MY MINI DIARY, page 10

23 November, 2003:
I was reading some Christmas shopping ads, and saw this "dollhouse" for very young children:

I think it's quite nice as it has simple shapes and bright colours, just what toddlers usually like, but €100?? I think that's a complete rip-off! I remember seeing much more complicated dollhouses (handmade of good materials, suitable for young children and even grown-up enthusiasts, with a little customising) that were much less than that.. OK, you do get the simple furniture with this one (I assume!), but still.. I wouldn't pay that much for something that would be so easy to make yourself. *I just felt like sharing this, LOL*

And now some new pictures from my dollhouse.. (There are much more photos, old and new, on my dollhouse site.. you'll find the link there from this site's menu, "My Dollhouse" link). I put the little African drum on the piano chair, and the polished stones behind the plant.

One of the African trunks in the guestroom (a.k.a. sewing room).

The other trunk in the bedroom.

I made some make-up stuff with FIMO and the confetti I got from Pinja. I'd have made more, only I wasn't sure if the confetti would survive baking, so I only made test pieces for now. Now that I know that it does survive baking (although slightly wrinkled), I can make more..

Oops.. I really should have put this one in the naughty zone! Anyway, it's just the lady of the house's secret weapons.. one of which was re-named as Betty's Tongue, on Graham Norton's show.. LOL

Only chef's pigs can see the little elf in the kitchen..

I made more rosary beads, of what I bought from Yellow Brick Road. I love these colours..

This is the tray I bought years ago (from some antique's shop in Helsinki, Finland), with the tea set you've seen in lots of my dollhouse photos.. The tray is quite big for 1:12 dollhouse, so I usually just keep it under the guestroom bed, but I had to take it out now as I've so much food in the dollhouse that some more display stuff was needed..

The bottom of the tray.. You'll see the tray in use if you go to my dollhouse site and check out the November 2003 photos.

And now, finally the close-ups of the loose beads I bought from Yellow Brick Road. These ones are African theme with the animal prints on them.. I'll use them to make something for my upcoming exotic room (it'll probably be a study, and I'm only collecting material for it for now.. I need to do lots of other stuff until I get to re-decorate..)

Round and square little "mirrors"..

I like the colours of these ones, and they'll probably end up in that exotic room as well..

You already saw the rosary beads where I'd used one of these cross-shaped beads. I really like the colours! These seemed to have been popular in the shop as their box was nearly empty, whereas there were plenty of other beads.. Now I'm kind of sorry that I didn't buy them all, the colours are just so good.. The Celtic design beads are 14 carat gold-coated, so they were a bit pricey. I think they look like tiny jewellery boxes or pill boxes.. There were plenty of those round ones, but I only found one of each of the square and oval ones.

The polished stones.. A lovely amethyst (which has been my favourite stone since childhood), and a gorgeous creamy stone whose name I've forgotten, but I think the origin was Botswana. These were €2 each, and Yellow Brick Road had LOADS of other polished stones.. I didn't really dare to take a good look at them all as I know how I get with stones.. (doesn't matter if they're polished or not, gem stones or any regular stones..) if I see something nice, I just have to adopt it.. I could easily have spent all the money I had on me, had I looked at those polished stones more carefully.. LOL

Another angle..

20 November, 2003:
We did a little shopping trip to Dublin today... The first pictures are from a shop called Yellow Brick Road (8 Bachelor's Walk, Dublin 1), which is an absolute MUST for anyone who comes to Dublin and is into beads! They have a website here (it wasn't working when I tried accessing it, but maybe it will again soon..).

I couldn't take close-ups better than this as the shop staff obviously didn't want their designs stolen..

Beads, beads.. All organised by colour and style..

More beads.. LOTS more beads..

Gemstones as well..

And guess what, more beads..

Oh look, there are some beads here as well.. LOL

I bought a couple of bags of tiny beads, and a selection of slightly bigger ones.. I'm probably going to make more rosary beads, with the nice cross beads I bought, and these tiny beads whose colours go very nicely with the crosses.. I will take a better close-up photo of my misc. beads selection later on.. I also bought an amethyst and some exotic creamy stone, I think it was something from Botswana..?

More landscaping material and "ez water" from Mark's Models..

Yet another memory card for the digi-cam..

Daniel got a coping saw and some copper..

We bought a Dremel!

A bench vice for Daniel (and a bench drill which will be delivered tomorrow or on Monday)..

Mini mitre box and saw for me.. Also, some tiny bells from Mark's Models..

Broken Sword III The Sleeping Dragon!!! OK, this is not so mini.. LOL I was exploring the Safari Crafts shop while Daniel checked out a nearby games shop, and he noticed a game I've been waiting for since 2000 or so.. and bought it. (Hey, I should be in the credits with some other fans!!!)

And here's my lot from Safari Crafts: Two gorgeous wooden trunks and a little drum! The trunks were only €5 each (the workmanship is worth A LOT more!), and the drum was €3.50. I wonder how much of that went to the people who actually made the stuff..

19 November, 2003:
The first thing I made of materials sent by Pinja:

Rosary beads. I used two different kinds of beads, some copper wire, and a cross made of a confetti moon.

18 November, 2003:
Recently, I got a lovely mini surprise from Pinja (see the photos of all those goodies here). Soon after sending it, though, she e-mailed me and said she'd forgotten to include something, and promised to send it soon. It looks like she can't send just one thing, because today I got another full envelope of cute mini stuff!! =D

Two sheets of beautiful tile prints (I'm ITCHING to revamp my dollhouse kitchen now!!)

Her address sticker is so cute that I might do a framed picture of it as well, for the dollhouse nursery..

These bits of fabric are just so exotic and gorgeous.. I'm getting loads of ideas! It looks like I'm gonna have an exotic room in my dollhouse, maybe a study..

Adhesive material, which I might use on the kitchen floor, or if it doesn't go with the other stuff I'll make a roombox using this on the floor - I've many The Sims houses with this kind of kitchen floor!

Cute skeletons and more Hallowe'en stuff, lovely Winnie the Pooh framed picture, clay half-apples, burgers and a salami, a jar of sweets, a parrot (or is that a budgie?) pendant, and smilie buttons.

Lots of tiny beads..

More confetti and beads (I REALLY like those "smoky green" beads!)

And there was a note written with a CHOCOLATE AROMA PEN!!! *mmmm...* I'm gonna have to send Daniel to get me some chocolate.. *grin*
* * * Kiitos, Pinja! * * *

17 November, 2003:
I've been making all kinds of bits and pieces recently, but many of them are going to my swap partner Marja, for our Finnish group's advent calendar swap, so I can't show them yet as it would ruin her 24 little surprises! Pictures of all that stuff will be coming in late December, though..
That's not ALL I've been making, though! I got e-mail from the US (not mentioning any names *wink*), someone had seen the little FIMO willy elsewhere on this site, and apparently, their friend wanted two little willies as earrings! I've since been in contact with that friend, and made her the earrings. What really surprised me was that other people seemed interested as well.. when I showed a picture of the earrings in some discussion forums, I started getting more orders! As these items are not really the kind of stuff I want to openly display on my mini site, I decided to add a new "Naughty Zone", just for that sort of stuff. Click on the banner below, to get to the entry page (NOTE: there is NO photos on the entry page, just a description about the zone, and who should and should not go there).



Moving on.. I have SOME new pictures I can show:

Sirpa sent me a bunch of net bags from Finland - she just happened to have a few of them, didn't need them, and I mentioned about having saved them for material, so she sent them to me instead of throwing them away =)

My FIMO bodhrán and a pint of Guinness before baking..

My cannibal mask and a bone.. They're also FIMO, and the mask was finished with some paper string.

Nativity scene characters and a mini Barbie doll before baking.. (I know, that Barbie doll doesn't look too hot just yet, but I'm planning to make it look a lot better once it gets clothes and hair..)

And here's my little nativity scene, I made the stable of balsa wood, which I painted with acrylic paints after gluing it together.. I don't think I'll add the animals, but I have plans for some surroundings.. I'm thinking of using some sand from lots of different places for the ground.. sort of symbolic.. I might send this one for my mam for Christmas, if I can pack it well enough.

A yellow rose I made of FIMO..

And a FIMO banana..