Tallulah~Belle Originals

Very sad news

2011-09-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello

Unfortunately this is not a pleasant blog post but it would seem that some people have heard already and, I thought it only fair that this came direct from me rather than 2nd hand rumors.

Sadly I need to tell you that my husband Mick died unexpectedly on Saturday September 11th.

He was out riding his motorcycle and had a heart attack. He told a friend he didn't feel good and was on his way home. He had been working away in the San Francisco area with his new job for the previous 2 weeks so I hadn't seen him. He flew in late Friday night, was tired and went to bed quickly. I only saw him for less than half an hour on the morning he died.

He felt fine. He only planned on being out a couple of hours and was then was coming back to do some dry walling. I was painting when the police man and coroner knocked on my door.

In those few moments my life changed beyond belief.

Last week I was busy dealing with the funeral arrangements so am sorry this has taken me until now.

Because I am here on my own and have no friends in the new area, my dear friend Patti flew straight out to me from the east coast. I truly do not know what I'd have done without her. I love you Patti.

I plan on returning to England as soon as possible. I came here to live in America 8 years ago to be with Mick and for that reason only. I have no one here and it would hurt to much to stay.

I have loved living in America and Mick took me to see so many amazing things. Hopefully one day I will be able to get past the pain and come and visit again.

But for now I have to get home. Mick's Mom is not in good health and has been unable to come here which has broke her heart. I have to get what I need to do here done as quickly as I can and take her Son home to her.

As you all know we were in the middle of renovating our house so I have so much work to finish so I can put it up for sale. Most of our things were still in boxes as we didn't plan on unpacking until we finished the house. Now Patti has gone home I have to go though everything we own and figure out how to sell it.

Mick was a wonderful man. He was kind, thoughtful, generous and extremely non judgmental. I am so lucky to have had him as my best friend for 30 years.

The things I keep hearing over and over from his friends are how thoughtful he was, how intelligent and knowledgeable he was and what a sense of humor he had. Mick was so much fun to be around and will be missed by many, many people.

Mick loved his job working on life support ventilators. He would tell me how lucky he was to not only have a job where he was able to help so many people but how it combined his love of physics, biology, chemistry and medicine. And the more problems that were thrown at him the more he thrived.

He once visited an 8 year old girl who, although on a ventilator, was mobile. She loved the band N- Sync but was sad that she couldn’t dance because the tubes on the ventilator weren’t long enough. Mick custom made new, longer tubing for her so she could get up of the bed and dance.

If you asked him why he loved his job so much he would say it was ‘because he was able to let little girls dance again.’

I loved him so very, very much and am absolutely devastated so please understand that I may not answer emails for a while.

Please. please, please tell your family you love them each time you are saying goodbye.

Mick Woodward
March 5th 1960 - September 10th 2011

Indian room finished !

2011-09-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

More or less :-)

As we had friends coming over from Australia I had to have one last mad push to get at least this one room finished.

As you may recall from previous posts, I purchased fabric to make the bedding and curtains. Hmmm that didn't work out as well as expected.

There were 2 lots of fabric...on patterned and one striped. I started with the stripes. It soon became clear that the stripes were not in the slightest bit straight. But I carried on and had to cut the fabric wonky to make a bedskirt and curtains with straight stripes. Problem solved...or so I thought !

Then it was onto the patterned fabric. Goodness me...had I started with this I'd have given up a lot earlier and wouldn't have wasted time with the striped fabric.

This patterned fabric just sucked...BIG time. It is woven but was woven so loosely I only had to look at it and it fell apart.

I tried....I really tried but after 3 weeks of battling with this and spending a fortune in fray check I had to give up :-(

I didn't particularly want to make it all myself but couldn't find anything ready made so bought this fabric. The seller is no longer online but claimed it was fabric left from making Oscar De La Renta bedding which retails at a crazy price. Oscar from Sesame Street perhaps cause if this is the quality of designer bedding I am glad I have more sense than money than to buy this junk.

But with guests arriving in a couple of days I had no choice but to go out and buy something so off I went.

All I could find that was remotely suitable was a purple and gold set which peacock feather details. Quite amused me as I'd started off with peacock feather embroidered curtains and changed my mind.

But, with nothing else about I had to get this set. I wasn't crazy on the purple and was worried it would clash horribly with the amber walls but wouldn't you know the gold in the set matched the walls just perfectly. More of a dull bronze gold than a shiny gold.

And once I'd made the bed up ...well, I was rather pleased with it. The blues in this bedding go well with the splashes of blue I'd already added to the room and I'd got peacock feathers from my original plan. Plus I'd bought a candle for the sconce that just happened to be peacock colors and have a little peacock charm on it.

So from absolute disaster it all came together just like that. Wish every room was so easy lol

And at night time...well I just adore it.

So cozy I am tempted to move in myself :-)

I couldn't find any bedside tables that allowed me to tuck the stools under so just made 2 large rustic shelves and added carved trim to the front and sides.

The ceiling lamp was actually a candle holder but Mick converted it so I could wire it up to the mains. It casts such a beautiful glow on the room at night.

The side lamps were white and silver to start...couldn't find anything more Indian looking but with some jiggery pokery I made them the perfect color.

The mirror was a bargain find and I love the shape of it.

I've had this carved Buddha art for some time....just waiting for the perfect spot.

This vase was handmade in Bangladesh...the inscription reads....

I am Dipali Rani Paul. My father is the late Sachindra Chandra Paul. From my childhood I was inspired by seeing my father’s devotion to his work with terracotta. I am dedicated to keeping up my father’s reputation. Today on his blessing I live on making terracotta goods. The trade keeps us still alive."

I love being able to support small artists.

Add in some dried flowers and some peacock feathers and we are good to go.

The hanging ornaments were a fit from Susan...thanks sweetie...

they are perfect in here:-)

This sconce fits nicely in this small space...complete with peacock candle.

And that is pretty much how it is right now. I have many other Indian things I could put in there but for the moment I think I'll leave it as it is...sometimes less is more :-)

Our guests have gone back home now but took them on a fantastic trip though the southwest. Managed to fit in the coast, Vegas, San Francisco, Yosemite and Death Valley and a wonderful time was had by all.

Now it is back to reality, work and home renovating.

I couldn't say much on the last post as we were still talking about it but Mick just started another job. Moving from a very secure career with a big corporation to a brand new company with a brand new product was a huge risk which is why it took us a while to decide. Hopefully we made the right choice.

His new commute is longer than the old one though and that was bad enough. 120 miles a day is a lot of time to spend traveling on top of the long hours he'll be putting in....so we might be looking at moving house again.

Biggest problem with this is he is working right out by the coast where the property prices are insanely high so we need to look into this some more. In the meantime there is still a load of work to be done here before we could even put this house up for sale.

So I guess I am going to stay busy for a while :-)

Home & Garden Updates

2011-07-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Just so you don't all think Ive been sitting on my backside watching TV and eating bon bons I thought I'd post some update pics of what I've been doing :-)

We'll start with the garden.

All of the flagstone is laid in the back garden. We still have the side garden to do but, as that is barely seen let alone used, that will be done once we'll used all the rock for the more decorative stuff.

It is actually a little further along than this. All the gaps have been filled and I've planted some elfin thyme. That is as pretty as it sounds. It is going to be pretty pricey to fill all of the gaps with thyme so I decided to just plant 2 flats to start with to make sure it will grow in my garden. I'd be really annoyed if I planted the whole lot and it died on me.

We plan on putting in a pond and making a waterfall with flagstone. However, there is a slim possibility we might not be staying in this house as long as we planned so until I know one way or t'other we're going to hold fire on that one.

When we moved into this house there was a hole in the wall between the room that will be the library and our living room. You can see how close it is to the front doors in this photo.

I never liked it at all but one day Aydn said that it reminded him of a doctors or hotel reception check in desk. He was right and that was it...now I really hated it lol

Mick, on the other hand, didn't care one way or another and it has taken me almost 2 years to convince him it had to go :-)

And go it has :-) I now have to plaster over the entire thing and make it invisible lol. I've started but that will take a while as I am learning as I go along. You can see I've also started painting this room. The wall on the right looks darker but only because that has only had one coat of paint around the edges. Took me a long time to decide on colors and I love how the color has turned out.

Then in between all of this I started the guest bedroom. My Indian room :-) I hadn't planned to have taken this on just yet with all the other things I am doing but friends from Australia are coming to visit mid August and need somewhere to sleep. So I had to add this into the mix. I don't mind as this will be my favorite room :-)

The colors in the guest room are the same as the library. As a lot of our house is open plan, I will have a very simple palette of no more than 3 or 4 colors throughout the house. This is part of the reason it took me so long to decide on colors....they have to be suitable for all rooms in the house.

And the guest room needs curtains. You might recall me buying all this fabric over a year ago. Time to dig it out and get sewing. A task made extremely hard by the fact this fabric is twisted. The stripes are not straight so it took me forever to cut the fabric just so the stripes laid straight. I am not a seamstress at all but figured curtains were just a square right so how hard could it be....famous last words.

This is me trying to battle 19 yards of heavy upholstery weight fabric ugh. It is cut out now and I spent the best part of yesterday hand sewing the 4 hems. That was hard...2 layers of this fabric plus heavy lining. My fingers are very sore now...and after I'd done I found I had a thimble lol

You can see in this photo that I'd started cutting in the red color for this room. That was before I knew I had to do the guest room so that is on hold for now lol.

And now I need an opinion. I have this wonderful Indian screen that I no longer have a place for. I planned on using it as a headboard. I am not sure if it is too high or not. My friend loves it. And Mick hates it. What do you think...does it work or look silly.....yay or nay.

So as you can see I've been a tad on the busy side of late :-) I have one mini I have to finish then that is it for a while while I carry on with the house.

2011-07-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

I interrupt this blog for a proud Mama moment :-)

As some of you know, my Son Aydn is in college studying fine art.

Aydn is way, way, way more artistic than I can ever hope to be. I like to think can appreciate art but I am not arty enough to understand the depths at which some artists work.

Aydn set up a blog as a way to electronically journal his work. When I read it I am struck by how little of it I understand. And even worse, how grown up and smart he seems. I am not one of those Moms who babies their child and I understand that he is growing up, but even so it sometimes takes me by surprise to know these words come from my boy. At times he is so philosophical. Guess it is time for the tables to be turned and for me to start learning from him.

Aydn has just completed this years work and received his results today. I am so proud to say he got 6 distinctions and 2 merits and an overall grade of distinction.

And on top of this he received the Student of the Year award.

And if that wasn't enough, he has just finished exhibiting some of his work at

Walsall Art Gallery.

While I was there he went for the interview with them and had his work assessed. He was over the moon to be chosen as an exhibitor.

I am sad I was unable was able to go to see his work in the gallery but I have no doubt that this won't be the last time.

When I was 19 I was dawdling along with no idea where I was going in my life and certainly hadn't achieved anything as cool as exhibiting in a major art gallery.

The theme of the exhibit was about unfolding angst, hidden layers of excessive regulation, rigid conformity and mass persuasion.

Aydns piece was titled "Our guardian, our frame" and this is how he describes it.

My work portrays new direction and hope; often it’s hard to find an escape or somewhere to hide. I aim to point out the fine line between opportunities staring us in the face yet commonly appearing transparent.

If you are curious, you can read more about the concept and ideas behind this on his blog

Well done Aydn.....

I am so proud of the man you've become and I love you loads xxx

Busy in the garden of life

2011-06-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry I have not been about as much as I'd like to be but life is keeping me very busy at the moment.

You may remember we bought a house about 18 months ago. At the time I was super busy with my miniatures and didn't have time to do much of the work that was needed.

The beginning of this year I decided I had to concentrate on one thing or another as trying to do both just wasn't working out.

I have been making some minis but have kept it to commissions only and where people were in no rush. As it turns out I am making a lot of minis that will be presents for next Christmas so I can't even show any photos lest I ruin the surprise for the recipient...many of whom are blog readers.

So, rather than vanish completely I thought I'd share my current project...the garden. This isn't something that will be finished quickly but it has come a long way already in the last week or so.

We have a large area at the back that I wasn't sure what to do with. Living in California I am very careful about wasting water ....even though the City isn't grrr. So I didn't want grass like most of the neighbors. We have no kids or animals that might want to play on grass and with the water it takes to maintain I just couldn't justify it. But I didn't know what to do..... until I saw these photos.

That was it...I now knew what I wanted. All I had to do was find the right stone. After many, many trips to stone merchants I found it. This was actually really fun. I love rock and could happily spend a day in one of these places just admiring the rock. And it seemed so reasonable...I started looking at some that was about 70c a lb. Until I realized I needed 16,000 lb of it lol.

So the garden was cleared...boy was it a mess but it got sorted. This is what we started with.....

And this is how we were looking after the jungle was cleared.

And look what amazing treasures were buried amongst this lot....

Yup those are grapes and limes....lots of limes actually lol. And teeny rosebushes pushing up from the ground. And gorgeous circles or roses.

This plant I believe is a Lady Banks rose. It has white flowers and no thorns. Amazingly all of this plant comes from one small trunk ! I cut it right back and attached to to the fence...hopefully form here on I can train it better to cover the fence.

Then the rock came....all 5 pallets of it lol. And we got started on laying it. This isn't that easy. Aside from it being physically hard, and it was 88 degrees out, it is like a huge jigsaw with 5 pallets of pieces. I'd put one down then find a better one. Then decide to remove another and replace it. This is as far as 3 of us ...2 of them professionals...got on Saturday.

I have the help of a wonderful gardener but I am not the kind of person who will stand by and just supervise because I am paying them. Nope not me...makes me feel far too guilty and I have to help.

So this is where we are at currently. We'll attack it again this weekend. Aside from laying the rest of the stone, there will be a pond built just in front of the shed and to the side of the shed will be some kind of arbor with a gate. Something to trail roses over and kind of make a secret garden effect.

Then I have to think about plants....that is the hard part lol. I will be trying to recreate an English style cottage garden in California...hmmm.

And, if that wasn't enough to do I started tackling the room that will become a library yesterday and removed all the chair rail ....now to learn how to plaster lol.

Dear Steven Tyler

2011-05-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

… You know I love you & think you are really hot

… You know I love what you wear

… You know I love your hair with its feathers & charms

… You know I love your music

…You know I’ve loved being able to watch you on Idol every week

… You know I’d love to sculpt you ....no that isn’t a euphemism ;-)

But…..sorry…..your book really sucks !

I'm back...kinda

2011-04-27T10:36:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

I am back and have been so for just over a week. I have just had a lot of personal things to deal with since I got back, hence no time to get on here :-(

And I am off to Vegas this weekend to meet up with one of my English friends who is coming over here. Then we are flying up to Minneapolis for a while to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra again...yes they were that good lol

We had a wonderful time, visited lots of places and met up with some bloggy friends which was perfect. I have loads of photos to show you all, including some awesome old buildings for all you house builders :-) I just haven't had time to sort though my 1000's of photos as yet :-)

I was going to add just a couple of piccies but Blogger wants to lay them all sideways on here, even though they aren't they way to start with ugh. If I rotate them then it changes all the size and aspect ratio. See some things never change and blogger is as temperamental as ever lol

So..I'll just have to leave it as this for now but I'll be back as soon as I can :-)

Toodle Pip xxx

WooooooHoooooo

2011-03-16T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone...remember me :-)

Although I was planning a short break I have also had awful computer problems of late so had little choice. I am still not fully sorted but better than I was.

Also what is with Blogger lately ? In my dashboard I used to be able to view all the blogs I follow and could literally scroll down and go back through weeks worth of posts making it fairly easy to catch up. For some time now my dashboard has only been showing the last 20 blog updates.....and seeing as how I follow 300 different blogs I miss loads :-(

When my time is limited I don't get chance to manually look for all the blogs I want to read :-( I guess this is a new thing rather than a glitch and I don't like it.

Anyhoooo, I'll be away from here for a little while longer because....

I am going home. Yup I will be flying back over to England next week for a 3 week vacation.

I've not been home at all since I left 7 years ago and I can't tell you how excited I am.

There are sooo many people and places I want to see that 3 weeks will go past in a whirl I am sure.

We will be meeting some friends in London to start and then going to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra again. I was looking forward to this already but now I am even more excited as Wendie will be there and we'll be staying in the same hotel....how much fun will that be :-)

And the food...oh how I've missed the food. I am not a food person at all...I used to eat perhaps once a day and ate because I had to , not because I wanted to. Yet the thought of going back home and getting to eat all the food I missed had me drooling. Walkers crisps, buttered teacakes, scones and clotted cream, real fish and chips, pukka pie, mushy peas, real chocolate..then with these thoughts came the realization that I'd end up putting on 40lbs.

Not good seeing as I have already put on almost 40lbs in the 7 years I've been here. So I decided to go on a diet.

Yes, yes, I know I should be losing weight for health reasons, to look better etc etc but the motivation just wasn't there...until I wanted to stuff my face with yummy English food while I could.

So I started dieting on January 13th and so far have lost 26lbs...another woooo hooo. I still have 11lbs to get to the weight I was when I moved here but I've gone from a size 12 jeans down to a size 8 which is unbelievable. I am surprised the store staff didn't come into the changing room when I first tried on a size 8 cause I was squealing so much lol. For the Brits, that isn't as impressive as it sounds though...sizes here are different so now I am a UK 10 but still down from a 14 :-)

And it has been the easiest dieting I've ever done. Had to learn to eat more than once a day and eat more than I ever have but I managed.

A huge part of it being easy has been the energy I've gained. I am sure some of that is from not having to lug all that flab about , and some of it is because I am so excited but I am literally bouncing off the walls with energy and find it hard to sit still. Good thing really with all I have to do :-)

And I couldn't have done it without my friend Patti. We may be on different coasts but doing this diet with her has helped so much. We hold each other accountable and it has proved much better than any dieting group :-)

Meeting some fellow blogger friends is going to be so much fun. I also come from the same area as Debie so will be meeting up with her as well....gosh I so can't wait :-)

And... if this wasn't enough excitement for one person, ,for the first time since he started studying fine art at college I will get to go with my Son Aydn to an art gallery. He is much more knowledgeable about art than I am so this will be a fun learning experience for me .

He is doing extremely well at college and while I am there he will be having his work assessed by Walsall Art Gallery with a view to exhibiting there which is really exciting. He has exhibited there before when he was working on his homeless project. This was very successful and when the Director of The Big Issue heard abut it he came along to take a look and loved it.

I always expected that he'd become an engineer like every other man in our family so I am very pleased he took after me :-)

Well, a week today I'll be off so I best get cracking. We have a house sitter so I have to clean and get the guest room ready as well as pack.

Toodle Pip...see you soon xxxx

p.s...we'll likely be whizzing all over the country so if anyone else is interested in meeting up just shoot me an email :-)

You may have thought

2011-01-21T09:30:00.000-08:00

I'd fallen of the edge of the world. Sorry I've been missing long enough that a few people started emailing me to make sure things were OK.

Everything is fine...just having some 'me' time and sorting out some things.

I am doing some art but at 4 feet tall it is not a miniature and will be going on my wall rather than in someone elses dollhouse :-)

I'll be back when I have something more interesting to say .

2010-12-22T10:34:00.000-08:00

It has been a while :-)

I've actually been meaning to post sooner but have been manic sorting out Christmas shopping and the like. I used to love it when I lived back home but here, not only do I have to find the right gifts, I have to make sure they are small enough and light enough so that shipping doesn't cost a fortune. Then the delight of packing them all up and standing in line at the Post office.

If you bought anything from me in 2010 you should by now have received a gift from me. Just a small token of my thanks for your business. Without you I wouldn't be here blogging. If, for any reason, you've not received it please email me.

Being so far from home and my family and friends, Christmas over here is a quiet and often sad affair.

This year I did decide that I was going to do some decorating for Christmas even if it was only a small amount.

I managed to get a gorgeous wreath and garland on sale....$15 for both instead of about $200...impressive huh.

I also bought some adorable tiny white ceramic birds and decorated the wreath and garland with them.

It looks so pretty lit up. I am such a simple person sometimes...a few twinkly white lights and I am happy :-)

In other news here we are having a doozy as a storm. It is called a pineapple express storm but that makes it sound much nicer than it is. It has rained constantly and heavily now for over a week. I've never seen rain like this anywhere I've lived.

We live in the desert yet we are on flood watch and many roads are closed due to flooding. The mountains got over 15 feet of snowfall over the weekend alone. Unfortunately the clouds are so low I've not been able to see any of it. We are in the valley so are just getting the rain.

This is my garden at the minute :-(

Even the poor slugs are suffering and are scaling the walls and taking shelter on the windowsills and under the eves.

Other than this there has been nothing fun happening here. A couple of dentist appointments and I am back at the dentist tomorrow ugh. Oh well, at least I'll get a good nap out of that :-)

Sorry I've not had chance to keep up with every ones blogs. One of my resolutions for next year is to manage my time better ... we'll see how that goes lol

Have a wonderful holiday everyone

xxxx

Tis the season to be....SPOOKY !

2010-12-04T12:09:00.000-08:00

Even witches celebrate Christmas...their trees are just a little different

and a lot more spooky :-)

This one is decorated with a multitude of witchy ornaments.

Skulls, toadstools, severed chicken feet, skelly heads, shiny red poison apples, magic spell scrolls, frogs legs, fresh from the field baby pumpkins and even stars...only difference is the stars are made from bones.

All topped off with a large bone star.

Skelly heads and skulls glow in the dark for added effect :-)

Hope you like it !

I've likely left it a tad late to be listing it on etsy but figured I'd give it a try...if not I can enjoy it myself till next Christmas :-)

Good luck

2010-12-02T11:48:00.000-08:00

To anyone who is going to attempt to get to KDF tomorrow or over the weekend.

You have some insane weather over there so I am sure it will be a struggle for sellers and buyers alike.

Take care, be warm and stay safe.

xxxx

Happy Thanksgiving....

2010-11-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

To all my American friends....and to the rest of you Happy Thursday :-)

Not being American, Thanksgiving isn't quite the same for us. Not that we don't love a turkey dinner but we are really small eaters and even the smallest turkey breast would feed us for years lol. And neither of us are into American football so that is another tradition we shan't be partaking in.

So, we made a last minute decision to take a ride out to San Diego for the weekend. Mick has some skydiving friends out there I've never met, and one is a Brit, so that should be fun.

But, the main reason we are going is to see the Tran Siberian Orchestra perform which we are really looking forward to.

They put on such a theatrical show with lots of flames, fireworks, fog and dancing...oh and their music is pretty awesome too ...can't wait.

Here is a short clip for those who may not have heard of them.

Not much going on here at the mo. I've just got through the torture that is known as open enrollment (when we have to decide who to have medical insurance etc with for the next year ) and have spent my time filing and sorting out masses of papers so no decorating done as yet.

I have a idea for an awesome spooky Christmas tree, in mini of course, but I can't see I'll get that done in time for Christmas now :- (

Anyhow, to all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, have a wonderful time and

don't eat too much pie :-)

2010-11-11T08:42:00.000-08:00

First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to visit all of the participants in Kats online Halloween party and for leaving comments on mine.

I am so miffed I wasn't able to play a more active part. I was having dental treatment so had to schedule the post early to be able to be part of it at all and was left feeling somewhat the worse for wear for a while after the dentist trip.

I still have more work to be done and have a another visit scheduled tomorrow...maybe next time the sedative they give me will actually be the drug they say it is ...i.e the one I've had before and know works rather than some other drug that did nothing grrr.

Anyhow, in between this I managed to take a most wonderful trip up North.

I've been communicating online and on the phone with a lady from the east coast who I met in a miniatures group years ago. Up until last weekend we had never met. But she was in California for a wedding and there was no way I'd let her be in the same state without meeting up. Those of you who have known me as long will know Patti (Sugar Chicky) who I am referring to.

So Mick and I took a ride up to Napa to meet Patti and her hubby. We only had one day together but we took them to visit San Francisco and Berkley and had a great time, even if it was belting it down with rain half of the day :-) They had to fly back the next morning at 4am but we still managed to stay in the bar past midnight and make the most of the too short time we had together.

I didn't take many photos at all because I've been there before and unfortunately, Patti lost her camera on the flight home. Hopefully there'll be an honest person who turns it in as her camera holds the only photos of us together :-(

Now it is back to reality and back to work.

I have some commissions I need to get on with but aside from these I am planning on taking a bit of a break. We have been in this house a year now and have barely done anything. I have been crazy busy with minis this year I haven't had the time. So I need to spend some time concentrating on getting some house things done. Things like curtains in the bedroom to replace the blankets that are pinned up there would be nice :-)

So I might not have many minis to blog about but perhaps I'll put up some house project piccies as I go along.

Haunted House Online Party

2010-10-31T02:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you Kat for organizing this online party :-)

This is my first time ever participating in something miniature and Halloween.

This time last year I was only making pretty flowers and had no idea that I'd be taking a walk over to the dark side in 2010.

I hope you all enjoy my contribution, just click on the photos to enlarge.

Happy Halloween !

The best laid plans and all that....

2010-10-28T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well as excited as I was to go and see The Nightmare before Christmas in 4D it won't be happening this year. Luckily they do it ever year at Halloween time so perhaps next year we can make a full weekend of it and do the whole shebang with the Pumpkin Kings dinner as well.

My computer monitor has been acting up the past few weeks and has been flickering at me. Then it started flashing and then it started going on and off making it impossible to use. Mick took it apart and ordered the capacitors to fix it but when he came to do so the back light had blown out as well. Likely my fault for carrying on using it when there was a problem :-(

So, we had to to buy a new one. All you can get now are the wide screens. I don't like them but figured I'd get used to it. I set it so the fonts were readable but then it wouldn't run my camera software of photoshop. To do that it had to be on the highest resolution which meant the font size was too mall for me to read. And on top of that my photos all looked squat. I tried ever combination of settings but no way could I work with squat photos lol.

Luckily Mick found me a second hand, old fashioned square monitor so I am good to go now.

On top of this I had to visit the dentist. I have a totally irrational and crazy dental phobia. I can give blood, have shots, do surgery etc but when it comes to the dentist I am a quivering wreck....literally.

I found a dentist that deals in patients with 'high anxiety' and went to see her. I have to say they were fantastic. I've had dentists refuse to treat me as my blood pressure goes so high. Dentists who claim to deal with the likes of me leave me sitting in the chair, surrounded by the sights and smells of a dental office, for ages. Dentists who get totally embarrassed when I am sitting there in tears.

So, to find someone who really understood and wanted to help me is a great step forward.

Unfortunately I have bone loss in my jaw so they are unsure whether anything can be done. My teeth don't look bad but they are not secure in my jaw. Apparently it is a genetic thing and no amount of brushing or flossing will help. They are going to try putting some drugs into my gums and see if it can be built back up and doing some gum surgery before making the decision whether to take them all out or not :-(

So tomorrow I will be dragged to the dentist by Mick and given a wonderful drug that will render me useless. I will then sleep the entire day away and have zero recollection of the whole day when I wake up.

As I have no collection of ever being hurt by a dentist, my new dentist also thinks I need to see a hypnotist to find out why I am like this so I will be seeing a therapist shortly and see where we can go from there.

So with having to buy a new monitor, a dentist bill of about $750 so far (after insurance) and the fact that I will likely still be whacked out on Saturday there will be no going to Hollywood this weekend.

I am not too upset though as next week we are off to San Francisco. A very dear friend of mine is flying there from the east coast to attend a wedding. She will have a day free so we are driving up there to meet her. I met her in a miniature group a long time ago and although we've never met we have become very close friends so I am very exited about it.

I've been finishing off some minis and have some rather spooky ones to show you but I am going to save those for Kats Halloween party. I really want to join in so will schedule a post in case I am not up to it :-)

I've also made some small sets of grungy pots which are now in my etsy store. They can be used for decoration only or actually used to put plants in.

I apologise that I've been so slow replying to emails or reading blogs but with no monitor and then the whole dentist thing I've just not been able to do it :-(

And in case I don't make it on here before....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN ALL !!!

Nightmare......in 4 D

2010-10-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Yup you read that right 4D.

In the next couple of weeks El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard is showing Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 4D

So what is 4D ? Well the film will be shown in 3D and on top of this there will be a whole bunch of additional sensory effects going on all around you in the cinema....things like wind, snow, fog, and much more.

How cool does that sound :-) And it is showing near me :-)

The only downside is that it is in Hollywood and I will generally do anything to stay out of L.A. ....but this is soooo tempting.

2010-10-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

Something different

2010-10-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

With all my recent commissions I am somewhat all floozied out so thought I'd spent a day playing with some clay.

I am still working on plants but need something to do in between drying times.

I watched Beetlejuice last week which got us talking about Tim Burton and The Nightmare Before Christmas movie...which I'd never seen. So we decided to watch it.

I know I am soo behind the curve here but what an awesome movie...my head is swimming with loads of new ideas now :-)

Who knows...maybe I'll even watch Harry Potter soon too :-)

Our crazy summer

2010-10-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Well, we've been having some crazy weather the last couple of weeks....crazy enough it hit the UK press :-) Some awesome photography in this article.

Rainbow AND a lightning bolt? Must be a Hollywood production: Days of record heat followed by spectacular storms in California

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 4:48 PM on 1st October 2010

Days of historic heat in southern California came to a spectacular end on Wednesday with thunderstorms, lightening and huge rainbow.
Rain fell steadily in downtown Los Angeles yesterday afternoon as dramatic storm clouds formed over the region, only two days after the highest ever temperatures were recorded.
At the start of the week thermometers hit an astonishing 113F (45C) - beating the previous record set 20 years ago.

Spectacular: A rainbow and bolts of lightening were seen over the Hollywood sign as days of historic heat in Southern California came to an end

Unique weather: A monsoon storm made its way through the Hollywood hills area bringing rain, lighting and rainbows

The National Weather Service in the U.S. said the humid conditions would now continue in the region until at least Friday, with the storms increasing the threat of wildfires.
Local residents took to Twitter on Wednesday to post their own pictures of the spectacular weather, including a double rainbow over West Hollywood.

Showers and thunderstorms have been reported in parts of northern Los Angeles and San Bernardino during the last 24 hours as temperatures dropped by some ten degrees on Wednesday, with highs of 92F recorded.
Forecasters said they had predicted the dramatic change in weather as subtropical air pushed into the region.

End of the world? The intense heat made way to thunderstorms and lightening on Wednesday

What a difference a day makes: The amazing weather is expected to continue until the weekend

Local residents took to Twitter to post their own pictures of the the amazing skyline

'Today [Wednesday] went pretty much as planned,’ said Southern California Weather Authority Meteorologist Kevin Martin.
'Today was well forecasted by our Special Weather Statement that was issued on Monday'.
Some superstitious local residents though have begun speculating that the spectacular weather may in fact signal something more sinister.
Enrique Santana is quoted by local news station KABC as saying: ‘It's very strange for me - 113-degree weather - it makes you think of 2012 [predicted by some to the date the World will come to an end].’
On Monday thousands of people sought refuge from the incredible heat, with the city of Los Angeles urging people to use parks and recreation facilities, senior centres and libraries as cooling centres.
The blast of intense heat followed an unusually cool summer that often found beaches covered in overcast and whipped by chilly winds.
The above-average temperatures in the region are expected to continue until Saturday and will then fall to lower than normal next week.

Copeed from Daily Mail

: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1316520/The-end-world-Days-record-heat-followed-spectacular-thunderstorms-huge-rainbow-California.html#ixzz1182O1lrS

Ambiguous Affair

2010-09-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

I am shocked to announce that there have been some naughty going ons at Tallulah Belle’s nursery.

A short while ago I found a cute little shoot that was unfamiliar to me. I looked in all my reference books and couldn’t find a species like it.

It was only once she started growing that I realized why.

It seems, my friends, that we have been having some illicit cross pollination going on in the middle of the night. Tut tut.

Polly Poppy was always the partying type but never in my wildest dreams did I think she’d be run off with Maurice mushroom.

And here she is… the hybrid offspring of this dubious dalliance who looks like she has inherited her Mothers promiscuous tendencies.

If you go down to the pumpkin patch.....beware of a BIG surprise !

2010-09-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

Do not disturb

2010-09-15T09:48:00.000-07:00

Is your plant in print ?

2010-09-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

This months American Miniaturist magazine has an article on moi. How cool is this....I love how they've done it....looks like the plants are about to jump off the page and bite you...or in some cases lick you :-)

Thanks Bailey and the rest of your team, I am really impressed. I love the comment about NastYurtium Nanci needed to floss more lol

And thanks to Kat for sending me a copy. I can't buy one anywhere near me unfortunately and I subscribe to their other magazines.

If you click on the photos you should be able to get them large enough to read it.

So, is your plant here :-)

And as well as having a grungy fabric tutorial in Dollhouse Word, Kat from Kat The Hat Lady is also featured in American Miniaturist...way to go Kat !

Now I just need to go find a copy for my Nan who I mention in the article. It was my Nan and Grandad who first got me into miniatures when I was very small.

Unfortunately, my Nan is not at all well and has been in a nursing home for a while. Pretty tough when I live on the other side of the world. A lot of the while she doesn't know who people are or why she is where she is but I am hoping that my Mom can read and show this to her she'll remember me and the things we used to make together :-(

2010-08-31T09:39:00.000-07:00

Blimey it has been a while since I've been on here...I've been busy, busy, busy.

I assume other people have been having the same problems with Blogger that I have as well....sometimes I have a followers list..... sometimes not. Sometimes I can get to someones blog,.....sometimes not. Sometimes I can post a comment.....sometimes not. I guess they are doing some updating. Infuriating when you only have short periods of time to sit and read blogs.

Anyhow, I am still working on commissions but nothing to show as yet.

It has been slow going as I've been having some real problems with glue. I am using and doing the same as I always have but it just ain't gluing right. The only difference has been the heat...we've been pretty hot here of late...getting up to 109 F (43C) so the air conditioning has been on constantly. This is obviously drying the air out and affecting the glue :-(

I have also been doing some painting....real life size painting on canvas.

This is the inspiration photo for our bedroom. Our bedroom will be Japanese themed so I can display all the lovely things Mick bought me from Japan :-) I will make the bedding once I can find the right fabric.

I wanted some art to hang above the bed that was similar to the pattern on the duvet here.

And this is what I did. The canvas is 4 feet x 3 feet.

I have to say I really enjoyed painting. Unfortunately my shoulder was not as impressed :-( I only did this in half hour spurts between making minis but it was really quick to do.

I had a number of paint samples I'd bought from the DIY store to test on the walls. The sample pots here are so big that I had loads left over. I wanted an dark aged effect as my background so used them to paint the canvas. I used 4 shades.... amber, gold, ochre, and tan and just kinda rolled them around with a plastic bag. I actually love the effect I got....so much so that I'll do this on my walls :-) The flowers and branches are in artists acrylic.

At one point I made a mistake on a flower and wiped it down with a damp washcloth. I loved the way it removed some of the paint and gave it a worn look....so I went ahead and wiped paint off all the flowers :-) Probably not a real artist technique but I love the effect.

I am no Michelangelo but considering this is the very first time I've painted anything I am very pleased with myself.

See the flower in the top right corner....that was the first one I did and I changed the shape of the others. I've decided to leave that mistake there to remind me this was my first try.

Now I have art exactly how I want it, all for just the cost of a canvas....using a Michael's 40% off coupon of course :-)

Progress....minis and house

2010-08-16T14:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't really posted any photos of my current commission for a while...for no other reason that there really isn't much to see.

All I am doing is gluing on leaf after leaf after leaf. This stage is pretty time consuming as it is often a case of glue 1 on, knock 3 off.

I am limited to doing about 4 branches at a time and leaving them to dry before doing any more.. Any more than that and the chances of knocking off more than I add increases.

Here is a picture of how far I've got.

Doesn't look like there is much more to do...until you see the underneath :-)

You can see parts where it is rather shiny. This is just glue. For some reason, even thought I am using the method I always have, these leaves aren't sticking as well as normal. So I am having to paint glue over all the joins. I'll go over it all afterwords and re-texture and paint it. Not difficult, just adds more time to the making of it :-(

There will be a load more leaves in the gaps I've left. I want to see how it looks with this amount and them place it in situ and reassess the situation.

In between I am painting in real life.

Outside my kitchen window I have a little patio area.

Since we had the dead trees cut down the sun blazes through the windows on this side of the house and makes it unbearably hot in there

So we decided to build an arbor over it....which is actually cheaper than getting a custom blind made for the odd sized kitchen window.

Here is how the area looked when we moved in.

And this is what it looks like when we had the ficus trees cut back.

The plant to the right, blocking the door, is a fake castor oil plant. Luckily we have a door to get out back on the other side of the room so I can let this grow wild for the moment. At some point it will have to be cut right down but for now I can just enjoy it as it is :-)

I was out there this morning painting all the eaves...not fun in 100 degree sun.

Now I am painting the main beams for the arbor. Luckily we have this room at the end of the house that we have no idea what to do with...so for now I can at last paint the beams in here with the A/C on :-)

The ficus grows like weeds so that will be trained to grow over the arbor roof. I also plan on planting some more vines next to it and in planters on the right hand side.

If anyone knows of any heat tolerant, evergreen, fast growing vines that don't require much space for roots please let me know.

Miniature....or art ?

2010-08-12T09:57:00.000-07:00

You might remember this photo of a commission I am working on
that I showed a while back

My friend Patti loved how it looked at this stage.

So much so that she wanted a copy of it to frame.

So, after a bit of jiggery pokery in photoshop, we decided that this

was how it should look for framing.

As it was coming up to her birthday, I kind of ignored it after this and hoped she'd forget about it.

Because I wanted to get it matted and framed as a present of her.

You can't really tell in this photo of it but it is 11'' x 14''

I think it worked really well and would never have thought to do this.

Now I just have to get one for me :-)

All done....and canvas quesiton.

2010-08-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

My Menhdi art is all finished.

I have to say that although I wasn't particularly enjoying this when I started , once I got to putting on all the detail I started to really get into it.

All of the patterns are taken from traditional Hindu designs.

I continued in black and white as it was just so striking.

It will be going on a wall that will likely end up red or dark ochre and there will be a lot of brown and wood tones in the room so I thought black and white would change it up a little.

I am really pleased how it has turned out and it will definitely end up as art in my Indian room.

One thing I really loved about this was how easy it was to pick up and work on ...whether it was for 5 minutes or an hour. It required very little space or tools and made no mess....now that was a novelty :-)

I need to get back to putting on my leaves now but this was a very welcome break and I will be doing another to go with it. Not sure if I 'll do a foot or another hand.... I do love the gracefulness of the Indian dance hand positions so it might be another hand.

Now , a question for all you proper artists out there. This is done on canvas. Do I need to seal it or anything or it this good to go ?

Something very different.

2010-08-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have been gluing leaves on all weekend and, for the sake of my sanity and eyesight, needed a rest.

I have been planning on doing this for quite some time now but only just got round to buying the canvases to do it.

This will (hopefully) be some wall art for my Indian themed guest room.

All I have managed to get down so far are the basics.....and it certainly taught me that drawing is not a skill I possess lol.

It is meant to be a hand showing a gesture used in Indian dance. I now need to go and fill in all the mehndi details. Not sure yet whether to do it in henna brown or keep it in black and white.

Once I have my wall color sorted I will likely paint the rest of the canvas the same color.

I did plan on doing 2 of these, 1 hand and 1 foot, but this was harder than I thought so we'll see :-) I think I maybe need to stick with doing things I can do...like making trees lol.

A Piskies & Poppets Giveaway

2010-08-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of reaching 200 followers .. Debie, over at Piskies and Poppets is having a giveaway.

We don't know what it is other than a box of surprises...and who doesn't love a surprise.

If you dont know Debie and her work then go take a look.

She is one of those people I really envy. Someone who can take a lump of clay and create something magical...or wonderfully wicked.

This is just a very small sample of her work.

Click on the photo to make it much bigger.

She is off on a well deserved vacation at the moment and is visiting the other Debbie from Tiny Treasures and will make the draw when she returns.

So scoot on over, check it out and enter to win. Good luck :-)

leaves

2010-07-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

..............lots of them :-)

These are for the big commission I am working on at the moment.

I was curious how many there were but I counted 400 and gave up. I hope that is enough :-)

To give some perspective, the pile on the left is about 3 inches by 2 inches. I know it doesn't look like there are 400 leaves there, I was surprised as well , but there are...pinky promise.

It is hard to tell from the photo but each one has multiple layers of paint on it to create a variegated effect. It is hard to tell in real life as well to be honest as they are so small. But once they are all put on you will notice the difference in colors and it won't look as flat as it would if they were all one solid color.

I wish I could share more pics of it coming along but I can't so this will have to do for now. It is the biggest thing I've ever made, and despite a few nerves, it is coming on wonderfully.

New header

2010-07-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

Seeing as how I was helping Wendie with her blog header I figured I should pull my finger out and redo my own.

I liked my old one but with only one photo of a pretty bonsai it didn't really show what I mainly do nowadays....so I had to add some of my favorite wacky plants to it.

And, if you've not gone over to help Wendie choose her new header, pop on over there now :-)

I need sewing help please.

2010-07-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

Bearing in mind that I can just about sew a straight line, how hard is it to add piping onto something ?

This is an Oscar De La Renta bedding set.

I don't have this but I do have the same fabric and want to make a similar bedding set. I figure I can make the duvet cover, pillows and drapes because they are basically just squares...right :-)

The bed skirt...I have no idea but will try and figure it out...even if I just end up stapling it to the bed base lol.

I'd really like to have the piping around it in places, but I can't afford to mess it up and have to buy more fabric.

I should add that this is for my guest room and is real life king size not a mini :-)

So is this something a beginner could tackle...or no ?

For Sale on Etsy

2010-07-14T16:14:00.000-07:00

Hi folks

Just to let you know I will be listing a number of wacky plants on etsy.

They will be available from 12.00 noon my time (8pm UK time) tomorrow...Thursday 15th July.

For a sneak preview please visit my For Sale page.

xxx

You know when....

2010-07-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

.....You get something in your head and there is just no getting rid of it till you do it :-)

* * * * * * * * * *

Silly Lillies & Daff-Nee

2010-07-09T06:53:00.001-07:00

Well things appear to be getting back to somewhat normal here thankfully.

The repair bill for Micks motorbike was 80% of the value of the bike so we decided to bite the bullet and get a new one. As much as he loves it, it was just insane to spend that kind of money on it.

Hopefully we'll be picking the new bike up this afternoon or tomorrow so I have a car again :-)

This means that I can put my new plants up for sale, knowing I'll be able to get to the post office should any sell.

Here are 2 more that I managed to finish yesterday. I've had these sitting around for ages but didn't have the time to get them potted.

Finally Silly Lily-Jean & Silly Lily-Jo were rescued from he florist foam and planted in the manner which they deserve.

Silly Lilies are from the same plant kingdom as Floozies but are much further down the ladder in terms of rudeness and recklessness. Silly Lilies won't make a pass at your man nor will they bite....but do expect the odd raspberry to be blown at you !

Now to Daff-Nee. I was playing about with different plants and came up with her.

I have to say she really doesn't light my fire but, before she gets relegated to the compost heap, I wanted to show you all.

So, what do you think about Daff-Nee ?

* * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * *

New blog & stuff.

2010-07-07T07:50:00.000-07:00

Goodness....what a manic few days it has been in the kingdom of Tallulah Belle.

Aside from it being a holiday weekend, I had an ant invasion in my kitchen, a team of men in my garden removing all the dead trees and some major drama with Micks motorbike..... Phew !

My garden looks.....well in all honesty ...naked. I was scared before but now I am terrified. Now all the junk has gone I can really see what a mammoth task it is going to be.

I have a bunch of work and emails I must catch up on but I'll post some garden pics soon.

As for my plants for sale...well, the drama with the bike has left us with only one car, which Mick has to use to get to work obviously. So, I'll have to wait a little while until I have transport to get to the post office.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In the meantime, you may remember a few days back I posted abut a new miniaturist and a new blog.

Well, Kim has started a new blog purely dedicated to the renovation of her new dollhouse.

It is a beautiful house that has suffered from years of neglect and requires an awful lot of work. Bit like my real life house really :-)

Kim is new to the miniaturist world, and like all of us when we start out, would really appreciate all the support and advice we are all so good at. So please join me in welcoming her to our wonderful little community.

Please go visit and read her story....a sad tale indeed.

http://www.littleroseyposey.blogspot.com

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Comments & emails

2010-07-06T08:15:00.001-07:00

I saw peoples posts about losing their comments so only tried to publish 1 and I also lost it so will wait and see if it is fixed.

I also have a bunch of emails from some of you. I have about 12 men in my yard right now cutting a load of dead trees so I apologize for the delay but I will email you back as soon as I can.

I need to make sure nothing comes through my roof....or even worse the neighbors :-)

Normal service will resume shortly !

For Sale.....soon.

2010-07-04T15:37:00.000-07:00

Hi folks

Happy 4th July to my American friends.

I am having a manic and expensive weekend...and not in a good way lol.

I will be putting all of these Floozies up for sale within the next week but need to sort out paypal buttons etc.

In the meantime I thought you all might like a sneak preview :-)

Yes this is the same plant twice....I took 2 pics to show how different her mood can be depending on the way the leaves are posed :-)

Hope you like them :-)

Ebay & Floozies

2010-07-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Is anyone still using eBay to sell ?

I've not used it in years because most of my work has been commission based and recently I started putting my commissions in my etsy store simply to build up my feedback there.

But I noticed that eBay have free listings until July 12th.

In between working on this big project I have been doing bits on some Floozies, Lippy's and Silly Lily's and will have some for general sale in the next week and am considering giving eBay another go.

Any thoughts ?

No you are not going ad...I've added this bit after ;-)

One of the reasons for me thinking about eBay was the longer sale period. I've had so many people email me to say they were disappointed they missed things I had for sale that I thought perhaps a 7 day period would be fairer.

And.... because I hate to do blog posts without photos here is a sneak peek at one of the new ones :-)

I love how her leaves turned out :-)

.

Done barking

2010-06-30T09:11:00.001-07:00

Woof !

First off I have to say that this was the most difficult photo I've ever tried to take so I apologize for the picture. It had to go against a black background and although I have dark wood floors, black granite counter and dark wood furniture but it is all shiny which made it insanely hard to get a good picture. These are the best out of about 80 shots lol.

If you click the photos then click again you should be able to see the detail better.

All of the bark has been painted on to the branches then etched with a pin.

You can see that the bottom parts are brown.

There are knots in the bark but the camera isn't picking them up well at all :-(

There will be numerous stages of painting. This stage is the first wash of very dark brown....much darker than it appears in the photos. It gets painted on then wiped off before it dries. This will leave the darkest color deep in the crevices and will add dimension to the piece.

Once that is finished I will add further layers of different colors of paint to get the final effect. This is the time consuming but one of the most fun parts for me as this is where it really comes alive :-)

Yet again

2010-06-28T11:48:00.001-07:00

England fails to bear Germany.....our day has to come soon. Oh well, we have another 4 years to get it right and learn how to play as a team !

Commiserations to the American team...you fought a tough fight.

I am still busy working on my big project....am applying the bark at the moment which is messy and time consuming.

In the meantime, here are a couple of great new blogs to go check out.

Michelle pointed me in the direction of this one.....check out Susan's plants. Amazing, especially the wisteria.

http://susantrodden.blogspot.com

And Kim, over at Twice Remembered isn't new to blogging at all but is new to miniatures. She recently scored a fantastic deal on a dollhouse on Craigslist. Her dream farmhouse....albeit 12th scale. I hope she realizes how addicting this hobby can be :-)

http://twiceremembered.blogspot.com

Oh well, back to work. Hopefully I'll be back with more piccies soon.

Go boys !!!

2010-06-23T10:07:00.001-07:00

Wow.....What a morning... 2 great matches, 2 great results and lots of leaves cut lol

As an English girl living in the US my loyalties are torn. Of course I'd love England to go through but I also want to see USA advance as well

I'd particularly love to see the US go further if for no other reason than the media might start paying attention. I appreciate soccer isn't huge in the US, but the American team are taking on, and doing very well, against some of the worlds best teams.

I cannot think of another popular US sport that is played on such a global scale and am disappointed in the coverage and general media support for the US team.

Anyhow, 2 more matches this afternoon and we'll see who we both play next !

Thank goodness I can work while I am watching them play :-)

Blocking unwanted followers

2010-06-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

My dear friends.....for some reason I am unable to leave comments on blogs at the mo. I get the comment box but not the word verification bit so it won't go through grrr.

Anyhow, I have been reading all your blogs and see our little problem has reared it's ugly head again.

Some of you are mentioning you are unable to block followers and I wanted to let you know that you can.

Go to your dashboard and by your blog title you'll see the number of followers. On here you will find a list of all who follow you. Click on the offending follower and you'll get an option to block them.

Nice and simple :-)

Of course this won't stop a person from reading your blog but it will send a clear message that you do not want them there. Maybe.... possibly.... perhaps.... if enough people do it then the message will be loud and clear.

As for my views on it...well it is probably best I don't say anything yet.

However, I will say that although I have an extremely long fuse, you do not want to be the target of my annoyance when the bomb goes off.

I will not stop posting my work in progress nor will I stop selling. Sorry but you just aren't worth that much to me.

All I have to say to you is that if you want to spend almost 50 hours twisting wire and getting the callouses and cuts that come with it the go ahead.

Then, and only then, feel free to come back and tell me my work isn't worth 150 quid !!!

I would like to point out that I personally have not had my work copied but friends of mine have. No one has told me personally my work isn't worth a higher price. However, the idea that people shouldn't have to pay higher prices for hand crafted, well made, original, one of a kind, miniatures really sticks in my gullet and to use this as a selling point for cheap knock off copies is just wrong in my book.

Remember....You get what you pay for !

What do you get.....

2010-06-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

If you take 58 meters of wire, 1 1/2 rolls of floral tape, 16 world cup soccer matches and 11 episodes of Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.

Hello friends

2010-06-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

......remember me :-)

I have been so busy I've no had chance to keep up with reading any blogs let alone post anything.

I am still busy but sometimes we just have to make time huh :-)

If someone had told me a few years back that I'd be living in California , making crazy plants for a living I'd have laughed my head off...funny how life turns out.

Anyhow, here are some photos of the plants I've been busy with and that have not been shown on here before. Some of you will recognize them :-)

Click on the pics to make them bigger.

Time to get back to work...I am about to make the largest miniature I've ever done :-) I am very excited about this one but likely won't have any pics for some time.

I need to figure out a way to work on the couch in front of the TV...the world cup starts this week...Go England !!!

Bloody computers

2010-05-19T08:25:00.001-07:00

I am sorry I went missing in action right after announcing the giveaway winners. I got a darn virus on my computer.

I am so lucky that Mick knows his stuff then it comes to things like this and it doesn't cost us a fortune talking it in to get fixed.

If I got hold of one of these idiots I'd string them up. Viruses are such a pain in the neck. They jump about, change file names and breed...grrr.

Mick got hold of it and eventually he managed to get rid of it. So annoying when all you get is 'Access Denied' when you try and remove something on your computer that shouldn't be there in the first place.

Anyhow back to normal now with loads of catching up to do. I am dying to read about everyones adventures at KDF.

If I owe you an email I apologize....I'll try and get back to everyone today. And winners, you plants are all ready to be mailed...I just couldn't get into my email to get your addresses.

Toodle Pip.

ETA - spoke too soon...damn thing is back :-(

And the winners are ........

2010-05-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

First off, let me say that in my eyes each and every one of you who participated in this giveaway is a winner.

I am absolutely amazed at the response I had and am just blown away by your generosity.

As well as all the comments you see on the post, I received numerous emails from people with donation confirmation numbers. These people did not want to enter the giveaway because they either weren’t miniaturists or they just wanted to remain anonymous.

I asked that each person would consider giving $2. Much to my huge surprise, many people gave more and I received notification of amounts donated ranging from $2 up to $75.

I hoped to hit the $100 mark. It got there quicker than I could keep up with thanking people. Did I dare to think we’d hit $200 ? Well we did ….and more.

For a rough calculation of how much we raised, I added the known amounts and then counted $2 for every other donation so it is possible we raised even more than this. I didn’t want to know, nor did I expect anyone to tell me the figures but some did so I added them up so you can all see how awesome you are.

It doesn’t matter who donated what.
What is important is that every single penny counts and between us we have saved numerous lives.

I cannot thank all of you enough. If you could see me now you’d see me blubbering…this went way beyond my wildest expectations and I am so proud of you all.

Anyhow, let’s get to business.

Here is the list of people who wanted to be entered. You’ll see that you have one entry for a donation (D), one for blogging it (B) and one for putting it on facebook (F) If you click on it, then click again you'll see it larger.

The first winner…yes I said first is..........

Dale

from

Dales Dreams

Because we hit the $200 mark I decided to have a second winner.

That person is……

Janice

from

On Being a Mini Mum

And, although we didn’t quite hit the $300 mark I went ahead and donated a bit more this morning so that we did and could have a third winner :-)

That person is……

Julia

from

Bear Cabin Miniatures.

Congratulations to the 3 of you !

To keep it fair, Dale will get to choose first, then Janice and then Julia.

I will email all of you and let you know what is available to pick from.

Again, a huge thank you to all of you for your donations and helping me get the word out.

Giveaway winner drawing

2010-05-17T09:05:00.001-07:00

The time has come to draw the winning name but you'll have to wait just a little longer.

I thought I'd made it pretty easy by numbering the comments but it hasn't worked that way. I went in and deleted all my thank you comments but even so some people didn't have enough comments to reflect that they donated, mentioned it on facebook and blogged about it.

So, I am compiling a list of all the names and checking all the blogs, facebook etc to make sure everyone gets the correct number of entries. Each entry will get a number then I'll use a random generator to pick the winner.

Stay tuned.....I'll be back shortly with the winner and another surprise....or two :-)

GIVEAWAY

2010-05-11T14:43:00.001-07:00

DON'T FORGET

GIVEAWAY ENDS NEXT MONDAY MAY 17TH

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE IN BY MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY MAY 16TH.

WINNER WILL BE DRAWN AND ANNOUNCED MAY 17TH

(yes I changed it...I forgot lots of people will be at KDF this weekend. If anyone has a problem with it being extended let me know)

ENTER TO WIN ONE OF THESE PLANTS

CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR MORE DETAILS AND TO ENTER

We need to be the change we wish to see in the world ~ Ghandi

Giveaway Time

2010-05-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a giveaway which a difference. Yes you will get a chance..or more...to win something but you will also be making a huge difference to the lives of someone much less fortunate than yourselves.

Did you know....

Every day more than 4,000 children in developing countries die, simply because they don't have clean drinking water.

* Contaminated drinking water is a major problem. More than one billion people do not have access to safe water.

* Diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water remains a leading cause of illness and death among infants and children in the developing world.

* About 1.8 million children die every year due to diarrheal diseases.

* More children die from diarrheal illnesses like cholera and dysentery than from HIV/AIDS or malaria combined.

* It is well documented that simply providing safe, clean, drinkable water can reduce deadly diarrhea and other devastating diseases by about 50%.

When you and I need a drink we can just flip on the tap and know that water is safe to drink.

Can you imagine having to walk miles to collect water to drink.

or drinking water from a lake in which cows freely roam.

I can't and it breaks my heart that I cannot just wave a wand and put an end to this right now.

But there is something we can do.

20 packets of Pur water purifier will provide one child with clean water for 100 days yet only costs $2.

To enter this giveaway I ask that you please donate $2 directly to the charity that does this wonderful work.

Click on the logo below to be taken to the website. You will see the donate button on the bottom right.

Donations are via PayPal which is perfectly safe and will cost you nothing.

Copy your confirmation number and leave it in a comment on this post.

The confirmation number will merely show you made a donation and will not show how much nor divulge any personal details.

Because I'd like to raise as much money as possible, if you then mention it on your blog you will get 2 entries. Mention it on Facebook and you'll get another entry. Just leave a comment telling me you've done so.

The winner will be drawn at random using a random number generator on May 14th. You will see that I have set up my blog to give each comment a number. Entries must be in by midnight on May 13th.

And now for the prize....the winner will be able to choose any one of the following plants.

If none of the above float your boat I have some more wacky plants in progress and you can choose one of those which I will then finish for you.

I am sorry this was so wordy but I am extremely passionate about this and really wanted to get my point across.

Those of you who have donated already, I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart. I will add a comment for you to make sure you get a number.

I am in no way affiliated with this charity or P & G and am not receiving any compensation other than the knowledge that between us we can make a huge difference.

Photos are taken from the charities website www.csdw.org

Remember

For each entry you must leave me a separate comment on this post.

1 - with the donation confirmation number.
2 - telling me you put it on your blog
3 - telling me you put it on Facebook.

Each one of those will give you a number and one entry.

Good luck.

Interested in a giveaway ?

2010-04-30T13:55:00.000-07:00

A giveaway with a difference ?

I just hit the 200 follower mark....wooo hoooo.

A huge thanks to all of you who read my ramblings, leave me comments and offer support and advice. I have made so many dear friends through this blog.

I think this is worthy of a giveaway. But... there's a catch. I would love to use this opportunity to raise some money for a charity I have been helping recently.

I have done a number of trades recently where the person who got something from me didn't have to send anything in return but was requested (with no obligation) to donate whatever they could to one of a number of charities close to my heart.

These people need donations a lot more than I need another miniature.

This would be another way I could raise money for one of the charities who provide safe and clean drinking water for children.

Every day more than 4,000 children in developing countries die, simply because they don't have clean drinking water.

So here is what I propose. Please leave me a comment with your thoughts on this whether they be positive or negative.

My idea is that to in order to enter the giveaway you donate 200 pennies ($2) to this charity.

http://www.csdw.org/csdw/home.shtml

10c buys one packet of Pur Water Purifier.

1 packet will provide 10 liters of clean, safe drinking water.

$1 gives a child clean water for 50 days.

You can see more information at the website and I'll post more when I do the actual giveaway.

I will not be personally collecting any donations.

In order to be eligible for the giveaway, I will ask that all participants donate directly to the charity (they take paypal) and copy their confirmation number into a comment box on the giveaway post.

The confirmation number will merely show you made a donation and will not show how much nor divulge any personal details.

Because I'd like to raise as much money as possible, if you then mention it on your blog you will get 2 entries.

There will be a selection of prizes to choose from….both pretty and wacky plants.

The winner will be drawn at random using a random number generator. You will see that I have set up my blog to give each comment a number.

I decided on $2 as that is 200 pennies…do you think that is too much ?

What do you think about the general idea ?

I haven’t seen anyone who has done anything like this. I have tried to think of any problems this might cause and the only one I could think of was the possibility of fraud so, by having you donate directly, that removes any doubts that the money would get there.

Unfortunately there will be no way for me to determine how much money is raised without asking people to tell me how much they donated and I do not think it fair to ask that.

I appreciate that many of us don't have a lot of spare money these days but I am hoping many of us can afford just $2 and that between us we can make a difference to those who can't just turn on the tap to get a drink of water.

So bloggy friends...what do you think ? Any thoughts / ideas / problems with this ?

Disaster Zone

2010-04-23T09:50:00.003-07:00

Otherwise known as my back garden :- )

I am waiting for glue to dry so thought I'd share some real life pics.

As you can see we have a serious weed problem lol.

I am limited to the amount of weeding I can do. I don't want to seize up my shoulder while I am so busy. That's my excuse anyhow :-)

We have a great young lad who does some gardening for us but he is working out of town at the moment so his time is limited.

I am actually weeding myself, a little bit here and there and left handed, but there are just so many it is a never ending job. At least now the summer is here they are all starting to die themselves.

Unfortunately I didn't know (dumb me) that the white tops of dandelions were seeds so they have been spread everywhere :-(

And yet, in amongst this suburban jungle there are treasures galore

Pink Jasmine.

Some kind of rose I think but it has no thorns. Possibly a Lady Banks, although I read they only bloom for a short while and this has been blooming for ages.

This will get staked out properly along the fence once the fence is replaced / repaired.

Random roses grow all over the place. Not very healthy and covered in tiny black fly things. I need to research if I can dig these up and replant them in more suitable places.

Bougainvillea.....how I love this plant. Not only is it stunning but it just grows and grows with no care whatsoever. At least in California...I couldn't keep one alive back in England.

These ones...I have no idea. Never seen anything like them and you can see how the flowers come of the stems in a very unusual pattern.

Yes we have ants everywhere too :-)

Some kind of fruit tree....no idea what though.

Angel Trumpet - sometimes called trumpet of death as the flowers are hallucinogenic.

I've never seen a plant grow so quickly or have so many flowers. It has to be moved as it is totally blocking the guest room window. We have a number of these around the place. At some point I'd like to replace that bedroom window with french doors and have a small patio out there.

Rosemary I think. It smells and has tiny blue flowers.
The bees love it. Needs a serious trim.

And just so it wasn't all weeds, this is our front garden. It was as bad as the back but our gardener guy did his stuff and laid turf for us.

I am not a fan of grass in the desert but every house in the street has it and the style of the house just wouldn't suit a typical desert style garden.

The grass we chose requires little watering though and I will eventually fill most of it in with plants.

This really is a huge job even though it has been turfed as there are huge planting areas to be filled. 2 of the trees are dead.... termites...so they have to come out but will be replaced.

This little strip wasn't meant to be turfed but he had some left over and put it here. I will fill this strip with plants. Oh and the basketball net will be coming down :-)

Hope you enjoyed the virtual trip around my garden....if you can identify any of the plants please shout up :-)

Strange flower

2010-04-21T17:32:00.000-07:00

And this is a real one and not one of my recent wacky creations lol.

Me being the aster gardener that I am ( he he) am not entirely sure what it is...I think perhaps an agave ?

All of a sudden this huge spike has appeared in the middle and is covered in what looks like loads of mini bananas lol.

They don't seem to flower any more than this though as the bottom ones are just dying off. Any ideas ?

And yes those are huge dandelions you see....the whole garden is covered with them and I am slowly clearing them :-) I manged to crop out the dead trees but they need to be dealt with by a tree surgeon as they are huge.

With all these orders, at the mo my mini flowers are taking priority over my full sized ones :-)

More Alice

2010-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

Better than the last ones ?

I made the petals on this one with clay instead of paper and I think it is much better.

As for the leaves well.....hmmm not doing too well with the clay ones. I can make them but can't figure out how to attach them to the wire.

For those that haven't seen the movie...and that includes me :-) .... here is a picture of the flowers I am using as inspiration. I just noticed they have eyes painted in so I'll go back and do that with mine.

I am busy, busy, busy with other plants at the mo so can only spend a few minutes on this when I am waiting for the others to dry.

I am on leaf duty for the next few days....they are all painted but need another coat and veining which takes forever. Still can't be worse than picking teeth which is what I've been up to the last few days lol.

And now for a laugh

2010-04-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd try and make some flowers like those in the new Alice movie.
I thought I could combine my flowers and practice my sculpting.

I need to keep practicing....a lot lol.

Coming soon.....

2010-04-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

NastYurtiums

And I thought I'd unpacked all my flowers :-)

2010-04-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

I made this little hanging basket some time ago but for some reason ( likely me being a doofus) it ended up being packed in the wrong place.

I was just looking for some glue and found this little beauty so it is now listed on etsy.

Having spent the last couple of weeks making silly plants, it was rather nice to see something pretty for a change :-)

Back to reality....and Floozies

2010-04-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Hi peeps

We are back from our mini vacation :-(

We had a wonderful time but now it is back to the grind. Before I get back to work thought I thought you could all come on a virtual road trip with me.

We headed off through Arizona and it hadn't occurred to me before we left that we'd be going pretty high in the mountains. So we saw a fair bit of snow and it was somewhat chilly :-) I even had to scrape ice of the car before I could go get coffee one morning :-)

We pretty much hightailed it though in order to get to Socorro on time. Stopping briefly to check out the Very Large Array.

Luckily, we managed to snag the last hotel room. There were hundreds of people in town. All of them coming to the open day at the Trinity Site.

We had some time so managed to visit the Bosque Del Apache Bird Sanctuary just outside of the town.

Where the Rio Grande isn't too grand at all.

Then, the next morning we headed out to the Trinity Site bright and early thinking it would be swarming with people.

It is 12 miles out of Socorro to the Military base gate then another 17 miles though the base.

The crowds weren't actually as bad as we'd expected them to be.

The whole site has been left pretty much as it was which was a pleasant surprise.

The crater caused by the blast is now covered over.

All that has been added is a small monument.

Most of the trinitite (atomic glass) has been plowed over and removed but there were still some small pieces on the ground if you looked.

From the site there is a bus service that takes you to the MacDonald Ranch where the bomb was put together. This was pretty impressive as it was little more than a shack and hard to beleive something like an atomic bomb could have been made here.

After visiting here we decided to head up to Albuquerque and check out the Atomic Museum where we looked at lots of bombs and nuclear reactors :-)

And now that the main mission of the trip was over it was time to meander back home.

We spent the night in Flagstaff, AZ and toyed with the idea of visiting the Grand Canyon but, with all the snow about, it was just too cold so we decided to leave that for another weekend. Then it hit me how lucky I was that we live so close to the GC that we can visit any time we choose. For many people that is a trip of a lifetime.

So we decided to go check out Oatman, an old wild west town that, although really close to us, we've never seen.

So we hopped back on the old route 66 and drove up into the mountains.

The roads were somewhat interesting to say the least:-)

We planned on stopping in Oatman which was a good job....there was a gun fight going on in the street so there was no driving though :-)

Rather a cute little town in the middle of nowhere. The place is full of donkeys. It used to be a mining town and the donkeys are the descendants of the original mine donkeys. They really ruled the roost :-)

The town has been kept in the old west style and was full of silly named stores.

And places where you could buy a pair of knickers with a wind chime lol

From here we headed out to Laughlin which is a mini Vegas. right on the Colorado River. Close to home and a nice last night stopover. We didn't win any money but the hotel room was only $23 which is the cheapest I've ever paid for a hotel room ever. Even the nasty out to the way motels are more than that these days.

Then it was time to really head home.
Through the Mojave desert which always seems to take forever.

Back onto Route 66.

It always makes me a little sad driving on Route 66. What was once the most important road in the US has now been overshadowed by the freeways so there is often little left except abandoned restaurants, motels and gas stations.

Even the infamous Amboy shoe tree has fallen over.

The bra and kicker tree is slowly getting filled though :-)

Past the dry salt lakes...

Through Palm Springs with all her windmills...

And home, into a storm. No that isn't my house unfortunately but this is our city.

Now it is back to work....I have floozie orders coming out of my ears :-)

Hope you enjoyed the virtual road trip.

Off to New Mexico

2010-03-30T10:25:00.000-07:00

We are off on a road trip over to New Mexico.

We went to Los Alamos and Alomogordo last year and visited the museums dedicated to the nuclear bomb but what we didn't realize then, was that twice a year the Trinity Site was opened to the public.

Of course we were there the wrong weekend and then ,when it was open last October, we were buying this house so couldn't get away. It is open again this Saturday so we are driving over to see it.

The Trinity Site is where the first atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945. Part of the Manhattan Project, this was the test of 'the gadget' prior to using nuclear weapons on Nagasaki or Hiroshima.

The land is military owned and on the site there now stands a small monument.

In addition to this you can take a bus over the McDonald ranch house. A regular house that was 'acquired' by the government and where the plutonium core for the bomb was assembled.

I've stood on on the same ground where many historical events occurred but nothing that changed the world as radically as this.

When I was a teenager the threat of nuclear war was real and it terrified me. We saw movies of the devastation and were taught what to do if nuclear war broke out. Given that it involved plastic sheeting and duct tape I doubt it would have been effective but I guess it made people feel better.

I joined CND when I was about 11 and protested for nuclear disarmament...yes I was a bit of a hippy :-)

I never imagined I'd one day stand on the ground where it all started.

Old Floozy & Audrey II

2010-03-24T07:42:00.001-07:00

Many of you have commented on not seeing my first Floozy and not realizing I did things like this.

So, I thought I'd drag her picture out of the archives and let her take center stage again. This is the first one I made....the original Floozy.

She has been around the block more than her fair share and is a bit of a man eater. Very rough round the edges and definitely more wrinkly and dead than not but she still puts on her biggest smile in the hopes of attracting something.....anything.

You know the kind I talk about.....past their prime but still sit around the bars looking for the leftovers after all the young chicks have taken there pick....that's her !

I popped this first Floozy on etsy and, to be honest, thought she'd be like my gargoyles and she'd sit there forever. She sold within minutes of being listed. If only all sales were like that lol. She now resides in England and according to the feedback I received she is very naughty and tried to dazzle her with sweets.

And Julie you asked if I'd ever tried to make Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. I have indeed. She now lives with Nikki over at Witch & Wizard Miniatures.

As I've mentioned before I don't find these easy to make. Real flowers are fine as I can literally dissect one and make it exactly how it is in real life. Wacky plants....well that requires use of my imagination and that is much harder.

Audrey was easier as I knew what she was supposed to look like. It was the same with Cleopatra, I had a picture, albeit black and white, but I at least had a starting point.

But I have many ideas and some similar ones already in progress so practice should make it easier right ? :-)

As for when .... well there isn't much mini making going on at Tallooley HQ at the moment. I was sent to physical therapy for my shoulder and came home with pages of exercises to do daily....regardless of the pain bleh.

There are 32 different exercises. Each has to be done 10 - 20 times and 3 sets of each. And they want me to do them 3 times a day. LMAO....I'll have no time for anything else :-)

So for the moment I am just pottering and being careful. Some days are fine and I can carry on as normal then other days I can't lift my arm. So you will be seeing new floozies and more but not as quickly as I might have been able to do before.

Floozies

2010-03-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

I recently finished a couple of commissions for Michelle over at Michelle's Mad World.

She had seen the floozy I had made previously and wanted one for her Hogwarts Conservatory and the other for her Witch.

The floozy for Hogwarts was to be in a mossy terracotta pot, petals like my first floozy, red lips and smiling.

Very similar in fact to my first one. Easy peasy huh. Oh how I tried to recreate those lips lol. Not as easy as I thought :-)

Here she is....

The witches floozy was to be more dead than alive, in an old bucket, droopy with dying lips and grimacing.

Grimacing....did she say grimacing ??? Hokay. I can do grimacing. So I get out my little mirror, pop it on my workbench and while I am grimacing at myself I am playing with the clay. Oh if you could all have been a fly on the wall lol.

This one wasn't easy at all. In fact the more I tried to make her grimace the more I made her look like Elvis with her curled up lip lol. I didn't mention the Elvis bit to Michelle so when she told me she was going to be named Elvie due to resemblance to Elvis I cracked up.

And here she is.....

I likely drove Michelle mad with emails and WIP pictures. I am fine with making my regular pretty flowers and know that people love them but when it comes to these wacky ones I am no so confident.

So thank you Michelle for being so patient and checking my work as I went along :-)

I was so determined to get the look just 'right' that I made mouth after mouth after mouth. So I now have about 30 sets of lips and teeth spare so there will definitely be more floozies in the future :-)

If you've not visited Michelle's blog before go over and take a look...she does amazing work.

My lucky streak.....

2010-03-19T12:50:00.001-07:00

Well I have been so lucky these past few weeks. I won the precious doggie from Kim and the magazine from Kate.

Now, if that wasn't enough, I also just won another giveaway. Not mini related this time but the chance for a real interior designer to do over one of my rooms ...wooo hoooo.

While looking for ideas for the room we plan on turning into a library I stumbled upon the blog Decorica run by Erica LeBlanc.

And it just so happened she was having a competition, the winner of which won the opportunity to win a custom design plan which includes

1. A detailed floor plan
2. Paint colors
3. Furniture & fabric suggestions
4. Selected area rugs
5. Ideas for window treatments
6. Accessories and final touches

A custom kit like this normally costs $275 so I am stoked. All I had to do was tell Erica what room I needed help with and why.

I didn't originally plan on entering as I'd only just found the blog and until then wasn't a follower....it seemed a bit cheeky but I am so glad I did.

I hope she likes a challenge as turning this bland odd shaped room into a library will certainly be that.

Here are the photos and the (crappy) floor plan I sent. Yeah, yeah 5 months after moving in those are unpacked boxes you see. it is because we still can't figure out what room is what :-) Once the library is done we can at least get rid of the boxes off books.

I am sooo excited to see what she comes up with because I certainly can't figure it out. Watch this space !

I don't have a dog but......

2010-03-18T15:07:00.001-07:00

I really want one of these.

Wish I could get it in king size :-)

If any of you dog owners have a spare $3483.00 lying around you can buy it here