11 Days till the WEDDING!

So the countdown is on and its 11 days until my wedding day.  I am a little nervous - for a few reasons... the first of which is because of my wrist, which as the doctor said today just needs time to heal.  But healing is something I dont really have time for.  I have a number of things still to get done before the big day, and more than that I still have alot to pay for, and without my wage we are going to struggle.  So the added stress is getting to me, and affecting my sleeping more than ever.  Unfortunately my medical bills, which have already topped $300 in only 5 days, have come out of my wedding fund and who knows when this money will be refunded to me by work.  So at this point I dont know what we are going to do.

So I made the decision to list some of my dolls house books which I no longer use, as well as my excess engagement/wedding items.  My original thinking was to use the funds to buy some items to furnish my renovated dolls house, and Im hoping this can still happen as I have my eyes on some great items!  My bathroom items (bath, shower, sink) are on their way, which I am excited about!  Cant wait till they get here, so that I can install them in my bathroom, and then make the accessories to match.  My main accessories will be towels, miniature bottles, a little toothbrush, and a hair brush because those are the things in my own bathroom.

But as I watched my finace put the cushions in the cushion covers that I made yesterday my mind was ticking over in miniature.  I still have lots of fabric left over, and am considering making a miniature cushion set in the same colours for my dollhouse.  Below is what the real ones look like.

They are for my outdoor deck area, to be placed on the seats around our outdoor dining table.  When I first saw them they just made me think of summer and fun.  I love the colours!!!

So I plan to use the material to possibly make some curtains, as well as some cushions for my dollhouse.  Maybe with having some extra time on my hands and my love of sewing kicking back in, I may even make some extras and try my luck at selling them on ebay - who knows.

But as for now, I am going to go and play with my beloved babies who got themselves into a bit of a mess today.  It was raining so I had them inside with me - now normally I would be at work and they would be outside in the rain.  They dont actually seem to mind - they spend their time in their dog house, or under our car port playing, and when we get home and dry and happy.  So I had them in and they seemed a little sad, so I checked if they wanted to go out and as soon as I opened the door they bolted.  So I left them to it.  A couple of hours later they let me know that they wanted to come in - they jump on our wire door to say they want to come inside.  And when I saw them I wasnt sure whether I should laugh or cry.  They were not only soaked to the bone, they were filthy.  Clearly they had deceided that mums home so lets run around like crazy people and dig up the yard a bit because we wont have to stay out in the cold.  As pictured below, they got just a little dirty!!

They were muddy little paw prints all over the house - thankfully we have tiles and floor boards!!  So they both had to have two baths - the first to just get the majority of the dirt and mud off, and the second to give them a go with shampoo.  They arent the biggest fan of the bath but they were good and the result is two beautiful puppies once more.


Chloe





Benji





Another week closer to the big day!

Its been an interesting week and fingers crossed things improve from here!

My wrist aches from the hairline fracture, and Ive bruised up quite nicely.  Now I thought I had sleeping problems before - how wrong I was.  Trying to sleep with my wrist is proving to be a real pain in the butt!!

So I have been off work and hanging around at home going a little stir crazy.  But its hit the weekend, and the beautiful weather has come out and it inspired me to do a few things I had been meaning to do for a while.

Yesterday was a write off as I watched my beloved team (Collingwood) play in the AFL Grand Final.  And I couldve cried as we went from playing marvelously and winning for three quarters of the match, to ending in a draw!  I was not a happy woman!!  So bad news is, we have to replay next Saturday.  But good news is, thank god we ended up making our wedding two weeks after the grand final and not the week after, otherwise the wedding would have to be moved.  And yes I am serious!!  Myself and my family are loyal Collingwood fans and there is no way my wedding could be on the day of the grand final.  My fiance gave a very large sigh of relief when we heard that if it draws again next week they will play overtime - so the bride (me) wont be calling off the wedding due to the football!

But I digress, today was a wonderful sunny day, which I spent part of outside with my beautiful puppies.  But as I was out there I looked around my deck and thought about the material and cushions sitting inside waiting to be done.  So after a trip to my dads to say hello, and pick up my mums wedding ring (my something old and something borrowed for the wedding day), and a stop at spotlight, I took my wrist out of its bandage and got to work.  Much to my delight though I now have 8 beautiful cushion covers complete with zip closures!

And as the sewing machine was out, and my wrist was already throbbing I thought I might start on some mini towels for my bathroom.  Now they arent complete so pictures will be coming later in the week, but I think I have a good design that will go nicely with my bathroom.  I have also been playing with colours and designs for some mini bottles that will go in my bathroom too.

But for now its getting late and my wrist is killing me and a headache is setting in, so Im off to take some pain killers and rest up on the couch.  Doctors appointment tomorrow for a check up on my wrist, fingers crossed some good news for the impending wedding (2 weeks to go) and back to work sooner rather than later.

Bad day, followed by a worse day

So yesterday was a bad day.  Bad day at work, then a bad night when I got home.  So I went to sleep, and told my fiance that he should call in sick for me today because I just knew something would go wrong.  Now why I didnt trust my instinct I could now kick myself for! 

I am coming down with a cold, so was feeling pretty lousy when I woke up.  Off I went to work and I warned them that I wasnt feeling the best.  So I went about my job, thankfully fluffing pillows (no I am not joking) which required little thought. 

Half way through the day a shelf collapsed on me.  Onto my right arm to be exact.  So off to the doctor I went, and 9 x-rays later, and I have a hairline fracture on my wrist.  So I am down my dominant hand!  And two and a half weeks out from my wedding day.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  No cast at this point.  And Im hoping I wont have to get one.  My arm is however in a sling, so no work for the next few days. 

And as nice as it is to have a few days rest time (since I am actually getting sick, and all the stress of organising the wedding in such a short time by myself while working full time is making me suffer from exhaustion) I cant do anything without my right hand.  So my dolls house is looking at me and I am trying to figure out what I can do with my few days off without hurting my wrist any further.

So for the time being I will scour ebay for some bargains and plan what to do in my nursery, which I have deceided will be the next room I tackle.

Windows

Another day, another dollar.  An uneventful day at work which is always good but I must say I hate childrens toys!!!  :)  For everyones info I work as a merchandiser/refit/layout person, so at the moment Im working for a major department store and today the job was to redo their toy section.  Ahhhhhhh.  Far too many toys!!!

But anyway.  Onto the dollhouse.  Now its been staring at me, taunting me.  But Im a little stuck.  You see my original idea was to put a little wood frame inside the exsisting window, but as it turns out after cutting wood to the exact right size, its not flat!  So I have now temporarily ditched the idea.  I have two choices - do it anyway and just fill the gap (but I think this will be a pain!), or just do little cross bar type things to make it look like several panes of glass, and then frame it all on the outside.  Im considering the second option.  But that now will have to wait till the weekend because its going to be fiddly and after work I am not in the mood for fiddly!

So after temporarily giving up on that I thought I would try to make a little curtain for the bathroom.  This did not turn out as I had planned either.  Sigh!  I cut the material sewed it onto the dowel and thought it was all good to go.  But no.  Firstly it turned out just that little bit too short for the window as you can see below.

How annoying!  So aside from that I just dont like the way its sitting.  It wont sit closer to the window frame no matter what I do with it.  So I dont know what to do about that at the moment.  I considered ironing it to get nice little pleats, but I wanted more that natural pleat thats a little curved.

This is what it looks like out of the window - its quite cute.  So once I get it the right length later in the week I may have to somehow squash it a little to get it to sit closer to the window frame.

But for now I have wedding things to stress about, so until next time.

Painting on the bathroom!!

Im so happy it has all worked out, despite the dramas!!!

So this is my bathroom!!!!!!!!  Im actually really happy with it.  Its hard to tell from the photo but the walls are a pale lime green, with white trim, and the light mocha tiles.  Its really nice (if I do say so myself!).  Once it was all sanded I just did the undercoating, and then two coats of the lime green. 

Now the tiles - this was a slight issue!  The dramas of creating a real modern bathroom in dollhouse scale.  For everyones info the tiles are actually real mini tiles from my local bunnings - they were a pain to cut, as they are so small we had quite a few that didnt break correctly.  But trial and error and we got there.

So I got the tiles ready glued the floor (note to self, glueing tiles means glue goes everywhere - next time change clothes first - not only are my hands covered in glue but somehow I got it all up my arm and I of course then touched my clothes - oops!).  Now little did I know when I started that my room isnt exactly square.  So I was not happy, but my fiance Craig came to the rescue.  He goes, "I'll just chisel it tomorrow on the trimming to fit the tiles in."  Genius!  Now of course I didnt want to wait till tomorrow, so with a little sweet talking he did it, and he is a superstar cause they all fit and it looks really good!!!

So once that was all done I decided to paint the swinging door with a coat of white, since that forms a wall in my bathroom.  Then I got out my supplies that I got from Spotlight and Bunnings.  What I got - about 5 different types of material from Spotlight, and a few pieces of wood from Bunnings. 

So I have attached some hooks to the inside of the door above the window, and through that I put a piece of dowel which fits snugly so its perfect.

So this will be for my little curtain - Im sure my little family wont want strangers looking in when their trying to take a shower!!  I havent done the curtain yet, but it will just be a little white sheer one.  That will be my job one night after work this week. 

My next job on the list is to put a frame inside the bathroom window, which will be a little trial an error.  The width is 13mm, so I will have to cut some wood to this width and then worry about the length.  I think it will also have a dividing piece of wood down the middle, to make it look like it would be a two paned sliding window.  Now my decision is whether to leave my windows open, or to put a piece of acetate in behind them - I think that will depend on the look of it.  I also havent yet decided on the outside frame of my window and this will be a decision made after Ive seen the basic look.  It may be that I add a picture frame type edge onto the front of the house to give it a more real life look.

So we have progress and I achieved my goal for the weekend so I am thrilled - it feels so good to have done something productive and to see my handywork. 

Now on a little side note I have to say a big thank you to my followers and my little cheer squad from yahoo groups - you ladies are fantastic and Im sure will keep me motivated through this experience.  So doc, in honor of being my first follower and to continue my bathroom theme, I have a little something for you.  So I need your snail mail addy to send it off.  Just drop me an email and I will get it out to you.  Details on the prize will be later in the week, once I have taken some photos.

So I am only one follower away from 10, and I think when I hit that I will do another prize, but the question is who to send it out to.  So my question to you all is - is anyone else working on a bathroom?  And if you have completed your bathroom what is the one little miniature (aside from the toilet, sink, shower, etc) it wouldnt be complete without?

Until tomorrow....

Sanding is complete!!

Well the electric sander came out and that was it I lost my dollhouse to my fiance! 

But I shouldnt complain, he likes to play with tools (as do I) and he seemed to really enjoy doing it.  Craig just had to use both sanders - in his words the mouse does the corners perfectly.  Oh well.  So after having a little go myself I left him to it and browsed the many books and magazines I have on miniatures thinking about what I could do next.  My poor babies didnt understand what all the noise was about, as you can see below.

So they sniffed them out to make sure they were ok for use!  As pictured above, Chloe is in the background - she is a shitzu cross cavaleir, while benji in the foreground is a maltese cross shitzu.  They are my babies and I love them to death.  They have gotten me through some rough days with lots of kisses and cuddles and I think of them as an important part of my family.  They are like my kids (which helps take the sting out of trying for almost a year know with no success), and they often come with us on day trips and everytime we go to visit my dad.

Unfortunately as they are still so young (6 months) they also like to play with everything, and when we went away for a night about a month ago and left them home they managed to get into our study/craft room and proceed to destroy quite a lot.  I couldnt stay made at them long, even though they did take a bottle of craft glue and proceed to chew the top of it off and leave it to empty on our bed.  I think that was their way of telling us we are not to go away without them again.

So anyway (yes I do get sidetracked!) after about an hour my bathroom is sanded and ready to go.

So now I am off to Bunnings and Spotlight (my favourite stores!!!  For those o/s bunnings is our local hardware store that has absolutley everything and spotlight is our local craft store) to pick up some undercoat/sealer paint, some timber to have a go at making my own window frames and some material for miniature towels, curtains and maybe even a rug.  Then we plan to drop round at my inlaws (who are o/s at the moment) and borrow their tile cutter to see if you can cut mini tiles to fit that doorway space.  Im not holding my breath that it will work but theres no harm in giving it a try!!

Damn bathroom wallpaper!

So I resanded again last night before I went to bed and added a layer of white paint.

Woke up this morning and the back wall is very bumpy.  Considering this is the main wall that you see this will not do!  So I have resanded it by hand and have roped my fiance into getting the electric sander out so we can give that a go.  Ho hum.

Thankfully none of the other rooms have wallpaper!!!  This is one nightmare I dont want to repeat.  So here is the layout of the rest of the house.

The top right will be the master bedroom.  The top left will be the study at the back and a nursery at the front - I plan to construct a wall.  Then downstairs the left will be the kitchen with a door out to the backyard, the middle will be the dining room and the right will be the front entrance and living room.

The stairs are located behind the bathroom and lead out into the living room.  They dont need any work, so will probably just get a coat of paint.

So Im off to give this bathroom wall one more go - I am getting the sinking feeling my bathroom will not get completed this week :(

My first blog!

Well I've bitten the bullet and deceided to start my own blog!  So I warn you now I may make mistakes along the way and I apologise in advance!!!

A little about me before we begin this journey....  Im engaged to be married, live in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, Australia and finally have a job I love. 

The wedding is only 3 weeks away and its a surprise to our guests (its a small wedding - only 22 people invited) so it has been a little stressful to organise by myself (men and wedding planning do not go together!!).  Aside from that the last year has been pretty hard for me - my mum died unexpectedly late last year and I was disagnosed with PCOS (polysistic ovary syndrome) at the start of this year.  I struggle on a daily basis with both of these things - with our wedding day looming not having my mum around hurts just that little bit more.  And wanting a big family, being diagnosed with PCOS was a big blow to my plans for the future.  The thing that annoys me the most is people saying that if I just relax I'll fall pregnant!!  Medical intervention is the only thing that will allow me to fall pregnant and even that is not a guarantee.

But I decided to distract myself by making the plunge into the world of miniature.  So this is the start of that journey!

I have loved miniature for years and always wanted a dollhouse.  The closest I ever had was a barbie dream house, which I loved, but its just not the same.  So now in my late 20's I have purchased my first dollhouse.  Hopefully it will be the first of many.  I got it off ebay from a lovely girl who was heading overseas and couldnt take it with her.  Its been handmade and although its not quite to 1/12th scale it will be great after a little work.  Below is a picture of the front.

As you can see it has been well made and well looked after.  And I plan to treasure it as much as the previous owner.  The roof lifts off and both front panels open via some hinges.  It features lovley stairs at the back, downstairs has three rooms, and upstairs has another three. Inside much work was already done, including a full paint job in a pale yellow, faux wooden floors and a completed bathroom.

The bathroom was the first to go - it was cute, and made on a budget with all cardboard items (which I can completely understand, as the world of miniature is expensive!).  So renovations started today!  And for something I thought would be easy, has quickly turned into a really hard job!!  It originally had a laminate floor, one laminate wall and two walls that had "wallpaper."  Well this "wallpaper" is fast becoming the bane of my exsistance!  It is basically heavy scrapbook paper super glued to the walls.  And I originally thought it was just one layer, turns out its about 3 and it will not come off properly.  So after a lot of peeling and attacking it with a sanding block I though I had it off.  So this is what it looked like. 

Now I thought I had it all off, so I painted a coat of white paint and let it dry.  Then bubbles appeared - theres another layer of paper!  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.  So I have now attacked it with a knife to dig through the layer of paper and try and scratch as much off as I could.  And given it another sanding.  Now Im trying to decide whether to attack it with an electric sander or have another go by hand before I try painting again.  So annoying!

But anyway I will get it done this weekend.  I have mini tiles picked out to lay on the floor, and am planning to paint the walls the same pale green that we used in our own bathroom.  I have bought a few items off ebay to fit out the bathroom and cant wait for them to arrive - my closest miniature shop is 1 hour away and although it has lots of things, it just doesnt have alot of the things I want.  So I plan to buy alot online.  Australia sadly doesnt seem to have many miniature enthusiasts compared with the UK and USA, so the shops here are few and far between.

With my wedding so close I have a few scenes picked out in my head that will occur between renovating the dolls house - I plan a one stop wedding shop, a coffee/cake shop, and a little wedding scene mimicking my own wedding day that we can keep as a momento of the day.  For the house itself, after the bathroom, there will be a main bedroom upstairs, and the other room will be split into a nursery for a baby and a study/computer room, while downstair will feature a kitchen, a dining room and a living area.  I am considering adding rooms onto the roof but I am unsure how to go about this.  As it is basically just a board as the roof currently I thought I could add a slanting style roof which will enable a loft space for another room for a child.  But this I think is years away from coming to fruition.  As it will all be on a budget Im hoping to find bargains on ebay and make alot of bits and pieces along the way.  We dont have alot of money so it will just be a case of doing what I can with what I can. 

Im a perfectionist so this will be an interesting process!