Even the best nature'd of babies are
allowed to get cranky
when things have gone on long enough!
The extended *ahem* brick laying work is now completed - finally! Finished laying/gluing the last brick yesterday and celebrated with a glass of wine.
After everything dried, I took an old broken dental instrument & carved in some lines into the bricks for added definition. Then dabbed four different colours of paint on the egg cartons to give them a bit of depth and hopefully a bit of realism.
The egg carton bricks on their own look a lot better than just plain ol' wood but my friend Casey, who I learned this technique from, takes her work to a different level by adding depth with colour so I had to follow her example and give it a try.
I took the colours I've already used & will be using and watered them down. Using cheap, stiff brushes, I started with the tan colour that was used on the porch and dabbed it on all the bricks. Next I watered down the deep purplish grey colour even more and did a wash over various areas, especially the corners and lower areas where dirt would build up. The light grey that was used on the siding was then taken and dry brushed over outer most surfaces which helped give depth. The seafoam blue which will be the front door colour was also watered down a lot and just let to seep into the odd spot. 
After the paint dried I sprayed the bricks down with a matte finish sealer by Folk Art. That will protect the colours already there and give the surface a little bit more of a sturdier surface. It will also allow me to add dirty "water" washes down the road as required.
The exciting part of all this was that the next stage is on it's way - the second floor is now attached and awaiting walls! 
One last word of advice - spraying sealers should actually be done in a well ventilated area....not in a downstairs studio in the middle of a winters day......at least it was only -6° today so having all the doors & windows open wasn't too bad....
