I hope you and yours are having a happy and safe Thanksgiving. And if you are thinking of going out into that mess tomorrow please be extra careful and safe. And so I don’t come the “table empty handed” I bring you a neat vintage Barbie commercial for your entertainment.
Talk to you all again soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.
Loves ya,
Mouse
I know this might not affect many of you, but some of you it will and I wanted to mention it. I was randomly looking at my Mozilla browser and noticed the headlines button. Clicked on it for the first time today and noticed a title mentioning Google was shutting down some things. I usually don’t pay attention to stuff like that, but today I did for some reason.
So from what I’ve read, if you do not have a Blogger account, and you have a Google Friend Connect gadget on your website or blog, come March 1, 2012 you will no longer have your followers gadget on your website. It doesn’t seem to affect Blogger though, just non-Blogger sites. They are encouraging people to instead make a Google+ account and use their gadget on there to drive traffic to your Google+ account. Yeah, don’t see how that works for people to stay connected and follow your blog or website, and I do see this as Google’s way of getting more traffic in an attempt to surpass Facebook, but I see them closing the service as lame. I have seen so many blogs out there using Google Friend Connect, so I call bull poo on this one not being a success. But I thought I’d mention it to those of you in danger of losing your followers gadget. If I’m on your non-Blogger Google Friend Connect, you have no worries of me not continuing to follow, I’ll still be there. But you might want to mention it to your readers who maybe only follow you through the service and might lose your website after it closes down.
And with that I make my return back to real life again. *sad sigh* I’ll be returning guys, I promise. After Monday some time for sure. I have things to share with you still. I might post about some of that tomorrow when I get a free moment. But I shall return soon. Until then, be good, and bye for now.
Sadly returning back to real life,
Michelle
This post is for my USA readers. But for those of you outside the USA who are curious, the day after Thanksgiving in the USA we have one of the biggest shopping days during the year, Black Friday. If you are hoping to get a good deal Black Friday is the day to attempt to get it. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving some websites will share scans of Black Friday ads. You can simply just Google Black Friday and find tons of websites dedicated to the day. Granted it does further force the commercialism of the holiday, but hey a deals a deal, and if you are in the market for doll items or craft items you are in luck this year. Tons of sales, some starting on Thanksgiving, are centered around toys and crafts. So be sure to get your newspaper on Thanksgiving morning because some of these good sales need a coupon from the news paper. Humm, I wonder how much the newspaper companies lose out on because you know everyone will have a coupon on Black Friday but not all of them will have paid for the newspaper it came from. Hummm.
For your ads sneak peek click on the picture above to be taken to be taken to the ads scan page and enjoy. I found some doll deals in the Walmart, Target, and Kohl’s paper. AC Moore has a 30 percent off your entire purchase coupon for Thanksgiving between 4 and 10 in the evening, along with some equally good coupons for Black Friday. Let me know if you find any equally good sales, I’m still hunting around. Oh and there are also some awesome sales on other stuff too, so make those lists people. You’re welcome.
And I’m off. Must return the real life again, but had to let you guys in on some of the cool finds I found. Talk to you again soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.
Loves ya
Mouse
Hey guys and gals! So it’s been a while since I’ve posted. Still busy with various things, but I have been itching to post. I still have a few other posts for you guys but I just haven’t sat down to do them. I promise, come December I will be back on track and back in the hobby. Until then I will try to pop in when I can.
So today’s post came from a weird place. I’ve been searching for a table to put in my room so I can work on things there when I don’t feel like sitting in my crafty area. I had found one but the shipping price went up and it’s more than I was prepared to spend. So I am on the hunt again. An idea that came to mind was one my mom came up with. She said I could buy two bookcases, get a piece of wood, and attach it on top of the bookcases. So I have a big table and some storage. Not a bad idea. But since I wanted to do it on the cheap I went to the Walmart website to see what I could find. I found a nice bookcase for 20 dollars within the first page, but I wanted to see if there were any other options. In this search I found a lot of bookcases that could either be used as a doll house as is or could be used as one with some tweaks. So of course the first thing that came to mind was that I had to share my findings with you. 
Ok, so I want to start off with the book shelves that need some tweaks. All of these could either be tweaked for certain size dolls are the concept could be used as a “blueprint” for shelves you’d like to build.
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So this was the first bookcase that caught my eye as a tweaker. Now I’m not sure if 11.5 inch dolls can fit in there, but there are dolls of all sizes. For example Blythe might fit in her because she’s a hair shorter than Barbie. Now this Bookcase would need to be tweaked to be used as a dollhouse because the back is open. You would want to get a piece of wood fitted to the back so you wouldn’t be losing items out of the back side. Also you have the top of this piece that can be used for various things. A full outdoor scene with perhaps the addition of foamcore with a scene on it. This bookcase would be great for someone who doesn’t have a lot of room for dollhouse or wants something simple to display their dolls in. Granted to rooms will be on the small side, but if you are one looking for something that doesn’t take up a lot of room odds are you won’t have a lot of doll stuff so this would work for you.
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This next bookcase is like the first one’s older sibling. You have three more levels to work with. Once again you’d want wood on the back to keep from losing items out of the back. This bookcase gives you more room options. Once again they would be smallish rooms, but with crafty placement you could make some amazing scenes and have them all there on display. Each doll could have their own themed room, leaving plenty of space for other rooms, of course that depends on how many dolls you have. And if you are like me…you’re going to need another one of these bookcases. 
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Another tweaker. Now I’m not sure how many people would find this one of interest, but I see it’s potential. Once again you’d want wood on the back to keep things from falling out of the back. But look at how long the shelves are. You could either have “long” scenes on the shelves or you could break them up into your own size rooms with pieces of wood slide in. Once again, tight squeeze on the furniture, but I think that’s about average for bookshelves anyway.
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This next bookcase is something you’d find in a school library. What I love about it is the shelf looks fairly deep and tall. The top one could be tweaked to be another room with the addition of wood or foamcore. It could also be an outside scene as well. One other thing I love about this shelf is it’s portable. You could move it to vacuum under it or if something happens to fall behind it you can move it to retrieve it.
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Now this is the same concept as the one above, but it has an extra shelf. This could be used for smaller dolls, but this one for me would be used more as a blueprint. I like the idea of extra shelves but I’d want them more spaced out for bigger dolls. It seems this shelf has more on the backside which is also an interesting concept. You could place this flat against the all but when you want to use it you could pull it away and use both sides to set up rooms.
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Ok, this one could technically be used as is for a smaller doll, but this is another blueprint for me. What I’m see is a little something different. On the sides where you kind of lean the books, for me, those would be slots to slid wood into. All sides would have slots actually. I’d have four shelves, or maybe five, as long as the whole unit is not taller than I am or causes me to the stand on tiptoe to use it. It would be spaced out enough so Barbie size dolls can be put in it along with furniture for that size. I’d want the bookcase to be able to be open on all sides so I can get pictures from any angle I want. The other sides would be closed in by the wood slid into the slots I mentioned before. The wood would be decorated on one side to reflect a room the doll was currently in. I would love that. And then this too is portable so it can go against the wall to get out of the way but you don’t have to take down your sets, which is always an irritating issue for me.
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Now this one would be a little bit trickier to use, especially at this size and shape, but it still has potential, especially as a blueprint for me. I would want it bigger for Barbie size, and still keep it’s turntable pedestal. I’d want to be able to have several rooms so I can just spin it around and access which room I currently needed. I’d want the shelves to be a little longer, deeper, and bigger so I could fit a doll and scene comfortably. I believe a shelf like the one I am thinking of would take a lot of room though because of how big the shelves would have to be to fit dolls and furniture. But it’s a cool idea nonetheless.
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This next one I like because it’s leaning more towards the house shape. I believe Barbie can fit in those bottom shelves and with some work I’m sure the upper shelves could be used for something as well. The upper shelves would need some wood or foamcore as well, but once in you’d have a nice little house with some small scenes.
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Now this bookcase looks just like a small house to me. It’s not marketed as house mind you, but it easily could be. You could perhaps use it to make an apartment for a photostory. You’d have your bedroom, bathroom, and joint kitchen, dining, and living area. So while it would be a small space or small apartment, it’s got potential. If you make the walls a neutral color then you can stretch the imagination even more. But maybe you are looking for a real house shape. Just helps the mind work better if you actually feel you are building everything in a house, right? Well you are in luck. Walmart had some of those too. Check it out.
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So, am I getting a little warmer for you? Thought so. Now these two bookcases are so confusing to me. They both are divided the same way, they are the same measurements, and they look exactly the same. Only difference is one is $14 dollars cheaper. I don’t know if Walmart just forgot they had the house already and made another sale page for it, or if this house is generic and any company that wants to buy it and slap their name on it can. You know that’s how they do it with peanut butter right? Most peanut butter is the same stuff, it’s just the name and brand that’s different. So I am wonder if these two house are the same concept? Well either way, the shelves are cute and in a house shape. They are marketed as either a bookcase or a playhouse for toys. The shelves are 15 inches tall, so plenty of room for Babs and any tall furniture she may have. Only drawback for me is that those shelves look short and not like they will fit a lot on them. I know most Barbie stuff is smaller than they should be so I guess it could potentially work, but it just looks like you’d have to squeeze your stuff together to make it fit.
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This one is one of my favorites. It caught my eye because it already has a doll in it, so you know they will fit. And it looks like you could fit a good amount of furniture on the shelf with her. Not much mind you, but a good amount. And hey, who doesn’t love a pink roof?
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Here’s another favorite. This bookcase I really think is made for dolls. Look how much room is on the shelves. Look at the window cut outs. And you see the window on the bottom right with the hole next to it? You can open that and it’s a little storage area. This bookcase looks more like a house than any other bookcase I have seen. Look at the top of it, looks just like a roof with shingles detailing. So awesome. Once again I think furniture would be a tight fit, but with the nicely spaced larger areas it could work.
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Now these two are made by the same company as the doll house above. The two are a 10 dollar difference between each other and I wasn’t sure why until I did a little research. One is deeper while the other one is taller. Only by a few inches either way, but I guess it would come down to what you preferred. These also have the storage at the bottom where the garage door is. These are cute also because they have a little fire bell at the top and a black fire pole to slide down. So cute and detailed. I’d have to let my son or daughter play with this as a doll house instead of a bookcase. It’s just too cool not to use it as that.
The next few houses are more for dioramas or really small dolls. I suppose they could be used as blueprints, but I really just seem them as perfect for the smaller dolls in our lives.
This one I LOVE. I used to love this cartoon called “The Littles” when I was a kid. I always had a fascination with small beings living in walls or in trees or what have you. I saw this bookcase as a perfect means to bring those thoughts to life. Polly Pocket, Mini Blythe dolls, Mini Littlest Pet Shop Blythe, Mini Dal dolls, Mini Pullip dolls, and little ball joint dolls would fit nicely into this “house”. You could easily find doll house furniture to fit in it or make your own from found things as little beings tend to do that themselves. This house seems like it has three sides so you could really get creative in forming your own small world.
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Now these four are all from the same company. They have 1-2 small shelves you can create on. I love that they are themed and you could easily add to the theme with your own imagination. Once again these are for the little dolls in your life to call home. Two benefits to these shelves is they are small and they rotate so you can work on them from all angles. I think they are super, but I have to admit for my mini tiny army I would so want the tree bookcase. It’s just too cool.
And well that brings this post to an end. I hope I was either able to show you something cool, give you ideas for your own doll homes, or help lead you to a future purchase. Doll people helping doll people, what’s not to love?
Loves ya 
Mouse
Happy Halloween to all of your freaks and ghouls out there! 
Right now I am currently counting down the hours to the start of Nanorwrimo. I am being a Nano Rebel this year by not writing a novel. I’m going to be finishing up a script for the photostory I’ve been trying to finish for a long time now. I think my time of Nanowrimo is coming to an end. I don’t know if I’ll be doing it next year. I do cherish the crazed writing during November, I just think I want to start making that an everyday thing than just a one month thing, so I don’t know about future Nanos. But this year is my first as a Rebel and I’m kind of excited about it. I don’t want to write a novel just to write a novel and waste time on something I’ll hate, so I will write the script which will hopefully help me write my story and get it done so I can start taking pictures in December and start putting it up next year. Fingers crossed.
As for other things I am doing right now, I’m focusing on my health right now. There are a lot of things I need to get done by the end of the year. I have something I am dreading coming up in 28 days, and I don’t really want to talk about it right now because I’m that nervous about it. It’s really silly to be nervous about it, but when I explain it…on the 28th or 29th of next month, then I’m sure it will be clearer why I dreaded it. I’m working on inventory for my shop. I finally found a place to put my shop. I think that was another problem for me, where to put my shop, but I found a nice place for it to be that a lot of other doll sellers are on so it works. And well, I guess that’s about it right now. So the goals for the end of the month is to work on the immediate health issues at hand, get through that situation I’m dreading at the end of next month, and get the shop open. I know I won’t make the Christmas rush with my shop, but that’s ok, as long as I get it open. Oh, and yes I am still working on emails, comments, etc., etc. etc., you get the point. I’m working on all that. Now that some stress has been taken off of me with my parents health either doing better or being looked at, my mom still worries me some with her heart issues, I’m getting a little more calmer and I can focus better. I’m hoping this next month will be busy and productive for me. I’m ending this year on a good note, no matter what. And NO Michelle, that isn’t jinxing it for you by saying it aloud. 
And on that crazy note, I will bring this post to a close. I will talk to you lovelies soon. Be good until then. Bye for now.
Loves ya
Mouse
So while I should have been busy crafting today, I realized a book my sister loaned to me 2 weeks ago on my Nook was about to expire, so I had to finish it tonight. I just finished it and I must say I was impressed. The book is called Something Like Summer, and it was a rather interesting read.
It’s a romance novel about two teenage boys, Ben and Tim, who meet one summer due to Ben’s crush on the mysterious new guy in town Tim. Something happen that lead to Ben and Tim being together. They had a hot and steamy love affair, but some issues caused them to have to split up. What follows is 10 years of life, love, and chance meetings. Some really sad things happen along the way that leads to a bittersweet ending. I wouldn’t say this book was destined to be one of the great classics of our time, but it was a rather good read.
Some parts I felt were rushed in the story, but it flow non-stop so that was good. The author, Jay Bell who is a gay man himself, told the story in such a way that you didn’t view the story as “a love story between two guys” but more as “a love story between two people”. I will warn you now, some of the sex scenes are written in a slightly graphic way, but nothing to raunchy…nothing worse than what you’d find in your male/female romance novels.
But I think anyone could relate to this story. Young love, first love, and even a love triangle, which is what our main characters find themselves in after a while. So if you are into romance novels, pick this story up. I really think you will like it.
Sadly though, in reading the book it has gotten to late to craft, so I guess I will watch some things online and call it a day and make better use of my time tomorrow. Not that today was a total loss. I got to spend time with a friend and finish a good book. Win/win? I’d say so. 
Loves ya 
Mouse
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