Friday, August 27, 2010

Bad Blogger!

Forgive me. It's been 31 days since my last blog post officially qualifying me for the title of bad blogger. Clearly, I'm not a natural at this. I'm too fussy, too neurotic, too busy. Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, my first instinct isn’t to write,– it’s to go silent and think. This is me in offline life, as well, so I am not sure that I can change that feature of mine, but I am going to make an effort.

I’ve been thinking these past few weeks why I do not feel driven to blog more often. Most people who do it on a regular basis seem to enjoy it. To me it walks the line between delight and duty. I love the satisfaction that comes after a blog post; I love the afterglow. I just don’t like doing it. I like having blogged better than actual blogging.

Another obvious problem has something to do with time-management skills, or lack thereof as the case may be. This is something that I have struggled with my entire life and in spite of the fact that I recognize this problem, I have never managed to overcome it well enough to incorporate a system into my life that I would actually embrace, much less implement. For whatever reason, I have always functioned far better when I start feeling the pressure of a deadline closing in on me, looming large behind the shadow of a ticking clock. Even when I have days, or even weeks to get something done, I find it much easier to find other things to occupy myself with whilst I put off the inevitable until the very last minute.

As you might be able to tell, I tend to over-think things sometimes.....LOL.

Today I'm restarting my efforts. I'm going to keep my expectations low, but I'm committing to at least one post per week. Walk before you run, right?

How about those of you who are hard-core bloggers? Did you have problems getting started? Do you still have those problems from time to time? How did you find your blogging voice?

Monday, July 26, 2010

Technical Difficulties!

Hello everyone out there in blog land! I made the mistake of playing around with the new template designs and messed up my whole blog. Has anyone else had any problems with the new templates? I haven't been able to find a template that works with the backgrounds from cutestblogsontheblock.com and shabbyblogs.com. If anybody has any tips please leave a comment.



Friday, July 9, 2010

We Have Moose!

Herbert J. Moose, the traveling critter has arrived! To see all of Herbert's travels check out his Facebook page! Today has been very hot so the first thing Herbert did was go swimming. Herbert and I are going to hang out by the pool for awhile and we will be back later this evening to say hello to all of the new followers.


Monday, May 31, 2010

Quick Garden Update

I ended up having a very busy month, much busier than expected. My oldest son is graduating from 8th grade this week and my oldest daughter is turning 26 this week too. I have done some work on a few miniature projects though. I built a garden shed and started carving out where the pond is going to be. I actually have done more than that but haven't taken more pictures yet. I have also been working on the 333 Franklin but I'll save that for another post.

I am closing the Miniature Barter Board on my website, My Small Obsession. I have to many spammers to deal with keeping it open. I will be replacing it with FREE Classified Ads!

I will be adding some other goodies to my website so stay tuned. I should also mention that I have been going through the links in the Miniature Directory and deleting all of the dead links. I will be adding many more sites to the directory in the following weeks. If you would like to be added to the Miniature Directory, just click here and fill out the form. Be sure to use the search box to make sure you are not already listed.

I have several new followers so I will be back to give them a proper welcome!

The potting shed (sans the roof) made from foam core.













The beginning of the pond and rock wall.














I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Miniature Flea Mart/Sidewalk Sale~ My Mini Haul


Every year in May, The Elegant Dollhouse shop in Sacramento hosts a miniature flea market/parking lot sale. I have gone for the last four years and it's something I really look forward to because it's the only time I get to shop for miniatures someplace else other than online. I love furniture kits and Nutshell News magazines and I always come home with as many as I can get my hands on. My favorites are the Real Life Miniatures furniture kits and the House of Miniatures kits. I usually find some great buys on Chrysnbon kits too. This year I had a great haul, I even came home with two dollhouses! One vendor had two Lily Dollhouse Kits for $65 each and I talked myself out of buying one even though it's on my wish list. My husband and I left to get some lunch and while we ate I decided I would go back and buy one of the Lily's. When we came back from lunch less than an hour later, they were both gone....Damn, that's what I get for procrastinating! I did get a really good deal on a Magnolia Dollhouse Kit, it's a fixer upper but to good a buy to pass up.

The Magnolia



The green has got to go!


Various kits and accessories.
Nutshell News and American Miniaturist magazines.


I already can't wait for next year!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Planning A Garden

I am currently in the planning stage of creating a miniature garden. I have collected quite a lot for my garden, most of it made by others from swaps.

My mother-in-law gave me an aquarium and I am going to attempt to make my garden inside it. Check out the aquarium garden De created, from De-Lightful Minis. She also has a cute little garden scene inside a watering can. De's wall fountain tutorial is the current featured tutorial on my blog, I can't wait to try it.

I want to make a pond or a stream to go under the bridge, I have never tried anything like this before. Any personal experience, suggestions and/or tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking of making a waterfall too.....I hope I'm not biting off more than I can chew!

Wish me luck!

Monday, April 19, 2010

Welcome New Followers!

A warm welcome and a big thank you to my new followers!

I now have 117 followers on this blog, and I thank each and every one of you.

I hope you all continue to enjoy my blog and please feel free to leave comments!

I will have a give away soon to show my appreciation!

Hello and Welcome ~
Montse~ Mis Cosas
Roelie~ La petite Sofie
miniaturemaid~ No blog
Núria~ Las minis de Nuri
oma makroma~ No blog
Nina, The Dangerous Mezzo~ Tudor / Medieval / Jacobean / Queen Anne dollhouse project
Lorraine~ DflyCreations
Margaret~ My Petit Parterre

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Miniature Gifts

Gifts are so much fun, to give and recieve! My mother in law made this afgan for the bedroom of the 333 Franklin Street dollhouse. She made it from wool embroidery thread to give it a "well used" look. It's perfect, I just love it!


This scrumptious cherry pie board was a gift from my friend Brenda. I think I'm going to use it in my vintage 70's dollhouse.


My friend De from De-Lightful Minis, made this beautiful Christmas tree and surprised me with it. It's going into one of my three Christmas roomboxes.


I'm off to work on updating my website, I'll be back later to welcome my new followers!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Playing Catch Up!

Once again I am playing catch up! Everytime I make plans to do something, something else comes up.....Any one else have that problem? Today I'm trying to get caught up on my blog and website and if I'm lucky, I might sqeeze in some time for some minis.

I have a lot of new things to add to my website, and several blog posts to work on so I have a busy day in front of me.

Later today I have to take a break to go to my son's baseball game and then I plan to get back to work.

So, one of the reasons I've gotten behind is that I gave up my workroom so my 12 year old son could have his own room. This involved moving him out of the room he shared with his older brother and then re-organizing both rooms. I also had to find a place for all of my stuff, this was the hard part. I took over part of our living room, a large part.

This is now my "little" corner of the living room.

In this picture you can see my vintage dollhouse that needs a ton of work, and the 333 Franklin St. dollhouse that I have been trying to work on.

Notice the little part of a black and white body on the table, this is one of my Boston Terriers, Boomer. He has been jumping up on the table since I moved it in this room, the little stinker keeps trying to get into my witch's cottage.

This is my other corner, I bought the portable wardrobe to store all of my plastic containers.



Have a great Saturday everyone!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Hello and Welcome New Followers!

March has flown by for me....I haven't posted in quite awhile and I do apologize for being so late in welcoming all of my new followers. I have had so many things I have wanted to post about and life just keeps getting in the way. I promise I'm going to try to do better! I have recieved some fabulous miniatures recently and I'll be posting some pictures of those soon. I have a lot of new swap pictures to add to my website. I've been working on my 333 Franklin lately and have a few pictures to post of some things I have made for it. I still have more trash to treasure goodies to add. I won some mini furniture from The Dollhouse Company so I'll be posting about that. I've been working on my work room, doing a lot of organizing and making labels with my new label maker. I've been working on some new projects to add to my site and I'll be adding a new element to my website...it's a secret so I can't share it yet. I will also be re-opening the Miniature Barter Board as soon as I finish working out some bugs. I also recently joined MECA Mini Forum, Miniature Enthusiasts, Craftsmen & Artisans.....like I needed one more place to play on the internet. LOL!

Please help me welcome my new followers!

Maija from IIDASANTTU
Norma from the blog Make Mine Mini
Meli Abellan ~I can't find a blog for this one
Cia of Briarwood Miniatures
Tanya of Tanya's Place in Cyberspace~Talking Trash
Carol from Wee Cute Treasures
aru of the blog aruoc
Jody from Peach Blossom Hill
Lara of the blog Lara's Miniature World
Anthoula from A life in miniature
Susanne ~ Miniature Dreams
Eva J from EVAS MINIATYRER
Lisa Johnson-Richards ~visit her Blog and Website
Anneke of the blog pieplyts
Josje from A Beautiful World
Jolie from the blog Jolie's Sanctuary
Natalia ~No blog
Noemí of Character Dolls & Miniature Babies by IGMA Artisan Noemi Pascual
Island Ephemera from the blog Island Ephemera
Allie of Mini Eats
Janice from On Being a Mini Mum......
Marleen of marleen's miniaturen
Sylvia from Miniaturas Natasylvia
Choupavril from the blog Mini Rivoli

Be sure to stop by and visit their blogs or websites!

Thank you all for following!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

I couldn't resist!

I really tried! Like many others, I purchased a dollhouse from HBS during the 50% off sale. I bought the Willow, a Colonial style dollhouse, even though I am currently working on three dollhouse at the same time and have two kits still in boxes. I need to have my head examined! I don't even have a place to put anymore dollhouses, but I'm not letting that stop me, I'll just get rid of our furniture if I need to, we can sit on the floor. =) Right?

I would like to tell everyone about a new website, AmanSpeak Miniatures. The owner/artist Amanda, creates scrumptious 1:12 scale dollhouse food. Please pop over and have a look!

I've been working on the 333 Franklin lately, I'm making it a Diner with living quarters above. I'm going for an aged look so I have been researching aging techniques. This morning I found some great articles by Pat and Noel Thomas in several old Nutshell News magazines. One of the articles was about how to make the Chrysnbon bathroom kit look like porcelain and how to age it. I'm very excited to have found that!

I see that I have several new followers, Hello, Welcome and Thank you for following! I'll be back to give you a proper welcome in a separate post!