Finish it off Friday

Does this count?

(Especially if I pinky promise to try and finish my Finish it off Friday projects from the past two weeks before the end of this weekend. Or the end of this cool spell. (Whichever happens first?)

One word Wednesday

Plotting.

Monday: making a date*

It's been two years since I last made a calendar (which isn't so bad when you realise it was three years before that when I made my first). I've been tossing up if I should make one for 2017 and had almost decided that the answer was no...

Until a friend sent me a copy of hers. It was her birthday over the weekend just passed, and I decided that the least I could do is make one for her in return.

I was all set to use this year's Shutter Sisters template to create another one to fit in a CD case, when I spotted the matchboxes that I'd pulled out of a drawer to sort it out. And suddenly it made complete sense to make a miniature calendar of miniature scenes.

 (Much quicker, too!)

Of course it seemed silly to waste paper by only printing one set of pages on an A4 page, so there will be more than one calendar.

Now I just have to decide how many I can stand making before going completely bonkers. And who else I should give them to...

(*or two...)

Oh, the plans that I had!

This week was going to be productive, according to my plans at least.

I was going to finish the two Finish it off Friday projects that have been hanging round, and blog on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Since I had the day off on Friday it made complete sense to pull out a big project that has been sidelined for almost a year and commit the weekend to finishing it off.

But, as usual, I completely neglected to factor in the heat. And how tiring it is to train a new starter at work. It didn't help that I spent Wednesday and Thursday feeling like I was coming down with a migraine (although Doctor Google tells me it may have actually been a silent migraine, so the headache never arrived).

So instead of spending yesterday being super-productive, I spent it bumbling around. And napping. Oh well, that's what holidays are for, right?

I did get excellent mail, though:

My not-Christmas present to myself: a set of letterpress dollhouse gig posters from Starshaped Press

which should be great inspiration for some mini scenes in the near future.

A weekend in the country

(Which is why I needed a small and portable project to work on).

And I did: on the kitchen table

and in the garden.

The next step is to split the remaining twine into three and plait it: something I thought better done at home.

I bought miniature souvenirs while I was away: these three laser-cut panels by this papercut life at the Sturt Gallery shop are destined to turn into a miniature screen.

And the tea trolley? I'm still making slow progress (although I now note that the basket struts aren't straight so may need to re-glue them...)

Finish it off Friday: small and portable

Those were the parameters for this week's project, and this 'Quick and Easy Basket' kit that I picked up cheaply at the last AMEA Convention fitted the bill nicely.

I note that I planned to use some different thread, but since I'm not quite sure where I stashed that for safe keeping (and don't have the time to look right now) I'm going with the original thread followed, possibly, by some spray paint if necessary...

One word Wednesday

Slowly.

Monday: making a start

My excuse for not getting to this yesterday was that I'd banned myself from the internet. And my studio. Which doesn't actually make any sense (the excuse, not the banning), as I work on things like this downstairs on the workbench in the kitchen. Where I'm not banned at all.

 *shrug* I really just needed a break to focus on other stuff.

But now I've stained the wooden bits (but not the papery bits as when I did a test on the bottom of the basket it came out much darker that I'd planned: so I just varnished those to deepen the colour a bit), and undercoated one side of the wheels.

And then we wait for things to dry so I can deal with the other side of them. Then wait some more. And then, finally (and hopefully) glue it all together so I can admire its beauty, and make it a scene.

Saturday shelfie

This New Year's Eve scene in a box frame wasn't on my list of things to do today at all. But sometimes that's when the most fun happens, right?

It all started when I had the urge to make inchies: something I've not done for well over five years. So I shrugged, pulled out some of my paper stash and tools

 and before long I'd completed three. I named the set 'Social butterflies'.

While making them, I recalled the white resin frames Kitty and Kat Miniatures sent me in her last swap box, and thought they might be a good style to frame them. And while I was thinking about white frames, I wondered if, for a change, I could create a scene within a full-sized frame (something I've done very occasionally in the past and have been meaning to revisit) and possibly use some of the cheap Typo frames I have lurking in the stash cupboard in The Room of Shame.

And I was right on both counts. The final touch was turning the bottom of the frame into a desktop and adding a variety of accessories referencing the fact that today is the last day of 2016.

On that note, this post means that my Daily Dolls' House December 2016 challenge is now officially successfully completed. 

My plans to spend the summer break cleaning my house aren't, but I can start focusing on that tomorrow. Or should I say 'next year'? ;-P

Speaking of which, I hope that the best of this year is the worst of your next. And that your year is full of finding joy in the little things.

(Once again, thanks are due to various people for contributing bits that I used in the scene: Kitty and Kat Miniatures also sent me the wooden dream word and the sparkly vase. The stars on the desktop are from the pizza box Sandra sent me. And the bottle I turned into champagne was from a swap with Saana back in 2010...)

Finish it off Friday: In which I decide to stop being such a scaredy cat

And finally tackle the Alvar Aalto Trolley 900 kit that Kikka N sent me back in 2014, and which I've been putting off starting in case I wreck it. 

 Now all I need to do is decide which colour combination to make it...

Your input on this decision would be most welcome. In the meantime*, I'll be on the sofa with my Christmas holiday reading, which finally turned up today:

(*thus cheating wildly on the concept of Finish it off Friday, but I don't care. It's hot in my studio, I'm on holiday and at least I started the finishing, right?)

Thursday (and not throwing in the towel)

As Daily Dolls' House December 2016 drags to an end, I'm feeling simultaneously chuffed that it looks like I'll reach my goal this year (as opposed to last time, where I didn't manage to meet my target), and exhausted. In a good way.

I'm also laughing at my plan to tidy my studio over the summer break: it was heading in the right direction until I started pulling boxes and drawers out at random to find items for the scenes I've been making. It's OK: I still have time to wrangle things into submission before I go back to work (and, more importantly, before my January flat inspection.)

One of the things I've been trying to do is get to those tasks that have been banking up 'until I have the time'. With ten whole days where I'm free to do what I want, I've been lecturing myself on the fact that if I don't start working on them now, when exactly will it happen? 

So this morning I dug out a vintage towel I op shopped years ago and thought that  the design would make great retro floor rugs. I grabbed my fabric scissors, took a deep breath, reminded myself that done was better than perfect, and started cutting.

And cutting. And cutting.

Which led directly to a Fray-stop frenzy (because I knew if I didn't do it right away, the rug pieces would disappear back into stash, only to turn up on another blog post in a year or so as a Finish it off Friday project...)

While I waited for the edges to dry I did a post office run. One of the things that was waiting for me was the MiWorld cookie shop that I'd picked up ridiculously cheaply from eBay: cheaply enough that I factored the per-piece cost of the accessories into my buying decision, not the structure itself.

As I unpacked it and set the wall and floor pieces aside, I realised I'd actually bought far more than a bunch of cheap accessories: I'd bought a solution to throwing up small scenes quickly, without having to tape various bits of cardboard together:

Suddenly, the accessories weren't the focus any more and the cost of the set became an absolute bargain. And the colours rather perfectly matched the rugs I'd just completed!

Since I plan to spend my afternoon out of the studio, I needed a quick 'proof of concept' scene for both the rugs and for my new staging solution, and came up with a retro living room.

I'm still trying to decide if this is set in the 1960s-1970s,

or if the owner is just a retro freak...

One word Wednesday

Yellow.

On Tuesday, I tied it all together...

I was in that twilight zone between sleep and awake this morning when an idea popped into my head: 'Would that gate Sandra sent you last year (and which I suspect you'd forgotten about until I mentioned it) work as a firescreen in the Airbnb place?'

So I got out of bed, rummaged through the stash and tried it out:

 And gadzooks, my subconscious wins again!

I started the transformation with a light coat of black paint and then realised the copper paint I planned to use as a second coat had run out. So there was only one thing for it: brave the outside world and visit Super Toyworld to buy a new can.

 Since I was in the area I figured a quick visit to the Kaisercraft factory outlet just around the corner to see what options the had for my feature wallpaper would be perfectly justifiable.

And so it was I came home with four options for wallpaper (and two for fireplace tiles): but at 40 cents a sheet it seemed like a no-brainer.

Much as I liked number one (and thought it picked up the pattern in the bedhead) I decided it would just end up in a fight, with both pieces screaming 'Look at me!', So number three it was: the right colour, with a gentle pattern that didn't stand out but rather highlighted the rest of the room...

Of course, before I'd started deciding on the wallpaper, I'd done a quick coat of the new paint onto the firescreen. And in a moment of sheer fluke, I wondered if it could stand up by itself if I curved it around the spray can: which lead to deciding to just fold it in three. Which meant it fitted the fireplace perfectly!

It was one of those moments where you step back and think 'Where one earth did that come from?' Which I always find to be a good sign.

While waiting for the paint to dry, I'd also finally hunted down the lightweight cotton fabric I wanted to back the A throw rug with, and worked out a way to squeeze not just the rug, but two cushions into the fabric I had. Then sewn them all up.

 By now I was on the downhill sprint, with things coming together beautifully, especially as a lot of them were gifts from blogging buddies and friends.

Above the bed: a gramophone from friend Hannah, a temple from Mod Pod Miniatures, and a vintage portable record player from the goodie bag at NZAME convention.

 Rug, also from Sandra and furry pouffe from Kitty and Kat Miniatures (as is the whale on the bookcase and the arrow above the dresser). Hermes box from Phillip Nuveen.

See the large vase on the top shelf? It (and its twin) were supposed to be light shades, hanging one on each side of the bed, above the bedside tables, But I could't seem to find working bulbs, or perhaps the battery I had was flat, so I gave up as I just wanted this things done and dusted.

And done and dusted it is. Just don't ask me about the state of my studio, which I'm supposed to be cleaning up, not messing up...)

(Time taken: just don't ask, OK?)

Monday: Make, do, and mend

Boxing Day. And my tradition is to spend the day mending things.

(Embarrassingly, I recognise some chairs here from a post written on Boxing Day 2013. Obviously the tradition doesn't include mending everything that needs it...)

Since the workbench downstairs was fairly clear (and I was concerned that my latest scene was taking root on the top of my catalogue drawers), I decided to take a deep breath and try out the idea I'd had for my pipe shelving.

I rummaged through my wood supplies for a piece of wood to use as the base (you might recognise it from here), then through my bags of various-sized skewers and dowels until I found one the slid snuggly up the inside of the pipes. Which I cut to length.

Drilled two holes in the top of the base, slipped in the dowels in and packed them tight with the ends of toothpicks to keep them straight.

 And voila!

Sticking the shelves back on to the pipes was tricky because there isn't much surface to grip to, and I seem to have lost (used up, or thrown out as dead) my glue which is like Plasticine, which would be perfect for the job. And I'm not prepared to face the hardware store on the first day of the post-Christmas sales just for glue. So I had to improvise (and cross my fingers!).

I covered the existing wallpaper on the wall the pipe shelving as going to sit against with some black card. And did a (very successful) test run:

Phew. Perhaps this will clear the mental jam with the scene and things will flow smoothly from here on in (until I lose interest. of course...).