But, now, I’m back! The main thing fueling my creative juices at the moment, is that I’ve decided to stop making excuses, and participate in Camp NaNoWriMo this year. I hate that NaNoWriMo is in November. I have to many things going on at the holidays to even consider taking a month off to write a novel.   But then my friend Joi pointed out that they have started Camp NaNoWriMo, which takes place in June and August. Alas, there go my excuse.

So, I am in the midst of finished up an outline for a book I plan to write in June. I really really just want to complete at least one book before I die. Many if I have a chance, but I’ve got to get over my block and finish the first.

My notes have been filled with sketches of the characters and pieces. I’ve worked out a thumbnail for what I would like to do for the cover, when the book is done. (Note, I have no idea what I’m calling this book yet.)

I will probably work on the cover after finishing the outline, to give myself a break. I would like to have it done before I start writing, so I have some visual motivation/inspiration for the story.  In addition to the cover sketch, I started painting a picture of the main character. I won’t give away any details, but I will say she is pissed off in this picture, I don’t want to be in the shoes of the person she is glaring at.  I may get it done tomorrow.

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Exploring the rooms was not unlike walking through a haunted house. The walls were crumbling, the lights hanging broken from the ceiling, the spiders making homes in the corners. But it still full of so much character.

I now must have a weather vane for my own dollhouse.

We also pulled out all her furniture and laid it out on the pool table to drool over. My favorite is this bear skin rug. So cute, I must make one for myself.

I mentioned in my last post I got the chance to visit a real dollhouse store. It was like I’d died and gone to heaven. The shop was absolutely cluttered. But it was stuffed full of these tiny miniature scenes. I could have spent hours in this small room.

I was happy when I saw she had a shelf full of “House of Miniature” kits, at 50%. It was such a trip down memory lane. These were the kits my dad used to mail order for us when we were kids. The company is long out of business, but you can still find the kits online and in shop like this.  I bought a dinning room table (which might be too large for the kitchen, but I don’t care), and for chairs.

PS: Yes, that is a photo in the background of my studly husband when he was a kid.

PPS: When I showed him the picture of the miniature garage scene, he said, I WANT IT. Make it! This is why I love my husband.

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We spent Christmas day in Vail, and I got to walk abound the village and enjoy the Christmas lights. New Years Eve day we went pheasant hunting with the family.

I did not reach my goal of December 15 for the I’m a giant challenge. Boooo.  But I’m okay with that. This isn’t a project that I think will ever be complete done, so I will keep working on the dollhouse, because I love working on it, and now I have plenty of time to do it.

Some goodies I picked up in Colorado when I visited a miniature shop (there are NONE near me in California, and that makes me very sad).

I feel it is necessary to say, “Yo dawg, I heard you like dollhouses. So I put a dollhouse in your dollhouse, so you can play dollhouse while you play dollhouse.” Ya, I just went there.

Here is the couch in place in the living room, with some of the little throw pillow my mom made for me for Chirstmas. Also in the picture is the arm chair that used to be a dark blue. But I painted it a cream white to match the sofa, and to fit better into the room’s color scheme.

I think I will be painting the bed, because I don’t like how the maple wood looks in the room.  And you can see the fireplace in progress. Here is the finish result.

I actually think I might be adding some brick onto the face of the fireplace. But I am so happy with how it turned out. I love the flickering flame inside.

Some more goodies I got over Christmas for the kitchen: the sink and the stove. Also note I got ONE of the windows framed up. Finally.

Its really starting to come together. Now I feel like I have most of the bones in place, I can really start the decorating process.

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I couldn’t stand looking at the plan white, scared exterior of the house, so I started working on the stone exterior.  Didn’t get very far, but I’m excited to be improving it.

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I may, or may not have given an impassioned speach about the beauty of buttons to a complete stranger who was just looking for a button for her coat.  *cough*

Anyways, behold the goodies.

I have a pretty good idea now of the direction I want to go with the bedroom. I got the paint on the walls (side note: gold is almost as bad as red for the number of coats you must paint before you get a true solid color), the floor completed, the map wallpaper “gilded” and up, AND the headboard for the bed done!

Yes, that is a vintage map of London on the wall. I coated the paper with gold and sparkles, to match the color of the walls. You can see the effect a little better here in this image with flash.

Why yes, Mr. Figure Man, that IS a glorious ceiling.

The ceiling is white, rag scrapbook paper, that has an amazing pattern and texture to it. I also used it for the back of the headboard.

The clear button that Mr. Figure Man is holding is going to become the light on the wall above the headboard, I just have to add a few dozen more beads to it. I just have to say it one last time… BUTTONS!

A long ways to go to get this ready…

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I love this haunted dollhouse by Mary Ciccolella (dont make a scene on Flickr).  Check out her whole set of images. She also made this awesome miniature of the Leaky Cauldron from Happy Potter:

Mrs. Havisham’s Room Box by Vic Newey. Gotta love Spooky Victorian!

And here are some awesome accessories for you dollhouse that I found on Etsy.  *drools*

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Well, if Jenny wasn’t at the top of my To-Stalk list, she is now that I discovered that over the last 11 years she has been making a haunted dollhouse (Move over Christian Bale). Oh yes. Haunted. Dollhouse. She “built, sculpted, or antiqued most of the stuff” that fills the dollhouse herself.

Here is a slideshow of images of her dollhouse on Kristy. And on Flickr. Go check it out.

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