Maybe An Etsy Shop? Oh, And Books

I've mentioned before that I've been toying with the idea of an Etsy shop.  To do some minis and a few other things I make.  I got such a great response to my Christmas Lantern last year that it seemed feasible.

And of course I've been making books.

This is the lantern I started last week, I got the light to work and it's officially done.

Since my work on the Creatin' Contest kit is limited to filling my bookshelves for the moment I've been doing books, and while waiting for them to dry I work on my lanterns.

I started another this weekend, and I'm nearly done with it.  My husband said it reminded him of the houses Joanna Gaines does on Fixer Upper.  Which is cool as far as I'm concerned.

Nothing is glued in yet, I need to find some of my little glasses and make some milk to go with the dessert.

I made the little chair and table and tree skirt. I want to add a bit more of the gray to the chair before I glue it in.

The geraniums are from Keli and the train is from Hobby Lobby.  I put crackle medium on it and then coated it with white paint.

It should only take me another half a day to finish this one.

And here are my more books.

I think what I need to do is start cutting out the books on weeknights for an hour or so.  That could speed up my progress on weekends.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

New Possibilities... Oh, And Books

I'd been thinking for a while about starting up an Etsy Shop and maybe making and selling miniatures.  Mostly the Holiday lanterns like the ones I made last Christmas.  And maybe a few other things, depending on my skill levels.

I spent a good part of the weekend making books for the Contest Book Shop.  I'm making progress.  Just feels really slow.  I need to start cutting out covers during the week and keeping them in bags until the weekends when I have time to glue and build books.

The second picture is full of books that will only fit in the very top shelves of the bookcases.  As you can see I'm using magazine spines, balsa wood and foam core board for my pages depending on the width of the spines.

I got a few more done after I took these pictures.  So two thirds of another box done.

Hobby Lobby had a sale, all candle holders, lanterns, table top décor at half price.  So I picked up a bunch of lanterns in various sizes.  This time I kept them all rectangle or square shapes because those hexagon lanterns really killed me with all their angles!

I decided on a scrapbook paper tile look for the floor and a matching paper for wall panels since the metal work on this particular lantern is in curves and I wanted to match them.  The stain is Rustoleum Traditional Cherry.  I liked how it looked against the floor.

I don't have the lights connected to their batteries yet but l wired up the tree with Christmas lights.  The hanging light is a drawer pull with LED chip lights inside it.  I need to add some feet to the bottom of the lantern to accommodate the battery pack for the lights.

The tree has beads for ornaments and a jewelry finding for the stand.  The book case is made of wood and I added some of the books I made that were more half scale.

 

So far this lantern has taken me about two and a half days.  I'm hopeful that I can do more of them.

How has everyone else been?

More Books!

This wasn't a terribly productive weekend.  After spending a lot of vacation on the Downtown Loft I made more books this weekend.

If I wasn't making books I was cutting out the covers to make more books.

I have a lot more to cut out, which is okay because I have a lot more books to make.

I pretty much need to fill this box and another box and a half like it.

I'm hoping to maybe cut out covers a bit at night this week and then make books on the weekends.  Then I need to get going on the building again.

Not very exciting this week.  Sorry.  I've got three more days of vacation coming up so I'm hopeful that I'll get more done next weekend.

The Downtown Loft

My vacation (finally) started on June 29th and I was sooooo ready for it.  I haven't had any extended time off in almost a year, because work has been so insane.

So I took the first weekend off.  I made a few books for the shop but mostly I sat and watched tv and enjoyed writing.

Then because I'd started on the Loft backsplash the weekend before I began work on the kitchen of the Loft.  I had to redo that first backsplash because the design of the beads on the front caught way too much of the spackle/grout.  So I pried them off and flipped them over to use the flat side as my tiles.

You actually see the 'tiles' rather than tons of grout so I think this works better.

I'd cut shelves to go between the kitchen window and the upper cabinets in the corner. But I thought they looked too boring.  So I got my Dremel and sanded the edges irregularly.  It gives them a live edge look and that's more modern which I enjoy.

I did the same with the shelves that go on the first backsplash above the coffee station.

With a lot of measuring and making templates and then gluing the 'tiles' to my cardboard templates, I got the backsplash behind the stove and sink done.

Here's a view of the area behind the stove side of the counters.  It looks pretty good.

Once I glued the shelves in place I really liked how the live edge looked.  And it echoes the coffee table that I love for the living room.

I added some thin strips of wood to go along the side and bottom edge of the backsplash.  There's the slightest gap between the tiles and the cabinets and I didn't want to add spackle there because it gets all over the cabinets and that white just doesn't always clean up.

I added the pot filler faucet from Kristine's Shapeways shop to the stovetop backsplash because I knew I'd never get it to stay on if I glued it after I put the backsplash on the walls.

While all that dried I added my flagstone flooring to the first floor.  And used the very sophisticated technique to hold it all down flat.

Once the paper was dry and stuck down flat I could glue in the cabinets.  Interesting process, lots of clamps, glue, cursing, wondering why something is square when I make it, but doesn't fit perfectly into the square building.

Thankfully the backsplash hid any gaps.

Gluing the staircase in was a little nerve wracking, but I got it and the lights I'd chosen in.

Here's a picture of the other side.

I added a strip of silver to the top of the fridge just to make it look more like an actual fridge.

The little spot lights are moveable so I'll be able to turn them to light the other side a bit more.

My only concern is fitting the couch and coffee table with the living space.  It seems smaller to me and I wonder if I made my kitchen bigger than I'd originally intended.  That's entirely possible.

This angle works best for me so far.  I love this coffee table.

So I'm still debating.  The couch is beautiful and I love it, but it's just a bit too big to put beneath the long window next to the feature wall.

I can go through my stash and try to figure something else out or leave it like this...or I can make this front area the dining room and the small part with the fridge half of the kitchen the living space.

Before I did all that I worked on the bathroom.

I made a small area of shelving and left it bare wood with the live edge look again.  It goes just behind the shower wall.

I made the toilet paper from cardboard and (you guessed it) toilet paper.  The book against the wall behind the shelf unit is to hold the other tile flat against the wall while the glue dries.

Once the wider wall was dry I glued the shelf unit and the shower into place.

I think the barewood look will be nice with the barewood cube shelves.

The tile was a little more difficult but eventually I got it in.  I wanted a fun look at the edge where wood meets tile.

The tape is holding the tankless toilet up while the glue dries.  But I added in the other furniture for the bathroom to test out the look.

The painters tape and clips are to keep the railing and staircase straight while the glue dries because they wanted to lean over.

But once everything was pretty dry I could take off the tape and clips.  It looks pretty good.

I need to paint out or trim out the edges of the loft. But so far I like how it's going.

I don't have to go back to work until Wednesday, so I'll probably make some more books.  It feels good to have made progress on the Loft though.