Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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You are here: Home / Archives for Top Secret Project

Take a Seat

May 3, 2016 at 9:57 am by Claudia

Weather forecast? Rain. End of story.

Don. Simply stop here.

A bright spot yesterday – a package arrived in the mail from Elf Miniatures in England.

By the way, I want to clarify something: none of these links are affiliates or partners or anything other than companies I’ve ordered from and like very much. I understand affiliate links and I use them on the book blog occasionally, though I earn next-to-nothing from them – just enough to use as a credit toward a future book purchase! But I’ve seen a lot  of affiliate links lately on other blogs and I must admit that too much of that sort of thing turns me off. Does every post have to be the result of a partnership?

So if you see a link to a miniature site or source here, it simply takes you to that site. I get nothing from you clicking on the link, except satisfaction in recommending a good source. (There’s a source list up in the navigation bar, also – under Dollhouse.)

Back to Elf Miniatures, an online company I really like – fast delivery across the ocean, great customer service, and a fabulous inventory of all things miniature. I ordered 3 items.

5-3 shelfverticalfromside

Well, I meant to order two. I got three items because, for the second time, I ordered two  of something; this shelf unit, which is reminiscent of the IKEA units that are so popular. I have one in real life. Anyway, getting two of them is okay by me. I’ll use the other one in another project

I want to use this for records, but it has quickly dawned on me that I have to get a lot more albums! Oh, my heavens! Where am I going to get them all? I can purchase some through Etsy. I could make them, I suppose, and I’ll try to do some of that. My friend Susi, of Minibase, did that for her award winning Record Shop. Click on over at some point and see it. It’s incredible. She has even posted a very helpful tutorial on the subject of making albums.

5-3 shelfvertical

See? I’m going to need a lot of record albums!

Also in the box that traveled across the ocean:

5-3 chair

5-3 deskchair from distance

This oh-so-cool desk chair.

5-3 deskchairfacingkeyboard

I love it. I can see the gentleman who uses this studio swiveling between a computer monitor and the keyboard, completely into his creative process. I bet you can, too.

Still going back and forth about the legs. I was just about to paint them silver/chrome yesterday afternoon when I decided to hold off. Today, I like the orange. Tomorrow? Who knows?

I mentioned that I made a preliminary stab at a mixing board. Really, what I did was build a three-dimensional housing for it, like I’ve seen in many home studio photos. It’s made out of mat board.

5-3 soundmixingboard

There it is. From here, it looks okay.

5-3 soundmixingboardclose

From here, the top is clearly one-dimensional. I’m not thrilled with that. I can probably fiddle with it and add some elements that give it dimension – like a knob and silver bits that function as those slides. The jury is still out on this one.

5-3 viewonarainyday

A rainy day view of where we are so far.

I have to do some work on the outside. I have a few more elements on order. But I’ve got about seven weeks, give or take a day or so, until Don’s birthday. So I’m in good shape, I think.

Blogkeeping: I usually have the volume on my computer turned all the way down because I dislike suddenly hearing something I didn’t plan on hearing. But lately, I’ve had it on a few times when an ad or two on this blog started making itself known via sound. I don’t like that. And, in fact, ads are not supposed to automatically play. The visitor to a site is supposed to be able to turn it on if he or she wants to, but otherwise, it should be mute. So I have my ad company looking into it and, if I have to, I’ll stop all video ads. My apologies. I’d rather earn a bit less than have intrusive sound on the blog.

Happy Tuesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: blog, life, miniatures, Top Secret Project 56 Comments

Lilacs, Orange & Movies

May 1, 2016 at 9:14 am by Claudia

It is going to rain for the next three days, so I ran outside yesterday to check on the ‘status of the lilacs.’

5-1 lilacs2

Oooh! They’re blooming!

5-1 lilacs1

You’d better believe I was getting as close to those flowers as I could in order to get a whiff of that heavenly scent.

5-1 lilacs3

Now that the daffodils have bloomed and the lilacs are just about to be in full bloom, I can say that Spring is finally here.

Yesterday we did something we rarely do. We went to the movies, and not for the discount matinee. The back story is that a movie has just come out that features a close friend of ours and we knew we had to see it. We wanted to see it. So we drove across the river to a neighboring city to catch the 12:10 matinee. Tickets? $20.00. A bottle of water and a modest size of popcorn? $13.00.

What the heck?

$33.00 to see a movie? This is why we don’t go and instead, wait for the movie to be On Demand on our cable network or on Netflix. How do people who routinely go to the movies afford it? We sure can’t.

And then we had to sit there and watch a bunch of commercials and previews for television  shows. Really?? I can see that at home. Unbelievably annoying and, unfortunately, no mute button (something we freely use during commercials.)

More and more I feel like one of those older people who say, “Back in my  day…” Heck, I remember going to matinees when I was a kid – double features, no less – for a grand total of 25 cents.

Another reason not to go is the noise/texting/selfie ridiculousness that goes on, but thankfully, there were few people in the audience and they were all older, so no problem on that front.

On the TSP front: (Don, stop here.) I had an epiphany about a color choice, but now that I’ve executed the whole thing, I’m having some doubts. I may have to change it out.

I made two table tops for a working desk/console. Don likes color and, as I mentioned before, I have been thinking that the other side of the room needs color. And I want it to be cheery. So I made two table tops and painted them turquoise, which is a color Don really loves. So far, so good.

5-1 tabletops

Then, to weigh them down and keep them from warping, I used an old standby:

5-1 shakespeareweight

It helps to have a heavy volume of the Bard on hand.

Earlier in the week, I had purchased a couple of dowels at Michael’s and I decided to use one for the legs on the table. Now, unlike a lot of miniaturists, I don’t have any power tools (except a 25 year old drill) and no place to store them even if I did have them, so I have to resort to a hand saw or my trusty Easy Cutter. I measured out eight legs and cut them as best I could.

Here’s where I think I made a mistake – paint color. I was debating whether the legs should be black or silver or white when I thought…”Orange! Like the fireplace!” Turquoise and orange look great together so why not? I grabbed my can of orange spray paint and went to town, then I glued the legs on (a pain in the tush) and let them dry overnight.

You see, I wanted the studio to be cheery and bright and full of color – an inspiring place in which to create.

Here’s the end result.

5-1 tablesTSP1

Does this look too circus-y to you? Keep in mind that there will also be a computer monitor and a mixing board on top of the longer table. I took the legs off the keyboard because I’ve seen so many home studios with just the keyboard on the work surface and I like that look.

5-1 tablesTSP2

There will also be a modern swivel desk chair (in black) at the desk, which will help to cut some of the color. And there will be guitars somewhere on that wall, as well as some artwork, all of which might help to balance out the orange legs and end up making that whole wall look quite colorful.

Which I like. And it does help to define the working/recording area of the studio as opposed to the lounging area. And the eating area.  There will also be a rug on the floor, though I’ve not made the final decision on which one I want to buy.

I could always change out the legs, but I think I will hold off for a while until I tinker with the rest of that side of the studio.

Now, I’ll close so I can go upstairs and stare at the desks. And ponder.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

 

Filed Under: flowers, garden, miniatures, movies, Top Secret Project 56 Comments

Daffodils & Espresso

April 30, 2016 at 9:04 am by Claudia

Due to the freakish and unexpected snow and ice that hit my gardens and plants as they were already coming out of the ground, some things haven’t bloomed and I don’t think they will this year. For example, my yellow daffodils that live on the edge of the woods. I check them out every day.

Nothing.

But my other daffodils – the ones that are in the big garden bed – don’t come out of the ground as early as the yellow daffs, and I was hoping against hope they would bloom for me.

4-30 daffodils

They have. I must admit giving a little squeak of happiness when I saw them. They’re so delicate and pretty.

Getting these shots required some precarious balancing on my part. Worth it.

4-30 daffodils2

Slightly different angle, different setting. These were planted long ago by a previous resident. Thank you!

We mowed the front part of our property yesterday – what we call ‘tag-team’ mowing. Since our front yard is very expansive, one of us will do about 4 long passes, then the other will take over, etc. Since we alternate, it doesn’t get nearly as tiring. We can only do this, of course, when both of us are in residence. We still have to attend to the Back Forty, but it rained all night last night and the grass will be really wet, so we’ll probably wait until tomorrow.

Don: Stop Right Here!

A couple of items arrived in the mail the other day. The little kitchenette has some updates:

4-30 espresso&stool

The light wasn’t entirely cooperating with me, as it was just about to start raining, so it’s a little less crisp than I would like, but you get the idea.

Expresso for the resident, as well as a stool to sit on while drinking coffee and munching on cookies. I love that pop of lime green on the stool.

I’m working on something else, which should (fingers crossed) be finished today. If it is, I’ll take some pictures for you. I’m very excited about this little project. I got so excited yesterday, I could barely contain myself and I have to wait until June 24th to reveal it to Don.

Deep breath, Claudia. You still have some more projects to finish before this can be considered finished.

I love miniatures.

Happy Saturday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: flowers, garden, miniatures, Top Secret Project 40 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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