Witchy House ~ Desdemona's Home For Orphaned & Abandoned Dragons & Other Magical Creatures.

 Back in 2010, (can you believe its been that long?) I had an idea for my Toll House Kit. I wanted to make a home for a little Witch, that looks after Baby Dragons. You can read about it here. I've been keeping a notebook on all the things, that I wanted to fit in this project and have been collecting pieces for ages. Well after much deliberation, I've decided that the Toll House, is too small for this project and all the ideas and the things I wanted to fit in it.

So when I spied this on Ebay in November, I knew it would be perfect for my idea. The top picture is from the Ebay listing. My Hubby said to have a bid, if I really wanted it and he would buy it for me, as my Christmas Present. Well as you can see I did and I won. Luckily for me it was also in Wales, so I was able to pick it up. 

Now I know its supposed to be my Christmas Present, but I just couldn't wait to get it home and get the wrapping off.

The main house consists of a Kitchen, Sitting Room/Lounge and a bedroom, with a weeny attic over the bedroom. There is a little stand alone building, which is currently a Wash room and next to that is a little stand alone Greenhouse.

Its a quirky little house and has been much loved and played with, so there are plenty of renovations to be done, which includes all the electrics. The only Room that is staying the same, is the lounge, I just love the Paper and the Panelling. But the embossed paper above the patterned paper, needed a spruce up, as it is marked and there are/was the dreaded Blu Tac marks on it.

The Renovations, have already started, so will show these in a later post.

New Kitchen Roof.

 Back at the end of October, we had a steady stream of Contractors & Builders,doing jobs around the place. I blogged about it here. We had the scaffolding put up around our Kitchen, so that the new roof could go on. Well I say new roof, but the old Slates were reused.

The first two pictures show the sorry state of the old roof. It has caused quite a few problems in the Kitchen, the worst being, that it has damaged my Kitchen Units. 

The Builders and Roofers, had to work with the weather and when it rained they couldn't work. It felt like the Antarctic, in the Kitchen while the Roof was off.

Its had all new Rafters, Battening and Insulation, Vents, Soffits and Guttering.

They finally finished the Roof, at the beginning of December and it was signed off by the Building Inspector. Then the Scaffolding came down.

I can't tell you how pleased and relieved we are, that it is now water tight.

I'm going to wait until after Christmas and then I'll redecorate in the Kitchen and in the Spring, when the weather warms up, I'll give the outside a lick of paint.

 

Scrapbooking ~ For Queen & Country ~ Part 6

 

These three layouts were from pictures that were taken at the Battle Camp, that all the Junior Soldiers have to do as part of their final training. As there were quite a few section photographs, I decided to make a booklet with them in. I used Bazzill Cardstock in Red & Blue. For the top and bottom of the booklet, I covered it with the Crown patterned, Papermania Portobella Road paper.  I used my Quickutz to make the tabs for the pages and used off cuts and die cuts from the Portobella range.

Once the pages were finished and the booklet completed, I used Butchers twine through the brads at the top, to hold the booklet together. This was then layered onto one of the Union Jack papers.

For the Bayonet Training, I again used the Crown Paper as my main page and layered up with off cuts of the other Portobella papers and the Portobella Road Design Die Cuts and a textured card. The lettering was from my stash.

Scrapbooking ~ For Queen & Country ~ Part 5

 This is a very special page, in Harry's Scrapbook. While Harry was at AFC, one of the Lads in his Room & Section died. He collapsed while doing the Cross Country Course and never recovered. His untimely death, not only profoundly affected all the Lads & Lasses at the College, but also, all the Parents. His Mum gave all the Lads in their room, a card to remember him by. Harry wanted it in his scrapbook.

I started off by making Poppies from Card, but they were too hard. So instead I made them from Tissue paper, to give them the softness and appearance of real Poppies. The centres are black card circles that I scored, with a brad in the very centre to hold everything together. I didn't have any black brads, so used Black embossing powder on some Silver brads, which worked really well. I layered the Poppies, over a self adhesive Lace that I already had in my stash and cut and layered the Angel wings from a Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Die and gently dry brushed the edges. I laid these either side of the card.

R.I.P Rory.

 

Scrapbooking ~ For Queen & Country ~ Part 4

The first two pages are of the Passing in Parade, after Harry had completed the first six weeks at A.F.C Harrogate. I've again used the card toppers that I brought from Ebay, to embellish the layouts and the Portobella Road Papers.

The bottom page, was of the Photographs taken after the Parade, when we were allowed up to the section Dorms to have a look at their Bed Spaces and the inside of their wardrobes. I have a tin of Dog Tags in my stash and used a couple of them on this page. I also made some little pull out journalling cards..

Scrapbooking ~ For Queen & Country ~ Part 3

 These two pages are of the first two official photographs, taken of Harry by the Army photographers. The First of him and the second is his section photograph.

I've continued to use the Papermania Portobella Road Papers. The Card stock is Bazzill Basics.

In the first picture I have made up flowers using Dovecraft Paper Blossoms, that I brought from Ebay, a pack of gems and self adhesive lace, that I had in my stash and the Portobello Road Buttons tied with Butchers twine, which is readily available on line in loads of different colours and some off cuts of the Portobella ribbons. The Chequered hearts were cut using my Quickutz dies.

For the second layout, I made pin wheels from card and paper and used brads for the centres. A couple of them sit on foam pads, to lift them up on the layout.

The Bunting & Pennants, were made from off cuts of the Papermania Portobella Road papers, waste not want not. They were hung on Butchers Twine and adhered to the layout with sticky dots. I've obscured the names of the Lads in the Photograph, but in the layout all their names are listed underneath. Harry is on the top row, second one in from the left, as you look at the picture.

Scrapbooking ~ For Queen & Country ~ Part 2

Some more pages for Harry's Scrapbook. The top page is of the day we dropped Harry off at the College. The Tab on the Crown can be lifted and it opens up with journalling underneath, about how we felt and the "Child Snatcher Room". Any other Parent, that has taken their Son or Daughter, to A.F.C, will know exactly what we are talking about. 

 

 The second page, is made with the very first photograph Harry sent me off his phone, of him in Uniform, with all his lovely locks cut off.

I have continued to use the Papermania Portobello Road Collection, but adding embellishment from my stash.  The Crown card topper in the top picture, was brought in a set from this ebay seller.