Just a quick catch up

 I haven't gotten a lot done in these last two weeks but thought I should drop in to let you all know where I'm at.  

First, when thinking about my birdcage room box - or my "forest retreat" as I prefer to call it, I always pictured it with a table off to one side with a mirror above it but wasn't sure what kind of mirror I wanted. So, I headed down to my craft room - yes, of course I dropped some bread crumbs so I could make my way back out again - and looked through my stash.  There I found a box of frames I had purchased from Michael's a few years ago.  They had a whole bin of these frame sets.  There are 4 frames in each little package - 2 small round ones, one small square one and one very decorative one.  They came in four different colours and the decorative frame was different in each of the four colours.  They were on sale for $1.25 a package.  I bought lots of packages!

So, I chose two different frames, followed the bread crumbs out of the room, and headed back upstairs to see which frame I liked better.  Whichever I choose will be painted anyway so the colour it is right now doesn't really matter.  First I tried this pretty green rectangular frame.

Although I really do like it, I took a look at my other choice.  It has an arched top to it and, of course, there are several arches in the bird cage itself so this seemed like a no-brainer for my mirror choice.

This will be painted before I cut the mirror out to insert.  

This choice made, I set it aside, installed my steps and started adding the "rocks" to the base of my little retreat.

From there, I turned my attention back to my fireplace and chimney.  I dirtied up the inside of the firebox and, after taking another look at the tiles I installed earlier, decided that the location of the mantel was going to be much too low.  So, I added four more rows of tile in a decorative pattern and installed the rocks over the whole thing.  Then I installed some logs and a set of flickering fireplace lights behind the logs.  Before putting it in place I used some hot glue to build up the area that will be the "flames".  In the next stage I will use some alcohol inks to colour the glue areas to look more like flame colour. Here is the fireplace with the expanded tile area and with the lights turned on.

In the upcoming two weeks I will be painting all of the rocks - first with an all-over coat of a light colour, then adding a few other colours to bring out the rock look.  Then I will attach it to the cage and add the mantle piece.  I hope I will also have time to make a light fixture I have in mind and perhaps a few of the smaller, decorative items before my final couple of weeks will be spent on the "pièce de la résistance" for which I am hoping I can do justice.

I know this is not a lot of progress but I am hopeful I can do better before my next post.  Wish me luck!  Have fun mini-ing!  TTFN!! - Marilyn