Chooseday

Today's burning question is: will my new beachside scene live in this cliffside spot, or in this cliffside spot?

Or maybe even this one? (which I only now realise makes no sense if it the kitchen of the house is on the dunes, but the lounge is on a cliff).

Or somewhere completely new?

(I have no answers: I logged in to back-to-back meetings all morning, then after lunch finally returned to the chores I usually do before 9am. Which resulted in an almost-11-hour day, something I found completely ironic as when I realised I was going to work through my planned summer leave, I'd assured myself that I would make sure they were short days to make up for the disappointment.)

A week start

It was an early morning, and a long day, including a 2-hour meeting starting around the time I'd usually be logging off, especially as I'm now officially on summer-but-not-on-leave time. :-(

Because I woke up at sparrow's fart and couldn't get back to sleep, I got up at 5am and spent an hour before my day officially started reacquainting myself with the contents of my stash, and pulling out bits and pieces that might work with the pictures I pulled out yesterday (and some stuff for a couple of other ideas I've had).

Then I returned to bed with my morning mug of tea and my phone, and found a message from Call of the Small, with a link to a new Australian miniatures show*, due to air on ABC early next year:

(How on earth did I not know about this, while someone on the other side of the world did? But speaking of miniatures and the other side of the world, there's currently  another miniature-related TV show in production in Canada...)

So in terms of making progress back here, I did whitewash the coffee-stirrer frames at lunchtime, and pulled together an inspiration board for the next miniature beachside getaway:

But I'm thinking I need another layer of white, and less wash...

(*For my Australian readers, you may be delighted to recognise Jimmy Rees, of Meanwhile in Australia fame. Or was I the only one trying to stay sane over the past 2 years by cackling with laughter at his regular updates?)

Sunday funday (and I-fell-in-love day!)

 I had plans. I did indeed. But a text from a friend just after 9am suggesting brunch (alas I'd just finished breakfast, so it changed to coffee and cake), meant the plans were tossed out the window and I went out instead.

Coffee and cake resulted in an impromptu trip to Spotlight (I was strong), followed by lunch: both of us remarking how oddly normal it felt, and yet, at the same time,weird in its normalness...

So it wasn't until the afternoon that I made it home again, reminding myself that this is what weekends are supposed to be for, and, since it's Sunday, I can play.

(The vanity is looking much better today, you'll be pleased to hear, and I'll be returning to finish the scene next week.)

Today I unearthed my workspace, and in the process found a sheet of scrapbooking paper I'd picked up at the Kaisercraft store back in May (and yes, that's the second half-completed scene cluttering up my worktable at the moment!), and decided to spend some time cutting out and framing the images using some coffee stirrers I had on hand.

As I went digging for my mitre box and saw, I remembered that I'd bought an Easy cutter back in 2016 at the NZAME convention, and this would be a perfect, low-risk chance to try it out.

And I'm amazed! It was brilliant, and I love it (and not just because I realised that I could make tiny heart art from the ends of the coffee stirrers!) But I now feel a bit silly that I didn't get one decades earlier, or try this one out sooner.

So frames ahoy, and now I need to take the bits downstairs to the garage for some whitewashing (and, perhaps, some bluewashing), and then set them aside for my traditional creation of a miniature holiday house to virtually visit over the summer break.

Going for gold

 As I suspected, I ended up repainting yesterday's copper tap to gold, which I think looks much better.

And so I painted the bath tap to match. 

I also trialled 'installing' a vertical garden in the courtyard are outside the bathroom window, and am testing out some wood panelling on the side wall, and some sconces made from earrings I used to wear back in the late 80s (I told you I'd be pulling out some long buried treasure from stash: alas I broke of one of the rays when removing the earring backing, so will need to pop that back on if I decide these are staying in the scene...)

Another potential whoopsie is happening downstairs in the garage, where my plans to stain the Lundby drawers I was wanting to use as the vanity aren't quite working out as I'd hoped: although the spray-painted drawer handles are looking look fabulous.

Tomorrow is another day, and hopefully they'll look better by the time I head down to check on them...

Tippity tap

 A day off work to mark my homeversary (3 years!) should have meant lots of time to work on minis.

But alas I had a pile of life admin that needed to be sorted (and a nap that needed to be had) so I didn't get quite as far as I'd hoped. (On a positive note, Miss Daisy's boot is empty of stuff to go to the Lifeline Bookfair warehouse and the op shop for the first time in months, and I have lovely sharp knives...)

What I did manage was to cut an actual window in the bathroom wall:

(the frame was a picture frame from the, alas now closed, Typo factory outlet), and start some test decoration of the courtyard area outside.

And then I painted the sink tap (the bath one is downstairs drying after a coat of black spray paint: I figured they'd match better if they had the same base colour...).

I'm not sure I like the copper, and may end up repainting it in a rusted brown instead.

One* small problem

 Before I can start working on some long-buried treasure from stash, I need to make some space on my work table.

Because it's a bit full at the moment: with a half-built scene from May, when I got carried away setting up a scene using my newly-blackened bathroom bits.

(Including some mini bonsai I picked up at the IKEA As corner, which are supposed to go into the courtyard represented by the image in the (slightly wonky) window frame and picture):

Jolly good thing tomorrow is Finish It Off Friday, and I have the day off work (because it's been 3 years since I moved in here...)

(*Well, actually 2...)

Still going

 Me? Yes, but I've been shifted into a(nother) new team, which is currently undertaking a major project: so my plans for having almost all of December off to play have disappeared.

Daily Dolls' House December? I hope so, but the challenge this year will be shoehorning it around work commitments, plus my feelings about the whole thing are sounding oddly familiar.

After much middle-of-the-night pondering over the past week or so, I've decided that this year's approach (I won't even tie myself down by calling it a theme) will be to try and use up some long-buried treasure from stash: the end result of which will hopefully be some downsizing in the studio, and along the way remove any pressure to complete a scene each day but instead share the journey, and maybe the story behind what I'm using. We'll see.

And, finally*, the exhibition. Also still going: and extended through to the end of January 2022.

(*Because we won't mention COVID-19).