May I introduce you to....

Oscar J. Reese, artist and gallery owner. He is my first completed doll!!!





I have been itching for a while now to make my own doll. I am really picky about the ones I have seen by others and although I have found ones that I am thoroughly please with, I simply cannot afford them! So I had a go at making my own.

First attempt gave me "Dragon." His name is actually "David Argon," but he prefers to go by the other. I am suspecting that he is a bit of a thug. He sure looks it! But, I will try to get to know him better. Mama always said not to judge a book by it's cover or a man by his sneer. ;) LOL.


I wasn't sure what to do with him, so I also made another one and out popped this handsome devil:


Here are the two of them together:



I finished him today during nap time. His head/hands/boots are made of Cernit and his body is yarn over a wire armature. He stands just over 6" tall and is fully positionable and self supported.



Now, I still need a girl to inhabit the Highland! And she needs a beau. ♥

CDHM Halloween Contest Results!!

Congratulations to Dianna Ibanez Martin (1st), Sandra Harris (2nd) and Cindy Teh (3rd). You all had great entries and I especially loved Dianna's. You can see their entries here at the CDHM contest site: Halloween Goodies

I'm a little sad that I didn't at least place, but I had a blast making my scene and really enjoyed it. I entered on a whim, at the last minute and really had no planning. It is now sitting happily at the family Barber Shop and will serve as a yearly decoration there.

Here are pictures of my entry: Wednesday's Wednesday Delights


The spread is to die for!



Who wouldn't want a candle holder/mirror like this for real?!?!

I made almost everything in this set. The bought and placed items are the broom, the wine goblets and the skeleton... oh, and the three round mirrors. Everything else is straight from scratch. I am so proud of that!



Lady Fingers, dipped in some, "Questionable" ranch... yummo.

Eyes of Newt... extra slimy. ;)



Everything you see on this table, including the table and the table cloth, I made from scratch. I really had a lot of fun coming up with the ideas. That little Jack Skelington cake was hard to do and I used tweezers, a lot.

The table cloth was just a piece of black cloth that I painted on. I found some orange fabric and fringed the edges to make the runner.


This is possibly my favorite piece out of the whole set. I think it's classic Addams Family, but I would have a display like this in RL.


Hope you enjoyed looking!

Scrambling and little to show.

I still have not done any more work on the Highland as of yet. I am trying desperately to work on it, but have entered into that time of year where I get really stretched. You know how when you get to much to do and your "plate" is too full, some people like to say that you have spread yourself too thin. Like, too little butter across too much bread. Well, currently, I am not even stick butter or margarine from a tub... I am that spritzy butter stuff! Weekends are taken up with fall events and preparation for the upcoming holiday season. I like to do crafty things with the boy, but have yet to do that this year. I have most of Charlie's costume done, but still have to do a pointy yellow hat for him. My little corn Cob. :)


Here is Charlie's costume so far: I added all the green leaves and such. The "corn" is painted giant bubble wrap. I am thinking about putting some dark green around the wrists and then he needs a yellow crocheted hat for his head.

Cayce's costume needs some altering. He is a bit to long in the torso for his puppy costume, so I will need to detach the head piece and make a collar for him. He also needs a treat bag and I still have to come up with costumes for James and myself. Oi. And the week after Halloween is DHM's birthday, and I am trying to get a gift together for her. I have all the components, minus a Christmas tree mini....





I have ever so slowly been working on a toolbox for the garage:















and I managed to turn out a few mini-paintings last week, which will be listed on Etsy eventually.






Now to get some more done, hopefully. ;)

PS: Welcome to the two newest followers: Lara and mini-babies.

Find Lara at http://larasminiatureworld.blogspot.com/ her blog is just wonderful! I will spend more time on it tonight. Thanks for following, Lara!

I couldn't find a blog for Mini-babies, but welcome to you, too. :)

A nice Autumn day at the Lake

Wednesday is usually a day that James lets me get in some serious mini time, but this week we just spent time with the kids.

I had to make a drive 30 minutes north to Lake Butler, Florida, to pick up a rather nice, FREE, entertainment center to provide shelving for the kids in their room. Our total lack of monetary prosperity means I live and breathe thrift stores, craigslist and freecycle! Actually, even with money, I would buy second hand. I don't like to spend lots of money on "stuff." I would just buy nicer second hand stuff. ;) Anyway, we were only going to be about 10 minutes south of this great lake front park in Lake Butler, so we loaded up the kids, the thermal bag with goodies, camera and trailer; then set out for the day. We spent a couple glorious hours under the sunshine and in the breeze watching the boys play and discover. Cayce climbed all over the place and ran around like a maniac as all three year old boys should. Charlie sat in the park sand and repeatedly grabbed handfuls of it, watching it pour out through his chubby little hands. Every time it had all gone out of his hand, he would giggle, throw himself forward and grab two more handfuls! What a sight!





James tried to teach Cayce how to use the cool digging apparatus that was there, but he preferred to watch his dad do all the work! There was a bunch of swinging, running and sliding. Cayce even braved the big slide with me. Or should I say, I braved it with him? I am terribly afraid of heights. I think it has to do with my genetic predisposition of being close to the ground...though I have always wanted to be taller, I do not wish to be higher...







Charlie made sure to try out the grass before we left and Cayce made a friend. We did not venture out into the lake though. We were not dressed for it, and though some of my Northern dwelling friends may think that 75degrees and a nice breeze is excellent swimming weather, in Florida, it just isn't. Note the long sleeves on us!!!








We finished off the day with some power wheel riding and tractor riding. Just so you guys don't think I am totally deprived, I have been working on a mini project: I am currently making a toolbox for the garage. AND I made another sale on Etsy today. AND I am anxiously awaiting tomorrow when the polls open up for the CDHM Halloween Contest. I am eager to see everyone's entries and to see if maybe I win!!!!

Edit to this post: It is way late on posting! I need better focus right now!

Hallelujah! We have garage doors!

They aren't working yet, but they are definitely there! One piece of lauan plywood, cut to 8" x 19" with some random thin strip wood I had lying around. I modeled it after a bunch of garage doors I have seen down in St. Cloud. There will be hinges on the left side so it swings open like one big door, but I will have false hinges on the right hand side to keep the look right. I really like how it turned out.





There are only a few more things to do to the outside. I need to weasel 10 bucks or so out of James to get sandpaper and veneer tape for the roof and porch. I am least looking forward to the railing..... and most forward to the landscaping. When I get the outside totally finished and the garage full of goodies, I will turn it back around and concentrate on ONE ROOM AT A TIME.







I hope. ;)

October! Finally got some doors!

First off: there is some wacky stuff happening computer tech wise in this post. Please ignore it. The "links" are not links. I don't know what I did. *sigh*

There has been a lot of stuff this week! First of all, I made my first sale on Etsy. YAY!! I sold the Autumnal Tree painting. It wasn't much, but I used the profits of it to snag a train for Cayce for Christmas. Some time before Halloween, I should get a Gordon and his tender. Cayce loves all things Thomas the Tank Engine. I actually have quite a list of trains that he wants... I need to pass that onto family members so we can start checking some of them off!

I got the package shipped out to Brandy, in North Carolina, on Thursday. I also sent her two extra goodies (another painting and handmade tissue box) along with a hand written "thank you" for being my first customer. She should get them Monday evening. Hope she likes them!

I also finished up the painting for Randi, in Kentucky, and the bonus painting and onesie. They got sent off on Thursday also. This is her extra painting:

Last night, I finally got up the... whatever it is I needed, to get the doors cut out for the Highland. I made quick work of it with the jigsaw and belt sander. Once they were cut and sanded, I brought them in and trimmed out the window holes with skinny sticks and filled in the tiny gaps with Elmer's Wood Filler. I love that product! It works a lot better than the crummy stuff in the tube. This product just gets smeared on with a little pressure and help from a pallet knife and then the excess scraped off. Works like a charm! I let that dry and then gave it a quick sanding and then two coats of Glidden Quiet Rain. The trim and design is painted in Americana Dark Chocolate and the door knobs are Houseworks with a wash of sterling silver on them.

I really like how it turned out. The paint is kind of a blue gray that picks up the blue tones in the stone on the silo. I think I will finish trimming out the doors a bit and make them non-opening, but removable.




I also managed to get the wood cut for the garage doors. The paint is drying on that now as I speak. It is getting the same colors as the front doors. I will try to post about that later.





On top of all the stuff with the kids today, I also managed to get some time in on the Creatology Puzzle House that DHM wanted me to paint for her. She will be gifting it to a young girl at the church for Christmas and requested Christmas colors. I think it looks like candy! I'm not sure if or how she would like me to do the inside.....

Once again, I have WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY too many things going on though! I still have all the mommy duties of chores, errands, play groups, field trips; painting the puzzle house, DHM's birthday gift, Halloween costumes to make (decorations went up today).... You can tell that things are piling up by just looking at my desk:





The top is covered, things are piled up next to it and underneath it... the overflow is trickling onto the top of the Highland and then there is that part that looks like stuff flowing out of the drawer... NO. That is where I pulled the already full drawer out a bit to act as a shelf for that crap on top of it. *sigh* I NEED SHELVING!!!!! Note to self: when buying a house, make sure you have an adequate area for crafting!!!

James starts to object when my crafting supplies and projects seem to multiply and crawl across the house. If I had more than 12sqft, I might be able to keep it all under better control!!!


Anyhoo, I am off to finish the garage door! Maybe I will finish tonight. Pretty much have too since tomorrow is slam full of non-mini stuff to do. :(