Still Rockin' the Room

The kids' room is nowhere near complete, but we're still working.  The lower walls are "hilled." The bookshelves are painted and anchored to the wall.

I have trees started, but not finished, so they look like messy green blobs on the wall and ceiling.  The bookshelves need leaf stencils and tree trunk details on the bottom.  I've also painted Shorty's side table to look more tree stump-like (no pictures yet). 

BUT...Dragon Mountain is pretty well done.  I still think he needs mist around the mountain.  

No, I did not paint the dragon. He is an incredibly well done peel and stick by a company called Wall Monkeys, that I found on Amazon. It was so easy to put this guy up by myself! Nick and I love him soooooo much - we can't wait for Shorty to see him!!

And of course, painting would not be complete without helper cats.  The two older cats came in, checked it out and left (they've been through many, many room repaints and renovations). The kittens (well, they're both a year old now) had to inspect everything, play with every little piece of tape, inspect the paint and brush up against newly painted walls! Sid (the all black one) has blue paint on her tail, on the tops AND bottoms of her feet, on both side. I just shake my head!

In Search of Dragons

My stepdaughter is obsessed with dragons. I'm pretty sure that the topic of dragons comes up at least four dozen times a day. So when I started making my little wooden animals, I knew that I'd have to make Ellie some dragons.

Well, after I finished sealing some of the toys, she was checking out the finished product and she asked the inevitable question: "Can I play with them?"  I hated to have to tell her no, but I had already listed them for sale in the shop; they were product.  But I promised her that I would make her some of her own, so she could play with them.

About 20 minutes later came the inevitable NEXT question: "Can you make me dragons?"

How could I say no to that face??? 

So this past weekend, I designed and cut out wooden dragons for Ellie!

I made a winged dragon and a water dragon.

  

I tried my hand at using watercolor paint on them, rather than acrylic and spray shellac, rather than the water-based sealer.  Using watercolor paint did NOT produce the effect I wanted, so I went back to acrylic and I loved the spray shellac (painting on shellac is awful and I don't recommend it!).

I may just have to make a new category in the shop...Faery Tree Fantasy Collection!