Dollhouse Miniature Valentine's Day Lollipops

Watch the video here.

This week I decided to show you how to make some Valentine's Day lollipops. I had been shopping a couple of weeks ago just a some life size ones were being put out on the display. I thought they were very pretty and filed the idea away for later.

This last week I admit I have been having problems coming up with ideas of what to make for the tutorial and in the middle of the night I remembered these so here they are.

I worked out the process in my head but I hadn't actually tried them when I turned on the camera to film. I was fairly certain they would work but not entirely. So yes you are getting a first look at the project.

I am happy with them and they really aren't hard to do, they just take some patience.

I used Fimo pearl and Premo translucent for the white part. I like the mix of the pearl and translucent to recreate the white hard candy. For the red part it was Fimo cherry red and the same translucent but in a mix of 2 parts red to 1 part translucent.

The only trick is to just take you time work carefully so you don't distort the heart in the middle of the cane.

Here is one more photo of some of the neighbor hood kids enjoying our sweet treats.

Dollhouse Miniature Bathroom Scale

Watch the video here.

This week I was talking to my daughter on the phone and I commented that I had not been able to come up with an idea for the tutorial for this channel. Her suggestion was to make a bathroom scale since so many people make the resolution every year to loose weight. So if the dolls in your dollhouse are on a mission to loose some of those extra holiday pounds you can make them this simple scale to help them keep track of their success.

I wanted to keep this project easy to do without a bunch of tools so I tried to stick to just the basics.

The base of the scale is made of paperboard, otherwise known as a cracker box. I have been using this stuff for decades, since long before recycling was the thing. It is just so nice to be able to use it instead of taking up space in the trash can.

We only need 3 layers of the paperboard, cut to the size and shape of your finished scale. I made a really simple almost square shaped one but if you take a quick look online at all the wonderful real life scales that are out there for sale you can use these same directions to make any shape you desire. I just wanted to make the one for the video really simple.

Glue and clamp your layers together with whatever your favorite glue is. I like the Tombo Multi glue but Tacky glue (or whatever you have) will work just as well.

Allow the glue to dry and then paint the scale to color you desire. Let your imagination be your guide and have fun with this step. I used white for the video because I am not sure which dollhouse I am going to put this into and white will go in any of them.

I love the little trick I picked up from the CHA video I watched the other day featuring Tim Holtz, wrapping the paint brush in the wet wipe is going to save me so much time. With our minis I am sure you know we only use tiny thin coats of paint and so many times that means having to use a bunch of brushes because the washed brushes never dry as fast as the paint and a wet brush is no good to paint with. I am sure you are going to see me doing this a lot in future videos.

After the paint dries you can add the part you stand on, whatever they call that. I used black card stock for mine because my real scale has this part black. Again use whatever color you want. For my scale I used a strip ¾” wide and just long enough to fit the top. I used a ½” hole punch to add a curve so the bubble part over the dial had a place to go.

For that bubble part I used the top bubble part of a “googly eye” the ones I got the 7mm size. Just be really careful taking the backing off. I don't want anyone to hurt themselves on this step.

I used a pencil to make the pointer part of the dial but you could print out the entire dial (or draw it) for behind the bubble.

Use a clear drying glue to attach the bubble part and you are done.

There now the dolls in the dollhouse can keep track of their weight loss/gain a little easier. 

Dollhouse Miniature Dog Food & Treats

Watch the video here.

This last week was really busy for me so I didn't have time to prepare a video. Rather than skip the week I decided to take advantage of another of the kits that Ann from Paper Minis sent to me.

A couple of you requested seeing how to make the pet food kit so I worked on that one this week. I only had time to make a couple of things but I did make one of each of the types. So if you follow the same steps I used you can easily make all the items in the kit.

First here is the link to Ann's site, be sure to take a few minutes to look around at all the different kits she has for sale. They are wonderful kits and so easy to put together. I just can't say enough about them. They really do help to set the scene in any miniature scene.

This kit makes cans of pet food, boxes of pet treats and bags/pouches of pet treats. Just follow my steps to make any of the items in the kit.

If you have any questions be sure to ask.

And if you do purchase from Ann be sure to let her know you saw me make the kits. 

Dollhouse Miniature Book Kit

Watch the video here.

Before I go any further I want to send another big thank you to Ann for the gift of this and the other wonderful kits she sent me. I love all them so much and can't wait to make them all.

You can find Ann's site here.

Now onto today's project. This book kit makes up a wonderful illustrated book that has fold out pages to amaze the children in your dollhouse.

Like all book kits the key (and I can't emphasize this enough) is to work carefully and slowly. This is not the project to start if you are rushed. Books are not difficult at all but do take precision and time.

As with all kits look at all the pieces that come in the package first and make sure you know exactly what everything is. Next read all the instructions and think about each step. On book kits I like to do a kind of “dress rehearsal” in my head of the steps so I can visualize each and every step. The more thinking you do at the beginning the smoother the project will go.

I like to score all the marked fold lines before I cut anything. That way it is easier to hold the pages still and you still have the small marking that are on the pages next to the cut lines.

Once scored cut out the strips of pages making sure to note the gluing tabs at the ends of two of the three strips. The next step and this one is very important is to pre-fold on all those score lines. This will help you to understand which way everything goes and you can make sure that your score lines are straight. Take your time and make sure each of these strips folds to a nice, neat straight stack. It should be starting to look a bit like a book.

At this point glue those separate strips together to form one long strip of pages using those little tabs at the ends of two of the strips. Allow to dry.

Now using a piece of scrap paper to protect your work surface use a glue stick to glue the page backs together. Make sure that the end papers are left free. At this point I like to insert some small pieces of wax paper between the pages so that they don't stick where I don't want them to.

Now clamp the pages again making sure that everything is lined up properly.

Run a bead of glue along the side of the pages that will be glued to the spine of the cover allow this all to dry.

Meanwhile you can make your “hard cover” for your book. Simply score the fold lines on the cover test fit the interfacing and glue in place. Again I like to clamp to make sure it makes a good tight bond. Try to get your corners a bit neater than I did on the video.

Once all to this is dry go ahead and glue the cover to the book along the spine and the the end pages.

Be very careful that you are gluing the cover on the book right side up. It only takes once of not making sure this step is correct to make you triple check it in the future. I do like to clamp the book and then allow it to completely dry.

Now your book is finished.

I chose not to make the book sleeve this time but it is included in the kit. I just have no use for it in my scene so I will save it for another use.