Mini books and a sidewalk

I am starting small (no pun intended!) in getting back to crafting minis, so I made up two books I got in a kit I bought from minikitz.com that I had in my stash for a few years. They are a medieval manuscript and an herbal. Both would fit in my herbal shop, so that's where they shall go.

Speaking of the herb shop, it needed a sidewalk leading up the door. In the picture below, you can see that the line where the two sheets of grass meet and, well, that won't do.

So, I took a thin piece of basswood, cut it to size, glued on some Paperclay and carved in lines between the flagstones. Once that dried, I painted the walkway and added a coat of varnish. Here's the finished product.

The paint and the cracks in the paperclay give it a nice weathered look. I need to go to a craft store and pick up more landscaping materials, so I can fill in the space along the sidewalk. Maybe I'll do that this weekend; we'll see. I really want to do some work on the Glencroft.

Lots of inspiration this evening though, much of which will result in a few blog posts in the very near future: an entry on Dutch Colonial houses (for inspiration) and some book reviews (as inspired by this entry in the Greenleaf forums).

Here's most of the dollhouse/miniature books on my shelf, which I will start with, if I do some reviews...(this will make me sit down and carefully read these instead of just looking at the eyecandy inside. ;) ).

I have a few others (The Big Book of the Dolls' House by Jean Nisbett, to name one) that don't fit on this shelf.

I just wanted to drop in and mention how pleased I am with Minikitz! I ordered a few things over the weekend and my package came today - so quick! The following were part of my order: Hindu God #12 (Tara), Hindu God #18 (another Tara), and Hindu God #20 (Buddha), and the Medieval Book kit. The little statues were very detailed and look very realistic. One Tara is going in my meditation temple, and the other two statues will be in the shop. The Medieval Book (which comes with a free herbal) will also go in the shop.

I plan on ordering from this shop again - I am attracted to one of the dolls, which are inexpensive but very pretty. :) I just need to learn how to make an outfit for it when I do purchase it. I am thinking crunchy, earthy shopkeeper, so I would go with a long skirt, tank top, and long sweater (that's what I typically wear anyway). The doll I like has boots painted on, but I could cover them in material to look like little Uggs. Hehe. And she'd also probably have dreads, too. Gotta have dreads. :)

Anyway, going to go through my fabric as I am working on the temple...I am trying to find something that will look acceptable as an altar cloth. :)