Minion Mania!

S was so right about keeping my new camera away from the minions, I wasn't feeling well last night and forgot and left it in my shop. Everything looked normal when I walked into the shop this morning, but when I checked my camera, it was full of pictures! There were selfies,

pictures of a game of soccer,

a game called "catch the minion with the tweezers"...which I didn't even know was a game!

And then some general silliness.

I think I would call this some major goofing off! I have to admit I did laugh quite a bit and when the minions finally crawled out of their beds this morning, I put them to work. I had a rough night, so I played supervisor.  I put one to work finishing up the painting in the inside of the overhang

and got a few more of them to move furniture into the restaurant. In fact, there were so many of them helping, we couldn't get the furniture in so had to chase some of them out. In the process, one of the beer taps broke off and there was general pandemonium trying to find enough mugs to catch it all! One of the minions solved the problem by putting his mouth over the broken part. He'll be sleeping that off for awhile! LOL! At last, the tap was repaired and all the furniture was in place. Looks good!

If I was feeling better, I'd go in and have a nice juicy steak. Of course a bout with the stomach bug means I don't get to drive up and see my mom, so I think I will just order the lights I need online. While I wait for those to arrive I can start cutting the strips for the seams on the metal roof and work on the landscaping. For now though, think I will go lay down. Have a great day!

Onward and Upward!

Time to put those walls up! There was a general air of celebration as the minions cheered to see the walls go up. First I glued two sets of long and short walls.

While that was drying, I worked on finishing up the front doors. One last coat of finish and I glued the glass in. All the pictures I had looked at showed large brass hardware on the entry doors of Outback Steakhouses so I dug around and found two handles left over from a 1/12" scale project. They looked pretty good to me, so on they went!

Since the restaurant was still in the clamps, I painted the seats of the bar stools. These come in the bathroom set of plastic furniture and I always thought they were a little high. Perfect for bar stools! I know, purple?!

I didn't choose the color, the crominions hired a decorator and that's what was decided....I just do what I'm told around here. I do think they look pretty good with the bar, maybe the decorator knows what he's doing....;)

While the bar stools were drying, I removed the two sections of restaurant from the clamps and it was a race to get all the glue on the various parts and then clamp it up before something dried. So now the four walls and the floor are in the clamps and drying.

I was tearing the shop apart trying to find those few scraps of foamcore I had saved. I just need one small piece for the front of the overhang. So far, no luck. Well, I will keep looking. Have a great day!

Lots of Little Details...

Finished up the beer kegs and glued the parts together.

After I took the picture, I added smaller crimp beads to the tops of the beer taps....can never leave anything alone...LOL! I remembered that I hadn't put any clear finish on the floor, so took care of that too. After the first coat, I did a gentle sanding then put on a second coat. It came out nice.

Of course, I had to try out all the furniture and see how the back bar looked with everything glued in place.

The minions saw a couple of the walls going up and started lining up outside to make reservations. Just a little longer fellas! The back bar accessories looked a little flat to me, so got out my teeny scissors and cut out more bottles and put a tiny piece of card on the back of them. Then with a little bit of glue along the bottom edge, they were put in place.

If I had an open side on this build, I would have gone with more 3 dimensional bottles and glasses. But these will only be visible through the windows with a dim interior light, so I think this will work just fine. With all the furniture arranged, I thought it needed more color so printed out a rug and used some clear matte sealer on it. It's glued in place with glue stick and will be a little warmer underfoot once winter comes.

The next thing was a quick dry brush on the front steps--a little more dimension.

And the last project of the day was the telephone. The one that came with the plastic furniture needed a little more detail.

So with one of my tiniest brushes, we painted it up too!

I trimmed a few more windows and then had to quit for the day. Should be able to start gluing it together tomorrow! Woo! Hoo! Have a great day! 

Window Glass and Spray Paint...

After trimming and gluing all those tiny windows, I was getting a little bleary eyed! If I'm going to continue building these teeny houses, I think a new magnifying lamp will be in order. Harbor Freight has one for $39.95 and then they have a 20% off coupon so I think that is the way I'm going to go. Dear Hubby does a lot of driving with his company, so he offered to pick it up for me on his way by. Yay! So all of the plastic windows are in and I started putting the trim around them,

then with my twitchy eye, I decided to do something different for awhile. I remembered that I had to remove the Outback Steakhouse sign so I can add the extension to the front. Again, the glue held really well so I ended up causing a little damage.

But with some sanding and repainting, it was back to being presentable.

Of course, with the new extension on the front you won't even see this part unless you stand on your head but I know it's there! LOL! I was looking at images of the restaurant interiors online and found that in most of the Outback Steakhouses, the furniture is black. So I dug around for my black spray paint and then wrapped a piece of packing tape around a piece of cardboard to stick the furniture to.  

I remembered to use my plastic glove this time but still managed to spray paint my wrist black in the process...it now looks like I had some kind of horrible accident. Oh well, it will wear off in a few days. So I'll let all the furniture dry overnight  and start trimming around more windows.  Have a great afternoon!

Shopping and Interioring Decorating...

When I went into the shop this morning, 2 of the crominions were gone. After asking around, I was told that they had gone shopping for a smoker for the restaurant. What? Without me? Rose had given them a lift in the Steampunk Summerhouse and also helped them load it and bring it home.

I really have to get on the ball and finish that Summerhouse, it's just not safe to go tooling around in it without any headlights.  After helping them unload it, I think it will be a great addition to the restaurant and who doesn't like some delicious smoked ribs?! It's a little high, but I bashed a plastic ladder from an old game for them and I think it will work just fine. They are already searching online for recipes and discussing what else they need. I got the first piece of wallpaper cut

and was about to glue it on when I decided I should probably use some primer on the walls first so I don't get bleed-through down the line. Since the furniture came in yesterday, the crominions wanted to try out different configurations for the floor layout. Here is what they came up with.

Looks like I'll be busy painting these up after the wallpapering is done.  Also, I was wondering about tiny bottles for the bar. S has been searching for me and found some amazing things but my Yankee thrift kinda kicked in and I thought...."Hey, why don't I just cut out some pictures and use those?" You'll have to press your nose against the glass to see in anyway so gave that a try. So here is the back bar so far.

I think I will cut out pics of glassware next and then design the shelves. I think the cow is back inside....LOL! So I will be poking around with primer and then cutting more wallpaper. Will have to check out window treatments online....I saw this neat tutorial for window blinds.......Have a great day!