Thus Says Suzanne...

Barbie gets all the cool stuff

It's not everyone who can say they landscaped a yard in less than an hour.  I laid this stone patio and walkway, planted three trees, some shrubs, grasses and ground cover.  I even included a bird bath. 

Barbie gets all the cool stuff.

Barbie's wood floor

I had a brainstorm about how to do a wood floor for the Barbie house project and used this room to try it out.  I bought wood veneer strips (rolls of white birch in this case) and cut the material into 7-inch strips.  Because it's pre-glued one just irons it on.  I then applied a few coats of polyurethane.  I think I'll be using this technique again.

starting another room

I'm getting ready to start another room for the Barbie house project. 

more Barbie stuff

I found these in the "Christmas gift" aisle at Walmart and they're intended as an executive desk game.  Seriously...what executive plays miniature pool on their desk at work?  At any rate, as I was sneering and walking away I realized that they are perfectly scaled for Barbie.  I'll need to replace the legs so that the height is appropriate but other than that they're fantastic. 

I've got some ideas now for a billiards room for the Barbie house project.

Something Sinister II - how to get my vote

I'm getting pretty excited!  Carl is getting set to formally announce the Something Sinister II photo contest, and I'm lucky enough to be one of the judges again this year.

With that in mind I thought I'd give a little cheat sheet so that participants who want an edge could get my feedback in advance. 

It's really all about the word sinister which is defined (in part) as follows:

singularly evil or productive of evil
presaging ill fortune or trouble
accompanied by or leading to disaster

When I came up with the project the idea was to take something innocent and make something sinister and dark.  That's what I hope to see in the images submitted this year. 

Carl will post the formal rules, but I want you to know the spirit of what I hope to see.  Make it as simple or as complicated as you want, but tell me a story (without telling me the whole story, leave a little something to my imagination), make me think, make me worry, make me look over my shoulder.  And as for you...have fun with it!  I'm really looking forward to seeing again what Carl's creative readers come up with.

something sinister II

Last year I decided to try and create a sinister image using innocent items.  It's that time of year again so I went back to the drawing board to see if I could come up with a completely new idea.  Here's what I have to show for my efforts thus far.

playhouse

In case you were wondering, I finally made a decision about the playhouse and got the one at Sam's Club.  Mom and Shel put it together for me and it's pretty tricked out now.

playhouse in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Today, while I'm working, two good fairies are coming over to assemble the playhouse I bought on Saturday.  I finally made a decision and got the one at Sam's Club.  The youngster is going to be very excited when she comes home from school! 

the seemingly endless quest for a playhouse

Okay, I think this might be about the best deal I can get on a playhouse.  It's available at Sam's Club for $300.  Anyone care to venture an opinion? 

progress in the kitchen garden

Remember earlier in the year when I said I planned to use this area as a kitchen garden?  Well, thanks to some help from my family the bones of the garden are in place and there are seedlings emerging.  I still need to fill two of the containers but my schedule has been too tight to get to the store to get what I need.