All at Sea - with a bucket and spade!

I’m having a good bank holiday. Today I went to the Nugget, me and em, Mu, Joy and Peter. Joy’s just finished A-levels. Pete’s just done GCSEs. They both did really well. And they had birthdays a couple of months ago. Joy was 18, Peter 16. I gave Joy her origami tree. It’s a relief not to have to think about the cats going near it! And I made a card which I forgot to photograph. D’oh. It was good as well. Better than I usually come up with! It had photos inside. Like these:

 She very cute, don’t you think

I had a lovely 12oz rare ribeye steak with salad. It was beautiful. Cooked just how I like it. Red but not too bloody. That was fine although 8oz might’ve been a better choice. Unfortunately, I then had a pudding. Belgian Waffle Stack. Two big thick waffles. Chocolate ice cream in the midlle. Quite a lot of chocolate ice cream. Thick gooey chocolate sauce poured over it, running down the sides. It was really yummy. But alas, as is usual when I overeat to such a degree…..

My acid reflux doesn’t like it!

Tomorrow I will be good and eat low fat healthy foods only!

Since I got back off holiday, I’ve made a concerted effort to keep going with the dolls house. When I start Uni, it will be nice to make little bits and pieces for it. I’m figuring I won’t have much spare cash and it’ll entertain me for hours! But before the niceties of putting the rooms together and adding finishing touches (which I think never actually stops), I’ve got to get the thing papered and ‘windowed’. I think I’ll get there in a week or two. I’ve got three (I start Uni on 24th September).

Emma won’t come to B&Q with me now. She has this idea that samples are for people who want to try the paper out before they buy a few rolls?!!! Strange how some people’s minds work.

The top floor is split into two (not visible on the pic above but it is on the one below - click them to view larger images). The left is the bathroom. I’ve got the papers ready. The right side is lounge/bedroom/kitchen all in one. It’s a rented apartment type affair. I’ve papered the right hand room but it’s wrong. I’m going to do it again tomorrow. It’s not right. She’s going to be an artist/seamstress/crafter person and the papers have to be ‘louder’. I’m using papers for the floor aswell. It works fine.

The next floor down has the master bedroom, the girls bedroom and a bathroom. They’re all completely papered. I treated myself to a couple of bits of furniture from the dolls house shop in Spon End yesterday. If I race there, it takes 7 minutes from work. If I go in my lunch break, I get approx. 16 minutes in there. I knew what I wanted. I think the master bedroom has all the main furniture now. I get the ‘paint it yourself’ stuff. I love the bathroom.

The next floor down isn’t as far along. The left room is for a lodger (big house: lots of bills - needs the income!) I really like the paper but it’s really dark for a small room. I might redo it. I don’t think I will but I might. Next to that is the boys bedtroom. I tried out using two papers with the intention of adding a picture rail. I used the ceiling paper - white waffle texture - for the top section of the walls. I like it. The room on the right was meant to be a study but I’m not sure it doesn’t need another bathroom?

The next floor down is a lounge to the left and a kitchen diner to the right. The walls and ceilings are all done except for one kitchen wall; I got bored half way through.

The bottom two floors are untouched. The very bottom floor might have a study and another bedroom. Or a bedroom and a luxury bathroom. If I do that I’ll leave the room further up as a study? Who can say?

The second floor up is my favourite - the nursery. I don’t mean the children’s room. I mean nursery as in creche, day nursery, pre-school. I think that will be the mum’s job. Not sure. Anyway, there’s no family yet. One day I’ll make one

I went to Borth and the surrounding areas - clarach, ynyslas, aberystwyth, machynleth - a couple of weeks back. Me and Em went with the Burnetts. Pete and Lorraine and Enisa. Sam came for a couple of days. The weather was bad mostly. The laptop died on the first day. I didn’t feel well for some of the time. I only had one shower. I think the latter is evident in some of the pics. I was pretty smelly in the end. All part of the fun!

But a holiday is a holiday and I came back feeling rested and like I’d had a break. Part of the pleasure of holidays is sitting around doing nothing.

But we did go somewhere every day. This is us at the top of constitution hill. And me, Lorraine and Enisa getting rid of a few 2p pieces. And Sam and Pete. Pete has since had a tattoo apparently. Blogged here.

Fake crocs which, I have to say, were incredibly practical. And comfortable. The first two pics are at Borth. The third one is climbing sand dunes at Ynyslas, a very beautiful place. I’m a bit wary of the tides there. The sea comes in quickly and unexpectedly. One minute you’re standing looking out to sea; five minutes later, you’re standing on an island surrounded by water without having noticed the tide coming in from the side. A bit scary.

I did manage to get a steak in. My ‘eating out’ treat is steak and salad. Rare steak. Ribeye or sirloin ideally. We took bikes. Cycled off to the beach and round the campsite. The loos were 5 minutes away by foot so we mostly biked there too. I love our little caravan.

Til September then! (Going away for 2 nights in between leaving work and starting Uni - a little caravan park in Oxfordshire. If it works out just going for a night or two, we’ll go places when I’ve got essays to do. I’ll work on the laptop. Emma can look at grass. She likes that sort of thing!)

Last night, me and Emma met Libby for the first time. I say ‘met’, but we didn’t actually see her eyes open. Sleepy little bundle of cuteness that doesn’t do very much. But then, that’s newborns for you! She does look like Lauren did. Lauren was bigger and I think had a different complexion but the face shape is kind of the same. I like the name too. Libby, short for Elisabeth. Elisabeth Joy.

Lauren was in a particularly cute mood. Quite excited I think. Everything was a laugh - from gluing and sticking cards for nursery to eating tea to jumping up and down on me and Emma. It’s always endearing to have a child holding on to your leg not wanting you to leave. Kind of an ego boost.

I think Lauren likes her little sister.

Well done again Abbie and Nick

I found the bookcase in an ex-catalogue shop about three years ago. Discontinued line? Seconds? Returned? It was, if I remember correctly £26. It sat in the corner of the lounge for approximately 18 months. Occasionally I threw in scraps of fabric and wallpaper samples with the intention of turning it into a giant dollhouse.

Eventually it moved upstairs to the craft room and I started buying and making bits and pieces of furniture and accessories. Very very gradually.

Finally, about three weeks ago, me and Emma (mostly Emma!) got the lights working. I’m surprised they did actually work: they lived in the garage for over a year! The bottom level is to be left unlit. At the moment, it will be a handy shelf for storing extra bits. Later, it might be a basement.

I just put all the bits and pieces in the places where the rooms will be (it needs dividing walls). I like it. I feel inspired and eager to carry on making and decorating now. Hopefully it won’t be another 18 months before I touch it again!

A while ago, I set up two flickr groups:

Folding Caravans of the World

Free Printables

The first one, folding caravans has 2 members. One is me; the other is my housemate, Emma. We jointly own the caravan. A bit of a sad turnout.

The other group, printables, has lots of members. It stayed at about 6 for a while. Then it jumped up to 13. Before I went on holiday, it was just over 20. I just looked now. 76. Scared now. I’m sure I’m a bad administrator! I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, if anything. I’m going to read some flickr group administration guidelines. That might help?

Oh dear!

I like kewpies. Cute. Big heads. Big eyes. Features squashed low down on the face. Funny hair. Lovely. Mind you, I’m not sure a real live human would look so great with a kewpie type face.

On holiday I found two kewpie style dolls in a charity shop. Not originals but lovely nonetheless. One has moveable limbs; the other has a one-piece body. Other than that, they’re identical. 30 pence each. I think they were underpriced personally Leah saw one yesterday and fell in love with it. So now we have one each. At some point, I think I may make some clothes. Maybe a dress and pants in vintage fabric? Or a fluffy suit with rabbit ears?

Leah also spotted another doll that she liked. She liked the hair. She wants a friend with hair like the doll so she can style it. So that one went home with her too!

Some more kewpie images:

Not been around for a bit. Been busy. Been sick. Been on holiday. And been putting off blogging. Blogging is a bit like keeping a diary: you miss a day, you feel like you need to update the missed day; you miss a week, you feel like you need to update the missed week; you miss three weeks…….I’m sure you get the picture!

(Come to think of it, it’s also the same with daily bible meditation books).

Anyway, a lovely thing happened. We came back from holiday and instead of finding bare brick (all uneven and non-uniform) in the hall, we found plasterboard. Ian had been busy while we were away. Emma kissed the walls alot.

This spurred her on to do do this…….

The piano is all broken up - a bit in the front garden and the rest in the back! And Peanut is getting used to his new bed

In two hours, me and Em are going on holiday here. Back Friday. There’s loads of good stuff to see. Going with Mr and Mrs and Miss Burnett. I think Sam might be coming for a wee bit too. Really looking forward to it.

The only sad thing is, I’ve finished Harry Potter. Shame. Brilliant read. The best book of all. I’ve heard people say the books got darker as they went along but, personally I disagree. I found this last book fantastically inspiring - lots of self sacrifice, choosing to save the lives of friends and enemies alike, incredible courage. That sort of thing. Can’t say more because I know people who are still reading it

Anyway, I have a new little addiction, making miniatures from printables/printies on the web. So I’ve uploaded and printed out a few sheets to make up if I feel the urge. I’ve made up a little minaturist kit with, I’m pretty sure, everything I could possibly need!. And the laptops coming so I might try my hand at designing a few of my own. Maybe a miffy range. Or miniature paperchase print. I’ve got a few ideas.

Ester, the folding caravan, is equipped with playing cards, top trumps (2 harry potter sets, lord of the rings, 2 doctor who sets, maybe others), uno, blokus and pass the pigs. Usually we sit down every night with a game of something.

And if all that fails to keep me amused, maybe I’ll chat. Pete’s always good for a philosophical/theological debate. Lorraine’s on the course that I’m starting in just over a month so plenty to chat about there. I’m sure Enisa will want to talk about detling - they were there all last week. It was a powerful experience for her last year.

Charlie oversaw the packing. I feel for Charlie. Not the oldest. Not the baby. Not the bravest. Not the prettiest. Not the Cleverest. She was in the spot where the suitcase used to be quicker than……….can’t think of a  metaphor. I was always rubbish at metaphorising (metaphorisation???). Whatever, I was always rubbish at it. I think that’s why my poetry is never all that good. So. back in a few days…..

(I’m sorry to any friends I’ve ignored or neglected this week. I haven’t been very well. Off work. Feeling lots better. Will gradually text and say hi over the next day or two).

I was browsing the net and found this site. I was there for hours - couldn’t get away! The sizes are all wrong for 1:12 scale so I had to reduce this tissue box to roughly 40%. The site’s all in Japanese so I had to just click on everything that looked like it might be a link!

I’m really chuffed with how it turned out. Only took ten minutes. The tissue inside is charmin and it’s a bit thick. Cheaper would be better I’m sure. I did the whole folding the sheets into each other thing so when you pull one out, the next one comes out

Very very impressed. Makes me want to make up my own range of miniature printies!