I have no pictures yet, but I'm working on three projects at the same time. One being my custom order for another Harry Potter tree that will be slightly different than the first. One of the crucial parts has been held up somewhere and I've had to contact the seller to find out what's going on :( Shipping problems, don't you just love them? I can't advance far on the tree without this part. So it's a waiting game right now. I have thought of some fun new ideas for this tree though :) Like a Howler. Do you remember in the second HP movie there was a talking red envelope from Molly Weasley to Ron? It yelled at him :) I've made a small one of those, and it's turned out very well indeed :) It's shape is perfect as I can get it! It's very cute and will be on the tree. I can't believe I was able to make something that small look as close as that to the one in the movie. It wasn't easy at that size, let me tell you. If my part ever comes in, I'll post pictures as soon as I get somewhere on the tree.
My other projects are this: a purple sparkly gothic victorian witch tree in time for Halloween that will have less of a base on it due to time contraints right now. I'm still working on my floors (Guess what takes off the black tar paper like stuff that you'll sometimes find over the top of old wood floors that have have other flooring laid over them? You'll never guess! Liquid Fabric Softener! Of all the things, who ever found that out and how did they find that out? I scraped on that floor for an hour and got nowhere. So I looked up what to do online and found one site that said try this. It worked like a charm!) and I still have family coming in in less than two weeks. So in other words, I have to hurry up and get these floors done! So my time is limited and progress will be slow.
The other thing I've got started is a grand little dressing table/chest of drawers with a small seat that will done up very fancy for Marie Antoinette! I've started painting it out in a pale sparkly blue, and the little vanity seat the same way. I'm looking into making her wig that will be mounted on a hat stand. This one will take me some time because I can't do it badly. I want to do it very very well. The furniture pieces are nice, in fact the little seat is Bespaq but I've altered it to match the other thing. Let's just say that it'll be a sweet little set when I'm done :)
Now for some products that I CAN'T live without! I am a complete bath and body product addict and even though I make my own, I still have to pick up these particular things when I run out of them. Too fantastic to do without!
Number one thing I can't live without? Oil perfumes. Why? They wear closer to the body (which is good if you don't want to gag everyone around you or if you work in an office where that's taboo) and still smell great. The bottles are small, inexpensive, tuck easily into a purse and usually don't leak if you do. The one drawback is that they some times don't last the whole day. But just a dab more and you're back to scent heaven :) The bonus? Because they are inexpensive you can buy a variety of different scents which is entertaining. You never have to smell like the same thing all the time. Another neat thing is that they often explore gourmand scents (foody or sweet scents) that you usually don't see in the retail stores. So if you're like me and a candle burning that smells like something baking makes you happy-then a perfume like this may be heaven in a bottle for you to wear. And of course there is a full range of all kinds of scents ranging from floral to completely weird like dirt! Anything you can imagine, really. If you can think of it, some company has probably made it :)
My personal favorites?
1) Possets Perfumes, bottled happiness: http://www.possets.com/
Shipping is super fast, the prices are very reasonable and so is the shipping and the customer service is perfect. My personal favorites are:
this is a soft sweet lavender that is non herbal and simply comfort in a bottle. It smells like heaven. I have to reapply it every so often but it's well worth the trouble. I rub just a little through the dry ends of my hair and it keeps the scent all day as well as moisturizes my hair. Fantastic!
Another worth noting: http://www.possets.com/permanent/angelic-host-9th--seraphim
This is a glorious sweet, candied amber that upon first sniff is a little strange but once on, my goodness! If it were a color is would be gold.
Great for the holidays is the amusingly named Gingerbread Whorehouse:
this is no simple gingerbread scent! It's gingerbread all dolled up and ready to go out on the town prowling :) Too cool!
A few other companies worth noting: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab which is on the higher end of the price range: http://www.blackphoenixalchemylab.com/welcome.html
Their most famous perfume would have to be Snake Oil:
"SNAKE OIL
By far, our most popular scent! Magnetic, mysterious, and exceedingly sexual in nature. A blend of exotic Indonesian oils sugared with vanilla."
this is great, but needs to age about a year before using. Is it worth the wait? Oh yeah, big time! Sometimes you can find some one ebay that's pre-aged already because followers of this perfume house know this.
One last company with good perfumes is Solstice Scents: http://www.solsticescents.com/
Notably, their vanilla perfume called Cenobite is the richest and best vanilla I've ever tried:
I like the spray glace because it's large and lasts a long time. This is a generous and nice seller with incredible packaging. Opening the box is even a delight :)
One last product I'll never be without is Haus of Gloi's sugar scrub called Vice:
which is sheer heaven on dry skin and smells like mocha coffee.