Mandrakes for Mandrakes House :0)

My little parcel from Debie of http://piskies-and-poppets.blogspot.com/ has arrived and I am so thrilled with the mandrakes I commisioned from Debie that I couldn't resist sharing with you all ;0) I asked for a little mixture of some in pots, some to put on the table and some to 'plant' in the soil bed and here they are :0) I haven't put everything in place properly yet, I am working nights at the moment, straight after a week of late shifts, so as you can imagine, the old body clock is ever so slightly out and 'proper' mini time is on hold untill thursday, but you can get the idea :0)

On the table is a fabalous Troll's toe with 'bloodied' nail from Debie, a little mouse on some banana skins from Streets Hill Miniatures and some of Debie's mandrakes, look at the little expressions on their faces, great lol.

Hopefully, later in the week I will have time to 'muddy' up some newspaper for the table and floor and make some 'soily' fingerprints for around the mandrakes on the table :0)

Julia xxx

Grab yourself an Apple Wood table like ours for your conservatory. Available now at our Etsy store. Just click the link in the right hadnd side bar  to view :0)

A Vine for Mandrake House

Well, my boring household all scuppered off to bed early last night, so I had the house to myself. Sooo, I made a vine for the back wall of Mandrake House....

Then I finished off my water feature, if you could call it that.. it's full of bits of leaves.... and dirty.... oh... and yes, the lion's not spurting water anymore... he's dribbling.... bit like me really when I get overtired and fall asleep on Hywel's shoulder... eek... he always shouts at me for that.. spoilsport!!! lol

Then I made a pot of Pondscum with the left over scenic water, well, it would of been a shame to waste it! And then I tidied up and toddled off to bed myself, job done :0)

Hope you all have a great day,

Julia xxx

             

Mandrake House again!

We stayed up way too late last night, working on Mandrake House and now today we are both tired and grumpy!! lol. It was worth it though, the paving slabs are finished and in place and I put the windows together and added some green, slimy moss to the corners. Only to find... that when I went to put the windows in, I had 'slimed' the wrong side! Hmnn.. not happy!

I also had a little go at making a vine for the back wall, but as I was making it, it turned into a tree! It is going to have big thick roots growing over the soil bed edging and towards the table in the centre! 

 

I have rummaged through my garden tin and found the plant kits and aged pots I bought from Miniatura some years ago, so they will all go in Mandrake House. Oh.. and my poor lonely mandrake is peeking over his pot in there too lol. Talking of Miniatura, it is my birthday this week and Hywel gave me tickets to Saturdays Miniatura :0) So, all being well, I will be going to Miniatura on saturday with my birthday money and buying more aged pots and plant kits! Oh.. and I am heading straight for Julie's wonderful table to look at her wonderful Wizard of Oz dolls in the flesh so to speak :0)

http://bellabelledolls.blogspot.com/2010/03/return-to-oz.html

Well, thats all for now, I am off to watch a Harry Potter film now, aparently its the one with the mandrakes in, I just hope I can stay awake after last night's late night! ;0) 

Julia xx

New project ~ Mandrake House

Here I am, starting a new project and I haven't finished The Wizards and Wands Bookstore yet, but I have come to a little stop on the bookstore, as I want to do the roof next and can't decide on the type of roof tile or colour I want. So whilst I wait and ponder, I thought I would start on Mandrake House.


Mandrake House is a glasshouse and will have soil beds running down each length with a large mandrake table down the middle. I am going to make all sorts of climbers to really fill it up and make it look quite overgrown! If I can find the space, it will sit at the back and side of the Bookstore and possably sell potion ingredients in the future! If anybody has... or has seen any mandrakes ready for sale, please let me know as I only have one so far and I can't find any on Etsy or Ebay!

For the outside, I have stained the exterior wood with Jacobean Oak woodstain and then gave it a layer of light oak wax. The infills are going to be plaster like the bookstore walls.

On the inside, I have painted the brickwork and wood with Craig & Rose 1829 Chalky Emulsion in Hemp Biege, its a great muted colour, perfect for the glasshouse.

Hywel has been busy making me flagstones for the walkway down the middle. He made them out of plaster of paris, using a large roof tile mould. As they were drying, I stained them with Rosewood woodstain, which sunk in and mottled as they finished drying out. I am hoping that when in place, they will look worn in areas, fingers crossed!


The back wall has to be solid for the climbers to grow over, so we have given it a layer of painted brick and when looking something else, I found a lion head water feature. It will be perfect for the back wall, so I gave it a quick coat of woodstain and I will add some scenic water and I think it will look perfect in amongst the climbing vines.

Well, thats Mandrake House so far, this one will fly along, as I have the exact picture of how I want it to look in my mind. So no pondering over colours or styles on this one :0)


Have a great day,
Julia xx