Already?....

I cannot believe it is Nov. 1st already!  Life sure has a way of getting away from you when your too busy to pay attention....  I hope I can get back to blogging and doing my minis,  I have really missed them quite a bit.  Since I returned from vacation (2 -1/2 months ago) I have been facing some health issues that I am trying to get resolved and then my dear husband has been on me about getting a new computer (the other one worked perfectly fine).  So I called his friend who builds computers and told him what I need & what I plan on using it for & he works up a price, we agree and he builds this computer.  Now, we go to pick up the new computer & he has build me this MONSTER computer that is probably more suited for gaming (which my husband LOVES to do).  This thing has more power, memory, and video capability than I could ever dream of using, and my poor husband is so jealous now because it is better than his.  (Which I suspect was his friends goal all along!)  So I am kind of frustrated with this new computer because it wasn't really build for me yet I paid for it.  I have not even hooked up my printer or scanner yet.  All of my photos & Itunes & old files are all on this external hard drive which i cannot even find the cord for & I have not had access to any of it for about 3 weeks now!  Sigh, so now I have this ginormous machine that I can get online with and play spider solitaire.....  VERY FRUSTRATING!!!!
OK, I'm done whining now.  I just had to vent. 

The other main this that takes up my free time is doing coupons.  I started doing this in mid June of this year and I have to say, it is not a bad hobby.  I originally got into it to save money because the NAME national convention is coming to my state next year & I wanted to save some money up for just the convention so I can do some guild free shopping while I am there.  So far it is a win/win, I am steadily saving money for my trip & getting my groceries & household stuff for really good prices.

I have been working on a few minis here and there, and this weekend starting to make some parchment scrolls and little stacks of parchment paper tied up with string to use on my witch's hutch.  I am playing around with roughing up the edges so they look worn and like well read parchments, but that is a work in progress.  I read somewhere (forgive me I forget where) that using incense to burn the edges works well, and I did have some good results with that.  Hopefully soon I can get some photos posted if I can find my camera cord to hook up to the monster. 

I guess that is is for now,

Take care,

It has been a while

Well, I have been back from Leakycon for about a month now, and things are just getting back to normal.  I am just now getting caught up on several of my chores that got REALLY behind while I was gone.  The conference was AMAZING!!!  I was sort of like a lost puppy, I had no idea where to go or what I was supposed to do most of the time, but I still had a ball!  There were around 3500 people that attended throughout the 4 days, so it was crowded most of the time.  It was a blast walking through the hotel constantly passing people in their school robes, or uniforms, and the odd looks from people at the hotel who did not know what was going on.  :)  There were a lot of great costumes there as well.  I am planning on doing a day by day breakdown on my other blog with lots of photos, (so I don't crowd this one up), which hopefully I can begin tomorrow, so if your interested or want more details, be sure to check it out.  I will put a few photos in this post just to show some of my favorite places in Hogsmeade....

I just love these jars in Honeydukes....

This is at night going into the Three Broomsticks 

 Every ones favorite Every Flavor Beans

 Going through the main arch into Hogsmeade Village

The Hogs Head Inn

Well, there are a few photos for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Like I said, I will have loads of  photos on my day by day account of our entire trip on my other blog.

As far as what is going on with me & miniatures, that has been hectic as well.  I think I had mentioned previously that i had quit my local miniature club back in April.  Well, since then a few other members of that club also decided to quit & we ended up getting together and forming our own club.  It seems that we all agree on how we all want our club to work & what we want our club to accomplish, so everyone is much happier in this new setting.  So we have been busy getting that set up & making some basic decisions on what we want to work on & focus on as a group.  2 meeting ago, we all got together & made about 80 plates of cookies to donate as State Day Favors for a State Day coming up in September in South Carolina.

These are our cookies, the photo is a little washed out, but they are cute none the less.

These were done in 1" scale.  I was surprised at how simple these were to make!

Well, I guess that is it for now.  Hopefully now that things are settling down, I can get back to my regular routine & catch up on what everyone else is doing on their blogs!!

Take care!

Finished my Mirror (finally)

Just a real quick post to show you guys my mirror. 

Now I just need to make sure it stays in one piece on the trip down to Orlando!  I will have lots of pictures when I get back.

Take care,

Lori

Almost time .....

I cant believe there is less than a week to go before we leave on our trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and the Con!  I am getting so excited but also starting to panic a bit because I really don't feel prepared!  I have done so much planning and thinking about this trip, it just seemed like it would NEVER get here.  Now, with only 6 days left to go, I do not feel ready at all!  All of the big stuff is done.  Now it is the hundreds of tiny details to worry about.

 The Conference is shaping up to be full of activities and things that I just cant miss.  They came out with the schedule a few weeks ago & I have almost sorted out what activities I will attend.  There are several that overlap, but at this point I will just have to wait & see how I am feeling at that time.  A few really cool things that they recently announced is 1.) about the movie & 2.) about the actor signings.  For the movie, they got special permission from Warner Brothers for the con people to see the movie 6 hours before the official midnight release!  For the actor signings, They have all of the new actors that play the children in the epilogue, so Rose, Hugo, Scorpious, Albus Severus, Young Lily Evans, Young James Potter.  Also the actors who play Percy Weasly, Luna Lovegood, & Pansy Parkinson will be there as well. 
At this point, I am not sure how good my chances are of getting autographs, but I will try my best!

Originally I had planned on making 4 mosaic tiles mirrors to donate for their charity auction,  but time and supplies did not allow for that, so I will have one mirror to donate which is almost completed.  I chose to Hufflepuff because I had both of their house colors on hand.  I will try to post a photo on here before I go, but if not, then definately after I get back so you guys can see it.

My offer from March still stands, for anyone who wants a postcard postmarked from Hogsmeade, I will be glad to send you one, I just need to get your address.  My e-mail link should be on my profile now.  I have several people that I am sending them out to, so it would not be a big deal to add a few more to the list.  I have Cates info from Solet Luna Studios, and I could have sworn there was at least one other from blogland that sent me their info, but for the life of me I cannot find it in my e-mail, so please resend it if you would like a post card.

I guess that is all for an update for now,  I need to get back to packing & checking my list!

Take Care.

Not much going on....

I have been doing a lot of planning for the Harry Potter conference that I will be attending in July.  I have been scouring the web for deals & ideas on hotels, tickets, travel & any other thing possibly related to my trip.  We have decided to take the train (it will be cheaper than driving), which really, I am soooo happy about because really, how else SHOULD one travel to Hogwarts if not by train! 

It is also that time of year for State day again, (which has snuck up on me this year) and is actually this weekend.  It should be a lot of fun & I will get some photos posted of that after I get back.  This year we get to make a clock which I am very excited about!

I also have recently decided to NOT renew my membership to my local mini club this year.  I am kind of sad about it, but there was some drama going on & I am getting too old to play games with people.  It was meant to be an enjoyable thing spending time with others who enjoy minis as much as I do, but it turned into something completely different (at least for me).  I have made several good friends there & I am sure we will still get together every once in a while to play & catch up.

Well, kind of a short update & no new photo's but that is all I really have for now.

Take care!

Exciting news, but I wont be posting often for the next several months.

I have decided to go to Leakycon This year.  For those of you who don't know, Leakycon is a Harry Potter Fan Convention that will be held @ Universal Studios In Florida.  I normally don't get to do these types of things (due to budget), and I have never been to any sort of fan convention, but this is something that I CANNOT miss out on.  This is the end of a era for Harry Potter fans, and it IS possible for me to go, so I am going to grab this once in a lifetime opportunity & not think (too much) about how that money could be better spent.  My love for all things Harry Potter runs very deep & I will be able to share this with the most enthusiastic, die hard, dedicated fans from around the world!!!  I am sooo excited, ever since I paid for my registration I cannot get to sleep at night because I cannot stop thinking about it!!!



So, I will be busy planning for this trip for my family & I, which will not leave me much time to blog.  During the con, they will be holding a charity auction of fan art & fan crafted items to raise money for the HPA (Harry Potter Alliance)  & Book-Aid International, so I am trying to come with some ideas of things to donate.  I have an idea for some mosaic tiled mirrors, I just have to see if I can find the right colored tile.  I could also make some cute little potion necklaces which wont raise much, but every little bit helps!  Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome of more stuff I could make in my spare time.
I will take photos of what I'm doing, but I'm not sure when I will get to post them.  I might start a temporary blog just about Leakycon so I can ramble on about it just not on here....

Oh, last thing, I was thinking that since I will be going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, if there are any of my followers out there that would like to get a postcard with the Hogwarts stamp & postmark on it I would LOVE to send you one.  Kat the Hat Lady, I know you are a big fan, & Debbie, I know you are too.  Cate, I know your doing The Burrow right now (the pipes are brilliant by the way) (I haven't had time to comment), so I am guessing you are as well, and Janice, Doing the Leaky Cauldron right now... well enough said!  :)    If I missed anyone, I am sorry, But I am putting this invitation out to anyone who follows my blog, I just need you to send me an address where you want it sent, your favorite character, your favorite house, and your all time favorite scene.  I am not sure what the choices will be for postcards, but with that info, I should be able to find something you would like!  I have added my email address to my profile.

Thanks for reading,
Take care!

Cubbies (finally) all finished & potion jars....

Well, I finally finished building all my drawers for my shelf.  I am really glad that is over!  I am very happy with the way they turned out.  Right now they are functional, but not pretty.  Eventually I might paint them or cover them with pretty paper, but for now they will work.  I have been busy sorting & trying to figure out how I am going to organize all of my mini's.  I keep on finding more containers & bags & boxes that have minis in them.... (sigh)  I might have to open a shop just to get rid of some of this stuff I will never use.  Below is my shelf thing completed....

I went to the craft store & found some small wooden threat spools that I ended up using for the knobs on all the drawers.  They worked out pretty good.  You can kind of see the plastic drawers to the right of my shelf unit, I am using those drawers for the larger things, like furniture, glues, paints, stains, pasta machine, etc...  I am using the temporary stickers to label the drawers until I finalize where everything will actually go, then I plan on printing out some pretty labels & make it look a bit more consistent.

I have also finally gotten a chance to play with my resin stuff to try out filling potion jars.  It is much more fun than I thought it would be.  I have only tried 4 different colors, but I do like them, once I figure out how to finish the tops of them, I think they will look great on my spooky hutch.  Below is a photo of a few of the ones I have done....

My son really like the teal one, it reminded him of kool-aid!  The solid red one is supposed to be blood of some sort, but I think I need to tweak the color of that one a bit more... but that is the fun of experimenting!

That is really all I have for now.  Thanks for reading,

Take Care!

Organizing...

Just a quick post, I know it it has been a few weeks, but I have been busy working on a full size project.  Recently at work they have gotten new office furniture (which has been great by the way) for almost everyone in our office.  They were donating all of the old furniture to local charities (which again, is great), but in the piles & piles of old furniture that were stored out in our warehouse, I spotted this shelf that would be well suited for storing & organizing miniatures.  I asked If I could buy it, but they gave it to me instead!  I was so excited, it is just perfect....



Ok, so this is the shelf.  It is very dusty & the back panel was coming off, so I had to re-nail it, but other than that, it is in good shape.  It is actually an old literature rack so I thought it would be a simple thing to get trays to fit into the slots & that would hold everything I needed it to.  Boy was I wrong!  I did finally find a company that had trays that would actually fit each cubby, but they were 16.95 each & I need 22 of them!  So I decided that I would make them myself out of foam core.  Each cubby is 12" wide x 12" deep x 4" tall.  As you can see in the photo, I have a few of my boxes done ( all the white ones) I was just trying them out to make sure they fit.  I still need to figure out some sort of knobs for the front, but first I need to finish making all the boxes.  Currently I have 10 left to finish.  Hopefully by this weekend I can finish them up.  The really nice thing about making them myself, is that I can add dividers into whichever box I need them in & they should be easy enough to change around.

Well, that is all for now, I need to back to gluing my drawers together....

Take Care!

Aging Paper

Well, I finally got my first attempt at aging paper sealed & cut finished.  I have actually been done since Sat, but my kids have been sick & work has been crazy busy, so this is the first chance I have gotten to get it posted.  This project was actually a lot of fun!  I really enjoyed "painting" my paper with tea and experimenting with adding coffee & salt... I am really happy with the way they turned out. (You can click them to make them larger)

These are all my little parchments...I have no idea what on earth I will do with all of them, but they sure are cute!

On this one and the next one you can really see the ages spots well... I am most happy with those! 

I think before I actually use them in my scene, I will dirty up the edges a bit or burn them a little to get a more authentic feel to them.  Next time I want to do some little stacks of blank parchment and some scrolls, I think that would a be a lot of fun, and I need some anyway! 
Well, I don't have much spare time, so I will post again soon!

Take Care!

Magazines Everywhere!!

Recently, I found out that one on the ladies in my miniature club has a subscription to American Miniaturist.  Now when I stopped doing minis 14 years ago,  There was a magazine that I loved called Nutshell News.  At the time, it was the only one I would get because it was such a good magazine.  When I started back up a few years ago, I was sad to find out that they no longer do that magazine, but the new one "American Miniaturist" was close to the type of magazine it was, so I found one & bought it.  I liked it well enough, but never really found it in my budget to subscribe for a year...so when I found out a club member had hers for the last several years, I had asked her if I could borrow some of them just to look through for any interesting projects.  Well, she shows up at the next meeting and brings me this.....

I was so excited, but quickly told her it may be a few months before I could get through all of them... I really only expected her to bring me 5 or 6 of them, which would have been great!  Then she proceeds to tell me that she really never looks at them & she does not want them back... she is giving them ALL to me!  I was speechless to say the least.  I tried several times to have her keep them but she really did not want them anymore, and I really cant get a subscription right now so I gladly took them, and sang "Merry Christmas to me"  all the way home.  I spent the next night sorting and organizing them, and finding a new home for them in my cramped space, and come to find out She had given me 6 years worth of issues and I am only missing 9 of them for a complete set!  It was so amazing, it still makes me smile to think of her wonderful gift!

Take care!

Presents in the mail....

I had a little package come in the mail for me on Saturday, and I finally got a chance to photograph it... I HAD to get one of Kats Pirate hats, well, because I just LOVE the Captain Jack Sparrow character....So while in her ETSY store I saw a teal looking witches hat that I think I am going to keep for my long term "The Burrow" project.  I am just really collecting things for it right now & have figured out the ground floor.  Kat, being the wonderful person that she is, put a little something extra in my box which I am so excited to have, & they will go perfectly with my hutch that I am currently working on!!
Anyway, Here are my newest hats....

Yes!  She sent me a little pair of witch shoes!! Aren't they adorable!

Here is a closer picture of the 2 hats, you can see the stitching better on the Jack hat & the details on the teal patchwork hat....

and here is a better photo of the shoes!  I just love them to pieces!

It seems as time goes on, that I become more & more addicted to her lovely little hats!!  I still have to figure out what on earth I am going to do with the pirate hat....  now I have to do a pirate scene....:)  Now I get to learn how to make little fimo pieces of eight!!  LOL  At least I have plenty of empty bottles for the rum.  Wow, I must be getting tired...

Take care!

Random Jars

I have been playing around with filling some of the bottles I have been collecting for the past year.  Most of my ideas for filling revolve around using a resin of some sort, but I have not ordered any yet, So I thought I would play around with some things I already had around the house.  Honestly, most of them looked really stupid, but I did manage to get a few done that I might actually be able to use.  

The photos are a little dark, but not too bad.  You can click on them to make them bigger.

 These 2 jars have the bones in that I posted about earlier.    

These 2 have dried-smushed flowers in them.  The one to the left is a really dark red from red roses & the other is a really pretty lavender color.

These two you can see the colors better & the tops have clay on them right now just to keep the stuff in while I decide how to top them off.  I am probably going to use some jewelry findings & beads to make the tops.  The one to the left is a square shape & the circular one is flat.  I think I like these 2 best       (so far).  :)

This is a part of one of the flowers,but I really liked the way it looked in the jar.  It has good texture.

Here are all of them together.



So far that is all I have done.  I still need to decide what to call them, and then make & attach the labels, but before I can do that I need to learn how to age paper.  I started last weekend and have a few pages that turned out pretty good, so I am going to make more aged paper this weekend & see If I can get some labels & scrolls & random pages to lay about with assorted things on them.  I have some dragons, mushrooms, botanical drawings, ect that I have printed onto the aged paper, but I still have to seal them.  (I just bought the sealer last night) so that should pretty much take up my free time this weekend.

Take care!

My Witch Hats....

Well, I have gotten a little side tracked, but I finally did get some pictures taken.  I do not have anything from Christmas to show you, I think I left that at work.  But I will show you my attempt at making a witches hat following Kat-The -Hat -Lady's tutorial, click  HERE to go and try for yourself.  I actually wasn't planning on doing this tutorial for quite some time, (I am trying to stick to my to finish list before I begin anything new) but I was shopping one day and checking the clearance bin, and came across this suede like wallet that would be perfect for a hat for $1.50.

 It was too good of a deal to pass up, so I added one more thing to my list and moved it to the top!  The tutorial was very easy to follow and I didn't have any trouble following the instructions, but doing those little seams in the back was a lot trickier that I had anticipated!  Especially since I could not fit my fingers in there!  I am really particular about my seams being straight, so it took a bit of work, and my tongue had to be sticking out of my mouth just so, but I got there!  I then went to the fabric store & got some trim for the edges.  It is hard to tell in the photo but the one on the left is gold in color.  The one on the right is supposed to be like a fur trimmed hat, but I couldn't get the fur to turn out like I wanted it to be.  The one in the picture is the closest I could get.  After all that, then I got to put the wrinkles in.  That part was pretty fun, but it was hard to decide where I wanted them!  I finally just made a commitment & put the glue inside.  Overall, I really am happy with the way they turned out, especially since I have never done anything like that before. 

I have also been working on filling some bottles for my witch's hutch, but I think I will save that for next time.  I need to go and get some real life stuff done.... oh if only I could live in miniature world for a while....

Take Care!

Ideas Welcome....

Just a quick post to say that tonight I am going to dedicate myself to taking all of the photos I need to do my next blog posts!  I don't like blogging without the pictures, that is half the fun!  so when I go for long periods of time with no posts it is because I have no time to take my pictures for the posts. 

I am a excited because today I got my confirmation that I got in to this years State Day.  It is hard to believe it is almost time again for that.  This is the only miniature event I usually get to attend besides the monthly club meetings, so I look forward to it quite a bit.  I thought I would post a quick pic of the project for this year & get some input from you guys.

The box is split in two & the bottom is where you put your scene.  Being the Harry Potter fan that I am, when I first saw the clock, I really wanted to do Mrs. Weasley's clock (withe the family faces on the arms of the clock) & then for the scene do a room from the Burrow.  So, my question to you is which room should I do.  The room is not very big.  I think it it is 9" x 9" & 5" deep.  The Kitchen has a lot of possibilities, I could do like the stove with a pantry & bookshelves with all of her cooking stuffs around.  But the livingroom could be fun too.  I could do her little knitting chair with baskets of yarn &  a little side table, or I could do the fireplace with a chair & rug.  Then again, any of the bedrooms could be fun as well!  Any input or ideas are welcome!!

Well, I am off to take my photo's now...
Take care!

My little pots

These are some little pots that my cousin made me for Christmas.  I actually got them a few weeks before Christmas, but it was around the time my computer went crazy, so I am now just getting to get them posted.  He actually does regular pottery and one day I was looking through his site HERE, and I came across some small pots he had photos of.  So of course I immediately contacted him to see if I could buy them.  He had made them just to test out some of his new glazes, but promised to make me some for Christmas.  I thought he would make like 4 of 5 (which I would have been happy with) but I was so surprised when I opened my packages to find such a large assortment of pots and bowls!  Some of them are too big to use for 1" scale 'regular' pottery, but they will work for some large corner urns and things.  Don't worry... I can make them work!  My daughter keeps asking me which one is my favorite, and I am hard pressed to choose just one.  I like them all for different reasons!     

The rest of my Christmas was real life stuff, but I still enjoyed it all.  I did get the Harry Potter Film Wizardry book which Michelle has a brilliant post about HERE, she has taken great photos of some of the pages inside the book which I really don't know when I will get a chance to do, but it truly is a wonderful book full of Harry Potter eye candy!

Well, That is about it for now.  I will try to post this weekend about our miniature club Christmas party.

Take Care,

(P.S. Sorry for the messy formatting, still getting used to the new photos posting thing.  It wont let me arrange them like I used to be able to.)