Dollhouse renovation part III: interior trim

I was able to sneak down to the basement for a little while yesterday while the sick-but-improving kiddo was sleeping, and did a little work on the dollhouse. The interior is mostly painted (the green and red rooms need another coat, but the blue and yellow are done). And I started mucking around with how to trim the windows - originally I was thinking to just paint, but I played a bit with some popsicle sticks and came up with this:


The popsicle sticks don't fit together perfectly because the kitchen shears I was using to cut them kind of warp the wood during cutting, but it's good enough. I have some wood filler I'm going to use to smooth things out, then I'll paint the trim to coordinate with the room (probably dark blue). I'll also trim around the door.

I found the best way to do this was first make a template of the window, then get everything cut out and fitted before gluing things down.

I also did the window of the yellow room. These don't actually take very long! I'm hoping today I can finish the interior painting and start getting the finished floors installed, since they'll need to be glued down and then weighted for a day or two so they stay down.

Custom order: Doll accessories

This is a custom set of doll accessories for an Etsy customer. Two identical sets, one in purple hearts, one in green apples.

Each contains a blanket, two wipes/burp cloths, a bib, and two diapers.


Doll diapers are really adorable, I have to say.


The complete sets! Lots of fun in store for a couple of little girls, I think! I got lucky today when both kids took naps at the same time so I was able to crank these out. Maybe that swine flu was good for something, normally my older daughter would never in a million years take a nap. I could have done with the endless worrying, though (her fever seems to have broken and she just demanded a bowl of chocolate pudding, so I think she's feeling better).

Trades #2: Dress up stuff and baby toys

The swine flu appears to have arrived at my house. Yay. So not much going on with my own projects! So far the only sick one is my older daughter, so I am crossing my fingers no one else gets sick!

I got an amazing package yesterday from a craft trade I was involved in. Really, really gorgeous stuff. First off, the crown above - it has elastic in it to stretch to fit.


Next up, this amazing dress up cape. I almost wish it was my size! I could really use a shimmery rainbow star cape for lecturing.

Well, maybe not.


Thirdly, fleece rainbow wizard hat. This set of three is for my older daughter. I know I have some shiny pink material downstairs somewhere, so I'm hoping to whip up a pink cape as well, probably with her first initial appliqued on the back superhero style, and the whole package will be one of her Christmas presents.


Next up, baby/toddler manipulative toys. This one is SO pretty - terry cloth on one side (great for chewing, and since the baby still only has two teeth, there's lots of teething yet to come!), black/white/colours on the inside, and the tags. This one will get a lot of use for peekaboo, I suspect. Given the baby's fondness for terrycloth, I suspect there's a good chance this may become an important comfort object for her.


This is SO cool. A sort of a brightly coloured make-up type bag filled with squares of brightly coloured fabric.


What's really fun is the squares are all attached end-to-end, so pull one out, and eventually out they all come! The baby is going to love this one. I'm saving these to put in her stocking.

Have I mentioned how much I love this craft trading stuff? I would never have thought to make any of these items, and now I have a bunch of awesome Christmas presents.

Dollhouse renovation part II: Painting and floors

I am nothing if not tenacious when I get my hands on a new and exciting craft project. And there's little to be done but just run with it until it's done or my creative energy runs out! Plus it's a good distraction from the possibility I will be going on strike next week.

Dollhouse has been cleaned, primed white, and the first coat put on the interior. I bought three bottles of acrylic paint from the dollar store to do the inside ($3). I'm hoping not to need more, but I'm not happy with the green colour (which is some leftover paint from our bedroom), so I may need to pick up another bottle. Plus the red is probably going to need another bottle to get full coverage.

I also spent $4 on a variety of paintbrushes to use in this project. Dollar store paintbrushes aren't going to win any quality awards, but they get the job done.

In addition to the painting, I starting working on the floors. The first step was to make a template of the floor in each room - fortunately this is a very well built dollhouse, and not only is each room actually truly square, they are all the exact same size. So I made one template by taping together some plain paper. Then I traced that template onto some poster board I had lying around and created four floor templates.



I got these jumbo popsicle sticks from the dollar store ($1 each bag, for a total of $2). I'm going to use them for a variety of things within the house, like trimming around the windows, doors, and so forth. I started, however, by creating a floor for one room.


Step one, cut off the rounded edges. This was easier than I thought, although it turns out after doing it 90 times you will get blisters. Which are less than fun.


Big pile of 'floorboards'.


Next up, glue the sticks onto the floor template. Why not glue them directly into the house? Because this way if the floor every needs to be changed for any reason it'll be easy to pull the whole thing out at once. Plus this way I can work on the floors while sitting on the couch in front of the TV, rather than stuck in the basement hunched over.


Floor. Uneven. I put some heavy books on it while the glue was still tacky which smoothed it out nicely. I also applied a coat of clear varnish (had the varnish in the paint closet), which smelled up the house pretty good, so note to self, do that in the garage from now on. The floor is ready to go into the designated room! In this case, the blue room, once it's painted.
.

I also did the kitchen floor by cutting up some peel and stick tiles I had stashed away - I used them in our basement a while ago and had about a half a box left, so I cut a couple of them into 3 by 3 square and stuck them to a floor template. Need to replace the one up there that isn't quite big enough for the space, but overall it looks pretty good. Very kitchen-y. The kitchen will be the yellow room.

I've started working on the other two floors, but neither is done. They are both different and will get their own post once they are done.

Total costs: $9 (paint, paintbrushes, popsicle sticks)

Doll house renovation part I: before

This Christmas, for various reasons, we are trying to spend as little as possible. And what we do get for the kids, I want to be high quality stuff that they will actually play with, as opposed to most toys which get played with once or twice and then tossed on the pile. We have, frankly, way too many toys already. I also want to do as much handmade as possible (hence all the trades I've been doing with people on Etsy!).

So when I stumbled on this dollhouse listed for sale on Kijiji, I couldn't snap it up fast enough! Not only does my older daughter LOVE dolls, with two daughters I suspect a doll house will get years of use. And when it's no longer useful as a dollhouse, it can be used as a bookcase. $20 (and a helpful trip from my inlaws with their van) later, and it's now sitting in my basement. Smuggling it in without my older daughter seeing it was a bit of a trick, but we got it done.

It's all wood, very simple design, with the hinged doors on the front that open to reveal the interior:



It's essentially a completely blank canvas, and I cannot wait to get started on 'renovating' it! I've removed the stickers and the wallpaper, and given the whole thing a wash with TSP. I need to hit it with a magic eraser to remove the remaining drawings so that painting over them won't be too difficult. Tonight I'm going to prime it white with some porch and floor white paint I have lying around (apparently I got rid of the bucket of primer that I'm sure I had at one point, dang). I'd like to spend as little as possible on this renovation, so will be trying to use mostly things I already have. After priming, I've got some semi-gloss white trim paint that will be the final white coat.

Then I have all kinds of thoughts on how to finish it off! I'm thinking each room will have a different colour theme, and I'll probably make curtains for the windows and figure out something interesting for flooring (I wonder if popsicle sticks could be hardwood floors?). For the exterior I'll probably paint frames around the windows and maybe shutters and flowers/vines/bushes around the bottom. And I need to get some sort of latch for the front to keep it closed when not it use; maybe just a hook and eye set.

I will post updates as I work on it, and a running tally of costs to help keep me motivated to keep expenses minimal.

The end...for now

I forgot to take my camera the day I started cleaning up my garden plot. It was a sight! I filled three and a half yard waste bags. But now it's ready for tilling and to settle down to sleep for the winter. And I have the winter to plan what to do with it next year!

Little Wooden People Set - Water Set

The water themed set of my little people! Next up, earth.



It's awfully pretty, if I do say so myself. Buy it here.

Diaper bag: Laurie

And she's done! I have to say, the pictures do not do this bag justice at all. I think it's my favourite bag I've ever made, actually.

The combination of fabrics on the flap is really just terrific - sometimes getting the proportions right on the stripes is a little tricky, and you never know if you've got it right or wrong until you actually finish sewing it together. I'm thinking I might make up a few things with these fabrics, since I have more of each. Maybe a couple of sets of placements to be Christmas presents. of course, that would mean finding enough time in the day to sew things like that!


Back view. I find this long zippered pocket really handy on my bag, for my wallet and important papers and that sort of thing.

And she'll be off to her new home soon! I hope she has a long and useful life.

Rain, rain, go away...

It is very frustrating to have an extremely productive evening, with all sorts of things nicely lined up to be photographed and listed in the store and/or blogged, and then have it rain, rain, rain. I take virtually all of my product and portfolio pictures outside because it's much easier to get nice pictures with natural light, but when it's raining, that's a big no go.

And since I have both kids home today, I can't experiment with my light box, either. That's just a recipe for disaster.

(I'm trying not to think too much about product photography in the winter - although the snow will probably reflect the light really well, I might actually get better pictures, even if it will mean freezing my ass off to take them)

Work in progress: BIG diaper bag continued

It's coming together. All that's left is making and then attaching the strap anchors, adding the lining, and then making the strap. I would have finished last night if I hadn't gotten distracted with working out the details on another project. This is going to be a really great bag, I think!