A shabby little bed!

I really, really wanted an iron bed for this room but it was just way too much money. So instead I made this bed. I got the inspiration for it from the one Sylvia made for her beach house. I managed to find everything I needed to make it at home...didn't have to spend anything! Here it is in the shabby house, I may re-paint it white but at the moment I'm enjoying the pink!

We'll be making the windows and doors for the house next month at the club.

Thanks for all the tips on enlarging the pics. I've tried several things (including reading my camera manual April!). Hopefully they can be clicked on this time. I've even looked back through my blog and some pictures do click and others don't, it's very strange.

Mercedes

What am I up to now?

Now that Liberty's off to school I've had a few people asking me what I am doing with my time, even my mum rang me this morning to ask me! First let me tell you that school is going amazingly well for Liberty, she hasn't cried since the first day, I can't believe it!! And the teacher says Liberty talks to everyone and has no trouble sitting down and getting on with her work. So it's day 3 and so far - excellent!

I'm still trying to sort out the real house (once I locate the 'before' pics I'll do a post on the renovations), it's no fun having to put crappy old furniture back in our newly painted rooms but that's the way it is in real life. If only I could make a real size couch as easily as a mini one!

And I have a couple of new mini projects on the go. This is called a 'letterbox' house as it is a similar size and shape to a letterbox. It's just two rooms with a balcony, it's 1:12 scale and quite small - so the hubby can't complain too much! A couple at the club came up with the idea and a few of us are making them. I was able to get it this far on our last club day. Look at that wallpaper, how gorgeous is that?! This little house is going to be my 'shabby chic' house, all lovely pastel colours. I am VERY excited about this little house!! Some time ago Sylvia sent me a kitset/workshop to make this absolutely beautiful vintage washstand - in Dutch a 'wastafel'. Freddy translated the instructions for me because they were all in Dutch. The instructions said to use superglue to stick everything together - that was an interesting experience! The kitset also came with the vine and hydrangeas to make. And how perfect does it look in the shabby house!! Eeeek!!! Did I say I was excited!!! Making some more furniture today...

Does anyone know why some pictures can be clicked to enlarge and others can't??

Mercedes

Baby Joseph

Afew weeks ago I was the lucky winner of a giveaway on De's blog 'De-lightful Mini's'. And look at this - I won a baby!!! De made this cute little fellow and she named him 'Joseph'. Not only did De send the baby but she also sent some accessories with him. A nappy bag complete with nappies and baby products and that gorgeous shabby highchair. There was also a special envelope for Liberty full of stickers and a ring that has hardly left her finger. That sticker there with the doll and cot on it is Liberty's favourite. She thinks it is far too special to use for anything!
Even the hubby was blown away by those tiny baby products. The container of 'Chubs' even has a wipe sticking out of it! I'm thinking I might just have to make baby Joseph a room box all of his own.

Liberty has been having a great time with baby Joseph. He arrived when we were staying at the cousin's house so she made this paper girl to look after him.

And here he is with the dollhouse family. Liberty sees me setting up things to take photos all the time and has now started doing it herself! This little family setting is all her own work!

Thank you so much De!

Mercedes

First Day at School!

A few tears when we said goodbye this morning but she seems happy enough to be going back to school tomorrow! And she looks way too grown up in that uniform which is about three sizes too big for her!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!

Mercedes

Gifts!

I have received many beautiful packages in the last few weeks.

A surprise package from Sabiha. Just look at all these treasures! A teensy little brush and sponge, a gorgeous wooden box, a beautifully painted canister, a wonderful plant, a jar of lollies, a handle for my fridge, a sign, teensy seashells, alphabetti and my favourites - two tiny bags one of tea and one of coffee! Thank you Sabiha! And from Rosanna, another surprise this beautiful chair and cushion, it looks so comfortable I'd like to curl up in it now with a good book. And two postcards showing the sights of the city where she lives. Look Susan, it is GENOVA!!! LOL, LOL, LOL!!!! And for Liberty and Noah Rosanna sent some special gooey stuff that blows up into a balloon. Little did she know that blowing things up is one of Liberty's favourite things to do! A strange pastime I know! Thank you Rosanna, that was fun!!

And Katie's sweet daughter, Cora, was at the Virginia Zoo and saw this prairie dog magnet and thought I should have it! Thank you Cora, I have never seen a prairie dog before!

Mercedes

FIVE TODAY!!

My beautiful baby girl Liberty is five years old today!! Here she is opening one of her favourite presents 'Beados' which she had been wanting since Christmas! We had a party with all her friends last Saturday when we were staying at the cousins house.Here's a peek at what the table looked like. I'll do another post about the party, I'm just waiting for some more photos. It was a Princess Cinderella party!

Me and my Cinderella!

Making trinket boxes.

While the children were playing the next game I had someone secretly put some chocolate coins in the trinket boxes they had made.

The kids were so surprised!

On Wednesday we took a cake to kindergarten for her last day. On Friday we took cupcakes to Mainly Music for her last day there.

And today we baked crown shaped cookies for an afternoon tea party at home with the grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins.

There's baby cousin Lucy, she enjoyed the party! YES, IT"S GREAT TO BE FIVE!!!!!!

Mercedes (One exhausted mother!!)

Little bits 'n' pieces

I have been having a lot of fun in the last couple of days making these little enamel jugs. This is the 'Blue and White Collection' LOL!I remember when I first saw these on other mini blogs and I wondered where I could buy them. Then Marlies said she had made them from paper!! And Marlies was kind enough to do a tutorial on them, you can find it here (you'll have to scroll down her page a little past the printies).

I resisted the temptation to make them all vintage, although I think the 'La France' one there is my favourite!

I just used scrapbooking paper, because I have enough of it to last more than one person's lifetime! I would encourage you all to have a go at making these (I've made 26 in the last two days!!) Marlies has very detailed instructions and they are surprisingly easy and they look so real! I made them in a range of sizes from 3cm to 1.7cm, most of them are about 2cm tall.

See those teeny, tiny egg cups there on the table, they were a gift from Sylvia last week.

This was the card Sylvia sent me with the egg cups, how gorgeous is that?!!! I love this picture!

Thank you Sylvia!

On the home front - we have moved out of our house for a couple of weeks because finally, after 8 years, our renovations are finished! Hubby and his dad have been working very hard to get everything ready so we could get plasterers and painters in during the school holidays. My brother and his family have gone away so we have their (beautiful, new, warm) house to live in. I can hardly believe our house will be finished in a couple of weeks!! Although I'm not looking forward to cleaning up all the dust from the sanding.

You may not hear much from me while I'm away from home...I have a party to plan...more about that soon!

Mercedes

A new laundry shelf and some painting info!

The other day I came across these little pill containers at the $2 shop. I thought I'd use them as an easy (some would say 'lazy') way to make boxes, then I thought I would try and make a shelf for the laundry with them.

I used a craft knife to cut them up - if you're going to try this be VERY CAREFUL!! I used a skirting board to make the shelf supports, a piece of wood for the triangle on top and the star is a scrapbooking split pin.

The finished shelf...it still needs a lot more accessories. My mum showed up with that little can of spray starch.

Now for those of you who wanted to know how I paint things here goes... I mostly use interior house paint which I buy in sample pots - they are 'low sheen acrylic' paint. Some of the shinier plastic lids aren't that easy to paint. It may work better to use primer on them first, but I never have enough patience to do that! I like to see results fast! LOL!Most of the pictures I use I find on the internet or are things I have scanned. I put the pictures into a document in Microsoft Word and resize them, then I print out the labels in sheets so I've got a supply ready.

Once I've printed the pics I spray them with a 'fixer'. Sometimes (when I can't find the fixative spray!) I don't do this. I just use any sort of white glue to glue the pics on. Then I apply a thin coat of a water-based varnish, usually gloss because that's the only one I can find at the moment. If I haven't used a fixer on the picture it can go a little blurry, sometimes that just adds to the 'aged' effect.

I use my Jo Sonia's paints and a very tiny, fine paintbrush to do the rusty details.

Hope that info helps, happy painting!
Mercedes