Busy, Behind and Preparing to FLING!!!

I have fallen so behind on blogging! I do apologize to all of you. I know, when friends of mine don't blog for a while it can feel as though you are suffering from withdrawals. But when they finally do, OH THE JOY!!!!

Anywho, my time had been mostly taken up with the fact the my tiniest baby just turned one year old on St. Patrick's Day. *Cheers* This is a big deal for any parent, but I fall into that neurotic category where everything is HUGE and epic with the fun. :) This meant I ridiculously huge party with family, friends and playgroup pals. We didn't really do anything the day of his birthday, but hang out with one of his besties. Friday was spent doing last minute prep for the party that was on Saturday; this meant buying lots of green things. The only unfortunate event was that lots of our friends came down with what we referred to as The Playgroup Plague (more commonly known as rotovirus). It's a highly contagious GI virus and is just awful to witness in tiny one year old kids. Even with that going on, the party was a smash. Charlie got all sorts of fun outdoor toys to play with and he even got a picnic table. (There is nothing cuter than seeing two tiny little boys sharing lunch at a pint sized table!)

His smash cake was a ridiculous success! That winning shot you always want to catch the baby in-hands full of cake and icing smeared on their face-he was all over it!

So where are the pictures?! Sadness in my world of being picture-happy-Mommy and miniaturist extraordinaire, a child that is not mine busted my camera the week before. :( Until I can get a new one, there will be no new postings on Etsy, or fun mini updates, or pictures of my adorable kidlets. It's very sad. However, my sister was at the party and she took umpteen zillion pictures and is sending them to me on a disc.... actually, *discS*. And for the day after the party, when we took the boys to the zoo (eeeeeee!!!!) we borrowed one from James' mom. So, the important family stuff is covered. :)

The upside to no camera is that I won't be tempted to share what I am working on, which is good since I will be starting on my entry for the Greenleaf Spring Fling 2011, that is, if it EVER gets here!!!!! I ordered all my components a week ago and they have yet to be shipped... I wouldn't be so upset about it, but this is the prime time for me to get some work done on it since I have the week off (Spring Break). I am itching to get started on it! I even cleaned up the work room, which was no easy task since it had turned into a dumping ground of sorts whilst I was busy with birthday plans. Speaking of which, I need to get started on the plans for Cayce's birthday. He is getting a dinosaur theme and he is so excited!

I will share pictures of the birthday and zoo trip as soon as the discs get here (hopefully today). And if you hope to see pictures of mini's, you can always contribute to a new camera fund by buying stuff from my etsy shop!!!!! *hint, hint* And I take custom orders!

Later taters!

A follow-splosion!

Welcome to ALL my new followers!!! Wow! There are 16 of you, my goodness.
Down the line we go:

• Mairi at Il mondo in miniatura
• Malu2 of Malu's Minis
• Angeles of El rincon de Baldu
• CM of Casita Mini
• Tita at Villa Caroliina
• Ani of La Inspiracion
  
• Katiana of A casinha de Katy
• Isabel of Miniaturas Isa (margana135)
• lluna 45
• Fabiolo of Mionminimondo
• Lataina
• ursula.lautensack
  
• Ana Anselmo of Miniatures Forever
• islabcn of Mi mini rincon
• Marian of Mi Agenda Mini
• Barbara Emerson
• May of En el pais de nunca jamas

AND

• ll Cucchianino Magico of ll Cucchiaino Magico

Woowhee what a list!!! Thanks for joining the ranks, mini friends. Glad to have you aboard!

There hasn't been much mini development here. Life has been busy with birthdays, playdates and beach trips. I hope to get back in the swing of things soon though. I just wanted to welcome everyone that has joined in lately.

Culmination of Frilly Papers

leads to a frilly looking house!

I recently started working on the Creatology Fantasy Villa to quell my need to build a house. The weather has been very erratic in Florida, as well as the rest of the United States, and I didn't want to start on a big build (Washington) if I couldn't be out on the wintery porch every night. Good news on that front, is that Spring seems to be on it's way here! We have a high of near 80 today. =) Schweeeeeeet!

Anyway, I had picked up all these really interesting papers the last time I went to Michael's, and I thought they would go perfectly with the whimsy of this house. I plan on trying to construct it just like a kit, so I will be getting rid of everything that looks "puzzle-ish" and cutting off the tabs. So far, I am really happy with the way things are turning out on it.

I used denim colored felt as carpet in the two upper rooms. The window frames are made out of cardstock and I plan on putting some faux stained glass in a few of the windows. The tile floor is a printie from Jim's Printables that I sealed 3 times with glossy modge podge. The wood floor is made from sticks that I bought from Ann at Amazing Miniatures (her Etsy shop is full of fun stuff). I also used these sticks to make the baseboards and such throughout the house.

I really like the fun color scheme that this house has and I think it would be great for a girl that has tiny fairy dolls or even the Little Petshop characters. I am still undecided about the exterior, but I think I want to do some sort of stone or stucco finish so it looks like a fairytale castle.

My time is limited lately, so I haven't really gotten that far on it, but like I said, I am really happy with the results so far.

Lovers and Loot, the Winner is...

Happy Valentine's Day, beloved followers! I want to thank each and every one of you for dropping in to hear about my craziness in the land of tiny things. I hope you all have a fabulous day, single or coupled. ♥

As promised, the drawing took place this morning! I printed out all the comments, sans the doubles and my own, cut them into strips and threw them in a hat. James pulled one out and the winner is....

♫ drum roll please♫

Ani! of La Inspiracion. Congratulations, Ani! If you could get me your information, I would love to have this sent out to you this week. Thank you to all whom entered! I really loved doing this and will do another at 100 posts, I think. :)

The end is near! Enter my Giveaway NOW!!! Please.

I will be doing the drawing on Monday for the giveaway! Comment here or here to participate! I went a little overboard with the amount of items. :)

I would also like to inform those of you that don't know, of some amazing giveaways going on in the mini world. There is some great art and miniature work going on that I am honored to be just in the running for. I would be over the moon if I actually won any of these!

• Over at Anubis Miniworld, there is a great giveaway for some adorable paper made accessories. They are so cute!!
• Ines, at Liliput Things has a giveaway for some great pillows and flowers. Also, check out her new chimnea and rock wall. They are gorgeous!!
• Check out, Kim, at Flowers & Art for TWO giveaway items: a white, handmade journal... which is to die for adorable and a set of 1:12 white flowers, also beautiful. Such talent and admiration for the people that make tiny flowers. :)
• I almost don't want to share Flora's with you! It will decrease my already slim chances!!! Over at La Casa Delle Bambole di Flora, she is giving away a trunk full of goodies; all in mini!!! I keep coming across it in the blogosphere and I am sending out some crazy juju in hopes that I win!!! And a lot of people have noticed it. She's gained over 50 followers just from the publicity! Go check it out!

I'm sure there are more that I don't know about, but it pays to be a follower. SO click away and support these fabulous miniaturists! Also, keep an eye on Ann's blog site at Amazing Miniatures... word in the sphere is that she is gearing up to do a giveaway to celebrate the end of Hel...I mean, the 31 Days of Etsy challenge. No, I really do mean HELL. Sheesh! She is happy to have that one out of the way, and so am I. Next year, we will make everything ahead of time and post once a day!!!!


And, I don't think it is right to deprive you all of eye candy, so here is what I have been up to. I haven't had a lot of time to work on mini stuff lately. There is too much going on and we have entered birthday season. It seems, every other weekend, I have birthday parties to take the kids to and that cuts into my ME time a lot.

Anyway, all 3 of these paintings are available on my Etsy, just click the link off to the right there!






Hope you liked them! Go check out other fabulous giveaways and don't forget to sign up for mine if you want, links are at the beginning of this post!

PS. I also made some books! I found a full proof, perfect way to make them every time. :)

Found it! See what the giveaway is!!!

This post won't be nearly as enthusiastic as it should be, since I am still fighting off a NASTY cold.

BUT:

I finally found my camera, lost in the bottom of an interior pocket of the diaper bag. I swear, when you have kids, everything you own should have a clapper location beacon thing on it.

Anyway, this means that I can finally show you the last three things I did for the 31 Days of Etsy challenge AND I can show you the goodies for the giveaway. Hooray!

So, I went on a shabby binge at the end of the month and made and ottoman, chair and journal. They match the pillows in the giveaway!

I also got a new photo editing software and it is producing some nice results. I would still LOVE to take pictures like Ann, but these make me happy enough.

See them below:









All of these can be found at my Etsy shop now.

And, now, what you all have been waiting for! The items for the giveaway! Enter through February 13th, I will do the drawing on the 14th and announce the winner. :)

Items are a shabby hutch in white and yellow, two shabby pillows, 3 original pieces of art, 3 books and marble bowl.




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Tis the life of a mother...

I know I am supposed to be doing the giveaway tomorrow and that several of you are eagerly looking forward to what I have made... Issue: My camera seems to have wondered off! This presents a problem for both posting update pictures on items being made for the Highland and for the Etsy shop, along with letting you get a glimpse at the giveaway loot. Darn it!

We have also managed to come down with a nasty bug in the last few days and it has my entire family feeling like something that got stuck to the bottom of your shoe. Not fun.

So, in fairness to competitors, I will be AGAIN extending the giveaway. Perhaps until Valentine's Day? I will do the drawing on Valentine's Day, which should be a nice reward for those of you that would otherwise not be getting anything (chocolates and flowers).

Here's to hoping I can find that little piece of technology!