A New Commission

 You all remember my 'Magic Tea Party' lantern right? 

I brought it to the office to show one of my coworkers because she loves things that light up. And she asked if I could make one with birds in it for her.

Well of course!

So here we go. First the wire and wood skeleton covered with the liquid rubber. (It really does look like a skeleton.)

Then the layer of primer/gesso.  Still a bit skeletal.

Then paint. First black, then dark brown over it and then dry brushing a lighter brown over that just to bring out the texture.

Of course, all of this had to dry, and in between I added vines and grass to the lantern.

Then I was able to add the greenery. And one of the birds that my coworker had requested.

The bird had to be adjusted a bit, nothing ever really seems to work right the first time. And of course, getting the tree inside the lantern is never easy. But I managed.

A few flowers, some dirt and grass around the roots and another couple of birds on a rock and sitting on a tree root.

And I also used my long tweezers to push the silver wire out of sight. The less visible it is the better.

Here's a little close up of the birds. 

My coworker loved it!

In other news, I'm doing a few little things for the bathroom now and then. I don't want to spend entire weekends working on it but it does still need some stuff.

I started to work on my Creatin' Contest kit, although I don't have any pictures yet. I have a firm idea though. And I've pretty much figured out how I'll make it work. 

Revamping a Christmas Lantern

 So this weekend our friend who's the tile genius had folks visiting. And I got some time to play with minis.

I had made a small lantern with a Christmas tree inside it and I just didn't like how it had turned out. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either.

I just thought it could be done better.  So I took the tree out and got another one I could decorate differently.

And I got my spray glue and iridescent glitter to make it look a little more like snow inside.

I wanted it to look a little more like snow drifts around the tree inside. So I glued the 'snow' in on one side, added the tree and then put the 'snow' in the other side.

I actually lifted the tree about a half an inch so it looked like the snow was blowing up against it.

The higher 'drift' in the back covers up the battery pack for the lights.

And lit up it looks very pretty too.

So far I like it. 

But that's all I accomplished this weekend.

I hope everyone else did better!

Do It Yourself Bathroom

 You've all heard the bathroom woes. We had to pay a plumber to come out and fix the plumbing.  We haven't heard from the contractor and don't expect to.

And we had some before pictures of how the tile in the shower was 'finished'.

All those dark edges are the unfinished ceramic of the tile. They're not exactly comfortable to have on the edge of the bench.

The pony wall in the last picture is not square either. There's also an inch and a half wide area next to the bench that doesn't have any tile. 

A friend of ours is really good at tile and offered to come help us. He had a tile saw and everything.

We ended up chipping out several tiles, including the ones on top of the pony wall and the front two of the bench. To make the measurements of the pony wall consistent (as in not narrower at the edge than it is at the angle) we had to cut out about a quarter inch of drywall spackle and the drywall under it and take it down to the studs. Then add in another piece of wood to square everything up.

A fast and simple way of finishing the edge of tile is something called Schluter strips. They come in plastic or metal and a variety of colors. But you have to put them down before you set the tile. The tile rests on a little grid and the thin set holds it all together.

We started the weekend before the Super Bowl. We got the Super Bowl weekend off but since then, this is the first weekend I haven't been working on the bathroom.

The result is more comfortable at least. And prettier.

The last picture is the other side of the pony wall bench. We decided that since the toilet was there, tile would be a good idea. 

Apparently, you're really not supposed to use ceramic tile on floors if there's any chance of those floors shifting. We found that out because we've got about six tiles cracking. 

There are holes in the wall where we had to move the not to code outlets. So my next project is going to be drywalling. 

Since the vanity is in already and one of the cracked tiles goes under it, we need to figure out how to lift it up somewhat and get the cracked tiles out from under it. And the vanity is right up against the opposite pony wall of the shower so we can't do anything to that tile and edging until after we fix the floors.

Nothing is painted. There are holes in the ceiling in the closet where the old light fixtures are. The wiring isn't in boxes yet either so that's extremely unsafe. There's no closet in the closet. Like...it's an empty walk in closet. No shelves, no rods, nothing.

I had to take the old door off the hinges because the knob was hitting the new washer/dryer. I'm going to put up a barn door there instead. I have the hardware and the door. It just needs the hardware put up and the wheels attached to the door. 

I have a list of things that need to be done.

But the bathroom is usable and my husband doesn't have to kill himself using my narrow bathroom with the high side of the tub and his bad knees and cane.

So.

Little by little.

I'm hoping to have some mini progress soon. I've got some clean up to do too.

How is everyone else doing?

I Am Soooo Freakin' Confused!

 I'm sure you all remember this post:

And since I didn't receive any other emails I pretty much figured that I'd been totally outclassed this year. I was a little depressed but excited because hey, these entries must really be awesome since I thought I'd done pretty well.

I'd checked my spam folder. I'd checked my deleted mail folder. Nothing.

Now as you'll recall, I'd been out of work for around a month in 2021. As a result I went on Indeed, ZipRecruiter and LinkedIn looking for employment.

It worked. I got a job. Yay. Take down all the stuff that says 'I'm looking', click on the status that says 'employed' or 'accepted a position'. And done right?

Uh...not so right. ZipRecruiter is...aggressive. Which if you need a job, can be a very good thing. A lot of the folks who 'invite you to apply' are head hunters and employment agencies of all types. I imagine they get paid according to how many people they place if their level of interest in me is any indicator.

As a result, I've had a very tight focus to what is allowed in my Inbox. And I've had such a massive load of things I'd marked as Spam that my Spam folder (which deletes everything after a certain amount of time or messages or some arbitrary number I can't determine without a degree in computer science) has been constantly full and then emptying itself. 

At least that's the only explanation I have for this:

So I was surprised. 

Very surprised.

When I saw that and then saw on Instagram that no, it wasn't a mistake, yes, I really had gotten an Honorable Mention.

I was soooo confused.

Seriously. I spent half the day trying to figure out how I had missed the emails. I'm still not sure if my theory is right. 

I've taken the precaution of adding every email address Miniatures.com has used to send me anything to my 'friends' address list in the hopes that this won't happen again.

I'm still not completely sure about entering the 2022 contest, or if I'll have time since the bathroom is going to take time on my weekends. But I've got the kit so it's an option if I have time and/or get inspired.

Can't wait to see the first-time entrants and the rest of the winners.

2022 - Not So Sure About This One

I'll admit, I'm a little tired. Dealing with home renovations, mini projects, work, and all the other insanity that goes along with every day life...I'm a little worn down.

And I'll admit, this didn't help:

Guess whether or not I received an email. If you said no, you'd be correct.

So I'm very interested in seeing the winners, honorable mentions and first time entrants.

And the new contest kit is out.

I'm not so sure about this one. It seems like a rerun of the 2020 kit?

I mean, it's not bad.  But it doesn't seem to come with windows or a door and it's not enclosed. 

I have an idea but at this point, though I purchased the kit just in case, I'm not even sure I want to do the contest this year. 

After all the time and effort to make the deadline in 2021 and then the house isn't even good enough for an Honorable Mention... it's discouraging.

At this point, my house is still in upheaval because the wonderful start to the bathroom has fizzled out and we've gotten some very bad news from a plumber we had come out. Twenty thousand five hundred dollars later we still don't have a completed bathroom. 

With the change in jobs it's more difficult to put money into savings and I'm more conscious of how much some of the mini supplies cost.  Of all my hobbies, minis are the most expensive.  

So if I do the contest, it will be with supplies I already have or can make. 

I'm giving myself a little break, to relax, write without feeling like I have a deadline and read books I have had in my pile for a while. (ha, rhymes)

I love minis but after the last year, stressing over the old job, getting fired and having a new job, I don't want to stress over my hobbies too.

So we'll see.

I hope the rest of you did better in the contest and I can't wait to see all your entries!

Contest Entry And the Last Post of 2021

I took Christmas weekend off from everything but reading and relaxing. After racing until the final minute to get the contest entry in I was in no mood to do anything stressful for a while.  But I did finish.

I got the pictures submitted five minutes before the deadline. Talk about cutting it close!

First, my four submission pics.

I spent half my lunch break each day figuring out what I needed to do next and how to do it that night.  I had lists on top of lists.

Getting the lights wired in wasn't easy. But I managed.  They're LEDs connected to battery packs hidden above the closet.

The hanging basket light is from Marion's Shapeways shop. So are the handles on the front door.

In order to finish off the living room and upstairs I made some shelves. I put a stereo system and records on one for the upstairs, books on the one for the living room.

I made the stairs and loveseat. The shelves are from a kit I got at an online show. The lamp is from Jodi's Shapeways shop.  The red chair is from Etsy.  The pink and blue patterned pillows are from Brae's Etsy shop.

The stereo equipment came from Ebay, and the records from Etsy, I got them a few years back. The blue chair is one of the Reac chairs and I got it from Ebay as well.

I glued the closet in, and a glass 'railing' to keep someone from tipping their chair over into the stairs.

Filling the closet up with clothes, shoes and purses was fun. The Gucci backpack, sandles and belt, as well as the brown wedge sandles are from Patrizia Santi's store.

The other purses I found on Ebay a while back. 

The clothing I got on Etsy.

Once I finished that there was the matter of adding all the little everyday things to the kitchen.

Dishes and wine on the shelves, a coffeemaker and spice rack on the counter. Mixing bowls. And shopping bags full of groceries.

The coffeemaker and caserole dish on the top shelf are from Etsy.  The lights and chair shells for the stools are from Marion's Shapeways shop. The dishes are from Jodi's Shapeways shop. I edged them with some of the bright blue nail polish I used on the stool chairs.  Faucet and handles are from Kristine's Shapeways shop.  The wine, spice rack and mixing bowls are from Miniatures.com.

The living room didn't take much, a basket behind the stairs for the extra pillows, a magazine, and a purse and flowers on the shelves inside the door.

I like how everything looks together.  The lamp looks good with the chair, the stairs match the hardware on the kitchen cabinets and the blue and silver looks good with the tile backsplash.

For the rooftop patio I wanted flowers, a lounge chair and different stools for people to sit on. They could also double as side tables. 

I loved how Kristine added additional cushions to her outdoor furniture so I decided I'd give it a try. Foam core board with fabric over it, as well as a bit more fabric underneath so all of the 'cushion' on the lounge looks like it's the same.

The lounge, laptop and notepad is from Miniatures.com, the barrel stools are from Kristine's Shapeways Shop. The flowers are from Ebay.

In my experience you can't have an unattended laptop without at least one cat incursion.

You've pretty much seen the bathroom though I did add a pair of glasses to the sink counter. I was really proud that I'd remembered to make a contact lense case.

The rest of the exterior is pretty basic. I used some flowerpots from Hobby Lobby for oversized containers at the front of the house. Wooden numbers I got on Amazon, painted silver and black metallic lights over the front door and beside the upstairs exterior door.

So I'm fairly pleased all in all.  It's done!

I did my best to list where I found everything but if I've forgotten something ask and I'll do my best to figure out where I got it. Some of these things I've had for years.

I hope you're all having a joyeous and happy Holiday season!