The silly season is upon us

 As my house wont be finished in time I wanted to get a little seasonal ...so I made a silly little room box from a multi pack of snacks.

 I covered the outside with contact and made walls floor etc from matt board.Then downloaded some free printable wall paper.

 I made myself a quiet corner to sit and get in the mood by writting my christmas cards ,wrapping gifts and decorating the tree.

 A calm and peaceful scene now its all done.

 So I descided to sit and reward my hrd work with a glass of red win and some christmas cookies.

 Soon I fell asleep.....and I had a nightmare!

 or should I say a permonition lol of the mess I would have to clean up on christmas day....

Im sure its worth it all though as precious time is spent with family and friends . I wish you all a very safe and happy christmas .....and I hope you dont end up with a mess like mine to clean up xxxx

Mystery Box 2 Reveal part 2 ( why I was impressed with the fireplace)

 I dont really need to say anything.... we have all seen these really bad click together kits ;) I wondered if they could be made usable ..I will let the pics show you :)

 and here is sort of how I made the carosel.

Mystery Box 2 Reveal

 Well heres the first few things I guess first I should tell you what they started as (eg what I used from the box)
fabric for the blind,clear plastic for the fish tank, the table and stool used plastic pipes from a construction set ( the ends of the pipes then made the planters) the top of the stool is a plastic that is designed as a non slip drawer liner.

 closer view of the table etc.

 the fish tank :) Im happy with this , I struggled so much trying to work with EZ water and no matter what I did It would always turn yellow lol so I have a lot of failed tanks sitting around. In the end I gave up and glued the fish I made from fimo to som sections of aquarium plant to give the impression of water.

 Hmmm now whats in this picture ...let me see crochet cotton ok thats obvious. you can just see a little tiger made from a chenille stick. the pram started as a plastic egg ( the kind you buy at easter to fill with treats and decorate) The toy carosel is made from a section of cork and some jewellry findings. The bean bag is made from the fabric ( I filled it with the micro beads you can get in some cushions, so it actually has tiny beans in it and has the feel of a bean bag. A pirate toy chest , made from half a plastic barrel ( from construction toys) and sections of filigree stampings for the handles ,lock etc.

 oh heres the little tiger.

 Then I decided to open a fancy dress hire shop! at the moment it has only limited stock he he but you get the idea. The parasol is made from lace and a paper umbrella . The kimono is blue fabric from the box. The fairy costume uses sections cut from the lace as decorations. The wig is ...a pop pom ...I pulled it apart to attempt to use the fibres for needle felting ! LOL it worked! Hair decorations on the wig are the prongs from plastic cocktail forks with beads. The black hat is a safty cone from the construction set with the point cut off.

 Oh and here comes the thing that I even impressed myself with HEHE .

 The handles of the coctail forks were used as decorative columns ,more filligree sections used on the "cast iron" section of the fire place. The planter is a black wooden flower bead. The coal scuttle is a golf tee section and some more of the pipe as used in table etc and some more of the filligee stamping. The broom was a light from the construcion set.

 detail

 and a little tea pot made from a glass bead and some findings.

these boxes are so much fun, at times frustrating ,but make you look at everything in a mini way :)

Little I can share this week

well I had some dental work done and  didnt feel much like doing anything. I said Id keep you posted on what was going to happen to the eyes .....I bet you all thought it was going to be gory ! I wanted to actally use them in dolls lol! I used a mould for the gypsys face  ....she isnt finished yet but will get there ;) and Ive been making a few christmas treats .....but most of my time has been spent on trying to get a few things completed from the mystery box before time runs out !!!!

taking steps to finish the house.

egg cartons return again.....this time to make steps to lead to my french doors .I cut the bricks and layed them with PVA glue and gave the whole thing a coat of red oxide.

 when the paint was dry I then drybrushed with yellow oxide and raw sienna .

 when they had dried again I used grey grout and wiped it all over the surface making sure it settled in the mortar strips, waited five minutes then wiped the brick surfaces with a damp cloth.

So this is how they ended ...there is one more step attached to the house .....which I have finished cladding and painted . The window frames are in the process of being painted . Oops I need another 1000 shingles to finish the roof. So thats 2000 shingles and 12 sheets of cladding , 14 windows to paint and 2 external doors to paint .....lol why did I start such a big project .....I thought miniatures wouldnt take up much room ;)

Inaccurate guesswork

Well this is all t6hat remains of 10 sheets of cladding 15x78 cm! and guess what I didnt estimate properly and am now waiting on 3 more sheets to complete the job. I think 2 sheets will finish it but this time ordered extra just to be sure ;)

 This is an unfinished archway.

 here is one almost completed, big improvement I think.

 my arches are not exact lol a little like my guesswork,so I put matt board behind the arch and traced the shape onto it.

 Then I decided what thickness I wanted the framing to be and cut 2 straight lenghts from matt board the desired width.

 I then ran along the edges with an embossing tool to soften them.

 The straight section was then used as a measure to draw the thickness of the arch...by simply placing ,marking,placing marking etc then joining the dots.

I then used this as a template for the other side of the archway. The matt board was coloured with a furniture touch up pen ( thanks to MiniAussie) and a small piece of matt board cut to cover the join.I must get back to my shingles now ....oh and the egg cartons are back out for another job this week.