Miniature Stone Fireplace

This is a cute way to transform a cardboard box into an old-fashioned stone fireplace. I am not very good at taking pictures while I go but I think you will be able to figure out how I did this if you look at the back of the fireplace. I took one half of a small gift box and drew a square where the hearth would go. Using scissors and an exacto knife I removed it. Then I used brown paint to paint the outside of the box and enough of the inside so that the white would not show. I used two coats of brown acrylic paint.

Next I located tiny pebbles. An aquarium store would be good if you don't have a natural source. In our case, my children stole a bunch from the neighbor's driveway. (It was slated for repavement soon after.)  They are varigated in color and size so look very realistic, I believe.  We glued them onto the box using Tacky Glue. Initially I used Gorilla Glue but this was a mistake. It foams up when it dries. Tacky Glue holds the pebbles on perfectly well and does not show. I covered the entire front of the fireplace and the sides. On top I just lay a thin line of pebbles so that there would be a flat surface to hold knick knacks.

I made a candlestick out of half of a birthday candle glued onto a washer. I burned a bit of the candle down so that it would look more realistic. The vase is an old dollhouse vase I had when I was young with some sprigs of dried lavender.

  

Crafts for the Dollhouse Family- part 2

This is a continuation of Dollhouse Family Craft ideas, a follow up from

our previous post; Crafts For the Dollhouse Family

This time we offer some needlework for the dollhouse people

to work on.

Embroidered flower

Cotton embroidery thread on muslin.

Cross stitch clover

Cotton embroidery thread on linen.

I made these images on a 1 1/4" circle, then pressed the
form on my 1" Button Maker, model 100 (which I bought
years ago off of ebay).  If you do not have
a button maker, you can also make these by buying an aluminum button cover kit
 at the craft/fabric store, and pressing the fabric by hand.
I then glued the "button" onto a small circle of felt to
display on your dollhouse wall.

Gumball Dome Tiffany Lamp

If you've ever thought you might want to construct a ship out of toothpicks or engage in some other seriously tiny work this is a good starter project for you. It involves very tiny pieces and is a little tough but it is a lot smaller than a toothpick vessel and does not take very long to complete. You take a gumball dome and turn it into a stained-glass lampshade. There seem to be two sizes of gumball domes floating around out there. I got one that is tiny (1 inch diameter) and that seems to be just right for a dollhouse lamp. I would not recommend using one of the jumbo ones that hold giant gumballs as that would be way too big for your tiny house.

I cut tissue paper into very small pieces and glued it to the shade, leaving tiny spaces between pieces. I used regular tacky glue for this. I put the glue on a small section of lampshade and covered it with tissue scraps (a wet finger works well for picking them up.) After each small section I would take a break and do something else before continuing so that section could dry.

 When the shade was covered with tissue and dry, I filled in the spaces with a thick black Sharpie (permanent pen). For the base I glued a nail through a small button and then glued the whole thing onto a washer. There are lots of other bases you could make. You could use other found hardware items,or rig something up with pipe cleaner and bottle cap or whatever you can find laying around the house that looks elegant enough to sport a Tifffany lampshade. I used modeling clay to wedge the shade onto the nail head, dug out one of the adorable staff members from my childhood dollhouse for a formal touch, and the lamp is complete!

Friends With You - Cloudy

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A Proper Bed for a Princess

Making a "proper" bed for a true princess, can only mean one thing.

You will need one pea and lots and lots of mattresses.

We made our Princess and the Pea bed from popsicle sticks and fabric scraps.

(coffee stirrers, toothpicks and tongue depressors too.)

1. Build a simple base for the bed. Cut one popsicle stick in half,

so you have 2 equal pieces. Glue across the sticks.

2.Then add the full size sticks. We used 5 for ours.

3.Next, make your 4 bed posts by simply gluing 2 sticks together

for each post.

4. If you like, you can decorate them. We wanted them a little

"fancier" so we drew on the sticks once they dried, and colored

with marker.

5. Then get ready to attach the base to the posts. This is the trickiest part,

and requires the most patience.

6. We definitely suggest, using any props, or tricks to help hold the pieces

in place while the glue dries.  Tape, clothespins, old cell phones, empty tins.

Be creative, use what works!

7. Now you have a great start but it's a bit wobbly. So add braces in

the weak spots. We used cut up pieces of tongue depressor around the

base. Then coffee stirrers on the sides.

8. Dont' forget the pea! You must have one. (we used a shiny

pea-green bead.)

9. Next, pick through your fabric scraps, and find around 15 or so scraps.

Cut them roughly, 6 x 5", fold them horizontally, wrong sides out. Sew along 2

sides, creating a sort of mini pillowcase. 1/2" seem.

10. Turn them all inside out, and then use a very small amount of fluff

to stuff, you want them more flat than puffy. Little hands are a great help at this!

When finished, turn the inside edges in, and sew across the edge (roughly 1/4" seem) to close up the mattress.

You can handsew the closing for a more finished look.

11. Stack those mattresses up.

The kids noticed we needed a ladder too.

Made from coffee stirrers and toothpicks.

12.Find a potential princess, and test it out!

Goodnight, sleep tight!

***If you enjoyed this post and like tiny things, check our latest post

And you can make a cute and tiny scout sash. like this one.

Walnut Shell Flotilla

These boats may not go in a dollhouse but they are certainly miniature so I could not resist including them in this blog. I got the idea from the 70's Crafting classic Snips and Snails and Walnut Whales by Phylis Fiarota.
You take a walnut shell, make a sail for it, use a toothpick for a mast, and attach it with clay. If you have lots of walnut shells to choose from try to pick one that stands up pretty straight. A few of my boats have a listing problem and look like they are ready to topple at the first
storm they encounter.

I made a square sail for my pirate ship and triangles for my sailing ships. If you care to make historically accurate ships, the World Flag Database has all sorts of great information about flags. You can search by terms like "Navy" or by color or country of origin.

                                        

Using Dollhouses to interest girls in Science

There was good news in the New York Times home section this week about a start up company that is creating something called the Roominate. It is a dollhouse that girls can design and construct using stackable rooms. They can wire it for electricity, doorbell and fans using colored wires.  The creators are all women who met at Stanford. They decided that the toys children play with often determine their future interests and that they should try to make a product for girls that might point them towards math and science.
You can preorder the Roominate at their website.