I plopped this Santa in my piece of Russel Wright china and Don said it looks like Santa is traveling by boat to his studio. When you add in the blue-green color of the table, it makes sense! Santa is bringing a big star to the studio. Isn’t he thoughtful?

Today we do a little prep for the big old storm headed our way. There’s still some question about how much we’ll get – our local guys are saying 7 to 14 inches, which is a big spread, but it depends on where the storm is when it veers eastward and moves out to sea.

So. At least 7 inches. More likely 12. Oh boy. Most of it will happen overnight on Wednesday into Thursday and there will be winds and snow drifts. Oh boy again. I would have preferred about 4 or 5 inches. The snowblower will get moved to the porch to plug it in so that it can be charged. I’m going to empty the remainder of my porch pots and move the antique pots in the secret garden to the porch, as well as that outdoor furniture. Then I’ll cover the former kitchen island with a tarp, as I do every winter.

Yesterday, as I was putting in this floor, I had a message from my friend Kaliswa saying that someone was posing as me on Instagram. So grateful she tipped me off! Instead of claudiahillsparks, this account had my same photo and hillsparksclaudia as the account name. Shockingly, over 200 people had already followed it, people that were taken from my list of followers. Kaliswa reported and blocked it and I immediately reported it, saying the account was posing as me. I have to say, I’ve never seen IG work so fast, that account was gone within about 15 minutes.

The same thing happened to Don a few months back. In Don’s case, they copied a lot of his post photos as well. I reported it, as did several others, but it wasn’t deleted until I made Don sit down and report it himself.

Which begs the question, do these people have nothing else to do with their time?

Just as on Facebook (and I’ve made this mistake myself) make sure ‘follow’  or ‘friend’ requests are legitimate before you automatically click yes.

And consider using two-factor authentication. I’ve had that on IG for quite a while. It makes it virtually impossible for someone to steal your account (I’ve seen two cases of stolen accounts just this week) because the verification goes to your phone and you confirm who you with a special code. I believe Facebook has it, too.

Okay. Not that we didn’t already know it because we’re sane people who deal with facts, but the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden as the President-elect. I’m sure there will be more shenanigans. I have no time for them. January 20th is going to be a holiday in our home!

Stay safe.

Happy Tuesday.

Yesterday was a creative day – Don was recording music all afternoon, and I was working on miniatures. I stained the table that I made a while back. It’s going into the kitchen at Hummingbird Cottage. Photos will be coming. And I painted and wallpapered the bedroom in the English Cottage.

Wallpapering these little cottages is a wee bit difficult as there are nooks and overhangs and eaves and whatever name you want to call them. In other words, they’re very much like our real life upstairs rooms.

Now honestly, I forgot about that wicker table and did not choose these colors so that I could use it in this space.

But I can and isn’t that nifty?

There are different ways to wallpaper a dollhouse, but I do – for better or worse – what I did for Hummingbird Cottage. I grab a piece of paper – usually something I’ve pulled out of the printer – and I place it against the wall and trace each section, including where the windows are. I place the pattern on the wallpaper and trace it once again, making sure to include the windows and doors. Then I cut it out, and tweak it a thousand times as I try to fit it to the actual wall. This was much more finicky than Hummingbird Cottage. By the time I did the last wall, the one on the right, I was over it.

I wanted to pull out one of the colors in the wallpaper for the sloped ceiling (is that what you call it?) And I wanted to do it with paint I had on hand. So I mixed a color that echoed the green-gray of the vines but was a bit brighter, because I didn’t want it to look too gray.

Now, for the floor…

I have no furniture for the bedroom yet. I do have that wicker table and I have my eye on a bed. I’d also like to find a narrow wardrobe and a smallish chair. And maybe a narrow fireplace.

I want to share a movie that I think you’d love. It’s on Netflix and it stars Sophia Loren. It’s called The Life Ahead. It’s the first movie she’s done in ten years (she’s 86) and it’s directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti. It’s wonderful. The cast is uniformly excellent. The story centers around a young boy named Momo played by Ibrahima Gueye. Gueye is simply extraordinary in this role. Words cannot express how talented this kid is, how natural and moving. And it’s beautifully directed. There’s much I could say about it but I don’t want to spoil your experience if you haven’t yet seen it. Watch it. Your heart and soul will be full.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

Yesterday was spent indoors as it was rainy and windy outside. Plus, we’re tired and quite frankly, we’re trying to retreat from the world. Some days I’m more successful at that than others and yesterday was one of them. We took time to just be, doing whatever it was we wanted to do. We also took time late in the afternoon to cuddle on the loveseat and listen to the silence around us.

I spent some time up in the office/studio and started to paint parts of the English cottage bedroom before I add wallpaper. I removed the furniture from downstairs and while I was moving the unfinished kitchen island, I had a yen to finally go for it. I had mixed some paint for the bedroom and I liked it, so I used it as the base paint for the island.

Before:

And after:

It’s hard to capture the color because it’s one of those blue/green colors that changes depending on the light. Right now, in the sunny den, it’s looking bluer. When I took this photo this morning in the kitchen, it looked greener.

I decided to go with the imperfections of the wood and did very little sanding. My concept was an island that had been made out of an old weathered cabinet. Whoever made it added a counter made out of a slab of reclaimed wood with a farmhouse sink fitted in. I’m not happy with the faucet that came with the piece but it will do until I find something better. It was a bright brass, so I painted it with silver paint.

I’m pretty chuffed about this one. The backside is equally weathered.

The whole idea for the cottage is lots of color, lots of comfortably ‘old’ pieces that somehow work together in a cozy, comfortable space.

Heck, I’d like this piece in real life!

Today is sunny and I’m going to do some more work on the dollhouse. I’ve got my eye out for a used Beacon Hill by Greenleaf – which is a quite large Victorian. I’ve been seeing a lot of in-progress Beacon Hills on Instagram and I like all the details and the abundance of rooms. You don’t always get that in the interior of a house; they tend to be four large rooms, an exception being Hummingbird Cottage, which has six rooms.

I don’t want to put the house together or at least, I’d rather not, so every day I troll Craigslist to see if one has been listed.

Am I crazy? Yes.

Stay safe.

Happy Sunday.