March Giveaway!

I'm running a couple of days late, but never fear! the March giveaway is here!!  All you have to do to be a part of this giveaway is to be either a follower of this blog, or a friend / subscriber to my Facebook page.  Your name will automatically be put in the drawing each month!  

The giveaway prize this month is a trio of miniature tombstones that I have handcrafted myself.  These tombstones would look fantastic in any haunted or Halloween scene you may have.  They are smaller, but every cemetery has all sizes of tombstones in it, right?  These will work in either 1:12 scale or in 1:24 scale.  They are one of a kind.  

The winner of the March Giveaway will be announced on March 29 here on this blog and on my Facebook page.  So be sure to check in and see if you're the winner for this month! 

Hedgewitch Cottage

I've been busy working on the fireplace for the Hedgewitch Cottage and have the inside finished as far up as I can go until the roof is put on.  It has taken almost 2 packages of the field stones to do the inside fireplace and outside chimney, I have plenty still to complete it once the roof is in place.  

I made the floor hearth out of clay as I wanted it to look like one large stone and once baked and cooled, I glued it to the floor.  I know this fireplace is a bit large for such a small cottage, but I love large fireplaces!  So I made the way I like it.  :)  You can see the styrofoam has been painted gray to mimic the look of mortar and the inside is painted black to mimic soot from years of burning in this fireplace.  I did not apply the stones with it in this position against the wall.  I took the fireplace and laid it down flat and applied the stones that way, then when finished I glued it in place to the wall.  

I "roughed up" the wood mantel and stained it in a dark oak.  I purposefully made it longer on one side so that I can hang utensils from it at a later date.  Once the mantel was dried I glued it in place on top of the fireplace.  At this point I had also darkened the hearth floor to appear more sooty. 

I double checked the inside chimney for size and it was too wide, so it had to be cut down some more.  Once I was happy with the size, I laid it down flat just like I did the fireplace and began laying field stones on it. 

Once I was done laying the stones and gave it time to dry while lying flat, I then glued it to the wall and clamped it for good measure.  I let it dry overnight like this to make sure it would hold.  While it was clamped and drying, I went ahead and painted the wall inside the fireplace black.  You can see the finished fireplace below. 

I have used Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue for this entire project so far.  I love the way it gives that actual fast hold, especially on the field stones.  It has worked great!  

This is  my progress to this point.  I know I really need to put the front door on, but I kind of want to wait to do that after the front porch is put on.  We'll see.  Thanks for visiting and be sure to check out my Etsy Store - www.etsy.com/shop/minimaker22 as I have started listing items for sale that I will be actually using in my Hedgewitch Cottage.  Until next time...