A few more things that need to be finished, fixed and hidden, but here are a few non-fancy shots of where I am now.  Danny will be taking nice photos for me this weekend after I am ready to step back and stop switching things around.

I think I may be losing my mind.  Two nights ago after doing the dishes, I noticed a mangled mushroom in the drainer.  It looked just like a little pile of guts.  I was elated and moved it to a dish and squirted it with a little color. (Red ink and yellow food color)  I let it dry out a little and then placed it in a bucket.  I sealed it in with resin, making sure it was a very tight seal. Voila, bucket of guts.

Minis make me crazy, but also keep me sane. That makes sense when you think about it.  When stress hits, nothing clears your mind like trying to figure out a certain look or texture.

Hopefully, the brown glass jug under the sink looks like it is covered with a fine layer of mold.  To create that look, I rubbed a little E6000 on my fingers and then lightly over the jar.  I ran to my dryer, cleaned the vent and pinched off a little piece. I rubbed it over the jar and then brushed off the excess.

To make the snails, I used a few shells I had left over from a seashell display.  I made little "feet" out of Fimo, and after inserting them into the shell, rubbed the bottom over some E6000 and placed them in the jar.

The greenery in the jar of pond leeches was made from the inside string of a cantaloupe, soaked in green food color.  Again, when I use organic matter, I always make sure my resin seal is tight!

This weekend I also hung a couple of photos I found on a site devoted to Victorian post mortem photography. I found them both lovely and sad.  It is chilling when you realize that only one of the girls in each photo is alive.

I guess I really don't mind being crazy.  It is fun.

Let there be light.

No baseboards, lots of finishing work to do, wires to hide and loads of bottles to fill. But thank goodness I have light!

During my never ending quest to save money, I found these bottles while wandering around Dollar Tree. They were in the nail section, filled with glitter.  I painted the plastic lids a rough silver, filled them with household goo, aged them up and voila, six bottles for the shelf for under $2.00. Saving money on miniatures makes me giddy because it means more savings for the "fun" stuff I can't make myself.

A few weeks ago, I purchased an empty cabinet on eBay and wondered why it was so inexpensive.  For the first time in a while, I had forgotten to check the scale.  When it arrived, I was disappointed that it was so small. But I used some small bottles that I had been saving and filled them with everything from dead bugs to Dawn dish soap and voila, I now have a little potion cabinet.

I sure have been bad about keeping up my blog, but I haven't been able to spend a lot of time on my new little house.  Here are a couple of photos of what I have been working on.  The butterfly display was a lot of fun and I am still tinkering with my leeches. Every day I seem to switch something around.  I am about 50% finished with this room, and I have no idea what it is going to look like when it is finished. I wish I was a better planner, but I never seem to know where I am going with anything in advance.

In Progress

I have so much to do and hope to be finished with this room by Halloween. Here are a couple of recent shots. Keep in mind, I am not even half way there. 

Taking a Gamble

I haven't been working  on the actual bar in the Judge & Gibbet because I am having so much fun in the morgue/workroom.   The walls are bare and things thrown in there willy-nilly.  But I did want to share with you a great find.  

While looking at miniatures on eBay, I found a small bone box marked "Mexico".  It cost almost nothing and the description said it was filled with small dominoes.  I had no idea what scale they were, but took a gamble due to the super low cost.

When my package arrived, I think I screamed out loud when I emptied the contents of the small souvenir box. Inside were the most perfect 1/12 scale dominoes I have ever seen. We set up a game on one of my favorite used tables.  (Note the mismatched chairs as well.)  I could not be more pleased with the final outcome.  Maybe some day, I will get to work on this room!  The size of this new house is simply daunting.