Chains and Hidden Axles...

Had a couple of surprises yesterday. Remember when my paints arrived quite awhile ago? Well, I ordered some small chain at the same time and forgot all about it; it arrived yesterday.

Exactly what I wanted too! Sometimes it's hard to tell the size of something online. Rose saw the packaging in the trash and had to know what had arrived. "Oooo, now you can make me a chain belt to hold my key!" she exclaimed. She doesn't ask for much, unlike a certain skeleton who will remain nameless, so I set to work. Two pair of needle-nose pliers, flying jump rings, and standing Rose on her head to get this on her and we were done! Mr. Skellie kept sauntering by to see if he could get a peek at her petticoats, so I had to shoo him away. I told him he'd better watch out for the Captain so he went and hid in his drawer. This is what we ended up with and Rose is very happy with it.

This past Wednesday, I actually was able to shop inside Michael's! It was fun to look around at everything and I found some black artist's medium and some cool grassy stuff, 60% off too.

This makes great lawn around the minion houses but it does kind of shed for awhile. Remember that axle we were going to have to remake? Guess what I saw hiding amongst the colored pencils...

It must have fallen off a while back and I had the foresight to set it aside...then promptly forgot where I put it! LOL!

Mr. Skellie held one end and we set in in place

and set a clamp so it couldn't slide down.

I probably should have put a little bit of superglue with the wood glue, I always forget that until after something is already glued. While that was drying, I repainted the wood stove

and put the first coat on the big screen TV frame.

This artist's medium is not the same as my old stuff, it seems way too shiny to me. Someday when I find that box of old paint, I'll see what brand it is and if I can get more. I tried some spray matte finish on the stove this morning, but it's still a little shiny...I'll just have to say that I have a very fastidious cleaning lady and she likes a nice polished cast iron stove. Thanks for stopping by.

Finishing Up and a Surprise Visitor!

To start with, I used one of the roof pieces from the schoolhouse to cut a floor. I applied some white glue and sprinkled on a liberal amount of tea leaves.

Once that was dry, I took another look at the front of the greenhouse. The off center windows had to go! This small plywood is not easy to cut and it took many passes with my utility knife and metal ruler before it finally gave in. I wanted to line up the mullions with the rafters in the roof and also add some trim, so I dug around in my stash of wood strips and found some 1/8" that looks nicely in scale and would work perfectly. Here's a before and after:  

I brushed on a coat of white paint and put it aside to dry. While I was waiting, I worked on the interior of the greenhouse. Once the front and roof are glued on, the interior will be inaccessible so I worked on a bench and some shelving pieces that I cut out of scrap wood. I glued them in place and started thinking about my plant arrangement.

These little resin plants have really come in handy!

I was wondering what to use on that small front panel under the windows when guess who dropped by...the lovely Rose! We greeted each other warmly and I told her about the different treatments I was considering for the front panel. Larry and Louie came by and introduced themselves and were on their best behavior. Her suggestion was to use the brick to match the sides. I hadn't even thought of that!

So I had the minions hauling more brick and I mixed up the cement and we were on our way. I told Rose to give our best to the Captain and she was off to spend some time in the minion village to shop. After the brick was put in place and drying, I started considering S's suggestion of a door. Hmm, how will we get to the plants? About that time, my Dear Hubby came home and said, "Put hinges on the window and you can open it up when you need to." But what to use for hinges.....I looked through my beads and metal bits and found some ear wires that I won't be using for earrings. These were purchased in Walmart and lose their "gold" finish in a matter of days when you use them for earrings, so I didn't feel bad about taking a couple of them apart.

I added a handle and the "glass" and the front wall was ready to be glued on!

It was glued and clamped and I took a break to clean up a little.

When I came back, I removed the clamps and the greenhouse is done!

Now to start the barn for the truck. Have a great day!

Laundry Day and......Texans?

 Laundry day sure seems to come around too quick....but if we all quit washing clothes, the world would be a little difficult for those of a delicate persuation...LOL!  My husband and I went to Ben Franklin the other day and I found some small cowboy hats.  Of course one had to come home with me and I tried it on our lovable Doc:

He appreciated the thought but said it wasn't quite his style.  No one wanted to lay claim to it although the minions did give it a try....

They didn't like how it kept flying off when they were going around on their dirt bike.  So I thought the little hat would have to just sit on the shelf for now.  However, I was having my breakfast listening to my machines chug through the laundry minding my own business when I heard....."Hey podner, I'm callin' you out!" Say what?  I turned and the steampunk robot moseyed into the kitchen with the hat!

I smiled to myself and thought, "He really needs to work on his cowboy stance!"  I know Rose had to be in on this too as he is a clockwork and he needed someone to wind him up.   He's insisting I call him "Tex" and wants me to pick up some six shooters next time I'm out....seriously?  He ambled back to the shop and hollered over his shoulder that a horse would be nice too if I was so inclined.  You just never know around here! LOL!  I can just see having horses in the shop...I say horses plural because you know the skellies are going to want them too and I can just imagine the chaos when the dirt bike with the minions starts zipping around the shop with skellies and "Tex" riding after them at full speed trying to lasso them!  Maybe this too shall pass...I can hope can't I? LOL!

I did get a couple of small projects done over the weekend.  I was looking at my Glencroft dollhouse and noticed the little hanging pot of pansies that a friend gave me years ago.  Rose is always trying to put little feminine touches in with all the steampunk, so I knew she would like it.  Trying to get an eye hook in the plywood ceiling of the porch was no simple task, but it was accomplished.  I'm glad I waited to put the trim on the edge of the porch roof as that would have made the job even more interesting! LOL!  Once the pot was in place, I put up the trim and held it in place with my clothespin clamps and stepped back to have a look.

Rose heard me banging around on the porch and came out to see if I needed her to hold the ladder for me.  She was really tickled with the flowers and I got a hug of thanks.  

I can't believe that I am so close to doing the electrical!  I am excited but hesitant as I have never electrified a dollhouse before.....or a summerhouse either...<);^) Enjoy the summer days as we start heading into fall. Have a great day all!

Laundry Day at the Summerhouse....and Front End Work

By Debra from Olde Cape Cod, 16 July

Rose announced that it was laundry day and you should have seen people disappear! LOL! She's been teaching the steampunk robot how to operate the Wringer Dinger Washer and he has really gotten the hang of it. But there was a fatal flaw to her plan; she decided to include minions on this venture. It all sounded so innocent at first. All they had to do was hold the laundry basket and catch the clothing that shot out of the wringer part of the washer.... Rose figured two minions could handle the job without any problems. Things seemed to be going well when the rest of the minions decided they wanted in on the fun too. They all grabbed baskets from my stash and positioned themselves to catch laundry too.  What happened next was epic....laundry was shooting out of the wringer, minions were running everywhere trying to catch it, grabbing laundry out of each others baskets and then smacking each other with the wet laundry. Then one of them got smacked in the head with underwear and they all dissolved in laughter! I thought the skellies were going to fall off their carnival ride they were laughing so hard and Rose got a fit of the giggles and couldn't even talk! When she regained her composure, she gave the minions the rest of the day off. The laundry finally did get done, but we were all out of breath from laughing. When calm returned, I started working on what is technically the front end of the Summerhouse. This end has been ignored because I can't really finish it all the way until wiring and interior wallpaper are done.  So I added the brick paper and decided I could glue on the front bumper that I had built quite a while ago.  I made more sticks with rivets and the front is starting to take shape. The large opening is for the bay window which will be the helm area.  I have headlights made too, but they stick out too far so will have to wait until the interior is done also. I still have to finish the brick paper on each side of the large bay near the porch, then we can finally do the porch roof and the porch posts. Have a great day all!