Coming Along

My Storybook cottage is coming along. Today I got the roof and and a couple days ago I finished the bay windows. I am holding off on the Sugarplum Cottage until I get this one finished. I was trying to do both at once and that doesn't work. It's hard enough to get one done!

I have it sitting on the side and I will get to it at some point.

Meanwhile in my real life; its Christmas! It kind of snuck up on me and today we awoke to a blanket of white. This is the view from my front door. It's still snowing and there is about 6 inches on the ground. My husband is out plowing and is likely to be out at least until tomorrow when it is supposed to stop. We were to get our Christmas tree today and it would have been great to be able to get that all done up today while the snow fell, but it looks like I won't be able to get it at least until Monday night. Oh well, at least I got the wreath on the door and my Nativity Scene up with my angels and my lighted houses. It feels a little like Christmas now. I also am into my year end two week stay-cation from work. It feels really good to say "see you next year" to everyone when I walked out yesterday. So I will have time to decorate the tree and finish my shopping during the week.

Oh, and of course continue to work on the Storybook Cottage!

Getting There

I have started doing more work on the Storybook Cottage and am getting a lot done on it. I have been looking around on the Internet for appropriate exterior for it. It reminds me of an American Gothic Revival house, so I found a picture on the web that I really like and I am going to do the outside in a similar fashion. However, the picture I found is done in stone blocks, I am going to "cheat" and do the walls with a colored material similar to the color of the block. Pictured is the look I am hoping to achieve on the exterior. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get that look, I am open to them.

As to the fate of the Sugarplum Cottage I started, Casey from http://caseymini.blogspot.com/ gave me the wonderful suggestion of taking out the second floor and turning into a studio or store. I have often fantazised about thatched roof cottages so I am going to do that on the outside and an artists studio on the inside. For now I have remove the second floor and blocked up the second story windows with the pieces that were removed. I found a picture on the web which stirred my fancy and I am going to do the outside of it like the other picture. I think it will work splendidly. I will need to square off the front door, but that should not be a problem. Thanks, Casey!

Exterior

I have been thinking about how I want to do the exterior of the cottage project. I was looking for something different than the half timber style that the house suggests and thought that maybe a stone exterior would look nice.

Today I came across a video using egg cartons and carry out trays to make a stone wall. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgXqkarOpS8

The Cottage Starts

I have started work on the cottage. I know this is going to take some time, and I am doing everything by the book and going slowly so I do it right. I have been sanding the edges of the pieces so they are smooth and fitting things together making adjustments before gluing. I know a bit more about this than the last time I put one together. So here is the start.

New Project

I am so excited! I have a new project for this winter. As it is going to be way to cold for me to be riding my bike, and my husband is back on nights, so I have a new project to keep me busy. I was so inspired by the video posted about Creekstone Cottage, I went and ordered the Sugarplum Cottage.

It small, but I haven't the room in my lifesize house for another large one, so this is perfect.

I already got some furniture for it because I couldn't resist them. I have a wish list set aside for the things for the house, so these were the first pieces. I am also going to try to make some. There were some very interesting how-to's posted on the site that looked great.