Gluing Wooden Furniture: I've been reading the posts on gluing furniture and it finally occurred to me that, when a carpenter making full size furniture glues something together, he does so under pressure, either by clamping things together or by using small nails or screws (which stay in place) to hold the pieces together while the glue sets. It's the glue that keeps the piece together and steady. I use yellow carpenter's glue or one of the tacky glues.

I use the green painter's tape to 'clamp' my minis when waiting for the glue to dry as it doesn't leave a residue on the raw wood. I don't have a power drill yet, so can't easily add a tiny pin to help hold. The clamping is what makes it stay together anyway. That, and removing excess glue. You don't want to use so much glue that the glue is sticking to glue, not the wood. Clamping with the tape forces excess glue out of the join. I also clean up with water, and a little sandpaper after if necessary. I'm bad because I stain my pieces after assembly as I always worry about warping the miniature wood. Qtips or wet toothpicks or a wet old brush are good for washing glue off places your fingers won't go. I push the bits together, clean up, dry with a Kleenex, then tape and clean up again if necessary. The hardest part is, as usual, not fiddling with the thing until it's dry.

Heather in Toronto

Hide-a-bed in cabinet: After a friend asked me how to do the frame for a hide-a-bed I tried to write out in picture and words instructions on how to make the frame. I used one of Michaels unpainted cabinets.
I don't know if there are others that have instructions but thought I would share this page with you.
Hide-a-bed instructions
http://fp3.antelecom.net/frog/mini_hide_bed.html
Ignore the paint on the cabinet I am trying the Crackle effect....LOL

Sclarise

Retro-1940's style: I found this link you all might enjoy. It has a lot of ideas from the 1940's, (20's and 30's also) if anyone is looking for info on that time period. Even has a link to Colleen Moore's dollhouse. http://www.retroactive.com/tiptray.html

Kim R Lee

Regency Era: I was playing around on the net today and found this site about the
regency era, great reference for clothing and accessories and tons of links to other like minded sites. http://austentation.tripod.com/webrings.html

And as an added bonus the lady has some dollhouses! Her name is Laura Sauer - is she on this list? Very enjoyable site and very readable. Thought some of you other history buffs may enjoy it.

Yvonne - NZ

Halloween: I recently had a new roof put on our house and the little roofing nails that were used had these cute little saucer shapes attached. They are made of plastic and are green. I immediately envisioned a little green plate with maybe a Halloween design painted on it..or the edges trimmed in orange or black. They would be soooo cute with Halloween cookies on them. I have plenty..so, if you send me your e-mail address privately, I can send you one. Green and purple are cute Halloween colors too when blended with the traditional black and orange...so, everyone get busy baking!!!!!

Donna Baird

Halloween: One of the candies that comes out at Halloween and Christmas are the clear plastic tubes full of candy with a decorative figure on top to serve as a cork or stopper plug. Take the clear plastic tube from a hairspray bottle, glass cleaner bottle, etc. Make sure it's one of the smaller pump spray tubes so it will be in scale. Cut about a 1/2" section of it off to make your candy tube. Make a tiny glue drop stopper for the bottom and let that glue dry clear before filling the tube with candy. Sometimes you can find candy beads or balls that small.....like the ones in the miniature gumball machines you can buy at miniature shops. Look around in the candy section of stores you go in and look for some candy container that has the littlest candy balls you can find. It takes some looking to find them..but they're out there. You can also make tiny candy corn which looks adorable in these tubes also. You can always make the teeny tiny balls out of fimo..but, whew, that's tedious! For the decorative stopper on the top of the tube you can either use a cake sprinkle design (they come in dozens of little designs...I even use these as cookies when I'm too lazy to make fimo cookies) or make a design from fimo to place on top of your tube. The advantage to making your own stopper top is that you can press part of the fimo down into the tube..just like the real thing....size it first before baking. Once the top's made....I would glue it in place.

Donna Baird

Cool witch cauldron: the candle section of Michaels has a very nice witches cauldron (candle holder) that works for 1" scale, made of resin or ceramic,-- sells for $2.

Cyndi in Chicago

Wallpaper Woes: I too had trouble with paper bubbling and peeling off the walls and ceiling. I was told that I should have primed the wood with FLAT latex paint first. Then I should have used wallpaper that is meant to be painted. This may be purchased at any DIY store. It also comes in many textures-if you want that. You have to purchase a large roll, but you could share it and the expense with friends.

Shelby

Wallpaper Woes: if you have any more of that paper, you could use a spray sealer prior to painting and see if that helps. Could you make a template of the ceiling area and do all the painting, etc., before gluing it up? Another idea - go to a home improvement or wallpaper store and get large samples of some textured papers to try out. They are made to be glued.

Christi Walton

Wallpaper Woes: Go to an office supply and look at the textured card stock. I have some cream colored that I love for ceilings. I just cut it to fit and covered it with tacky glue and put it up. It is thick enough to cover any imperfections and looks great. You don't have to paint it or anything. If you do paint it do this and let it dry before glueing it up.

Talks to Birds