Etsy Store!

Ok, after much thought (pushing, persuading, wheedling, and every other encouraging method from family) I have opened an Etsy store. I only have one item for sale as of yet but will be adding more very soon. First up is a 1/144th scale Queen Anne dollhouse I had posted about earlier on this blog. I will have more items up but not all of them will be miniature/dollhouse related. I have many other handmade crafts ready for sale, ceramics, beaded ornament covers, crocheted bookmarks ....the list goes on. I'm just trying to get better at taking pictures before posting them. Store name is DawningLightCreation. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DawningLightCreation

Also, I have a Harrison dollhouse kit by Greenleaf I'd like to sell. I opened the box enough to look at the instructions, nothing was ever removed but it's just not talking to me. So I would like to sell it and get a different style home, I'm really interested in the Lily dollhouse by Corona. If anyone is interested please PM me with any questions. I'm willing to ship too but be aware shipping might be a bit as the kit weighs 30lbs. Here is a link to the company website with pictures of the dollhouse kit. http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/dollhouse-kits/harrison-dollhouse-kit.html

Converting to Round Wire

Well I have completely given up on tapewire for this house. I didn't plan well at all with it. First I messed up on the third floor and shorted something out so the junction splice had to be moved but I was soooooo thrilled that was all it took to get it up and working again. Then my dining room light started to blink and when I took it off to check it the wires snapped off. And then when I tried to test the holes they weren't connecting right. Plus, after I decided to switch and started to attach the plugs back to my lights I accidentally ripped the inside wire out of my parlour light so I will be replacing this too. Everything that could go wrong with it did....SO! I am switching to roundwire! I have been thinking really hard about this, I even was thinking of trying the battery operated lights, but the idea that I would have to turn each light on and off in six different rooms turned me. Since I am determined to have this house light up I sat down tonight and figured it out. I can't remove the trim, wallpaper or flooring without redoing all the rooms and I refuse to do that. Call me stubborn or lazy but I can't bring myself to rip out all that work. So I have been staring at the house and I have come up with two solutions. The first would be to drill itty bitty holes in the back wall (all the while hoping and praying I drill in exactly the right spot) stick the lights to the ceiling and run the wire out the back of the house. Option two: I can cut some more ceiling paper, groove the existing ceilings towards the front door, run the wires in through a hole in the new ceiling paper (where I want the lights to be in the end),lay the wires in the groove, then along the floor edge, down the inside wall-lip and through a small hole in the base and then connect to the power strip. I would then cover the edges of the floor and hide the wires at the same time with some U-shaped wood trim. Even though option two sounds more convoluted I am leaning towards this. However, in the bathroom and master bedroom I was looking at wall sconces, now I will have switch to ceiling fixtures but I can't decide which ones. Because the only way to see this light will be to bend down really far and look upside down into the room I am thinking of the following (it's inexpensive yet pretty):

For the parlour I am thinking of moving up the dining room light and putting this in the dining room :


Another option for the parlour light is this, however much I like it I'm afraid it looks too modern for my parlour:

I'm really bad at making decisions. Lights are so expensive and it's so hard to visualize what they will look like without seeing them in person I'm afraid of buying one and not likeing it. Since I'm planning on using a coupon from HBS.com I only have till tomorrow to make a decision for 20% off my order. The more expensive chandelier I'll be waiting till April 1st for 40% off. Any suggestions/opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Busy Busy

I've been pretty busy with the Gloucester. I have shingled the front of the roof, wallpapered the master bedroom, chosen the nursery wallpaper and installed the second floor stair railings and the railings in the master bedroom. I think the paper for the nursery will work either way as I'm not sure if it will be for a boy, girl or both. There is still the sides and back of the roof to shingle and then I'll stain the whole thing. I have a grey shingle dye, I've never used this before so I hope it works. There is also the trim and door to install in the master bedroom and I am still debating on wallpaper for the bathroom. So far I'm loving how it's coming together. I love this view!
This is the striped paper for the nursery.
Master Bedroom all wallpapered and railings installed so my little people don't trip and fall down a flight of stairs on their way to the bathroom LOL
And here's an overall view of the inside.

On A Roll!

Now that I have the idea it's coming along quickly and I'm almost finished with the outside. Need to pick up some more joint compound for the plaster on the sides, install the chimneys, shingles and stain the celtic knot trim along the base and the outside will be complete. I'm debating on whether or not to add flower boxes to the bottom two windows...hmmmm. And on side note I got the lights to work again. It was suggested that I first move the junction splice and see if that works and it did. YAY!I have 3 rooms to finish on the inside and wallpaper coming in the mail I hope will work. I planned to switch the bathroom to the 3rd floor as the furniture looks like it's swimming on the second. Which would mean the nursery would be off of the parlour. My mother is against this and feels the nursery should be joined with the master bedroom. Not sure which way I'll go. Any suggestions would be nice. The first photo is an overall look of the dollhouse outside so far (I was busy this morning, the second is a detailed look at the front and the third is my little helper.

Inspiration!

I've been so un-motivated and discouraged with the Gloucester, staring at the front and feeling it was sooo plain, like a box. Finally after days and days of hunting pictures and web browsing it finally hit me how I wanted the front to look. So last night I popped on the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice and got to work. I've installed the Quoins on either side, the facias on the top and began the brick/block on the bottom half of the wall and will have the top half a simple plain stucco with possible textured stenciling above the 6 top windows in place of pediments (we'll see about that though). It still has a lot of work but I wanted to post some progress since it's been so long since I've posted.

I WON!!!

I'm so excited! I won a contest from Julie over at http://celticjuju.blogspot.com/ and my prize is a half scale Jo March from Little Women. She does amazing work and I am so thrilled to have won. Now I really have to get going on Orchard House as Jo will need a place to live. Julie will be posting the progress of Jo on her blog, first pictures were posted today! You can check it out by copying and pasting the address above, I can't seem to get the link to post. Oh well, off to dream up plans for the half scale Orchard House....

Skeleton Scene

Here are some pictures of the skeleton scene I made for my brother for Halloween. I adapted the project Consummate Bibliophile from Joann Swanson's blog to work with the items I had on hand. It was a lot of fun and I am thinking of making one for myself later. The candle is made from real wax and the map was drawn and edges burnt by me. The pictures aren't the best, I took them with my phone, but I do have some nice ones on my mom's camera. I will replace these when I get a chance.