From Around the World..

Not to long ago, Sans was blogging about nesting dolls, so I thought I'd add in my 2 cents. Both my father and my step-father were in the military...and they traveled a Lot..... I remember being a kid and waiting for my Father to open his suitcase, to see what he had brought home this time......One of my favorite things were the dolls!

This first one is stamped with a sticker that says made in the USSR. I'm thinking I've had them for over 25 years.


These next ones came from my Step-Dad. I do believe they came from India?! Correct me if I'm wrong...please!

I do believe these last ones also came from my Step-Dad. The bigger one came from Hawaii....And I do believe the wooden one came from Korea?! Then there's that pin cushion that we all have....We actually have 2, a pink one and this one.....one for me, and one for Cora.

I do love my dolls.... I love how they're all so different! .......I had to put a bug in Dad's ear the other day the my collection wasn't complete, lol. I'm hoping he heard me, Cora needs her own collection, too, Ya know:) ....... and What about you..... Any dolls in your collection??

OK

Until Next Time....

An Update in Katie's Corner

First... I finally got the barns up in Etsy, if anyone is interested?!

So...

As easy as it might seem, It took me a couple of years to find that little glass of chocolate milk. Isn't it funny how something so tiny, can make all the difference in the world? I drink a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast every morning....so it only seemed natural to have a glass on my breakfast tray! And while I was in here..... I went ahead and put my DREAM houses above the bed~ That's a shelf of shells that it's sitting on.


Next, it's on to the dresser. All the way to the left is the nesting doll I bought a while back.......And, while I'm here, I wanted to show you what one of my candles looks like in use. I'll have to get a pic one day while it's lite.

Before I go, I thought I'd show you all the houses together....I've been working on these since November, I think?! And if you look close, you'll see some benches that I need to get listed, too.

Alrighty then...

.....Beware, I have several random posts to get to this week.....LOL

Until Next Time

The Barns....

Isn't it just the cutest thing?? I tell ya! I'm in love with the barns:) It's for a barn owl to live in...... It's a Barn Owl Barn!! lol

And look! There's even drainage holes at the bottom, you know, so when the owl uses the potty, the funk can drain....lol!

The big barn measures 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 x 2inches....

And then there's a couple like this..... If you notice I used 2 different reds in the making of the barns. One is more of a bright red, and the other one has an oxidized red tint to it.

These ones don't have drainage holes, and they're for the regular birds.

....did I tell ya they're hollow inside? Here they are before they got there roofs......and holes.

These will be going up on Etsy later.....But, I'm kinda stuck with them....meaning......I keep asking myself if I should age them...you know, add brown and green paint around the edges....But for some reason, I like them just as they are! Any suggestions?

OK....So Let's go back to the beginning.....

In the past few years, I have been blessed with being able to take a few trips with my sister....And for some reason....I am Very attracted to the barns and farms....Maybe it's because growing up, our neighbors were farmers....Dad used to have the farmer drop manure over the fence so he could use it in his garden....Or it could just be the fact that you see them, over and over again all the way from here to there. Either way.....I felt like I needed to try some in mini.... And this is where I started:

Beautiful book, with beautiful sketches.....and some history lessons....

Between the books I got from the library, and the pictures I took on my travels....I have lots of ideas.... I do have several plans for more barns sketched out...I just need materials now...

Until Next Time

New Etsy Listings...

Just wanted to let everyone know, that in between blogging, I will be trying to get all the birdhouses I've made listed on Etsy. You can find the link on the right side of my page:)

Look, I put pegs in this one...Although I was reading somewhere that the birds don't even use the pegs~ I still like the look of them! I also used decorative posts this time.


And then there are a few of these little ones.....

All of the birdhouses are hollow inside.....

Hopefully it's sunny again tomorrow.....I only got a small fraction photographed today before I slept all afternoon....And now that it's 2am, I'm wide awake, Nice! lol

SO

Until Next Time

Post 4 of 4

And this is where I'm at now with the house. I begun to paper clay the whole thing, and ran out of clay....Story of my life....So until then.....

I love sculpting all those lines into the tree, I found it very relaxing! And all you need is a tooth pick! No crazy tools here.

I can Not wait to finish this house!! I still have a lot to paper clay.....And I have the front of the house to finish. But, all in good time, huh!

OK, well I got some pictures taken of some of the birdhouses...... So that's my next mission......
Until Next Time......

The next Phase of the Treehouse

Good Morning! If you haven't read the last 2 posts, you might want to.....It will catch you up to speed!

So, at this point, I had also built up around the top to create what will later become a branch. Eventually, it will all be covered with paper clay, and you won't be able to tell the difference:) I also had to cut out the front stairs to build my own at a later point

I love how you can only see part of the house....How's it's peeking out from the trunk. I do have to admit, that this has probably been one of my favorite projects!

I took the 'trunk' around the back, too. It will all get blended in in the long. I'll be painting this when it's all said and done.

If you look at the top middle of the next pic, you can see how I've started to blend it into the inside of the house.

In the last pic, I've added the front steps, and have begun to paperclay the tree house.

I have one more set of pics to post, before I can get to the birdhouses.....

I was waiting for it to warm up a bit, and it would be nice if the Sun would come out.....Either way....

There are pictures to be taken!

So

Until Next Time...

More work on the Treehouse

So..... If you're just now joining us...skip down to the next blog entry where you can find the first pic and a little bit about what I did....

After the newspaper came the plaster....and it was even messier than the gunk mixture! But, I'll be darn if it didn't work perfectly for what I needed. And it's so easy....Just cut out strips, dunk them in warm water and wrap. I let them sit in the water for a minute to get a little gooey.

I hate to take a step back every now and then to decide where I wanted this trunk to run....

I added some big wads at the top to make some knot holes in the tree.

And then added more plaster

And then more plaster! This stuff dries so hard! I've caught one of the cats sitting on it, and it didn't make a dent anywhere:)

Don't mind the blue ink around the bottom, it's just the marker I used bleeding through...

Oh.... And plaster is messy! Very messy....I don't suggest doing it in the middle of your living room, on your beautiful coffee table like I did....Not that it didn't come of...it was just a real pain to get it off!! Oh, and go ahead and put kitty away! At some point they are going to try and drink out of your water bowl, or they're gonna rub up against your house and get a nice coat of plaster on them....Which is even harder to get off then it was the coffee table....My suggestion....Go outside:)

And now that the treehouse is coming together, I'm getting really excited!

I do have more pics....Just have to resize them!

SO

Until Next Time!!!

Hugs for everyone:)

Testing! Testing!

Alrighty then....look at what I did!! And even better..... I found the rest of my pics! I'm such a moron some times!!! Not that they were where they we suppose to be, but when I uploaded Picasa.....It asked me if I wanted it to search my computer for any other pictures, and I said yes! And it's smart little self uploaded all my pictures! Awesome! Now I just have to figure out how to use the program.... So I figured I'd start with the Treehouse.

You only get one pic for now....I'm still figuring stuff out....but just hold on, cause Ya know I'll be back with more! Besides I need a break from reality right now, and what better way then to blog, lol!!

Well I had to forgo the Styrofoam idea...didn't have the money, and then I came up with a cheaper way to build the base....Remember, not to long ago, I told you about the model train DVDs that I got from the library....there really is some good info to be learned. Anyways.... So I took a bowl of water, and added Modge Podge to it.... Then I bunched up a wad of newspaper, soaked it in the mix of gunk before I stacked the wads of paper on top of each other. Then I paper mache'd it...took strips of newspaper and layed it over the wads to create a surface to work on. And then Ah-ha...... A tree trunk started to take shape!


OK...Hold on.....I'm off to get the rest of these....Then hopefully here in the next few days I can get pictures of all the birdhouses.....

Just a quick question

First! Let me say Hello to everyone! And Thank-you for still reading my blog even though I'm in the 'habit' right now of being a very bad blogger! Money! That's all I gotta say....Everything costs money...and well...I ain't got any, Lmao!! So.... Here's my question.....Anyone know of any online program that I can edit my pictures in? I think I've actually lost all of mine, which really makes me mad! But there's nothing I can do about it, and I've got to move on.....Dang on Computers! They will be the death of me yet! I just want to blog....Is that Just too much to ask for??? lol

Thank-you in advance for any help you may offer:)

Until Next Time!!!
.....Oh and wait till you see the mini Churches birdhouses I made! They're almost as awesome as the barns:)