Here is a question that came to me that some may find helpful in flower making: Can I use Elmer's glue?

No. I use Aileen's original tacky glue.

I have used the thin bodied tacky but find it doesn't hold as well. When I glue leaves to wire, you see a bunch of white glue when it is wet but it shrinks and dries clear. Then I paint over ALL glue connections. When I am gluing leaves directly to the wire I do not use the white glue zap-a-gap method. The bond is brittle!

For an instant bond. . . . use a touch of white glue then a touch of zap-a-gap. For small flowers this works great but for stems (like on my hibiscus bush) that have to hold leaves the bond is too brittle. In many cases I then paint over connections with original tacky glue mixed with a few drops of water so that it will flow. Zap-a-gap is available at model train stores or Micro Mark.

Mary Kinloch

Flooring: Here's some things that I have successfully used for flooring that would work for bathrooms and kitchens too. (No particular order):

1) Hardwood floor painted and stenciled or with paint rubbed in showing the grain of the wood (looks like old painted flooring that is worn. )

2) Card stock cut to the size of room. Spray painted with a base coat of white or gray enamel, then drizzle spray different colors like that old speckle coated linoleum. Top with several clear coats of varnish (either spray or brush on). You can do this directly to your dollhouse floor but you have to put up protecting paper so that you don't spray the rest of the house.

3 Thin wood squares laid like checkerboard tile. You can paint the whole thing before or after you lay them. I usually end up doing both as it seems I always get that high corner that I need to sand down and have to "fix" the paint on that tile. Again I coat with varnish when it's done.

4) Appropriate paper glued to cardboard, varnished, cut and applied like tile.

5) The Formica edging that comes in a roll, score and snap it in squares and lay those little tiles.

6) Cardstock painted in color preference, cut in tile size, and glued on the floor. (You can paint the underfloor if you want to simulate grout and leave small spacing around the "tile" to show this).

I personally don't like the small tile that we used to use to make ashtrays with as I feel it is too thick and uneven. Hope this will give you some ideas. The main thing is to TRY!

Shannon Moore

Parquet floor squares: I have seen regular parquet floor tiles in 9" and 12" sizes. Usually 9", so that would be 3/4" for minis. The strips of wood for the parquet pieces would probably be about 1/8" with 6 strips/tile.

Jacqui in Hilo, Hawaii

Parquet floor squares: I made a parquet floor for my living room and used blocks of 48 mm. This was for a floor with a mozaik-motif called Versailles Etoiles. In real life the blocks are 50cmx50 cm.

Marina

Parquet floor squares: The ones I've seen done are 1 inch squares to correspond to l foot "real-size" squares. I expect this is not engraved in stone as parquet comes in many patterns and arrangements and I would think it would be essentially whatever size you want it.

SUSAN AT THE WHITE RABBIT'S HOUSE

Parquet floor squares: I have a parquet floor in my sunroom - the real sunroom not a mini one and they measure 6" x 6" so I would imagine in mini talk that would be 1/2" x 1/2".

Vi in Hamilton

Water-scaping: I had a large area to cover -- 18" x 21" – and wasn't about to use all of my precious "Ladybug Water" -- I bought it for personal use and besides I don't think it would cover almost 400 sq. inches. So-o-o, I used shrink wrap instead. We had a 24" roll of the shrink wrap we used to wrap around towers of boxes when we moved; got it from a moving box store.

First, I painted the base in various shades of green (I decided, rather arbitrarily, that the fishing shop is on a lake). Dark toward the edge, shading lighter toward the shore. I laid down lines of Tacky glue, representing waves coming toward the shore. The next part was tricky and required two people because the clear wrap is sticky (I had a problem with the edges wanting to roll under and absolutely refusing to unfurl. ). With Sam on one side and me on the other with the sheet of wrap stretched between us, we slid it under the dock -- above the lines of glue -- up to the shore. Then, beginning at the shore line, we laid it down, allowing some slack between the wavy glue lines.Oh, it looks wonderful! I'm amazed, really. This is a great effect.

I'm putting in the dock posts tomorrow and will use Ladybug's polyseal stuff around their bases to make water ripples. I'll also use it along the shore line to cover the edge of the wrap. Around the side edges of the base, I'm going to put some moulding so the edges of the wrap will be concealed.

Sally Cook-Thomas

Water: I have used acrylic water from WalMart floral dept. for all my ponds and water projects. Also use Everlasting Elegance, from our Hobby Lobby in floral dept. They both are great and quite inexpensive. 24 hour cure time and crystal clear.

SuLin

Acrylic Water:I used the Acrylic Water for the water around my lighthouse and really like the way it turned out. It was very easy to use, too. The main thing is to make sure your area is sealed really well.

Carole Pierce in TN

I decided to try adding something to my "limestone" pavers this morning. I just felt that they needed a finishing tough. So, I broke out the antiquing gel and gave them a quick coat. . . . . I can't believe how that one little detail has brought them to life! Now they look even more real.

Sloan