Angie Scarr), both of which need to be painted. As do the coffee table, chair, dresser, nightstand and vanity set. We had snow here the last couple of days, with more predicted for the weekend, so spray painting is on hold for a while.

I have plenty to keep me busy - just making the replacement fabric panels to recover the chair is enough for hours!

And I can always dust off my sewing machine and begin making the cushions, bedding and pillows - Oh Brother!!! That's going to require an excavation!

I did make a few styles and sizes of shopping bags for the lady of the cottage using Julie Warren's Bag Tutorial as a guide.

But I still need to make the apron for the kitchen. I also have several flower kits that need to be made up for filling pitchers and vases...

I know what to do and how to do most of it, so what's the problem?...

I feel lazy, I am hungry and I want a nap. Yep - I must be a bear!

Hopefully, it'll pass quicker than winter.

Have a great week!

xo xo,
Jodi