modern miniature scene

I decided a while ago that I wanted to try something new with my dollhouses/miniatures.

I follow a lo of mini artists on social media, and so I got inspired by @little_lucciola. Her creations are very modern, but still whimsical.

They are also pretty small, and I am running out of space in my house for all my dollhouses, so I need to make ones that are small and can be easily stored.

This one actually folds up into its own case!

I found the case in a storage closet, and I covered the outside with the gold patterned scrapbook paper. The carpet is a piece of scrapbook paper.

The bed was in my stash of supplies, and I made the blanket and pillow from fabric scraps someone gifted me.

The dresser is from Dollar Tree, and so is the wall decoration. The pennant banner was in my craft stash.

The little llama is from a jewelry line at Hobby Lobby. The wooden chair and table are also from Hobby Lobby.

The bedside table is a napkin ring I got on clearance at Kohls for 49 cents.

The little stand w/ succulent plants was bought last spring on clearance from Michael's.

I think it still needs a few more accessories, but I'm happy with it so far.

a B movie and a Barbara movie

I've been able to sneak downstairs early a few mornings to indulge in some pre-code film gems. It's something I truly love and look forward to; lighting a fire in the woodstove, making a cup of tea, and snuggling under blankets on the couch with an old movie on the TV.

 I admit that sometimes it's hard for me to break away from my favorite actors and actresses and watch films that star ones I'm not familiar with. But beggars can't be choosers, and when you're streaming movies for free on YouTube (because their copyrights expired and they went to the public domain) you have to see what comes up.  The first one that came up featured a cast I was not familiar with. But look at the pulp-fiction imagery on the poster!

I couldn't resist. And of course any film that centers around a troupe of cabaret singers won't disappoint. Within the first few minutes, a man is peeping through a keyhole on a ship, hoping to see a young lady undress. The story that follows includes suicide, divorce and knife-fights.  .  .not bad for a B movie.

 The next one I need to write about is from 1929, so it's a very early talkie. In fact, I commented to my husband that this film illustrates very well the bridge from the silent because although there is sound, their faces and body language still do quite a bit of the communicating and acting.

This film is the second one starring Barbara Stanwyck. Her first film was a silent one, which has been since been lost. 

The title of the film alone is pretty risque, because we all know what happens when men and women are behind locked doors together. There's also alot of drinking shown, which was obviously still illegal in 1929 thanks to Prohibition. At one point a man questions his wife about a mutual acquaintance, plainly asking "Did he ever make love to you?". Obviously he's concerned about her virtue and pre-marital chastity, but with that question he also concedes that it was possible.

I'm watching another Stanwyck movie now, but it's not a pre-code one so I'll write about it in a future post.

"This is Halloween- everybody make a scene!"

One of the most depressing days of the year for me is the day on which I put all our fun summer stuff away for the year. I don't mean beach balls or plastic pools; I mean all the stuff that makes our house and yard so Us. I put all my handmade wind chimes, yard art and funky painted furniture into the garage,shed or basement so they don't get damaged in the long winter months. My consolation for putting away those things which always make our home so unique, and weird and welcoming is that at least I can put up the Halloween decorations. So, the first one I put up was this Halloween wind chime, which I recently made:

I also decorated the outside porch: 

Eric and Johnny raked up some of the leaves and pine needles yesterday: 

And of course I had to get out the Nightmare Before Christmas display:

And the other day I saw our old grill sitting in the shed and I got inspired to turn it into a Halloween fairy garden:

Most of the stuff I already had in my dollhouse/craft supplies, but I did buy the little tombstones at Michael's this morning.

I've also been working on some Christmas dollhouses and crafts, but I'll save that for a future post.

House Work

Not dishes and laundry and vacuuming, though; I mean dollhouse work!

We recently went to NYC to see the  Beetlejuice show on Broadway. Since that's one of my all-time favorite films, it was pretty exciting to see it come to life in front of my eyes.

The show is more like "inspired by" the movie rather than a theatrical version of it, and I didn't care for some of the changes to the characters and story. However, the visuals were amazing! And it really motivated me to work more on my Beetlejuice dollhouse when I got home. I found a small sandworm light from Hot Topic that I bought for the bathroom:

And once I started working on the Beetlejuice house, I got ideas for other houses, too. I finally got around to making a pumpkin patch for Hagrid to hang in, outside of the Harry Potter book shop:

I also have been scouring the thrift stores for things to add. I recently came across a vintage brooch that was a fan. I removed the pin part, and put it to use in the geisha house. It looks like the fans they use in dancing:

I also have been working on some of the smaller houses/displays, but I'll save those for a future post.

A Small Wonder

Welcome one and all, to the AMAZING spectacle of library magic, performed by the one and only Ms. Mawn!

In this trick, I take ugly, brownish, metal book trucks, such as this one:

And transform them into colorful, polished carts, complete with rubber shelf liners (to keep books from slipping and sliding) such as these:

How's that for magic? I'm still waiting on my Hogwarts letter though.  .  .

New School Year 2019!

The new school year is underway!

The first day of school was great. I really enjoyed seeing the students again: who got taller, who got a haircut, brand new backpacks. I got lots of hugs and high-fives.

I have to say that I am really proud of the work I did last year with the Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade students. We spent all year reading books together using the Whole Book approach, a method of reading and storytelling that I learned about in grad school. Using this approach, you don't just read the words and look at the pictures, you invite the students to make observations and critiques about the entire book: the text (color, shape, size, placement), the illustrations, the orientation of the book (landscape or portrait) and the different parts of book anatomy (spine, gutter, endpages, dust-jacket).  .  .ALL of the classes that we read this way with last year have remembered everything! Even the 1st graders (last year's K students) remembered that the left page is called the verso, and the right page is called the recto. I was blown away.

We've been reading "The Day You Begin" by Jacqueline Woodson because it's a Ladybug Award nominee and because it's a good theme for beginning a new school year, and they have been commenting on the endpages, and the pink flowers, and the mixed media illustrations.  .  .It made me feel so optimistic about this year, and what we'll be able to accomplish. It's a beautiful book, so you should watch the trailer:

Last year I applied for the Dollar General Literacy Grant for Youth, and I GOT IT! (or, rather, I got one of them). I authored the grant so that the funds would be used to inspire and support readers who are struggling and/or reluctant, so the materials I purchase with the money will be mostly graphic novels (even if you can't read text, you can read pictures!), Hi-Lo fiction (high interest books for older readers with a lower lexile) and some new Early Chapter books (because our EC collection is kind of outdated). I applied last spring, and when September came, I figured I hadn't gotten one. Then one morning out of the blue, I got an email congratulating me! I did some grant writing at my previous job, but that was just from our Parent Group. This was my first national grant! It's very exciting!

Despite the pride I feel in that accomplishment, I can honestly claim that the work-related event that made me feel the very best was one that took place outside of my school. I have some friends on social media that are former students from my previous school. One of them posted her new college address, and asked for some mail, so I sent her a care package of Emergency Chocolate and a little note. She received it, and sent me a message saying how much it means to her that we're still in touch after 7  years. The connections I make with students is the best part.

It's what keeps me going.

The End of Summer

I haven't blogged in a couple months. I wish I could claim that it's because I went screen free, and spent the majority of the time communing with Nature in a Walden-esque way, but.  .  .I didn't.

I had a great summer, probably the best one I've had in a long time. And I did hike, and walk, and ride my bike, but I also binge-watched ALOT of TV. The Sopranos (never got to watch it when it was on because I never had HBO), Orange is the New Black, Stranger Things, the new Veronica Mars.  .  .right now I am watching Game of Thrones and of course I am watching BH 90210, 90210 IS the series that inspired my very first blog series: Archetypes of Teen Soap Opera.

I didn't spend my entire summer with my eyes glazed over though. As I wrote in my last post, we did our annual trip to DelMarVa, including the ALA conference in Washington DC for me.

We saw some concerts: Natalie MacMaster in the park in Portsmouth, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones in Hampton. In a couple weeks we're going to see Blue Oyster Cult.

We also traveled to NY to see our families. While we were in Rochester, we decided to spend a day exploring Buffalo since we never really had before. It was fun. We went to the Anchor Bar, the original home of Buffalo wings.

We also checked off a few Atlas Obscura sites, including:

                                                the assassination place of Pres. McKinley

                                                 an abandoned Wonder Bread Factory

                                                             and the Shark Girl statue.

The worst thing that happened this summer was losing both of our bunnies, on the same day; we were all pretty upset for a few days. But the best thing that happened this summer was this:

We adopted a dog! Her name is Elza, and she is an 8 year old black lab-pitbull mix. 

School started a couple weeks ago, which for teacher signifies the real end of summer. And now that there's a chill in the air, and the sun is coming up a little later, I know that fall is definitely at the door.

I have some thoughts about the new school year, but I'll save those for my next post.