Keeping you in suspenders*

Oh yes, there was something else happened last week that I gave you a sneak peek of but have neglected to return to...

On Monday afternoon, the minute I'd unloaded the car, I skedaddled across to the Post Office with extremities crossed. The Postal Fairy was with me big time as not only was a package from Blurb waiting for me, there was a good friend propping up the other end of the counter who had time for coffee, share in the unveiling and help document the occasion in true bloggy style.

How restrained I was, in letting her take the plastic wrapoffandhavefirstlook?But, soon enough I had it back on my side of the table and was, generally, well pleased.Now I have to make a few corrections, buy an ISBN, arrange CIP (although I'm tempted to just do it myself) and then donate a copy in The National Library**.(This is actually the Dickson Public Library, but you get the idea!)

Oh, and then it'll be available for sale. Another friend is demanding a book launch. Which will be a bit odd as there'll only be one copy of the book to launch: unless I make it the date far enough away in time that anyone local who wants to buy one can and then bring it along...

(*Old family saying)
(** Sorry can't take that seriously)

Not a miniature

(But, now I think of it, it might make a great poster to use as the basis for a scene...)

Friend Kerry and I have been doing a "Creativity Challenge" since May last year, with a few weeks off recently as she went overseas and then had a flat full of visiting family.

But, last week, she got back into recording what creative things she did each week. Which caused me to feel guilty and hunt down and dust off the notebook I've been using to record my daily doings up until recently.

The notebook was hiding on my worktable, waiting for me to find the inspiration to decorate the cover in a fitting way. Which I did yesterday: I sent a copy of the scan to Friend Kerry in lieu of a long overdue postcard and she tells me she's printed it out and hung it up where the other creatives in her company can see it.

I might have to do the same at work once I make it to Officeworks and pick up new ink for my printer.

This is my second notebook. The first one's cover looked like this:and lasted me six months.

Big A, little a. What begins with A?

Another purchase from last week's op shop adventures was a 50 cent fawn linen tea towel which I thought could make great miniature wall covering.

This afternoon, as I was putting the pieces from yesterday's studio scene away, I pulled together my miniature letter A collection and made a 5 minute scene as inspiration for something bigger next weekend.

The only problem is that I've stopped tidying up and now I'm trawling eBay for tiny vintage letter As...

...and a relaxing Sunday morning

This scene started with the Rement beauty storage cabinet on the right, which I'd mentioned to Div last weekend when she said she planned to make a Componbili unit sometime soon. I had it sitting on the workbench, waiting for me to buy the white paint needed to cover the (green) top and (yellow and blue) handles. Which I did on the way home.

I decided on a bathroom scene since I haven't done one for a while. The wall colour came from the original painting, which was part of an estate lot I bought off eBay a couple of months ago, and gave me my first feel for where the scene was heading. I wanted to play with using my window with a view, so that was the next design decision. The bath would be the biggest piece in the scene: clawfoot tub or modern DHE one? The modern tub won out. Flooring was from a bag of wood veneer I picked up from Lifeline last Monday for $1, a lovely light piece.

With the basics in place I got to play. I remembered the bathroom pieces I received in my Advent Swap, and, as I suspected, they were the perfect colours.While hunting for some white fluffy towels I knew I had tucked away I came across the oar, various bottle shaped bits and the white mirror, which I added :
(Still not sure about it, though).

The pouffe is Lundby, the plant, Rement and the mat was woven for me years ago by someone I knew. The shells were collected off a beach on by me around the same time. (If only my real bathroom was this serene...)

An afternoon in the studio...

Something old, something new

A fifteen minute scene I put together to show some of my new goodies:What's old: The sofa from the Bay Villa. The glass of wine. The books. And not really old but you've seen it before, the white storage drawers.

What's new: Black dog ornament (birthday gift from a friend). Round thing (two for 50 cents, Vinnies Mittagong). Frame and wallpaper (from a couple of scrapbooking kits the three of us picked up in Mission Australia's op shop in Wollongong and shared out). Digital camera (one of the three items I bought from Fairy Meadow Miniatures last weekend). Mirrored coffee table (a recent experiment at the perspex place). Blue fluffy rug (knitted with some cheap ack I picked up at Dimmeys in Goulburn on the way through. I find it funny that I'm now on the lookout for cheap ack). And the beautiful lace throw? A birthday gift from M1K1.

Wrapping up last weekend

(Just in time for this weekend)

There was exploring of new-to-me op shops where I wanted this: (but in miniature).

And this:The size it was.Especially as it was $120 with 30% off. I did spend some time calculating the size of Div's boot in my head until I finally came to the realisation that I really didn't have anywhere to put it at home and that it didn't really go with the rest of my furniture...

Across the court was what we'd really come for: the new home ofFairy Meadow Miniatures. With the upstairs library and display area where we got to admire Div's latest project, Cliff Drive:(which started life as a DHE Ocean Drive)
And, before we left, I got to see the article in The Meadow News about my 2008/2009 exhibition:
(I can't wait until I get my own copy for the archive so I have the time to actually read it!)

The postscipty bit

Sorry if my last couple of posts scared those of you with Brinca Dada Emerson dolls houses tucked away waiting to be built.While I admit there was some cursing and hair pullingand some major structural issues(fixed, I believe with the chocolate edition),scratched perspex (fixed, I believe with the chocolate edition)a weird hole left in the wall (not sure if this was fixed with the later edition), some general bad finishing (fixed, I believe with the chocolate edition), and a weirdly after-thoughtish-feeling staircase which takes up most of the great room, doesn't quite line up with the first floor and which you'd have to crawl through a three foot gap when you get to the top if it were real sized) I have to say, once we added furniture to the house it became strangely alluring.

Sexy almost.

After Jennifer Revell (sister of Julian, and a Textile Designer*) moved in I could almost overlook the fact that the first floor bits didn't line up neatly.And once the sun went down,the hard work and agony seemed to melt away and I became rather, well, enamoured. And overcome with that wanty feeling. (Even after I reminded myself about the weird ceiling heights. And lack of access between the two floors unless you positioned the staircase outside) You do understand, don't you?
(*More on this later. We're concocting a whole family history...)