Holiday Shopping Everyday Gossip

 MJ's first stop in Home Town is Carmen's house. This is the house which got me back into the hobby. My first two granddaughters were born and I wanted to refurbish it with them. I am on my second remodel and still working on it. LOL Two new windows were added on the second floor. You can see the one on this side.

 

Most of the locations you will see here and for the rest of these special posts are in progress or repair. You may see some of the progress or changes. Some, are the homes of the regulars, but may be used for something else while MJ is here.

I made the brown coat Carmen is wearing last year.

 

MJ and Carmen have a good laugh about her travels.

MJ describes her encounters with some of the handsome men she has met.
They talk and talk and talk

 Carmen and MJ get up early, after laughing and talking late into the night, to go shopping. Something they both enjoy. We will see a few familiar faces and places along with a few new ones.

Carmen took MJ shopping at Niecy's boutique

Customer to Niecy: Is this on sale too?

Niecy: Yes, this is also "buy one get one free." Will this be all?
Customer: Yes.



The shop is bustling. It seems everyone is doing their holiday shopping. MJ and Carmen leave to go to the shoe store next door.

Carmen made an excuse to come back to the boutique to price the necklace MJ liked. She just might buy it for her going away gift. Then she leaves again.



GLADYS BELL!
 Thank goodness MJ is in the shoe store next door or else she might have been the subject of a little gossip! Who knows?

 

Gladys  Bell waits until everyone has left. She is up to something I can tell!

Gladys Bell: Well, hello there little mama!

Niecy: Gladys Bell! You startled me! How are you?
Looking for something for Beth for Hanukkah?

Gladys Bell: Oh, ah YES, That sounds like a great idea!

Niecy: I have something she might like.
 Look at the look on Gladys Bells' face!

Niecy: These new bangle bracelets just came in. She might like these. I know she usually wears gold




 

Gladys Bell: So, uh, how have you been feeling these days Niecy?

 

Niecy: Well, to be truthful Gladys Bell I have been a little tired lately. This must  be the busiest holiday season I have had since I opened! I am not complaining! Just tired.

 

Gladys Bell: Oh, I see.

To be continued...

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Nora and Niecy

 Niecy is busy at work in her boutique when she gets a phone call. It is from  her sister Nora. Nora is out on the patio with her iPhone headphones on. They are both so excited about the up coming move!

Nora: Hey sis!

 Niecy:  Hey, lady! We  are counting the days until you guys arrive! yes, uh huh...everything is going well! Busy! All we need, is you, mom and dad here.

Niecy: I can't talk long. I am getting the closing time rush. So, are you two all packed up?

Nora: Girl, I had to get off my feet and take a rest! I didn't realize we had so much stuff!

                                                                       

 Niecy:        Hold on Nora. (to customer) I'm sorry. May I help you?
 Customer:  Yes, I have decided to take these.
 Niecy:         Listen Nora, I have a customer. I will call you back when I get home. LOVE YOU!


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Sweet Dreams...Clowns and Ponies

Here are a couple of rooms from the big house I bought a few months ago. I want the family to appear rather wealthy, because the house is so big. The wallpaper is actually 1:1 trim.

The boys' room belongs to a set of five-year old twin boys. I dug in my stash and came up with the circus theme. I have shelving and other things waiting to be added.

The girl's room belongs to their nine year old sister who loves My Little Pony. The little pony was also already in my stash! The My Little Pony theme seemed just right for the little girl in the family and a sleepover friend. I am still searching in my goodies for just the right carpeting and fabric for pillows. The comforters are a Barbie sized cut in two. As soon as I cut the wallpaper from around the windows and I find the right fabric, I will make the curtains. I am thinking of perhaps the pink I already have. It is cotton and I am not sure it will match up with the "satin" bedding.



Bedding and curtains are on the way!



Just as I was snapping this the picture moved. LOL

I couldn't believe the match to the wallpaper!

On the hunt for other matching mini My Little Pony stuff.

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HOUSE STYLES

Now that I have decided to create a "neighborhood", I thought I should know more about the houses I am working with and those in general. I knew a little about architecture and house designs. My guess was that there was much much more to know. I knew I wanted a custom houses look and I didn't want a street with cookie cutter houses. I even considered changing a few things to change the style of a couple of them. That is where the research began.

It appears that three of my dollhouses are what is called "foursquare", which makes them look somewhat similar to one another.  I am still checking to see if that is correct. In my quest to learn, I came across this info. It is a list of house styles you might see anywhere in the United States even though some are traditionally regional/national styles. House Styles
 It is Wikipedia so take that into consideration. I still found it useful.

While it is not always necessary to go by the book, creativity makes things interesting, there are times when we do want to use style and period references in our work.

I hope this information was helpful!


Pretty basic with the notable foursquare look

This is the same as above except for the porch and additional roof area.





Even though this is much larger than the others it still has the basic look

Here Comes the Neighborhood!

Ok, so I was shopping in a thrift shop a few days ago while talking on the phone to my friend Jean. As a matter of fact, it is the same one where she and I first met. We chatted about a few things then all of a sudden I could only say, Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! There before me were two beautiful doll houses with three bags of furniture!  This time, unlike before, I rushed over and looked at their tags. They were not sold! In the mean time, Jean was on the other end saying. "What!What!What! Funny of all people she would be the one on the other end at that time!

I told her what I saw and all she could say was, "are they sold? Oh! Are they sold! Still standing there, I expressed my guilt about how many dollhouses I already had and how it would be ridiculous to buy not one but two more! Jean assured me that if it were her...she would certainly buy them. Ok, I said...I am getting them. And that I did. Take a look.

This is the larger of the two. I can do a lot with that porch

I love the little curtains. And it is electrified! But, needs to be reconnected.

I will show the insides of these houses when I start working on them. Which might be soon.
I am now setting up a "neighborhood" in my studio.
We know how I am always doing multiple projects at once. :0D

For years I never even saw ONE dollhouse...now they are everywhere! LOL

Click on pictures for a larger view

GET THE PICTURE...RIGHT

As bloggers, our craft is just a part of having an enjoyable blog. There is another very important part and that is lighting. If we can't get those pictures up and showing just the right lighting our followers can't enjoy the fruits of our labor. So, we are in part photographers as well.

As a novice at blogging with less than one year under my belt, I still find indoor photography challenging. Since I am a blabber mouth and will talk to anyone with at least one ear (that includes my pets and I also know a little sign language lol), I learn so much.

A few months ago, I was talking to an art teacher who was also the yearbook sponsor. After a few question I walked away with new insight and hope. He described a method called three point lighting. I found a site that has helped me somewhat...you will still have to play around with the technique, but it is certainly a starting point. The site has a simulator which was a big help in understanding the effects of lighting.  http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/simulator.html

This year I plan on making one of these light boxes. Minidork shows an extremely easy way to make one with what you probably have on hand. It even has self-contained storage!
http://modernminihouses.blogspot.com/2012/12/let-there-be-light-diy-lightbox.html Maybe those of us who need it can work on and grow our photog skills together.

Hope this helps!
Grandmommy

Stuck on the right thing

I am a person who likes to work on several different projects at a time. This means I don't always have the same set of tools and products in front of me from project to project.

 One product that changes according to the project is glue. There are so many out there it can be mind boggling. Currently, I have six plastic shoeboxes filled with various types of glue from glue sticks to wood glue.

There would be times when one glue would work well on a material, but when I tried to glue that same material to something else the glue wouldn't work at all.

Some time ago in my frustration I found this website. It has been so helpful and I hope it will be for you too. :-)

http://www.thistothat.com/

THE SHOW IS ON!

A few posts ago I mentioned I was busy making clothes for my 1:12 doll stories. Then I read a reply by Zdollcloset using the words "fashion show!" Show?! I scurried around grabbing fabric Scarlet O'hara style in reverse and made some curtains.

The styrofoam was in my view. Quick get the wallpaper book out and see if you have anything to match the curtains and the animal print "carpet". Ahhhh just right. I glued it on the runway, next put palm tree candle holders in place and went to get the models.

Well, remember I made you promise not to laugh. Here is my fashion show with a few of the outfits I made.

Just imagine some loud techno music and off we go....



A lovely yellow and khaki outfit to wear shopping on a saturday afternoon





Our lady wears a cool purple and green cotton suit perfect for this heatwave.



This two piece suit is perfect for meetings at the office.

 



Without the jacket she is ready to go dancing!

I didn't make the blouse, but made then added the burgundy velvet pencil skirt for a professional look.

This is a genuine leather jacket I made some time ago. It goes well with the gold trimmed knit dress underneath. If you look closely you can see the gold button accent on the jacket.

Now she is ready to attend that semi-formal evening wedding after work!

I'm so sorry, he felt there should be male representation with all of the lovely ladies. He grabbed his vest before it was  finished! I think someone told him his bow legs were sexy or something.





And what fashion show would be complete without a bride?



 

Wait...hol'....somebody help the bride!!!!

And uh that concludes our fashion show!
(somebody untangle the bride please!)