The BIG REVEAL - SWAPS FINISHED!!!

The time has come and everything as finally come "Up from the basement!!" If you have no idea what I am talking about you can click here and read about the swap that myself and 5 other bloggers have participated in.

And now for your viewing pleasure I present the swaps:

From Sans to Karin F.: Karin F. gave Sans a story of a party going on in a hollow pumpkin with brooms skattered everywhere. And this is what came of it:

Please visit Sans blog to see the whole story of the 3 witchy women! Full color pictures and slow-mo effects are included! And Karin tells how the witches arrived to her home here.

From Karin F. to Jodi: Jodi's favorite Halloween characters included skeletons, ghosts and witches, yet little did she know Karin F. had the perfect character in mind for her:

Please visit Karin F's blog to see more on how she created this delightful mop who's squinting from the light and Jodi's reaction to it! He now sits proudly on Jodi's Nightmare Before Christmas shelf!

Jodi to MiniKat: Minikat told us that she is planning someday to create a Haunted San Fran scene. Jodi sculpted this frightful lady:

Please visit MiniKats Blog to see more on this ghostly lady. She has been given the honor of becoming the future mistress of the Haunted San Fran. And stay tuned to Jodi's blog for her post on this lady too!

MiniKat to Sans: Sans has one of the most interesting projects in Blogland... the Maharajahs Palace, and she told us her favorite Halloween characters were Dead Maharajahs!! Here is what MiniKat made for Sans:

This is actually the face of the goddess Kali. This bust was sculpted and hand painted by MiniKat herself. Please see MiniKats blog here and stay tuned to Sans blog for a post on this rare mini!

Rosanna to Ara: I told Rosanna that my favorite Halloween characters were, of course, the Addams Family! And here's what she sent me!

I couldn't be more thrilled! The stitching even glows in the dark! Helpful on those picnics under the moon. Please see my post or Rosannas post on this beautifully haunting picnic set!

Ara to Rosanna: Rosanna told me that she liked pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns. And suddenly an idea sprang to mind, this guy:

I hope she still likes Jack-o-lanterns as the are crawling 'Up from the Basement!' Please check out my blog post here for more pics of this guy!

Thank you all so much for participating! I know I had fun and was really challenged by having to think about what other people liked and how to bring that to life in miniature! Please leave a comment (whether you were a participant or not) if you liked doing this, if you have any suggestions on how to run this better, and if you would want to do participate in the future. I had fun hosting this swap and wouldn't mind doing it again if enough people were interested.

I must commend all 5 people who did this, everyone was on time and very responsive through the whole process and you made hosting this very easy (and from what I've read on other swap blogs this may be a first ever..... but its prob because mini people are just great people!!)

Thank you all again and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Long Needed Update on Bentley Manor

Needless to say, this poor project has been highly neglected :( Poor Bentley Manor. But the other day it was just too beautiful to not take it outside and ....... dust it off!!!

I hadn't dusted it since I got it and it was looking pretty bad. So my dear husband, the Lord of Bentley Manor, helped me out with the aid of his trusty leaf blower. Unfortunantly there were a few casualties in this event..... not sure if you can see it but the railing on the very top floor is starting to collapse. *Sigh* there is lots to do here.


And once I removed the roof, even our doggies decided to help out. Happy dog tails attract dust like no ones business! (the one on the top is Clemy and the one in the bottom left corner is little Audrey).


Also, for those of you that follow my Addams Family blog you might remember my dryer lint monster that I did for a contest. Well, he won first place!!! So I decided to use some of the prize money to buy the first piece of furniture for Bentley Manor... the Billiard Table for the Billiard Room. Spacious in there isn't it???


And lastly a very exciting piece of news..... my Dad who has been following along with my blogs has kind of caught the building bug and has asked if he can help out with anything. So here we are below as I am delegated the daunting task of building the shelves for the library!! Such a wonderful dad!! It was also fun getting his Engineers take on possibly including secret passages! dun Dun DUN!!


Anyway... so there's your quick update.... Next up I need hubby to build a base with rollers so I can roll it into my work room to work on!!! (It's currently taking up a corner in the guest bedroom!)

Hugs to all, ara

The Swap Order is announced!!

So here is the Swap order guys. You will make something for the person your arrow is pointing towards. So that means you make something for the person clockwise from you. The order was drawn blindly so the order was done at random.

So, starting today, you have until October 15th to complete your item, package it and get it into the mail. I will give addresses to the correct person when the time comes.

Feel free to contact the person you are making something for if you are in need of some ideas. If you already know what you're doing then you can surprise them!!

Please respond to this post so I know you have seen the order. If I don't hear from all in a couple days I will send out an email to make sure everyone is in the loop :)

I will also be sending out weekly reminders until the Swap is completed for those of your that are super busy this time of year (this being practically everyone!!)

Please let me know if there are any questions!!! -Ara

OOPS: For got to add every ones favorites Halloween Characters!!:

MiniKat: All Halloween characters, eventually she will be doing a Haunted San Fran....
Sans: Any dead Maharajahs
Karin F.: Witches
Jodi Creager: Skeletons, Ghosts and Witches

The Circle swap is on for sure

"And it came up from the Basement"

We are now up to 4 people (in no particular order):

Sans

MiniKat
Jodi Creager
Karin F.

There is still time to sign up!! I will close the sign-up on the 25th and announce the circle then. Go here if you would like more information!! It's gonna be a good one!

One week left to sign up for Circle Swap!

Just one week (or so) left to sign up for the Circle Swap "And it came up from the Basement".....

WoooOOOOOooooo.... this is one that will end right before Halloween so you'll get a fun little Halloween gift in the mail to fill your mini projects!!!

So far we have:

MiniKat

Jodi Creager

Karin F.

We need at least one more to make this circle swap go. And we will take up to 15 so join on in!!! For more information (and rules and dates) go to my last post here.

Here Ye: Sign up for the Circle Swap

"And it came up from the Basement"

In honor of my Clue House starting up and since Halloween is just around the corner I figured I would volunteer to Hostess a Circle Swap for bloggers. I have seen several talk about it but I haven't seen one form yet. If there is one going on that this one will hinder please let me know and I will try it another time.



So here's how it works:



You sign up for the swap by emailing me at afminimansion@gmail.com. Send me your NAME, PREFERRED EMAIL ADDRESS, PREFERRED MAILING ADDRESS and FAVORITE HALLOWEEN CHARACTER (just for fun and for your makers reference).



On August 25th I will announce the circle.... meaning that I will announce who you are making something for and who is making something for you. You will have until October 15th to make your mini object and then you must mail it so it gets there before Halloween. To participate you must have a blog or something like it, so people can see what you are interested in to help them make something for you.



The theme is "And it came up from the Basement". You can make anything you like within that theme. You make ONE item only so you can put your heart and soul into it. It must be something worth at least $15-$20 (meaning you would pay $15-$20 for if you saw it in a store). It must be 1/12th scale.



By signing up for this you COMMIT to following through and sending your mini-object to your circle swap person. You also need to understand that people live all over the world and that you may have to pay varying amounts of shipping costs depending on where your person is. The circle order will be chosen randomly so I have no control on where your person may be living.



Also, I will not be participating, I will merely be making sure everything is done on time and will do updates and checks on progress.



On October 10th I will contact everyone to see if they are on schedule for sending their package out. I will send up to 3 emails trying to contact a participant.... if you do not respond to any emails by the 14th... I will pass you by and have the person before you send directly to the person after you.



When you are finished with your mini-object please send me a photograph and I will post all the Circle Swap objects on this site for people to see the day after Halloween!



In order for this to happen we need to have at least 4 people sign up. And I will cut it off at 15 people.







If y'all have any questions please post a comment for everyone to see so I can clear things up.



Thanks! -Ara

Photo Challenge from Marsha

Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls has given me the Photo challenge here specifically on my Clue Blog. I previously had done it on my Addams Family blog but I will do it again here! I just love this challenge. This time I decided to do it from the back of my photos (and also from the few personal photo folders I have here at work....) so here goes (and please read the explanation for this one so you don't think we're all crazy....)

So our wedding was a black and white theme and one thing I really wanted to do was a photo booth with fun stuff where people could put on coats, hats and gloves and just have fun. Here is one of the first photos with me, my hubs, and my mom and dad. Really my dad and my husband do have a good relationship.... they are just joking here. I LOVE my family and I love this picture that shows our sense of humor! Pictures from left to right: My dad, husband, me, my mom. (I know its a bit hard to see with the black on black...)

Plan for Bentley Manor and Contest!!!

Here you can see the plan I have come up with for Bentley Manor!! I have layed out the main areas and also some essential furniture so I can get an eye for scale and how much room I have. Things that I will be changing from the original: I will remove a divider wall from the middle floor and will also be adding a conservatory on the left side. I might also raise the roof a bit in order to get in some more head room!

The rooms with the '?' in them are mysteries and will be revealed in the future....

If you want to reference the original house you can click here.

And here is the Contest:

The prize will be an extra point towards a give-away I will be having in the future sometime (it may not be soon but I will remember). NO LOOKING THIS UP ON THE INTERNET! Look at the plan (click on it and it will get bigger) and comment with the TWO 'Rooms' or 'Crime Scenes' that I have not included from the original game! The first one to comment with both of the correct rooms gets the point!

Good Luck everyone!

The first clue....

So the first clue has been created.... dun dun DUN!!! Here is a picture of it. I found some old play bill covers for Theater versions of 'Cluedo' (which is the European version of 'Clue' I believe - someone correct me if I am off). So I took the play bill cover and made it look like a theater poster that had been signed and wah-lah.... the first clue (of many to come). By the way, thanks to Kate for the frame.. she sent me several recently and this one was just perfect for the job. I will be hanging this in the billiard room (plans and layouts to come soon....)


Also, this clue was photographed on my new kitchen table!!!.... It was just put together so never mind how bare it looks!! Stuff will soon be all around it :)

I found him finally! Murph has come to help!

Well, it's been a long and hard search but I finally found some help!!! See... I don't have any dolls yet to help me size and proportion and I don't want to just going buying tiny people willy nilly! So I have been searching and searching and searching...... and searching for the perfect sized wooden model to help me with my minis. Why did this search take so long? Because the only sizes I could find in any store was 4 1/2", 8" and 12" tall!! And none of those help!!!

But anyway... I would like you to meet Murphy (Murph for short). He's a perfect 5 3/4" tall! He has come to help me with both houses so you will see him here (Bentley Manor) and also at the Addams Family Mansion.


Here you can see him sitting in the dusty attic of Bentley Manor. He's got a lot of cleaning to do!!! Just kidding.... he told me before I brought him on that he doesn't do manual labor - haha!!!

Everyone enjoy your weekend everyone... I'll be away from the computer celebrating independence so I will get to any comments or emails early next week I hope!

The Bentley Wedding Portrait

Ok so.... I posted a picture of the Bentleys of Bentley Manor a couple posts ago (me and my husband)... Well I have finished my first piece for the house (and I haven't even dusted the thing off yet). Here you are... the wedding photo of the Bentleys of Bentley Manor:


Since I am setting the house in the 1930's or 40's I decided to put us in a 1920's wedding portrait. Here it is so you can see it a bit better. I just took our faces from that other photo I showed you and popped us in :) ....

Boy, its been a busy week.... full of birthdays and chores....phew :)

PS. Thanks to Tara of Dollhouse at Pooh Corner for a lovely package of odds and ends she sent me which contained the frame that I painted and used for this!!! Thanks Tara!!!

OUCH!!! I've been tagged...

In the Lounge....



With the lead pipe...


By Eliza!!! of Wasting Gold Paper. Please head over to her blog and check out all her projects!!! Especially her micro pocket watch scene!! So tiny!!! Eliza I loved your list of things you love - I love mini things that really work too!!

She acutally tagged me on both blogs I think but I'll just put it on this one! (I haven't been tagged here yet!)

6 Random Things I love:
-My husband getting home early from class - yay!
-Mashed potatoes
-Cold Cream
-Going to bed after a long day... eeek! Its my bed time!
-My two dogs even though this is has been a tough week to 'like' them... grr!
-Sams Club Pizza .....soooooooo goooooooood. (but prob not too healthy...)

I am tagging the first 6 people that signed up to follow this blog (besides Eliza)!!! You lucky 6! In case you're not sure who you are:

John and Kate of Whittakers Miniatures
Annina of My Miniatures
Marsha at Sassy Mini Dolls
Kim of Flowers and Art
Texas Belle at Myrtlewood Manor
Cate and David at Solet Luna

Now go forth and tag :) But I really don't suggest using a lead pipe.... do not try THAT at home....

Meet the Bentleys of Bentley Manor....

Sorry ... I haven't been back on this blog in a while - haha! Well, taa-daa, here they are, the Bentleys of Bentley Manor....

Sans asked where Mr. Bentley was and if he had been killed? Well, I am not quite sure yet what happened and who is still alive. Have you guessed who these people are yet???

Its me and my hubs! And either one of us or both of us will most likely be the victims - haha! Is that morbid????? maybe but its all in good fun!

Welcome to Bentley Manor

Hello and welcome to Bentley Manor (or what will be Bentley Manor with a little bit of work)! Please make yourself at home..... and err... watch your back... I believe there is a murderer about....


You may be thinking to yourself "I thought it was 'Murder at Boddy Mansion' and Mr. Boddy has already been murdered." Well my friend... you are living in the past. Yes, Mr. Boddy was brutally murdered with a wrench... or was it a lead pipe?? but everyone has moved on...

Since then all six suspects have moved on with their lives and gotten over that frieghtful night that has been so horribly memorialized in a family board game.

But recently they all received an invitation. An invitation to Bentley Manor. And you never know what will happen when you get these six characters together.

Who invited them?

Who lives in Bentley Manor?