Boxed into a corner!!!!

At least that's the way I'll probably be feeling by the time I'm finished! I decided I should probably start some tidbits while I try to make up my mind about what I'll make as "gifties" for this year's Camp Mini Ha Ha. I downloaded two different designs from A Lavender Dilly on Etsy. Now, this is a shop located in Australia so the recommended weight of paper to print these on was 200 gsm. Here, in Canada, even though our official units of measurement have been metric for decades, we're kind of schizophrenic when it comes to metric versus imperial measurements. For instance, when buying meat in the supermarket, we post the weight in kilograms, then advertise it as price per pound. When it comes to paper, we still tend to refer to the weight in pounds (per ream - 500 sheets). The biggest problem in converting the gsm (grams per sq. metre) to pound weight is that different types of paper comes in different sizes - 8 1/2 by 11 inches; 11 by 17 inches, etc. - so 500 sheets of one size paper does not compare to 500 sheets of another. Let's not even talk about how that then translates to gsm!!! Bottom line - it doesn't!! So, to make a long story short - and when have I ever tried to do that?!? - I made an executive decision and had the boxes printed on 65 pound card stock. It seems to be the perfect weight, thankfully.


My first attempt to put the boxes together, I decided, against the actual instructions, to score them on the inside, instead of the outside as recommended, before folding. As a result, the box tops did not fit over the bottoms. Once I actually followed the instructions and scored them on the outside, it worked fine. The only adjustment I had to make is that, on the two larger sizes, the ends with the tabs on them need the height to be trimmed a bit as, once all four sides are folded up, the ends are a little higher than the sides. Luckily I found this out after cutting out and gluing together only a couple of sets so was able to cut all the others out correctly.

My plan is to put together 4 sets a day so will have them all done in 9 days. Sweet!! Now if I can just think of what to do for my gifties...


Moving on, remember my Dorian Grey attic scene? When you last saw it I mentioned I was going to put chimney pots on top of the chimney I built to hide the wiring. I went online to a chimney pot manufacturer to find images of the various kinds of pots. I found this one:

They call this style "The Bishop". Now, why they don't call it "the Rook" is beyond me!! Anyway- of course that's exactly what it looks like to me so what could be easier than dragging out the old set of hand-turned and cut chess pieces I bought at Value Village last year? They're quite rustic - not a very practiced hand made these but. that's what I like about them. Measuring the length of the top of the chimney, I decided I would use 3 chimney pots. I want the middle pot to be taller than the other two so I chose two rooks and a king to use. I will cut off the top of the king, of course, then will paint them to look like natural terracotta. All in all I am quite pleased with them and will show you a picture when I have them done.

Switching directions again - anyone watch the latest video on "Creating Dollhouse Miniatures"? It's a three minute video showing a miniature dollhouse store. So cute - and very well done with all of the boxes of dollhouses, accessories, finished dollhouses, etc. Lots of inspiration here.

And, to finish today's post with more inspiration, I mentioned the two books of Brian Nickolls that I own and love. Each of them have about a half dozen plans for constructing different buildings along with detailed instructions for cutting, constructing and furnishing. The first is "Making Dolls' Houses in 1/12th Scale". I love all of the projects in this book but I think my favourite is probably the fisherman's cottage. Another one I would love to put on my list but even Santa doesn't have a list as long as mine is beginning to get!




The second Brian Nickolls book is "Making Character Dolls Houses in 1/12th Scale". Another great book with easy to follow instructions and lots of drawings and pictures - I like lots of pictures! I think it's a hold-over from my kindergarten days. Anyway, I do love the pub in this one, as well as all the other plans but, I think my favourite plan in this book may be for the cider house. He even gives plans for making the apple press and cider mill.


The last one I'll show you is a new one I just got in last week. I haven't had time to go through this one in any detail yet. Written by Julie Warrren, "Step-by-Step Dolls' House Furniture Projects in 1/12 scale" is, strangley enough, exactly what the title says it is!! Go figure!! Seriously though, it does seem to have detailed cutting, construction and finishing instructions for a couple of dozen projects which look like they should be fairly easy for even a beginner to follow. Whenever I get around to making something, or even reading through it in more detail for that matter, I should be able to give you a more informed opinion about it!


I end this post with another suggestion that everyone out there think about what inspires them most, in this mini hobby, and then share it with us. We can never have too much inspiration! TTFN!!!