And The Winner Is......

1976: Louise Fletcher
"I'd like to thank Jack Nicholson for making being in a mental institution like being in a mental institution. I loved being hated by you."

I had fun with this giveaway, I loved reading all the quotes. Thank you to all of you that participated and thank you to all of my followers! I really do appreciate the time you take to visit and comment.


I can't believe today is the last day of the year.....where does the time go?

I was starting to get nervous. Not only has it taken me forever to draw the winner's name, my camera has been MIA because I'm getting a new workshop and my stuff is everywhere!

Happy New Year To All!

On to the winner of the movie line giveaway!

The Winner Is......

Congratulations April! Be sure to visit April's Blog, Whatever is Lovely

Please email me your address so I can get your prize in the mail!

Shopping bag from Jennifer's Printables

Gift wrap, Christmas card and Ornament box from TreeFeathers Miniatures

The Grinch Chrismas card from The Fabulous Farmhouse

Dollhouse Kit Box from Jean Day Minaitures

Until next year.......

Follower Giveaway Reminder

December has been a crazy month...as usual!  I just wanted to post a quick reminder that today is the last day to enter the Follower Giveaway! If you haven't entered yet, pop over to the Follower Giveaway Post and leave your favorite movie quote/quotes, in the comments. I will be back later today to post a picture of what I'm giving away!

Follower Giveaway!

Hello to everyone out there in blogland, it's time for a drawing to welcome my latest followers! To enter this giveaway, you must already be a follower at the time of this posting. If you become a follower after this post you will have a chance to enter the next drawing.

This giveaway has been inspired by my love of movies. I'm a aficionado of celluloid, a guru of film, a gourmand of cinema.....I love a good movie! My best friend shares my love of films and we often speak to one another in movie quotes, when the situation calls for it of course....hehe. =) We're weirdos, I know!

To enter this drawing, you must leave a comment on this post and include your favorite line from a movie...you can leave more than one quote if you like. Don't forget to include the name of the character and movie the quote is from. You have until 12 midnight pacific time, December 23, 2010. I'm keeping the prize a secret a while longer....just to keep you all in suspense. ;)

Here are a few of my favorites to show you how your quote/quotes should look;

"Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!" Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias.

"In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns." Fabrizio, The Godfather.

"Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" Margo Channing, All About Eve.

"Helga, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at the dirt." Faye Dunnaway, Mommie Dearest.

"Naddafinga!" The Old Man, A Christmas Story.


Have fun and good luck!

I'm still here.....

I have been MIA lately.....it's been more than a month again since my last post. I have been busy making some changes to my website and I have been fighting a bad case of tendonitis that is making the whole ordeal an ordeal! I have several new followers I'd like to welcome and thank for following. It's time for another follower drawing.....I'm not going to tell you what I'm up to yet or what the prize will be. I will give you a hint for now....think movies!

'Of Dolls & Murder'

In May of 2009 while searching for videos on YouTube for my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures, I came across a preview of a documentary film inspired by the Nutshell Studies.  The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death were a series of intricately designed dollhouse-style dioramas created by Frances Glessner Lee. See the preview HERE.  Indie filmmakers Susan Marks and John Kurtis Dehn, just completed making the film, Of Dolls & Murder, an intimate look at dollhouse crime scenes. In September 2010, they released the film's trailer, you can see it HERE. The video below is from PBS, a conversation with director Susan Marks. I have searched and searched but have been unable to find a release date of the film but as soon as I do, I will post it.


For more information visit 'Of Dolls & Murder'.

Update on O'Leary's Pub

I managed to squeeze in a little time over last weekend to work on the pub's kitchen and bath.

The wall paper in the kitchen is from Jennifer's Free Dollhouse Printables. I printed out the wallpaper on cardstock and then ran it back through and printed a distressed layer on top. The pattern and instructions can be found here; Creating the Effect of Age on Paper.  The stairs to the 3rd floor will be behind the wall with the sink. I have to rebuild them, I didn't plan on them being behind a wall originally and they don't sit flush against one wall.

After I finished putting up the wallpaper and trim, I realized I missed a couple of places that need to be trimmed out and the paint I used, I custom mixed. I hope I can match it, or at least fake it well enough that a mismatch won't be noticable. There is going to be a door between the kitchen and bath and I intentionally haven't cut the doorway yet. I trimmed that wall all the way to the edge, unintentionally. Ooops! Hopefully I won't mess up the wall when I fix the trim.

These cabinets will hang in the kitchen, the are the top parts of Michael's hutches. I aged them, made the plate rack and added some trim to the front bottom of the other cabinet. I got the idea for the plate rack from the tutorial, "Let's Make a Dollhouse Plate Shelf".

For the "rust stains" in the tub and sink, I used "Rust Ready-to-Use Wash" by The Detailer, from Hobby Builders Supply.

I made a pot of Irish stew for Séamus. I looked up pictures on the interenet of traditional Irish stews and then I "winged" it with polymer clay. My pot of stew contains, carrots, potatoes, spring onions, lamb and cabbage.

That's all for now, I'm hoping to spend more time on it this weekend.

He won!

These pictures are from the Homecoming Parade, right after the winners were announced. He was grinning from ear to ear the whole time, so was the young lady that won with him. She's a very good friend of my son's so it was especially cool that they both won.


Our football team unfortunately did not fare as well.... we lost 17 to 7. =(

I spent the rest of my weekend at my younger son's football game and working on O'Leary's Pub. I'll have pictures later this week.

Make sure you stop by my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures, to see the dollhouse's built and finished by Gina from More Minis. Gina was kind enough to allow me to share her dollhouse's throughout October to celebrate National Dollhouse Month.

High School Royalty

Introducing Anderson High School's Freshman Homecoming Lord Nominee....Hayden! This is what has been keeping me from blogging recently......my 14 year old son. He was elected to run for homecoming royalty for his Freshman class. He has had to dress up in a different costume everyday this week and spend his lunch half hour getting votes. Today is the day we find out who won, at a parade this afternoon.

I've got my camera charging and a box of kleenex ready in case he wins, I'm sure I will blubber all over the place if he does. I'll be back later to let you all know!

The Mildred M. Mahoney Doll's House Gallery......Haunted?

Normally I post videos on my other blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures, but this one is a little different so I'm posting it here instead. The Mildred M. Mahoney Doll's House Gallery, believed by most Fort Erie natives to be haunted, is home to the fascinating miniature world of the dollhouse. Housing one of the world's largest collections of dollhouses in North America, there are 140 exhibits spanning two centuries and rare masterpieces from England, Europe, the Orient and North America.

Bertie Hall, the building housing Mahoney's exhibit is also an attraction in and of itself. For a time, Bertie Hall was the third stop on the Underground Railroad, which led slaves to Freedom in the Canadian north. Slaves would cross the Niagara River under the cover of darkness, and once on the Canadian shore, make their way to Bertie Hall to regroup and hide out.


Part Two


Be sure to stop by the blog, Mini Ramblings and Musings, Karin posted some fabulous pictures of miniatures from inside the Museum.

So, what do you think? Haunted?

And The Winner Is.......

There were 31 names put in the basket, thank you all for participating! This has been fun, I have gained more followers and found more blogs about minis!

 I don't think I will wait three months to have another contest, I'm thinking I will have a Halloween contest of some sort. I love Halloween!

So, without further adieu......the winner is.......... Christel Hutson!  Congratulations Christel! Email me your mailing address and I will get your prize in the mail tomorrow!

Giveaway Reminder

The giveway drawing ends tomorrow, Monday September 13th 2010 at 5pm Pacific time. You must be a follower and leave a comment on the giveaway post before the deadline to be entered into the drawing.

The Necessary Room

Just a quick update on O'Leary's Pub. I finished most of the bathroom, I still have to install the dividing wall between the kitchen and bath but I'm out of foam core board. I used tissue paper on the walls for a plaster look and the paint is several washes of my own mix using ivory and straw colored paint. After the walls dried, I sparingly brushed  a little burnt umber chalk over the walls to give them age.

I found a fabulous article by Pat and Noel Thomas about how to make a CHRYSNBON® bathroom kit
look like porcelain instead of plastic. I would love to scan the article and share it but I don't know how legal that is. If any of you know about the legalities of scanning and posting articles from magazines, please let me know. I did scan a picture though....hopefully I don't get into any trouble. I couldn't resist sharing.

Bathroom by Pat and Noel Thomas using a CHRYSNBON® bathroom kit.

Follower Welcome & Giveaway

In honor of my followers I'm am holding a giveaway to show apprieciation for following my blog. I would like to extend a HUGE WELCOME to all of my new followers who were never properly welcomed. Thank you all so much for following! I have realized that I just don't have time to welcome everyone individually and I apologize for my bad blog ettiquette. I have decided to put up a "welcome" graphic on the sidebar, for new followers and I will hold a giveaway about every three months just for my followers. Do you all think that's acceptable?

On to the giveaway! In order to qualify for the giveaway you must be a follower and you must leave a comment on this post, even if you only say hello. I will draw the winning name a week from today, Monday September 13th 2010.

The Prize~

Good Luck!!!

O'Leary's Irish Pub

Three years ago on Valentine Day, my husband surprised me with the 333 Franklin Street Dollhouse by Real Good Toys. He woke me up with a cup of coffee and a dollhouse. Is there a better way to wake up?

My original plans were to create an apartment building, but the rooms are an odd size and I couldn't figure out how to make it work. After much thought, I decided to go with a bar on the bottom floor with living quarters above. I put the building together at least a year and half ago and have spent the rest of the time thinking.

O'Leary's is set in New York City in the 1940's. The building and bar have been around since the late 1800's and the owner is an Irish immigrant named Séamus O'Leary.

I'm far from finished but here is a sneak peak at some of my progress.

First floor pub.

A closer look at the bar. I made the bar and everything on it except the beer tap, vodka bottle and the ashtray.

Second floor kitchen and bath. I made the stove and fridge, most everything else was made from a kit. The entance to the living quarters is at the back of the building, the door "enters" into the kitchen. The first floor stairs took up to much space so I left them out. I used a false door on the back wall of the second floor to give the illusion that the entrance is in the back.

Third floor living/bedroom. I made the chair, my MIL made the afgan on the bed and the desk is from a swap.

That's all I got for now on the pub. I have been working on it and have made more progress but still need to download and edit photos.

I see I have 150 followers now...wow! They snuck up on me. Since I haven't properly welcomed all of my new followers, I'm going to have a drawing to show my appreciation. I'll post the rules and a picture of the prize tomorrow.

Until tomorrow..........

The Dollhouse Company

If you haven't visited The Dollhouse Company yet, grab yourself a cuppa and head over there, you don't want to miss this online miniatures shop. Julia Morrison is the proprietor of The Dollhouse Company. I "met" Julia last year when she posted a comment on my video blog, Creating Dollhouse Miniatures. About a month later I filled out a survey on her web site, asking visitors for input regarding her online shop. By filling out the survey visitors had the oportunity to be entered into a drawing to win a dollhouse, The Arthur. Several weeks after filling out the survey I got an email from Julia informing me that I had won the drawing. I was very excited, this was this first time I'd won anything and winning a dollhouse was more than I could ask for! Julia gave me the option to choose other miniatures from her shop, or take the dollhouse. I thought about it for a couple of weeks and I finally decided not to take the dollhouse since I have umpteen unfinished kits laying around the house.

I wanted to get items for my 333 Franklin Street house (I will be posting pics in an upcoming blog post) and it took me days to decide what I wanted. I finally made up my mind and sent Julia an email with the items I wanted, a False Door, a Coat Tree, some Dentil Moulding, a Savonnerie Rug, a sheet of PVC Red Brick Sheet, a Narrow Inside Door with Trim and a Victorian Bathroom Kit.

The Dollhouse Company also offers a downloadable Dollhouse E-Book, a must have! Julia reveals her secrets for creating beautiful and lifelike dollhouses that will take your breath away!  The Dollhouse Company also offers doll house kits and accessories at affordable prices. There are three new sections in the shop where you can save money. Check out the Bundle Bargins, a variety of selections including choices of 2 dollhouses, dollhouses and furniture, just furniture or select your own bundle. Bundle Bargins are a great way to get more for your money! My favorites are the Starter Bundle - Dollhouse Kit & NEW Furniture and the Surprise Bundle - All sorts of charming miniatures.

Julia recently added some new miniatures from 'Reutt er Porzellan' manufactured in Germany, I especially like the Chianti Bottle with Glasses and the Garden Shower with Accessories. Julia is also currently selecting a range of products from Hiedi Ott and the new International Miniatures category will give you access to miniatures you may not have seen anywhere before.

So please stop by The Dollhouse Company and have a look around....oh, and don't forget to visit The Dollhouse Company's Facebook page!