Pretty little flowers

I made some little vases from polymer clay and filled them with arrangements made from paper and wire. This top one is chrysanthemums.
And here are some roses just beginning to open.

Back Porch Update

Last night I decided the back porch needed a bigger lawn area. I started with some scraps of grass that my friend Tina gave me. I had to piece them together on a cardboard base. I added the pine on the back left corner and the planter full of petunias on the porch.
I found these shrub looking things at The Dollar Tree in the floral department. They actually work pretty well for shrubs. I added the rock borders around the beds and the stone sidewalk area. That was made from self stick tile scraps that I cut to the shapes I wanted and stuck down. Easy peasy!
The little corner bed is waiting for me to try making a rose bush.

Welcome

Please welcome Dangerous Mezzo of The Tudor/Medieval/Jacobean/Queen Anne Dollhouse Project. This is a group of Canadians working together on a couple of big projects. Stop by and say hello!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

I spent some time in my yard taking photos this afternoon. I took lots of photos of trees and flowers but dandelions have a special place in my heart. They bring back memories of grubby little hands bringing me a bouquet of 'flowers' early in the spring. And I just think they're pretty. :-)
These last two photos were taken with the camera on the ground under the dandelions. They're very pop art looking. I like the blurred focus and the incredible blue of the sky.

Welcome!

I was gone for the day and came home to find two new followers! Please help me welcome April of Whatever is Lovely. April's blog is about her busy life as wife, mother, and homeschooler.

Also, please welcome Puppenstubennostalgie of PuNo's Minis 1:12. She has some fun and unique miniatures.

Please visit both blogs and thank you ladies for stopping by. Have a seat on the sofa and enjoy some refreshments. :-)

Mystery House Family

I had to pick up a few things in town today. I made a pass through the toy department just for fun and found a Polly Pocket couple with extra clothes. They work well for the parents in the Mystery House. Since the teenage daughter is already named Polly, I'm calling the mom Paula. The dad's name is Todd. He's relaxing with the newspaper in the living room.
Paula is heading out to get some groceries to fill those bare cupboards.
Polly is just glad to have some casual clothes. She was getting really tired of wearing that dress all the time. :-)

Spring Green Fairy

Here are the photos of the new fairy I promised to share.
The butterfly wings, flower hat, and crocheted lace all came from Dollar Tree. I think she looks better in person - I have a difficult time getting really good photos of my dolls. It doesn't help that the camera seems to magnify any flaws, lol.

Good morning!

I'm sorry I haven't been around as much. Sometimes real life just has a way of catching up with you, you know?

I didn't make anything in mini last week - I just couldn't find the desire. Thankfully, I think I'm back on track. I made a very unusual something that I can't share yet for an etsy group project. Today I plan to start on a fairy. I found some perfectly sized butterflies at the Dollar Tree that I think will make excellent wings. I should have some pics later today.

Wishing you all a lovely, sunny day!

A New Award!

Thank you to Deni at http://denisdollhousemania.blogspot.com/ for this award. Again, this award seems to be making the rounds quickly so I'd like to award it to all of the wonderfully talented people out there in blogland.

The Beauty of Spring...and a New Book

I love the way the redbud branches look against the sky. I started this tree from a tiny little twig nearly 20 years ago. I was so excited the first year it bloomed!
Creeping phlox are so pretty. I have both the pink color...
...and the pale lavender color.
This plant looks nice year round but it's rather invasive. I have no idea what it is - my mom gave me some starts years ago and it's almost taken over in my rock garden. In the spring it has these yellow blossoms that last into summer. By autumn the blossoms turn a really pretty burnt orange/rust color. The stems ooze sticky milk colored sap when you break them. Can anyone identify them for me?

The book I just read was given to me by my husband. He knows how much I like the Thorne Rooms at the Art Institute in Chicago. The book is called The Sixty-Eight Rooms by Marianne Malone. It was written for children or preteens and is about two kids who find a way to shrink themselves down to 1:12 scale and explore the rooms. It's a very good story.

Sometimes you're just not happy...

Every time I walked past Eddie in my craft room, I felt like something was missing. His face just didn't have any depth. So today I finally did something about it. I added some color washes to his face to highlight the lines and wrinkles on his face. I also added a five o'clock shadow.
Both were simple additions but I'm pleased with the finished look now. Maybe he'll quit yelling at me every time I walk past now, lol.

Tomorrow I'm off to Anderson, Indiana for a Junior High worship retreat. Our church is taking 35 kids and there will be around 1500 total. Always a great spiritual renewal for me and a lot of fun, too. I'm leaving tomorrow morning and won't be back till Saturday night. I'll check back in then. Have a great weekend everyone!

Welcome!

Please help me welcome James Daniel. Thanks for following along on my mini and real life adventures.

From Ticks to Skunks: You gotta love your pets

I live in rural Indiana and this time of year the ticks become plentiful. This year they are especially bad. Yesterday morning I looked down at my plate of scrambled eggs and toast and saw a tick walking across my plate. Ewww. Abby's long fur is a wonderful place for them to hitch a ride in.
Angel is old and losing her vision so she doesn't roam far from the house. It was easy to put the flea and tick repellent on her.
This one is Zyla. This is a pic from last summer so she's filled out since then. Zyla was a rescue from the shelter. I don't know what happened to her before she reached the shelter as a puppy but she has "issues." Everything frightens her. It took my son and I 20 minutes using the choke collar (which I hate) to get the flea and tick drops applied between her shoulder blades! Yesterday started with the tick in my breakfast and ended last night with Zyla having her first run in with a skunk. The poor thing got sprayed full in the face. I can't let her in until we get rid of the smell. I mixed up a batch of the homemade skunk smell remover recommended by the vet but the dog is terrified of water, washcloths, anything different from her normal. Hubby is bringing home an all natural product we can use straight from the bottle...if we can get close enough. Wish me luck!

Roadside Excitement!

I left home at 2:50 pm to pick my son up after school. We got home around 3:30 to find the brush on the opposite side of the road from our house on fire. In this photo you can just see the haze of smoke - this was the smaller of the two fires.
Down the road the fire was blazing a little higher.
This is just in front of our property. The big guy with the hose is a friend from church. :-) They got the fire put out and everything dampened down. The fireman who came to talk to me afterward said there were two separate fires and they weren't intentional ones set by the homeowner across the road. I really hope it wasn't set by kids playing around. It's a lovely, breezy spring day so it could quite easily have gotten out of hand. I am very thankful for our volunteer firefighters!

An Award!

Thank you, Jaime of J Lil Roomer, for this beautiful award. I'm supposed to award it to five other blogs but this award is making the rounds quickly. I would like to give this award to each of the 145 people who now follow my blog. Thank you so much - I am very honored that you've chosen to read my blog.

Thinking Spring!

While sorting through my photos stored on the computer, I realized that I didn't have updated photos of the aquarium garden. In honor of Spring, here are some new ones. The right side has the patio with flower beds around it. The lilac bush is in full bloom.
Ruth and her niece have been busy in the garden today.
The tree and flowers in this area are relatively new to the garden.
I love this little corner. :-)

Enjoy your Spring...and this little taste in mini, too.

Welcome!

Please help me welcome francesdijan. I have no information, not even a photo of Frances. Thank you so much for joining the party!

It's the details that really count

Teenage daughter, Polly, and the family dog, Georgi, are enjoying the newly completed exterior. A colonial style antique brass hanging lamp lights the front porch. "Concrete" benches add seating under the windows and the planter full of flowers adds a touch of color.
The bathroom is now complete with art, towels, lighting, and the all essential toilet paper.
The kitchen has an overhead light fixture, a green clock, and artwork over the table. I also made a small sink for the cabinets on the right. You've got to have running water!
It looks like Georgi needs to go back to obedience school. He's certainly not paying much attention to Polly. The living room got a new area rug, overhead lighting, a table lamp, artwork, and a really cool wall clock. There's a newspaper on the coffee table for when Dad gets home from work.

When hubby's away...

...I don't have enough sense to stop the play, lol. I was up until 3 am finishing the wallpaper and curtains. Luckily for me, school was closed due to a sewer line break so I could sleep in. This room is the master bedroom. I added a mirror to the vanity, turned one of the end tables into an upholstered vanity bench, added new bedding (and feet to the bed to raise it a little), and added the rocking chair (purchased at an antique/resale shop). The picture over the bed is the only artwork in the house so far. It's a photo from Katie at Katie's Clay Corner. The wallpaper in this room is actual dollhouse paper.
The little girl's room is definitely girly. :) The "chenille" bedspreads were cut from a very thin waffle weave fabric. Now I just need to add some personality via toys, artwork, etc.
The mirror over the double sinks is a scrapbook sticker. This room needs toilet paper, towels, etc.

I promised my mother-in-law that the house would look much different the next time she saw it. That is definitely the case. :-D

And now for some progress on the interior...

I love the blue door so I didn't repaint it even though it has that rub on transfer on it. I figure it looks kind of 1970s-ish anyway, lol. Other than adding accessories and maybe a rug, this room is finished. Because I want it to be child-safe, I went for ultra easy window treatments. The funny windows would make more extravagant curtains look out of place anyway.
The kitchen looks great, too. The wallpapers all came from Jennifer's Printables online. This stripe has all the colors I needed to make the furniture and appliances look "right" in the room.

Mystery House Improvements

After an afternoon's work, the exterior is finished. It's been gessoed, painted, and sealed. The shutters were made from leftover logs from the cabin.
Here's the way it used to look, in case you didn't see the previous post. I love the final result. It looks elegant even for a clunky little house, lol.

Let the remodeling begin!

Ok, so it's more like redecorating than remodeling but I spent some time on the living room furniture on Friday. The cushions have all been recovered in a retro looking print with turquoise, olive and dark purple on cream. The tables were all given a "brass" finish. The credenza on the back wall has had its legs shortened since the photo was taken. I'm pretending it's a combination TV and stereo like my aunt had in the 70s. It was originally just a white plastic dresser.
The yellow and green cabinet came with the house. I think it's really cool. :-)
The range and refrigerator have been accented with paint to look more realistic. They are some inexpensive pieces I had on hand.
I had the bathroom set on hand, too. It works very nicely for this house.

I've downloaded some wallpaper I am hoping to use and later this week I will start on that. First I need to paint the exterior of the house. I'm thinking a crisp white will be pretty with the columns on the front porch.