Something New

I've learned to not take custom requests. Oh, I'll change a piggy's shirt from blue to red, or I'll give you one animal, not two - but I get quite a few inquiries that start, "I love your work, can you do  _______?".  It's fraught with peril. I worry so that my vision is nothing like the clients. It also takes me an unreasonably long time to design. Trial and error seems to be my method and I hate to send something out that I'm not in love with.  But. . . I got an email from a lovely mum who had purchased one of my Noah's Arks last year. She was looking for a farm/barn set that used the same size animals as the arks and wondered, "can you do it?"  I just so had a barn in the unpainted state that I'd been thinking of before Christmas.  So I told her I could finish it up for her. Usually our "first editions" go to our own kiddlets.

 Some of you may not know that I have a big helper. The BLHubby does a lot of the building of the basic Ark boat. He also is responsible for the 3 Pigs houses. For some reason I make the 3 Bears houses All the animals and bookends I do all the woodwork. I always do all sanding and of course  the painting. If I could get a helper elf I would put him to work sanding.

 He handles the stuff that is cut on the big mean table saw. For some reason that saw and I don't like each other. It's sad. I"m all for ladies and power tools. I can use most all of them. But I've had a few mishaps with the big saw (kick backs that throw big pieces of wood right at my chest and bend the blades) and I'm a little gun shy. This barn is a good illustration of how BLHubbs and I work together. He works in manufacturing and is all about reproducing things exactly. He thinks about how to cut things out so the wood won't be wasted. When I wanted a barn he calculated angles and roof lines. I then say things like "It's too wide" or "can you do one a little taller?" and he without grumbling too much will do it. We struggled with the roof. It took a bunch of angled cuts to roof it and I didn't like how it looked or felt.  Then I come in and hold a piece of wood against something and think "that's about right" and I cut it out with the scroll saw. If it doesn't fit I sand it down.   I glued some roof "shingles" on the top of BLH's roof and I liked how it turned out.  We work well together.

 This was fun to finish. I've been slow to put it into my regular line up of items but this has been a bit of a struggle to get my head around. I think we'll do some "tweaks" and a few changes. It uses the same size animals as the Noah's Arks but I think a farm needs baby's. I did get some baby piggies.

There are hay bales, well, straw bales, that go with it, too.

 So glad to see this done and off to some little boys.

Updates From The Cottage

We have been working on the Can Do Cottage.  The big blue box delivered a load of cement blocks so that our favorite brick layer could build a foundation for the house to set on.

We were glad to wait for him and his crew. He did our previous move on house and we can't say enough about how professional and how perfect and level his foundations are. He uses this device often to make sure that the blocks are perfectly level and plumb. 

We had requested the foundation be about four blocks high on the highest edge, and the foundation crew had to even it out all around. On one corner the blocks are only about two and a half blocks high. They had to build around the iron beams the are still holding up the house. 

They also had to build piers under the house to hold it up at critical points. 

They left with a beautiful, straight foundation. We called our house movers who came out the next day and set the house down on the foundation.  They jacked it up a tiny bit, removed the pilings the beams were setting on and then set it down - corner by corner. 

This house had lost most of it's bottom sills when it was removed from it's foundation, so we had to add some 2 x 10 pressure treated boards to the top of the foundation to replace them.

The house has a carport that's completely under the roof and at the back there is a small storage room. It's only single wall construction and had a washer and dryer in it and a lot of water damage. This part we replaced a bunch of the foundation pieces and our movers took out a vent to make a place for a jack and the  jack supported this area until it could set on the foundation. We know we need to rebuild some of this area which will become part of a new bathroom.

 When it was all set down their winch truck hooked up the beams and pulled them out.

Our little house has touched down and home for good.  Off went the support beams it had rested on since it left it's birth place.

Only now could we call our insurance office and tell them we had a house and they could cover it against loss. They couldn't insure it until it was on the foundation.  It's no longer mobil but a house. 

Money No Object Monday

The Best Loved Hubby and myself have been enjoying some wonderful visiting. He had to go to So Cal for business, so I tagged along and got to spend some time (not enough) with my parents and sister. We just came home and were blessed with the Best Loved Biggest and her kiddlets (who are determined to refute the kiddlet label).  Good times all around.

Even with all this fun I found some covetable dolls. Elizabeth Pongratz is a doll artist and manufacturer in Germany.  She and her husband make a few hand carved and painted wooden dolls each year.

Elizabeth Pongratz dolls/ private collector

 They are usually about 14" tall and their limbs are jointed with a unique spring joint unique to these dolls. Their hair is made of mohair or human hair. There are babies, too. They are usually soft bodied with painted hair.

Elizabeth Pongratz dolls/private collector

I am so in love with them. They are exquisitely designed to be played with but I doubt that any child is ever gifted with one as they cost more than a used pick up.

Blonde Girl in Light Blue

A site called "The Toy Shoppe" has several current ones for sale. This beauty in blue can be yours for $2750. They will make payment arrangements. Babies are less.

Awake Baby in Pink

The above baby is seven inches in length and has a body made of cloth filled with sand so she has some "heft". She's only $625. "The Toy Shoppe" will ship for free is your purchase is over $100.

Ebay has a few dolls listed.  The one below is sweet and can be had for under $1900. 

Ebay listing - starting bid $1700, Buy it Now $1900

The dolls often are dressed in hand knitted outfits, like the one above and usually have one piece knitted underwear that's so sweet. 

Ebay listing shown above

I am so torn by the fact that these beauties, built for play, are too desirable to be put in the hands of children. The Best Loved Baby Boy commented a while ago that in 20 years, no child would be allowed to play with my Noah's Arks due to their being valued too precious for kids. I would be so sad if that were so. One of my favorite buyers (who bought not just an Ark but a Three Pigs Set, also) wrote to let me know that she loved thinking of her son's grandchildren playing with them.  We got a chuckle when one of the Best Loved SIL's was so protective of the Grand girls American Girl Doll because it was so expensive. One of these would give him a heart attack. Would you let your child have one of these?

Signs of Spring

It's been a long gloomy winter but there are some sure signs of spring. This little guy was given full access to pick the daffodils.

He was dressed for the occasion. A real boy needs a coon skin hat while picking daffys.  (He is from Kentucky).

The bucket was his own invention. A great holder of flowers. Yes, the grandmas put them in vases just cause he got them for us.  If that isn't proof enough of spring in the air-

Found this little mommy in the parking lot at the BLHubbs place of industry. I'm reluctant to say that I felt compelled to look up what kind of birdy she was. Why would I be reluctant? Two of my darling sisters are "birders". Hard core birders. Like, keep life lists and travel to different continents to see more birds kind of birders. Me, never so much. But, I have been gifted with the "Field Guide to the Birds of North America" just in case I should be tempted to "bird".

S & J would be proud to know that I know this little bird is a Killdeer. She's a little south of what the Field Guide says her nesting area is but not by much. I'm a little sad that she chose to nest so close to the cars (I could have hit her nest with my car door) but it was a treat to see her and her pretty, camo eggs.

Money No Object Monday - Big Sleeping Grizzly Bear

Bean bag chairs are all over the place, again. They are better for younger bodies. Ones that can pull themselves up off the floor with ease. They're also a bit of a lump on the floor and more a dorm room accessory than high fashion.  However, I do love this version below and would love to see it in a nursery or a child's room.

Big Sleeping Grizzly Bear by Chic Sin Design on Etsy $189

A big bean bag that looks like a sleeping bear! The cover is knitted and can be removed for washing. I just want to hug this bear.

It's made in Hong Kong and in addition to the $189 cost it's $60 to ship to the USA. You can save $25 on shipping if you choose "Sea Mail" that can take up to 8 weeks to arrive. If that isn't cute enough, you can add some floor pillows that look like logs.

Long Cotton Wood Tree Log $83 via Chic Sin Design on Etsy

If you added an additional log, the shipping is only $15 extra, each. The bear needs some logs to feel at home.

Shop Update - Return of the Squirrels

I have been busy, not just moving a house. I've redesigned my Cheeky Squirrel Bookends to be a bit bigger so they will hold books better.

I"m excited to have these back in stock. I love critters in clothes. More fantasy than wildlife, but fun.

I love these for little boys.

I confess, I did dress up the barn kitties in doll clothes when I was young. I'd still be at it but I don't think our little squirrels would stand for it.

Money No Object Monday - Band Geek Edition

I guess I'm guilty of being a Band Geek/Nerd/Whatever. I was in band years ago (oboe and percussion). We didn't march much but we were a mean pep band at Basketball games. Four of the six BLKids were Band Geeks. We did put an instrument in the hands of the other two but it didn't stick as well. When we moved to Arkansas with the two last band members we learned what it really meant to be part of a Marching Band. The Yellowjacket Marching Band won awards for their field show. Maybe it's a small town thing, or we were special, but the whole town loved the band. In Southern California, where our oldest girls were in band, at the half time of a football game there was a set amount of minutes that the band could be on filed. If they weren't completely clear of the field by the given time the team would be penalized, severely. In Arkansas, the band did it's complete show, and then the opposing team's band would perform. If the other team failed to bring their band the crowd would be disappointed. The BLMiddleboykid even carried on with band in college. (Our school loved to say that a student would be 50 times more likely to get a scholarship for band than for any sport.)  We continued our tradition of going to a football game to watch the band. There must be someone else that loves the band, maybe more than the team.  The Etsy Shop, Little Band Man, makes tiny marching bands.

LSU Miniature Marching Band $395

This little band set is made in the same tradition as the little metal or "tin" soldiers that were popular toys for boys a century of more ago and are now fine collectibles.  They are 1:32 scale, which makes the figures about 2 1/2 inches tall. He only sells them as sets, not individually. You get a Drum Major, two "Golden Girls" (LSU's dance team), two Flag Line girls and 12 musicians, each molded and painted in detail.  Not a LSU fan?

He has NotreDame's band and Texas A&M, all for the same price.

Each rendered to be true to the uniforms and type of Drum Major and instruments used.  I wonder if he would make other college bands?  I'd love to have the "Power of the Wasatch" in miniature. I can see how soldiers wouldn't be as popular now but a little band, genius. OK, so this may be more for grownups than kids, but it shouldn't be.