Committed

 I am committed now!    I have gone ahead and done it!  I'm in for the count!

I have been working on my 1920's house.  Previously, I have worked on the outside and shared that.  A few months before we bought our house I started working on the library in this house.  Yes, I knew that I wanted a formal library!  I worked on the floors and painted the walls  But I then we bought a house and moved.  This big beautiful dollhouse sat wrapped in shrinkwrap for months!   In December I pulled it out and started to work on the library.  I've got one or two more finishing touches and that room will be done! I am actually having fun with the finishing touches and even made my own pencils.  

So the library is going splendidly!   I am determined to work on this beautiful house!  I'm excited about it (even if I'm not sure I am going to keep it!)  

 But what does "I'm committed now" mean?    Well, last year I decided in about March to work on a submission for the creatin' contest that is through Miniatures.com.  I had a lot of fun and worked well under the time constraints and entry deadline.  I loved my final project (once again, not sure what I"m going to do with it though....these creations take space!_ But regardless, I finished the porch scene for the 2022 creatin' contest and submitted my entry!     Of course I'm on the mailing list for Miniatures.com!  So of course I got the email about the base for the 2023 creatin' contest!   It is a market stall.  

  I pondered.  I thought.  And of course, I caved!  I did it!   I bought the kit and I am committed to completing it and submitting another entry!

The example of a finished scene with this kit was of a market theater.  

I have thought about a beach cabana....or a beach vendor....maybe selling drinks, renting umbrellas, etc.  But the thing that keeps coming back to me is an actual vender at the Green Dragon Farmers Market in Lancaster, PA.   In a corner of one of the buildings at that farmers market is a bakery.  They have their display cases and all of that, but nestled in the corner of their area is a enclosed little room where they have ovens, racks of half prepared baked goods, baked goods cooling, work tables ...etc.  Basically, you have a window into a small bakery.   I remember going to The Green Dragon as a young kid and loving to look in the window to watch them working.  It was one of my favorite things as a kid (well and the handicapped guy that sold pencils).   As an adult, I still have to stop and peer into the bakery area!       Yeah, I am thinking a bakery may be in order!

One of my hold ups?    Food!  I have not had much experience making food!  Ok, next to none!  I've dabbled a very small amount with polymer clay.   Recently, I pulled out my clay and made a cake.  I was feeling pretty good abou tit...until I noticed the smell  while I baked it!   Smell.....chemical smells to be exact are NOT good for our parrot!   Yes, we have a conure!   We researched....it is 50-50 on polymer clay.  Is it bad for birds to breath those fumes?   Not sure. The work around is to get a toaster oven and put it in the basement or to work with air dry clay.   We shall see what happens! 

So I am totally committed!    Totally committed to completing this project!   And 80% committed to it being a bakery!  

 Ohhh and if I do a bakery...I may have to break from tradition.  What tradition is that?   Well I alwayys put a cat into my scene.  Not exactly sure how to do that in a bakery scene. I have a few random thoughts and ideas though! The second tradition is that I don't include people! BUT, this scene just may need a little girl peering into the windo!  

Another Addition

 Yes, I am adding another addition to my already busy life and office!  Ok, maybe I'm not adding, but I am reviving it!   No, I'm not talking about another new dollhouse....although there may be something in the works for that very soon also.  But no.  I'm talking about my long forgotten youtube channel that I started for my dollhouses!

A while back...like in April of 2020, I created a youtube channel for my dollhouses.  I actually created an intro video and everything.  I was gung ho!  But then I just started posting my dollhouse videos on my weight loss/life youtube channel.  Which was ok.  It's my channel, I can do whatever I want.  Right?

But lately, I have been doing a whole lot more dollhouse stuff.  I'm feeling more confident with what I am making and creating and I want to get back into my dollhouse videos.  I want to film my completed creations for myself and I want to film the how to's for what I am doing.  I don't want to flood my weight loss youtube channel with dollhouse videos...so I decided to revive my long forgotten youtube channel.   It is taste of tiny over on youtube. 

I spent quite a few hours revamping some of my videos that I had posted on the first channel and have reposted them on my taste of tiny channel.  I will be very soon starting to create new content for the taste of tiny channel. Or rather, I have new content galore, I just need to edit and put it into video form!   Some of my first videos out will include a lot of pictures as that is what I have the most of.  But I will be adding more video as much as I can and as soon as I can!  

My work office doubles as my craft room and thus I have a dedicated work space for dollhouse projects!  This makes it awesome because I should be able to set up a filming area to film projects as I work on them!  

Can you tell I'm excited???????  I will definitely still be posting here.  But want to round out my collection of information!

Come visit me on the youtube channel if you want!  

Mini Memories - The Secret Room Box

 I had a big secret!   Jason (my husband)  and I knew that Christmas was going to be more lean for us this year due to unforeseen circumstances  with an injury that kept him from working for a few months and being financially responsible we didn’t want to take money from savings just to have lots of Christmas presents.  I was ok with that….until I made my mom’s Mini Memory room box!  When I completed that Christmas present for my mom, I was feeling that bereft feeling I get when a project is completed.  I was kinda lost.  But then I had the grand idea!  I would make Jason a room box of our apartment.  You see, we had moved into our first apartment together in 2018 and we lived there until about 6 months ago…when we bought a house.  The apartment was a thing of our past and we had some amazing memories in the apartment.  Obviously it was our first apartment.  But it was also the place where Jason proposed to me.  It is where I planned our marriage/elopement!  and just last Christmas we celebrated our first year as a married couple in that apartment!   Big moments in life for sure and quite worthy of a room box!

My problem?  Jason had an accident and has been off of work for the last few months.  How do you craft and create something for someone in secret when they are always home???  It was a dilemma!   Undaunted, I decided to create a second room box for my mom, depicting a different Christmas scene and that would be a decoy!  My plan was to keep the two room boxes in the same stage of progress. If I heard Jason coming I could swap out projects easily.  Also, if Jason walked by the office and I didn’t hear him coming   he would think I was working on mom’s box.    Mom’s birthday was coming up right after Christmas so that would work for a gift for that too.  Win win!

I commenced working!   I listened for footsteps all the time and swapped our projects frequently.  (I had my big 1920’s house set up right beside me  in a way that just walking into the room you couldn’t see the actual rooms and if I heard Jason coming I would slide Jason’s room box into a deep room within the house)  It worked!  The room box was mostly completed about a week before Christmas  and at that time I was pretty sure that he had no earthly idea!  

His room box doesn’t have all the little scenes inside. It really is just the corner where we had our tree.  The tree was by our sliding glass door and nestled between the bird perch and the crabs terrarium.  I thought about adding specific Christmas gifts…or the proposal.  But ultimately decided not to.  First of all…how do you do a ring/proposal in a dollhouse room box!   The ring would be a speck…and there was no easy way to display a ring in this scene.  I have not ruled it out.  I could always add that later…or add specific gifts later…but for now I am quite happy with the scene being as is.

Happy New Year

 

Mini Memories - Johnstown Christmas

 Ok, In my post about my mom's Christmas gift I wrote about having a vision to do a room box based on a picture from a few years in time after the East Earl Room Box where we lived in a different house

I know I know.  I said I was going to work on the library of he 1920's era house.  And I did!  But I honestly NEEDED to do another room box.  I needed to do this room box because I was recreating something special for my husband and he is home 24/7 recuperating from an accident.  I had to have something to be working on so that I could on work on his project on the sly!  It was difficult, I was constantly listening for footsteps and would quickly swap out projects!  Stay tuned, I’m sure there will be a post!

In the meantime, here is Johnstown Christmas Room Box

So here is the letter that I wrote to go with my room box.  The picture was taken in Johnstown, PA...so of course that is the name of the room box.  

Johnstown Christmas

 

A picture gives us the ability to remember one second in time and reminds us of important moments. But a picture also has the ability to open the mind to memories surrounding the location, event and time. 

This Christmas picture in Johnstown, PA reminded me of a happy Christmas spent with family with the stockings hung on the fireplace, the lights strung on the tree and Dad’s trains set up and ready to make their circle around and around.  What an amazing snapshot in time.  But looking at that picture made me remember so much more. 

Johnstown was where the infamous popcorn incident occurred.  Oh yes, there was that year when we popped popcorn to make a popcorn string.  It would have been a lovely strand of popcorn if only good old Princess, our dog hadn’t decided to eat the popcorn off the string as fast as we were putting the popcorn on the string.    

I believe it was a Johnstown Christmas when we realized that tinsel on a tree is not a good thing when you have a cat in the house.  I won’t go into details and instead only say that  a good tug was needed…poor Frosty.    No more tinsel ever made it into our house for Christmas.

The nativity on the mantel in this picture was obviously arranged by mom.  We all know that everyone in the nativity should be looking at the tree! 

My bloomer stocking and the dogs bone stocking were Johnstown additions to our Christmas.

The more I look at the picture the more I remember,  Dad’s bells….Dad’s star and dad being a bah humbug throughout the tree decorating except for his bells and star.  The smell of Dad’s trains. (yes, they have a smell).  Making cut out cookies.  Trying to stay up with Alan to see our presents in the middle of the night.  So many memories flood back as I look at the picture. 

This gift combines some of those memories….

 

Merry Christmas

 

Mini Memories -East Earl

 I have had a dream for quite some time.  I have thought about making a recreation of a Christmas from my childhood.  I even knew what year I was going to do.  I wanted to recreate a Christmas from our years in East Earl (Lancaster County, PA). 

This wasn't very 'Christmasy' as a picture, but it was nonetheless Christmas and it was the only Christmas picture I had from that house.  Please excuse my very short dress and my dad's high rise pants.  I had some memories from that time, even though it was 45 plus years ago and I wanted to incorporate those memories into the scene.   I dreamt about this project.  I never got around to making this project.  In fact, I never got around to anything other than saying I wanted to do it.  I had always thought that it would be an amazing gift for my parents.  

That changed this month.   I had just finished my Appalachian Porch Scene for the miniatures.com creatin' contest and I was looking for something to get into.   I mean, it's not as if I don't have a huge dollhouse that has barely been started or anything.  (hahaha  I am vowing to start working on that next).  

I sat down and decided to start the project.   I made it out of a box that I had.  I tried one box but it was just a wee bit too big.  So, I went with something a wee bit smaller.  I snipped off the flaps and I was ready to dive in. 

I started with the fireplace.  I recreated the back above the fireplace using popsicle sticks. 

And then using simple cardboard, I created the fireplace.  I also created a wee little sized refrigerator as it was whilst we lived at that house that I received a kitchen set for Christmas. 

I started to paint everything.   The box itself was painted, the fireplace received a coat of paint, the wood paneling for above the fireplace was painted and that wee little fridge for the kitchen set received a coat of avocado green paint. (Hey, I was a child of the 70's what do you expect!)  The fireplace received its bricks (egg carton) and I had to step back to let everything dry.   While drying, I took the time to wrap some presents!  I also created a chair.  I am NOT happy with the chair.  It is not of the right shape nor is the fabric correct.  I will be using this until I find the correct fabric. Of course, I had to put everything I had into place to see if it would fit. 

I was seeing a light at the end of the tunnel!  I pulled out a small mini Christmas tree that I received in a miniature swap for the mantle.  I was watching videos and planning on making candles but just happened to find a dollhouse store only 40 minutes away and very near a store that we had already planned to visit.  I checked out their candle selection and went ahead and spent the $1.60 to buy about 10 tapered candles.  (I also got a cat and a washtub from the store...and somehow managed to not buy anything else....probably because Jason is injured and off work so we are a one paycheck family at the moment.)  I had also found a small tonka truck that would be arriving in the mail at anytime.  So my scene was set for everything that was in the picture.   What else would I need?  

As I said earlier, one Christmas in this house I had received a play kitchen set.  I definitely wanted to have that in my scene.  I also wanted to have a Christmas tree.  And there was a particular tree that stood out in my memory from the time we lived in that house.  One year, my parents decided to buy a live tree and when the holidays were over to plant it in the front yard.  We kept the live tree in a wash tub throughout that holiday season.  Our house was brand new which I guess is the reason that my parents kept that Christmas tree in the basement....I remember a sitting area around the tree in the basement.  BUT a basement tree wasn't going to do me any good in terms of my recreation.  So, some artistic license was used, and I moved that live Christmas tree in a washtub right on up to the living room!

I had shored up my cardboard box with foam board and trimmed the edges with cut popsicle sticks.  My original idea was to do that for the front edge, but as you can see in the picture above it just didn't look good.   I luckily had a box of scrap pieces of wood that I had found in my brother's workshop, specifically in his garbage can.  They were about 1 1/4 inch wide and would be perfect. I removed everything from the room box, cut those pieces of wood, glued them on and left it all to dry.

Finally, it was time to put it all together.   Normally I don't like to glue my items into place, but I have done so with this room box.  It will be moved around a bit, and I figured to make this as easy as possible.  The only thing that is not glued into place is the chair simply because I don't like the chair and plan on making something different as the time and the correct fabric appear in my life.    Of course, there is a cat in the scene.  All of my dollhouse projects have a cat somewhere!  This one was able to relax comfortably on the chair....not a perfect rendition of Frosty, the cat that I grew up with...but close enough.  

There was only one last thing that I wanted to do.  I plan on giving this to my mom.  I plan on printing out the picture and writing a wee little explanation for her as to the artistic license I took with adding the cat, the play fridge and the tree.  I also wanted to add a sign on the room box indicating what the room box was depicting.  The letter will be at the bottom of this post. 

You see, I've wanted to do this project for a long time long before my mom's health started to slip.  In fact, when I started this project this month it wasn't because of my mom's medical condition.   But mom is not doing well.  She is becoming more and more forgetful and confused.  To the point that she couldn't remember when my birthday was the other night when we were talking.  I believe that she will remember the holiday from the 1970's.  I just wanted to make sure that there was a gentle nudge to remind her if I wasn't there.  

I ended up finding a different fabric and remade the chair in a style that is a bit more reminiscent of the chair in the picture!

I am tickled pink with this project.  I think it turned out REALLY well considering the only things that were purchased was the tonka truck, candles, cat and washtub and fabric for the chair. Everything else was found in my stash or made by me. So, what is next?   If I knew that my mom would receive this gift well, I would recreate a different Christmas Scene for her birthday....which is 3 days after Christmas.  But honestly, I'm not sure how this gift will be received.  I have the pictures of the holiday that I would do next on my computer and ready to roll, if truth be known!  Sneak peak??  

Yeah, I looked for a fabric to match the couch when I was looking for the chair.......not an easy find!

But I DO have that 1920's house to work on!   Maybe I will put that big monstrosity into my office and commence work!   I have got one room started.  OK, actually two rooms.  I have started on the two rooms in the side addition. (to the left on the picture below).  I have redone the floor in the upstairs and started to fix the access to that upstairs room in the addition.  I have also added steps and the walls are partially done.  The upstairs room I know exactly what is happening with that room.  The downstairs room is where  I continue to ponder.  I vacillate between a music room and a dining room.   Time will tell.

East Earl Christmas

 

A picture, a snapshot in time that transports us back to a moment in our lives.  It is a window that we can open to invite memories to come flooding forth.  This picture, however, invites a single question!

Where in the world is the bottom of my dress and the bottom of dad’s pants!  Was there a fabric shortage that year or something????

 

Once past the scandalous outfit that I was wearing (seriously, that hem was almost up to my chin!) the memories started to flow. 

Lancaster, the Christmas where we bought a live tree and kept it in a big tub in the basement. I remember chairs around the tree downstairs and eating orange Danish as we celebrated Christmas in the basement around the tree.

It was in Lancaster that I received my pride and joy….my avocado green metal kitchen set! 

Riding bikes in that basement…round and round. Horses Necks in our orange kitchen.  Lots of snow….a very big snow in fact.  Ahhhh so many memories!

 

I managed to fit a few memories into your gift.