Totally of Topic...

...So, earlier I was surfing the net and came across some pictures of an old asylum in black and white, and thought to myself.... Hey! I can do that with my pictures over in photoshop! And so I did.....Here's some of the pictures from Weston State Hospital, this time in black and white.

I just love how much it ages everything. Shows every bit of dirt and grime.....makes the rough edges rougher, Ya know?!


Makes this picture look like something creepy happened on that wall there...


I love all the different layers....the peeling paint, the texture of the walls, and that grimy sink.....
"Oh, if only the walls could talk....."

Sorry...just wanted to share my pictures with someone:)

Minis later, I promise :)

An update on our Toystore

For those of you that don't know....and for those of you that do know, but think I forgot about it....here's a quick update on The Star Wars Toystore....... I'm still working on it, lol, very slowly. For one, I have no where to put it when I'm finished with it, and I don't want to fill it, cause I know those darn cats of mine will come along and eat everything....they're already using it as a cat perch, and those that are small enough to walk through the front door, do. I think they think they've found a really cool hiding spot......and That got me to thinking of all the neat cat houses that could be made out of Styrofoam and plaster..... ha ha ha..... OK, back to this project.


I decided to add lips above the windows and doors using paperclay and plaster.



The plaster went here and there, with no real goal in mind....other than I wanted it lumpy in places.


See. Once you paint it, it all blends right in.

Still have to paint the outside it's final color, and finish some of the walls inside. One day it may even have toys in it....lol

Stay tuned for the next post......

I have recent pics of the furniture I got for Marsh Mallow Manor....

.....and I'd like for you to meet the family that will be moving into the Mouse House....

OH...Did I tell you that the 1/2 scale houses we found at Michael's Arts and Craft store are back......and this time they have castles....not to sure what the scale of it is....but I could sure see one covered in paperclay......wonder if the bf would notice a castle sitting over in the corner?? (I have been banned from buying any more house- LOL, ran out of room for them, Or so the bf says.....hehehe) Yes...There's always room for one more project down the road, Bah Hahaa!!

Until Next Time....

...The Baby Shower...

OK.....I'm bored, so ya'll are getting another post:)

This past weekend, we went home for my sister's baby shower. Baby Gavin will be here in the middle of August, and if I can......I hope to be there with them. I am soooo excited to be an Aunt!!

Thought you mini cake makers would like these pictures........Not sure if I ever told you, but my parents are unofficial party planners. They love this kind of stuff, however I think they just like seeing the family come together sometimes, too!

Here's my Sis.....see the baby belly? Thought I could get away with showing this pic, since it's not of her face.......

She even had a friend of hers over to do face painting for the kids....
Here's my youngest with his camo eyes.....

And a skeleton......

....And a pink face.....

And seeing as there was blue crabs on the menu, it only seemed natural for one of the kids to request a crab on his cheek...Too cute!!!

....But then came the laughter, and the tears.

My oldest sits down

and when asked what he wanted....
He said:

"Make me into a drag queen!"
And I tell you....

We laughed

and we laughed some more.

I love ya Drew!

Now that I've had a little family R&R.......I'm pooped. Spent all day yesterday in bed.....and plan on doing the same thing again here in a little while. I'm a little excited....Shutter Island comes out today!

((Oh....remember the asylum we visited....You'll never guess what I found to do this year....anyone down for a visit to the WV State Penitentiary?? Wanna go see old sparky with me?? LOL))

So until Next Time....

Blackberries!! And an Oprah rose....

One of my fondest memories of childhood was living in Wales! I LOVE the country, and still dream of one day going back! My Dad and I used to go on these walks, and along the way were blackberry bushes. I can remember eating them as we went......So yummy. Nothing like eating a warm berry fresh off the vine, now is there....

So this year when my birthday rolled around, I bought a blackberry vine thingy......and was even lucky enough to get fruit already. This is what they looked like last Friday....


And this is what it looked like last night. Today it's gone:)
LOL....I shared, I cut it into thirds so we each could have a taste.....lol, and boy, Oh boy....Was it good!


Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them bigger. Hope this gives someone out there some inspiration.....I'd love to see some mini blackberries.....


.....and while I'm in the garden, I want to show you my other birthday present! It's an Oprah rose. Really it is! It's called the Legend, and looking at the size of it, I can see why. I have big hands for a girl......Hopefully they show you how amazingly big this rose is.

Isn't it beautiful!

.....until next time...........

Yup! It's a shower!

I do believe that everyone that guessed was right. Hooray for you all! And thanks for playing along! ..............as for the shower, I still need to put in the shower head, which is something I probably should of thought about before I painted it, huh! Oh, well...there's always the drill. Also need to figure out what I did with that drain...LMAO!!! I put it up so I wouldn't loose it, and guess what....I lost it! Hahaa! In case your wondering that was a snap I used for the drain...got it off an old pair of PJs that used to belong to one of the kids. I have of bunch of baby cloths packed away to make quits one day, and figured I wouldn't need those snaps anyways.................so I guess If I don't find the one I used I can always go back and pull off another...........LOL, Am I rambling now?? It's easy to do some days......


So, on to the Big question of the day?? Who's the winner??

I took Every one's name that left a comment, and put it into a bowl, I then had my oldest draw out......


3 Winners!........I had 4 little bags of mail, so I choose 4 winners........ The 3 you see! And then Kim will also get a bag, because she was the first to guess right! So.......Congrats to these Bloggers and for the rest of you...go check them out when you get a chance! I'll be adding everyone who played over on my blog list here real soon:)


OK....That's where I'm going to end for today. Haven't worked on the house yet, been busy with family stuff....But I do have eye-candy to share with you in my up coming blogs...........and a few updates......So stay tuned........And Thanks again to everyone that left such encouraging comments!!

Come win some mini mail!!

First, we have to get to that point though....so bare with me for a minute!

Like I said in my last blog, I didn't want a traditional bed in this house, so I opted for a nest like cove thingy. I took a cube of Styrofoam, cut it down to size, then carved out the middle.


I also have started the middle wall that separates the two sides of the top floor.

One thing I have learned along the wall is that when your building houses from the inside out, things tend to change a little. Walls get bigger, walls shift on you.........things just don't add up! Here I've used blue tape to mark the line that I want to cut away.

OK.....any guess as to what this is, LOL.......

What about now? ......here it's covered with paperclay.......

I think I'm going to play a game with this one, lol........Here's the rest of the room, not that it helps......But any guesses as to what it is? Leave me a comment, make a guess, and on Monday I'll pick a name to win a prize. (You don't even have to be right, Just guess!!) I'm thinking some mini mail might be a good prize.........


OK, on to the nest.........Here, I've added the second layer of paperclay....and did the scratchy thing.

This is that same area, just a close up.

And again with that black paint....b*o*r*i*n*g!!

But look at what a little bit of brown paint can do.........Nice! I used brown and a golden color to do this, just dry-brushed both colors where I felt like they needed to be...

That brown paint is like magic, isn't it!!

....got the fireplace glued in.......

And then the bf said those miserable words again, "Honey, it's just toooo shinny, chalk it up some!" LOL, Well, it does look a lot better, just wish he had thought of it Before I glued it in.....

So this is where I am with this. I need some 'glass panes' for the windows and the inside will be 90% done.......and I have to start the outside of the tree. But here's where I come to the fork in the road. I want the outside to look like a tree grew around it, but I'm afraid to make it look convincing, I may have to Go Big.....and well, I just don't have any more room.....But, I fear, there's no other way. ((giggles))

My second problem is I need more Styrofoam. Didn't quite realize how expense it is when you need a lot. So I've been trying to recycle. My mother-in-law- recently bought a microwave and gave the Styrofoam it was packed in.......but I still need more. Any ideas on how I can build something 3-D, using something other than Styrofoam. I'm thinking of something along the lines of paper machee.....or something...........any ideas?

Well Alrighty then, this is where I'm leaving you at. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

~Oh, and if you missed it, check out the last 5? blogs......it's the beginning of this story.

......until next time!

I can't take another coat of black paint!

Where was I, Oh yes, The paint.......I started to give everything a coat of black paint, and soon realized that I was going to need a whole lot of coats. Even had to thin down the black paint to get it in all the tiny little cracks.....


Then, sometime in between waiting on that paint to dry... I was able to make some door hardware out of polymer clay. I just drew out the design I wanted...traced it onto the clay, cut it out.....and then textured the top.


They're a little bigger then what I wanted....


But, I think they'll do. Oh, and at this point, I've started to do the ceiling.....

I did the ceiling the same way I did the walls.....lots and lots of scratching!

And when I was waiting for the paperclay to dry, I painted more coats of black paint.

I did learn that you can't paint wet paperclay if you want your scratch marks to show. I know, I tried....and ended up with flat mounds instead of beautifully scratched bark!


Just dry fitting everything here to see where I was at.....

All those coats of black paint were worth it after all....lol......that is until I break out the browns....

But first I have a nest to show you.......LOL, Skipped a traditional bed in this house and built a 'cove' instead. You'll see.....

.....next time, ok.