The joys of growing

This past week or so we have been working on our latest new toy, Quick Books! It is a task getting to learn all this at once but it is coming along even though it is slow going with so many things to learn at once! I am not at all a comupter geek so getting the thing to send an e-mail through the program took some toying with tonight but I finally got to send out the first invoice of the year through QB! Now we are almost in business. Its a good feeling when you can work through issues and learn something new like that.
Learning curbs are all over the place right now. We are learning more about venders and which ones work for us and which ones we will have to work on fitting in right for them to work for us later. Shipping...what a trip! It is an adventure every day trying to chose the things that make your business work for you. Shipping was one of those also. There are a lot of choices out there but I find the cheapest and easiest works for me.
While things are crazy here being a business owner just starting out in this economy and with all the task and learning is made more interesting buy working for someone else while I get started. This eats into time I need some days but it also pays the bills and gives me some money (later on) to add to the business. It can be hard at times working on their stuff all day and then coming home to find something I have to take care of right away with mine.
Meanwhile the Network is still growing and I am excited about having some time soon to work on a village again myself. I have not had any time for months now to work on one. The Christmas village is still half done and set up in the studio still. Got to take that down and start on a spring and summer one. Maybe this time I can finish it. I want to get some more tutorials on the Network so I hope this is the season for it.

Coming Soon to Building New Worlds

Over the past few weeks we have been planning out 2009 for our store and made a very change in direct for this year. In keeping with our commitment to bring the best products and service we can to the village community we are happy to announce that soon we will be offering Woodland Scenics products at our store and on our online site also! As those of you know who have come to the Network, we use Woodland Scenics products in our village displays with some wonderful results and now we are going to offer this products to you also. Best yet, if you pre-order with us from now until the end of February, you get a 10% discount on your order. If there is anything that we do not have on our list to order that you want simply e-mail us with your list and we will add it to our order. We will be adding things through out the year for the store and site so check back with us for updates on what we have in stock coming soon! Also take advantage of the discounts.
Along with our commitment to the villager out there we are also getting ready to offer something a little different for 2009. Coming soon we will be offering you a way to wear your village! More details on this will be coming up in another blog so check back with us soon on this interesting bit of information.
While we have been looking at new ways to give the community products and services that you want we have also been looking into video tutorials for making displays and things for your village. We have started accounts on You Tube and Justin TV that are running teasers right now but in the coming weeks we will be to the list. If you have an account on either of those site, look us up under Building New Worlds. We will be posting updates on here, the Network and on Tweeter when those come out also.
With the state of the economy we know many of you are wondering how to keep your collection and your hobby going this year. Over the coming months we will be talking more about this on the Network so, please check in there for some new ways to make things for your village and for ways to cut down the cost of building your displays while making them effective and amazing!
www.buildingnewworlds.ning.com

2008 Christmas Contest enteries and winners

2008 Main Contest



2008 Main Contest


2008 Newbie Contest



2008 Newbie Contest

2008 Accessory Contest



2008 Accessory Contest

This Years Winners for the Building New Worlds Christmas Contest!

This year was not only an amazing year for entering the contest BUT the results were amazing also. There was a Land side in one contest, some close calls in another one and one that really shocked me how it turned out with some great close calls that I ended up giving some shout outs too because it was THAT close.
Villagers, here are your 2008 results for what will no doubt be one of the contest I will never forget!

Newbie Conest
First Place Entry 11 Devin
Second Place Entry 1 Beth
Third Place Entry 12 Dolores

Special Mentions going out to Odette and Jea for coming extremely close in. This contest was very VERY close and a lot of great villages to judge from.

Main Contest
First Place Entry 5 Helen
Second Place Entry 4 Nella Llama
Third Place Entry 1 Mary Lyn "Village Idot"
Wanna guess which of the contest was a HUGE Land Side?

Accessory Contest
First Place Entry 1 Nella Llama
Second Place Entry 6 Patty D
Third Place Entry 4 Georganne

I want to thank every one who entered this year for this contest and for sticking with me while I brain burped trying to get it going right. Thanks to those who helped me get it back together also.
Each of our members who entered this year get a thumbs up from me. I think this was the HARDEST contest I have seen yet in some ways. My votes were way off the mark in some ways and in others I was on the same page with many of you.

Congrats to every one who entered and those of you who placed!

Results of the 2008 Halloween Contest

Building New Worlds hosted the 2008 BNW Halloween village with fewer entries than normal but it was a successful contest none the less. Here are the results of this years contest which BNW retail store sponsored.

Main Village contest go as follows
1St Place Entery #4 Georganne
2Nd place Entery # 1 Cithie
And Ties going for 3rd Place to Jason and Sly Granny!

Accoessory contest
1st Place entery 2 Jea
2nd Place entery 1 Georganne
3rd Place entery 3 Pam

Newbie Contest We only had two enteries this year
1 Place Entery 2 Tim
2nd Place Entery 1 Donna

We will be starting the Christmas 2008 contest after the Holidays and are taking entries from our members from now until Dec 30th 2008.

Growing Every Day

First things first. This week BNW network reached it's 400th member! This is a huge mile stone for us and we are very happy with this turn of event. Most of all we did it in 18 months and with little more than some cyber links and word of mouth. Not a lot of paid ads or things like that. This makes up offically the fastest growing on line community for village collectors that we know of at this time.
With all this growth going on we are planning some new things and working on new projects as well as some old ones with the help of the new lap top and the way we have set up the office space here now. collecting information and managing that information is becoming easier, so the data bases for village collections that we were working on is now in full swing. We will also be using that new toy for aiding with the retail sector also. This will help not only make us able to gather data we need for sales and all that stuff but for orders, tracking invetory and custerm information more effectily. All this adds to a much more effective way to grow along with the network and our supporters.
As we go through the next couple of winter months of planning and building upward we will be working on the on line store also and updating with, making some corrections that need to be made and investigating adding a shopping cart to the site inorder to give you better and faster serivce. Until next time, build your world with love!

We're stepped up a bit

Building New Worlds just got a new computer as part of our 2009 start off. I know it is early for starting off the new year but it was a great deal and the old system was very out dated and slow. What does this new system mean for us and you?
First off, having a new system with more speed and better programing means faster time with updating the web site, the network and all those other things we have beeb working on. It also means that as we go on and updated the office and get things settled in the way I want them we will be able to get more information out sooner than in the past. The computer is just the start of what is in store for BNW over the next few months. The old system will become a storage for information that we will be using for doing tutorials, keeping track of invetory and other store information and the like.
As I start to work on the organization of things and get projects back on track we will also be able to see a more clear picture of where we are headed over the next year. It is pretty exciting for us here at BNW so we hope you all will be as excited about the changes as we are!
Next blog I hope to have more on what I am working on and about some of the changes we have done by then.

Plans for 2009

I have been looking at the things that need to be worked on for 2009 and Building New Worlds the past week or so. Some of the things that I want to make happen this next year are easy enough and others will take some time. Time is always a factor when you have your own business. It is normally not your friend. Some of the things on the board for me to tackle for 2009 are site issues and some are opts for making things run easier in the office. Some are also to make life easier for collectors of lighted villages. Here is a look into what I hope to work on for the next year at this point.
The online store is lacking some things. I would like to see a check out on the store itself in the coming year to speed up the buying process for our customers. Right now to place your order you have to e-mail it to us and then we process it and add the shipping charges etc and then send that back for approval before the order is completed and shipped out. This takes about a day or so to do through e-mails. With a shopping cart we would cut that time. There would still be a confirmation e-mail sent out but you would already have a total and your order would by pass some of the process in place right now. I would like to update the way we handle inventory also so that the processing time is cut some also. This way the ship date would be moved up to 24 to 36 hours from ordering rather than the 2 to 3 days we now take to send out packages. I also would like to spend a little money on 2009 on Google ads and site promotion to make finding us a little easier than it is right now.
With the network I hope that we can add to the team this coming year and make it so that the time Admin are working on the network is cut in half. Right now our team is good and they do well at what they do but they spend too long working on things and not enough time just enjoying the network. I know this and I tell them how good they are all the time but that seems so little for all the work they do. I would also like to find sponsors for contest on the network. Right now our store is the only sponsor there is for those and that can be draining to foot that bill alone. If you know of any body or would like to be a sponsor yourself please contact us at Buildingnewworlds@gmai.com
Within the office there are some things that need to be worked out also but I am not going to tire you with those details as that is kind of a waist of time. I will say that once they are worked out it will make our role in the village community more effective and make us much better players in the market.
Thanks for your on going support!

Why another Lemax online store?

Over the past year I have ask myself a couple of times or so why would we need yet another store for Lemax? A lot of people out there sell Lemax or Department 56 or some other band of village. Does to world really need another village seller? My thought right after that was SO WHAT! You might think that I have lost my mind in saything this but here is why I came to the conclusion that selling Lemax was right for me.
I started collecting Lemax Spooky Town in 2002. My first three pieces I got all at once and just had to have them. Spooky Town was my first true love of things that I have ever collected. Never cared much at all for most things I got into. I was not sure though what to do with these amazing little buildings and things. So I will pull them out and sit them around at halloween and collect a few more pieces over time. Then came the day I found out that people landscaped these things. They made little worlds out of them and that was awesome! I had some art skills so I figured I would give it a try one day. I lacked the time or place to do this though then.
Back in 2005 though two things happened that changed my world. One not so good and the other was a blessing in the form of Lemax villages. I went to work one night back in August of 2005. Back then I was a Team Lead on the over night for a Target store in Evenston IL. Shortly after I got to work I had a seizure. Not just a small trimbling one but a full blown, lasting for ten minutes, seizure. That week I found out I would not be going back to work for a while. At that point I was scared, confused and even plan depressed. While all this was going on I needed something to take my mind off the whole seizure thing. I started working on my first village landscape. Not just some small project but a full village with all the triming. Meanwhile the doctors where busy trying to fix the seizure thing.
The treatments were not working very well but when I was working on my village I felt normal again. I felt alive! That was something I would never forget. Something that even now makes days that are not so good some of the best days of my life. It was through village collecting and building villages that I found a way to make my siezure disorder a much better thing that it was will any medical help. To this day I credit having fewer siezures on no meds at all to the work I put into my villages and the love of those around me.
While getting to know other villagers I learned a lot of them had medical conditions also. Over time I have found that many of the members of Building New Worlds use villaging as a means to help them through life and coniditions that are not always very good. THAT is one of the reasons I chose to be yet another retailer of Lemax village.
Another reason is that I love my collection and as a collector I feel that giving other collectors a great service and someone who know village buidling to go to is something wonderful to give back to a hobbie, a company and a community that has made such a difference in my life. It is with this love for all these things that I started Building New Worlds and it is with this love for all these things that I will make Building New Worlds something to be proud to be a part of.

What's New with Building New Worlds?

With the addition of the online store and our connection with Finch Family Water Garden in Albany, OR. we have seen a lot of changes this year in BNW. Between the work with the store and running the network we are running full speed this year to make sure that BNW is getting a great start. In addition to the Lemax Spooky Town line I am also offering small display bases that I have done at the store front only right now. This will start off the opening of selling landscaping items later on which we are hoping to offer in 2009. We are still in the planning stages for that though. The Network is going full blast right now with well over 300 members and very high hits a day along with high log ins on the site from our current members. Some of the topics we are getting into now are more about landscaping and additional pieces to buy or make for Halloween villages. The start of the Halloween Village Season took off over night!
Our plans for starting a news letter for Building New Worlds members is still in the works also. There is a lot of work already going into our days here so again this is something that is just in the planning stage. I am working on a test piece now for that to see how weill I can crank one out and still make it worth reading. Remember I am still working for another company while doing all this. They take up a lot of my time but, the bills have to get paid somehow you know.
Over all the success rate right now is on the Network. We are very pleased with that as that was the focus and ground work that starte all this madness. The Network is now ran buy the Admin with me doing some of the back ground work when needed. This is set up that way so that I will still have time to post and give personal attention to memebers rather than being that creator who is so back logged with work that I could not have time for being an active memeber. That is one of the things that sets us apart from the other sites and message boards. Our online community is ran by members not the owners. We have also in the past year started collecting feed back from memebrs on what they want on the Network and how we should go about doing things on there in a way the works for them. This direct feed back has been an impact on not only the content of the site but the look and even how it functions. Members having this control feel more like a apart of the community and are more likely to return seeing that they are a part of something growing as fast as we are.
Our plans for the rest of 2008 are to run the contest this year which will be sponcered by our retail store and to promote this contest highly! We are also working on the database for Lemax collectors which will update all other data bases that might exist and complete them also. To date we believe we have found and listed all of the Lemax collection from its start to date. Other than that we are planning out the road map for the store's 2009 opening and getting some ideas of what we might be selling next year. That is still TBA. Check back with us for more information on that later. Mean while it is back to a busy day here and beating the heat!

Waterfall

Author: Britt

If you have any question or need more explanations please ask at the forum:

http://www.freepowerboards.com/neodreaming/index.php Village Learning Center.

I started with gluing layers of styrofoam together in the basic shape I wanted. Then I used a hobby knife to cut out the river bedding. It should not be a smooth surface, that will only make the next step more difficult. Do not cut deep unless that is the effect you want, I will fill it up. I left an empty space for electricity equipment under the base in the back in case I want to use lights together with it. A bend at the top of the riverbed makes the base easier to integrate in a landscape - the river can appear from behind rocks or trees.









I added a thin layer of air dry clay in the riverbed and made it smoother with a tool (a butter knife will work if you don't have a tool). Then I started to add the shape of the flowing water. It does not have to be very detailed or perfectly done - this is just the base for the water. Make sure the river bedding is filled at the edges. If the clay doesn't want to stick dampen the styro slightly or you may need to make the styro surface more rough.





Continue with the whole waterfall in the same way. If it is a large area you have to do the next step before the clay has dried too much.












The whole river bedding is filled and I started to add the currents in the water and the whirls- under the waterfalls and where the water is forced to change direction by rocks etc.











I painted the base around the waterfall in a basic landscape color, brown in this case. Make sure the paint is waterbased or it will melt the styrofoam. (I am using my kids poster paint from the toy shop...!) The paint will mostly be covered later but I don't want the white styro base to show.
I shaped loose rocks from the clay and added them into and around the river bedding. I didn't make them very smooth, they should be irregular and have some cracks.



When everything was dry I glued the loose rocks into place and painted them very dark (black) and the water was painted blue. Do not worry about the colors, the idea is to cover the styro and clay at this stage. After a while I checked it and added more paint (made thinner with water)where the styro or clay wasn't completely covered.







The rocks were brushed with medium grey, without covering the deeper parts and then I dry brushed the areas sticking out with very light grey to highlight them.

I did this to all the rocks and also made the blue water a bit darker with grey paint. It should be darker now than the final result.












My rocks have moss so I brushed the areas I wanted mossy with dark green, avoiding to add paint in the deeper areas. I also painted some darker areas in the water- those will be in the shadow of plants later.

I used a glossy varnish to make the rocks close to the water look shiny from moisture. I also used it to seal the paint in the river bedding before starting the next step.

A glossy transparent paint thickener paste was added into the river bedding to create the effect of water. Be very careful with how this is done as this pattern of flowing water will be showing when it is finished.

The paste dries up clear, as long as it is white it still has to dry. As you can see I added a thicker layer under the waterfalls to shape foam and whirls. I decided to add another layer to get the effect I wanted in this case. It is better to apply several thinner layers than one thick.

When the paste was completely dry the final step: Dry brushing the paste very lightly with white or very light grey paint.

I attached this base to the rest of my landscape using wooden sticks or tooth picks instead of gluing it - I want to be able to use it again in several displays.

Plants and scatter material was added for the finishing touch.

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