WNY LEGO Fans...

Just a quick heads up...I went to the Target on Transit Road and didn't find anything much in the clearance section, but they have stocked a bunch of the new sets.  There were new Star Wars, Chima, Super Heroes, Ninjago...

I got the last Golden Dragon at that location...sorry...Happy Hunting!

Completed Project - The Red Brick Manor

Here's my latest LEGO project!  I haven't done any significant building in awhile.  When I started this I really had no clear direction.  I knew I wanted to make a house for LEGOGirl to play with, but that's it.  (She's really getting into the whole dollhouse phase.)

This is one of those rare times when everything just seemed to click.  I did a little bit of tearing down/rebuilding here and there, but for the most part, this went smoothly.  Anyway, here it is...

The 1st floor and 2nd floor are both removable, which made it much easier to decorate, and also a little easier for LEGOGirl to play with.  She likes to be able to get at EVERYTHING.

Now for the closeups...

1st Floor Wide Shot - 2nd Floor removed

Living Room

Kitchen

What's behind that door?

Puppy!

Baby's Room

My camera's battery was dying, so unfortunately I didn't get a better shot of the Baby's Room.  The chair in the back turned out well, and there's a dresser back there with a teddy bear and bottle on it.  On the right is a shelf with a train on it.  

Bathroom

Bathroom

Bedroom

I enjoyed constructing the beds.  The mattress part is a stack of 1x4 bricks on their side.

Bedroom

Right Side

Left Side

I debated decorating the house for Christmas.  With the color scheme I think it would look really cute.  If I get around to that, I'll post some more pics.  Thanks for taking a look!

LEGO Holiday Movie - A Visit from St. Nicholas: For Advanced Readers

If you have a few minutes and want to learn some new words while being entertained, check out this new holiday LEGO movie made by LEGODad.  You can also check out his website or subscribe to his minitrue11 channel at YouTube.  Enjoy!

LEGO Friends Alive & Well

Good news, LEGO Friends fans!  The LEGO Group reports that since its launch, the LEGO Friends line has sold twice as well as expected.  I wasn't too sure about this line when it first came out, but I've gotten a few of the sets and we all really like them.  They have lots of unique pieces and the colors are fun.  I think I've even gotten used to the new people, even though it's still a little annoying that their feet don't move.

With the news of Friends Advent Calendars being stopped in production, I was worried that it was a sign of bad things to come.  It appears that isn't the case.

If you'd like to read the press release from LEGO, click here.

LEGO Ninjago #4: Tomb of the Fangpyre

Good news, Ninjago fans!  The fourth Ninjago graphic novel from Papercutz is coming out soon!  It will be available August 21st.

For those of you lucky enough to attend the San Diego Comic Con, the artist for the new book Jolyon Yates will be available Sunday morning and will sign a show exclusive print that is free with purchase - limited to the first 1,000 attendees.

Here's a preview of the promo poster -

How cool is that?  LEGOBoy loves the whole Serpentine storyline and is looking forward to getting this latest edition.  If you haven't checked out the graphic novels yet, we highly recommend them!

New posts arriving soon!

It's been awhile since I've posted any updated info here on the site.  The LEGOFamily and I have been busy with the usual end of the school year and job related happenings, but now that summer vacation is here, we're ready to get back to what's important - LEGOs!  Look for new posts soon!

NEW Items Available

I have listed several new LEGO items for sale, including LEGO stickers and sets of LEGO plates.  This month, with any $5 purchase, you will receive instructions [pdf file] for this model - FREE!

Check it out, either by clicking the "FOR SALE" tab above, or following this link.

Visiting a LEGO Store

I know, I know...Fridays are supposed to be building challenge days, but life has gotten a little hectic. I'm managing to find time for a quick post, though, so that should count for something!

Last week the LEGOFamily and I went to visit our nearest LEGO store, which means visiting a foreign country.  The closest store is just outside of Toronto, so we made the trip up there.  (A new LEGO store will be opening at the end of the month in upstate NY...YAY!)

It's very cool to see all the sets and displays that the LEGO store has, and they usually have a small clearance section.  But for us, the big draw is the Pick-a-Brick wall.  For one price you get to jam as many pieces into a plastic cup as you can.  The supply of pieces is limited, but it's still a lot of fun.  I should mention that we are casual Pick-a-Brickers.  I've read accounts of people taking the time to stick pieces together to minimize the empty space in the cup.  We do try to fill up the cup completely, but we don't take any extraordinary measures in doing so.

LEGOGirl, being a LEGOBaby, thought it was great fun to reach into the bins of pieces and pull out pieces to walk around with.  Thus we ended up taking home some pieces we really didn't need more of.  If you haven't ever experienced the joy of Pick-a-Brick, I'd encourage you to do so.

We also enjoy the Build-a-Mini kiosk.  There you can build any minifig you want from the available pieces.  This time there were parts from some of the recent collectible minifig series.  It's fun to be able to take home some specially designed little people.

One of the cutest moments we had in the store was when LEGOGirl found the keychains.  There were many cast-offs at the bottom of the display, and she had the best time hanging them back up on the hooks.  Of course, she didn't care about putting Kai back with all the other Kai's, and LEGOMom couldn't let that slide.  And then LEGOGirl decided to start taking them all down again, and then it was time to be picked up by Mom.  :)

LEGO: Cure for the common headache

The weather has been bouncing around like a yo-yo here - the temp goes up and down, up and down, and it's really been messing with me.  I had a brutal sinus headache yesterday and spent part of the evening on the couch.  My sweet son decided to cheer me up by surprising me with a LEGO creation.  This is what he made:

Get Well, by LEGOBoy

I love when he gets a great idea and disappears into the LEGO room, then returns with something truly unique and wonderful.  He was especially proud of the way he thought of making the W.  And his message did the trick - it brought a smile to my face.  I'm a pretty lucky mom.  :)

One of My Favorite Things

Being an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO) has its pros and cons.  On the positive side, you have your own money and can buy whatever LEGOs you want, whenever you want.  This assumes you have an understanding spouse or significant other ;)  On the negative side, you end up with a whole lot of LEGOs, and you have to keep them somewhere.

I don't know if all AFOLs are neurotic or not, but I think it probably helps.  I can't imagine keeping our LEGOs in one monstrous, disorganized pile.  No, they must be sorted.  Some other time I might share pictures of what our LEGO room looks like.  (Yes, it's a room.  Sort of.)

For now, I'll share with you a product we found and love.  (I have no affiliation with this product or company.  I'm just a happy customer!)  We used to keep our minifigs in plastic bags sorted by theme.  It looked like this:

It did the job.  But those minifigs are just so darn cute, and it isn't much fun to look at them this way (and also not so easy to find that one character you're looking for).  Another one of my hobbies is scrapbooking, and that's how I found....the Scraponizer!

Scraponizers are these amazing 8.5" by 11" plastic cases.  You can get them with divided trays inside, like the one you see below.

The great part about these is that you can see everyone in there very easily, the Scraponizers are easy to stack on a shelf, and on the spine you can label them by theme.  Makes it super easy to find even one lowly mime amidst two dozen Crusaders.  (Not that the mime would be mixed in with the Crusaders.  *Shudder*.)

This certainly isn't the cheapest way to sort minifigs (especially when you have a ton), but it's very satisfying.  Searching around online I found a place to get them for about $4 apiece.  Warning:  If you try them, you may very well become addicted.  Especially if you are the sort of person who would never store a mime with Crusaders.

These cases are also child-friendly.  Our 7-year-old is able to look through the stack of Scraponizers and find exactly what he wants, instead of pestering us to find it for him.  We're still working on training him to put things away himself...

If you visit the Scraponizer website and look at their photo gallery you'll see pictures of them being used to store small LEGO collections.  And before we wrap this up, just a friendly reminder that we'll be back with Building Challenge #7 on Friday, so be sure to visit us then!

New Website

Since we don't have a challenge to share this week, I thought we'd keep you busy with some other interesting LEGO-related posts.

First up, I am proud to introduce you to a new website featuring stop-motion LEGO movies and other LEGO creations...Brick a Brack Studios!  This website features the work of one of the third place winners in the LEGO Super Heroes Unite contest that ended this past December.  If you click on this link, you can view his winning entry - Our LEGO Batman Adventure Part 1.  And in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that this is the work of the same person I refer to here as LEGODad - my multi-talented husband, Larry.

Check out the free trailers and if you like what you see, consider becoming a member.  For as little as $1 a month you will have access to exclusive content, tutorials, forums, and more.  And if you'd like to start making LEGO movies yourself, this is a great place to get how-to advice.

We'd love to have you check out the site and give us some feedback.  Meanwhile, it's back to preparing the next Building Challenge for us!

And on the 7th week...we rest?

We're taking a break from building challenges this week, largely because we've gotten a little busy with other things.  Don't worry, though!  We'll be posting some things during the week, and we'll be back with Building Challenge #7 next week.  If you haven't tried out our February building challenges yet, feel free to revisit them and post your creations!

Building Challenge #5

Building Challenge #6