Met up with our friend Christine from Little Trimmings who treated me to a glorious, sticky toffee pudding (yes, with ice cream) on Saturday evening.

Many thanks to Jean Sharpe who was kind enough to bring her incredible, fully decorated 1/12th caravan over for people to have a look at.

I have been catching up with all sorts of RL stuff.   Also trying to get workshops done in step by step photos which take time and I really need to be in the mood to do it. Thankfully I have until October, but watch this space as I will be on the last minute to finish.

The juniors at Burscough dolls house club, three finished my project which was supposed to take 10 months but in actual fact took 16 months due to my having had keyhole surgery ( had to be mini) and recovering afterwards;  Lucy, Catherine and Chloe did  it and they have done me proud, all are 12 years old.    The photos can be seen on my blog at   www.hazel-dowd.co.uk  

Still a couple more to finish but exams got in the way so maybe during the holidays this can be done.

 I have also finished my articles for the DHMS shop window display and hope to get started on more with fitting the shop out and adding customers and shop assistants.  Also to be done in step by step photos, again no time limit just to send in as and when they are ready.   Lovely to know your work will be accepted for publishing.

Friend Jane Harrop has just published her third How To book and it is fabulous.   www.janeharrop.co.uk    Jane visited the clubs at Hindley Nr. Leigh and Burscough doing workshops both of which I belong to.

Another friend Babs came last Sunday and w2e had a doll dressing day.   Babs managed to finish the doll including the draping which actually makes a huge difference but not the wigging.   She assured me that she could do that at home.   A lovely day and it makes you really enjoy the time together as miniature making can be a lonely experience and until you get to a club or have a friend come for the day this really makes you appreciate the friends you do make in the mini world.

Completed the roof on my dollhouse, but did not need to buy the copper flashing.  There were only tiny gaps between some of the shingles, and I took care of those with some shingle stain and a tiny paintbrush, voila! invisible....

Now I'm working on finishing some cupboards for the kitchen.  I bought some miniature hutches from Michael's, broke them in half (carefully!) so that the hutch became two separate pieces:  a cupboard and a chest.  I painted two of the cupboards to match my yellow kitchen cabinets, and will either be whitewashing or very lightly staining them.  I am really pleased so far...  The rest of the pieces I will be either staining or painting, depending upon the room.  Soooooo amazed that I can have affordable (cheap, really) furniture for my dollhouse!

Speaking of cheap...  I bought this bathroom set from  Miniatures.com.  I thought it was such a great price, plus all white, which I needed...  Bad idea.  Had the package open 5 minutes when I broke off one of the handles on the bathtub, plus the morror arrived broken.  This item was such a disappointment, but at least it was cheap.  Maybe I'll upgrade later when my dollhouse is more complete...  Oh well, this was the first time I've ever been unhappy with something I've bought from them, so I will definitely remain a repeat customer!!! ;)  One thing is for sure: this hobby can be dangerously expensive!

Took a break from all crafting yesterday and spent the day with family.  We had a spontaneous and fun day of shopping, movie watching and dining!  I love going to the bookstore, and Books a Million is the only place I can find Miniature Collector magazine, so I was all too happy to go there.  I was a bad girl, though.  I also bought two Jane Austens and one fun vampire novel!  Talk about varied taste in reading matereial, lololol!  Anyway, I think Northanger Abbey is calling my name as I type this, so see ya later, chickies!!!

Shingles going up today, yaaaay!!!  I need to go to my local home store first, though.  I need a weensy bit of copper flashing for the corners where the gable meets the roof...  Well, I don't NEED per se, but it would be a nice touch in case I do a poor job of shingling and have some show through underneath, which will probably happen...  Wish me luck!

Oh yeah, decided I can't keep my hands out of the clay after all.  Thanks to Donna's tutorial challenges, I have been motivated to learn to make some fruit and vegetable canes.  Thanks, Donna!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on my dollhouse:  Had a roof raising the other day, and stained shingles tonight.  Kiddo even helped me separate and place each one onto cardboard so that they won't stick together - and hopefully will dry much faster.  Now, I need to find some wallpapering tutorials.  I ordered my electrical kit from Hobby Lobby.  Occaisionally they have 40% off coupons, so I saved $20!  YAAY, can't wait till it comes!  Has onyone else used this kit?  Is there anything else I may need (or want) to get before beginning?  Any sage advice from someone more experienced?

I need to order two interior doors and the moulding kit for my house from Real Good Toys.  That can wait, though, till the papering is done....  I admit, I am really nervous about the interior finishing.  Having never done this in ANY scale, and being the perfectionist that I am, I feel a little stress thinking about all of it.  Oh well, maybe Donna will come up with some fantastic tutorials to help me along!

Two other interesting bits...  From RGT, I ordered this 1989 Simplicity pattern .  Yessss, I know it is somewhat of a collector's item, but I plan on using it!  I want to make my own curtains and comforter, and this pattern should help, if not at least give me a starting point...  The other thing I did was make some groovy, 70ish looking placemats using my Mom's Cricut.  I cut out two different sizes of rounded-corner rectangles in complementary colors, stuck 'em together, then fed them through my laminator - voila!  Plastic place mats!  Easy-peasy, and believe me, I am keeping my eyes open for more miniature ideas using her Cricut!

Ah well, have to get Kiddo into the bath, then bed for us both....  He is going to be one cranky kiddo in the morning when he can have NO food or drink...!

Now, having said that, has anyone else tried this?  I need advice!