A Few New Titles & Categories

A few more titles were added to the store today. The book jacket images were found online and placed over wood. The wood makes them nice and sturdy and easy to keep in place.

I also made some labels for genres within the store. Hmm.. which section should I browse?

(Not the best picture, but you get the idea.)

Book Blanks

No, I have not disappeared off the face of the earth. Between the holidays and working a ton of hours, I have just been very busy. Miniatures have been on my mind though and finally today I found some time to work on them. What a relaxing and fun way to spend a few hours! A "mini" escape :)

There are lots of shelves to fill in my book shoppe, so I figured my time would be wisely spent making some books today. These are just filler books to take up some space, but I think they turned out pretty well. I cut varying sized pieces of wood and simply wrapped them in spare scraps of leather. I may go back and add some gold titles/details at a later time. A very simple project, yet time consuming. How many shelves are there again?!

On another note, I have finally come up with a master plan for opening up the Villa. Now I just need to get some proper tools for the job and then "surgery" will begin! I'm very excited!

Goodies Galore!

Here are a few of the purchases I mentioned.

Ahh..the perfect little nook to curl up with a good book! "Leather" club chair from miniatures.com. I lightly sanded it down to add some wear and take away the shiny appearance. Side table came from the old house. Mug of coffee from Hobby Lobby.

I bought a cute metal little bistro set from miniatures.com. It was white and came with a "glass"-topped table and four chairs. The table and other 2 chairs will end up in the Villa- (double-duty-bonus!) White seemed too stark for the bookshop so I painted them green. I'm not sure if they will stay that way though- maybe brown? I'm also thinking of adding some "tiled" flooring to delineate the cafe area.

Bakery case also bought from miniatures.com. I added some paint to darken it up a bit. Cherry pie and plates came from Hobby Lobby. Great cheap finds! How do you think my cookies look? Hoping to fill it up with more goodies soon!

Metal cash register (with working drawer) from miniatures.com. Lamp swiped from the old house ;)

Trying Out My Creativity..

Time to start furnishing the cafe for my bookstore. The store is not big enough to fit a huge cafe, but I still wanted to convey the idea. I had in mind a cute little bistro set.

Yesterday I was at Michael's and found an awesome metal pendant sort of in the shape of a compass. Viola! A table base! The top of the table was made to look like a Formica overlay. Chairs to come..

While looking at miniatures I have been in awe at some of the food I've seen (Kiva's Miniatures- amazing!). I swore I wouldn't even begin to attempt food. It just seemed so daunting. Last night however, I found a little "discovery" that I couldn't resist. I hadn't exactly cleaned up my table from my last adventures. There were little hard globs of Liquid Nails glue left over. Hmm.. a light bulb went off. What could I do with this stuff?

I laid out some intentional blobs on wax paper. This morning they were dry (and didn't stick to the paper). The result- chocolate chip cookies! Not perfect, but not too bad for a first attempt. I have a few more ideas up my sleeve for making the media more workable for my next attempt. Fun!

I also made my first major purchase last night from miniatures.com . Can't wait to get the package and share my goodies with you!

Here are  some miniature paint brushes I thought I would share. They were purchased a few years ago at Dick Blick. As I've said before, I think miniatures have been in my blood for quite awhile and I just didn't know it ;)

Odds and Ends and Flowers Too

I've had little time to work on my miniatures lately :( , however I had a wonderful day today doing some small little projects.

Recently I purchased 3 of my favorite books from miniaturebookstore on ebay; The Stand, Da Vinci Code, and James and the Giant Peach. I will be making many of my books but wanted to get an idea of how other people do them too.

Imho no good bookstore is complete without a Starbucks! After all, a girl can't live on books alone! The official sign went up. Eventually there will be a glass display case full of pastries and goodies next to the counter.

Door hardware and kick-plates were also completed. I found some thin brass sheeting and rods at Hobby Lobby. Pretty simple to make and I think they turned out pretty well.

(glue was still wet in this photo..)

Last, but not least, I made some basic window boxes out of basswood and planted some flowers! The little terracotta pots ("aged" with acrylic paints) were found at Michaels craft store in a pack of 4, along with the silk flowers. The only thing missing on the outside (I think) is a sign. Still not sure what I'm going to name it..

Shelving Complete

Today I got the remainder of the shelving done for my bookstore (except for a magazine stand I plan on building).

I am really happy with the way it's coming together. The little ceramic vases were bought years ago at a pottery festival. Maybe miniatures were always in my blood! They were hand-turned on a pottery wheel. I wish I remembered the artist's name.

Look! The first customer! Too bad the store is empty. I guess he'll have to stick around for awhile! I think I'll call him Buster. (The little ceramic puppy was my grandmothers. I think it's from the 50's?)

Awnings On

Why is it that every time you think something is going to be a snap, it always turns out to be so much more. Awnings, I thought--no problemo! All I need is a simple triangular shape, right?

Maybe I was trying to make it more complicated than it needed to be. I tried a few "triangular" designs, but wasn't happy with any of them.

I finally settled on having simple overhangs. I used basswood wrapped in green canvas. They were attached using wood glue. I wasn't sure if they would stay, but they seem very secure today. Miracle glue I say!

Roof is Done

The shingling is done. Whew.. big job! I used Liquid Nails glue in a caulking gun to attach the shingles.

I guessed my way through doing the seam where the shoppe opens, but think it turned out okay.

I think I am going to stain the side edges of the roof. I am going to install awnings on the windows once I find a fabric I like.

Shingles

Yesterday I dyed the shingles. I had ordered two colors of dye- brown and grey. The effect I'm hoping to get is of a multi-colored roof. If you look really closely you will see three shades.

The first batch (about 3/4 of the bag of 1000 shingles) I did grey. I didn't want a really light brown, so for the second shade I added a little more water to the grey I was using and then dumped the brown dye into the grey. They came out a nice autumn brown. For the in-between shade (really hard to see in the photo), I then took a portion of the ones I had dyed grey and put them through the brown/grey stain a few times. This resulted in a darker brown shade.

I'm happy to see that they are drying nicely. Yesterday they just looked like a giant blob, but today I am able to see more of the actual color. I'm hoping to start attaching them this weekend.

Railings and Shelves

It's starting to come together! I installed the railings that I built the other day, placed the two counters (they are freestanding-- still not sure how I'm going to arrange things at this point) and built some of the shelves. There are plenty more shelving parts, but I want to take some time to think about my layout.

Who Knew Work Could Be So Fun?!

A few evenings ago I caved in and asked my husband for some help. I can use just about any power tool, but I hate drills. I can never seem to hold them steady and they always slip out of my hands so I asked him to help me drill the screws for the hinges. Thanks to him the roof and store fronts are now functional! Hopefully that will be the only help I need.

I had so much fun today and got a ton done! I added a second coat of paint to the exterior and installed the windows. I thought that my corners on the windows were square, but learned they weren't so I did a lot of sanding and shaving to get them to fit. Live and learn!

The stairs were built and installed. The railings are now done, drying and waiting to be installed.

Hopefully this week I will find the time to dye the shingles. I'm a little nervous about this. I bought a brown and a grey dye and I'm going to do a little experimenting. I love roofs that have differing colored shingles, so we will see how it goes.. Any advice would be more than welcome :)

Building Day

Today was a day devoted to putting the pieces together! My first obstacle was figuring out how to pre-punch nail holes. My only other experience with a dollhouse was one that was given to my daughter years ago. I have no idea what brand it was, but it was very flimsy and cheaply built. Not so with the RGT kits! This is some serious wood! 

The wall in the middle is temporarily there to support the loft.

I was so afraid of nailing the holes too hard. I didn't want to split or ruin my project. After a little trial and error, I figured it out and was pretty surprised that I could actually hit the nail pretty darn hard with no splittage problems. The directions recommended doing this on a thick stack of papers. I just laid the pieces down on carpeting. 

Having two sets of hands for the assembly probably wouldn't have been a bad idea, but it really wasn't that difficult by myself. I used Elmer's Stainable Wood Glue and nailed where specified. The hardest part was maneuvering and holding the two roof peaks together- holding them steady while I tried to tape them in place.

gluing the storefront together

So far I'm pretty proud of my progress! It's starting to come together :)  I guess all those hours spent in my dad's garage weren't wasted afterall!

Starting to look good!

A Million Little Pieces..

I have decided in keeping with the bookstore theme to keep the interior pretty simple, in order to bring more emphasis to the books and decor. I have stained the interior walls and floors with a natural stain. The stairs, banisters, rails and shelves were stained in a warm rosewood. Boy all those little spindles took a long time-- all 60 of them!! Everything was sanded and stained twice.

Doors and window frames were painted with dark green Benjamin Moore samples. Again, I wasn't happy with the eggshell finish, but didn't want to buy a pint, so I decided to do a little experiment. I happened to have some gloss Mod Podge on hand so I applied a very thin coat over the green and I think it turned out pretty well!

Even the mundane tasks of sanding so many little pieces and staining the same little wooden dowel 60 times (x2), I have to say that I have found a real Zen in these menial tasks. When I'm working on my miniature, the world seems to drift away, I zone out on Pandora music coming from my phone and let my mind wander. What a little bliss of "me" time!! Love it!

It Has Arrived!! Oh Happy Day :)

I was so happy to see the Real Good Toys package leaning up against my door when I got home! It feels like Christmas!! Wow, the box was heavy! I was beginning to wonder just how many pieces were in this box.

fresh out of the box!

I took all the parts out of the box. I was totally impressed by the quality of the wood. Very thick, not flimsy at all. Now I see what they say that these could be enjoyed for generations. If you start with good quality materials and put the time and effort into it that it deserves, it is sure to be a treasure.

I spent half the night sanding pieces. A little frustrated that they are not sanding as well as I would like, but I read that a light sand over the first coat of paint normally does the job.

Painting the exterior walls- Since it is not a huge house/shop I thought I could get by with the little paint samples from Ace Hardware. Went home and painted. Wasn't happy with the eggshell finish, but I thought I'd sleep on it. The next morning I was equally not happy, so I went and picked a slightly darker shade in semi-gloss. I think this will work. Did one coat, I'll do another after assembly.

Choosing My First Project

Wow! I had no idea there were so many miniature choices! As I started doing research, there were (of course) your typical Victorian style, Queen Anne style (I love the roof lines, but they kind of remind me of "Psycho"--creepy), craftsman style bungalows, townhouses, modern marvels, and shops.

I work in a bookstore and insanely love books so a miniature bookstore seemed like a fun, logical first project. I can just imagine a million little books neatly arranged on shelves! And of course, no good bookstore would be complete without a cafe to get your caffeine buzz on! I was so excited and inspired!

What I wanted:

- A kit. I wanted a project. Not a simple puzzle that snaps together, but a real project that would take some time and effort.

-High quality. If I was going to spend all this time on something, I wanted good quality materials and something that would last.

-Something that really resembled a bookstore. I wanted a display that was accessible and easy to "maneuver"-- no top-loading for me.

-To stay within my price range. Okay, I went slightly over the budget I intended, but for quality's sake I figured it was worth it.

After doing tons of web-surfing I stumbled across the perfect shop! I decided on the Front-Opening Shoppe by Real Good Toys. I was in love!! It had every feature I was looking for! It was just my luck that it also happened to be on special that week. I ordered it!!