Dollhouse Miniature Blind Bags March 2022

 

Watch the video here.

Every time I post a blind bag opening video I get a ton of questions about how to find these little treasures so today I am going to go into some detail on how I find them.

So far I have purchased all the blind bags I have shown on the channel from eBay. I have heard they are also available on Alliexpress but I don't shop over there so I can't say for sure.

When I open up the eBay screen I go to the top of the page and in the search bar I type – dollhouse miniature blind bags the last time I also added 10 to the end of this to limit the selection to only groups of 10 bags.

Then I hit enter and let the search process complete.

Once I have first page of choices up on my screen I go to the top of the page and look for the box that says “best match” and click to bring down the menu.

Now since I am looking for the best deal I click on the line that says “price+shipping lowest first”

Then it is just a matter of scrolling down and finding the auction that catches my eye.

No let's look at what I got in those10 bags.

Bag number 1- this one is a little glass that has details pressed into it to resemble cut glass. This is going to look great in the dollhouse and I would love to get an entire set of these.

Bag number 2- this one held a green mug that appears to be closer to Barbie size than dollhouse scale. I think though that it will make a really cute planter, I know I have seen real planters in the shape of cups/mugs and I always think they are really cute. I think we will plant something in this in a future video, I might also paint it to go better in the current dollhouse too.

Bag number 3- this one looks to me to be a rather typical beer mug/stein like would be made of glass in real life. I know this one will be useful in the dollhouse.

Bag number 4- a bit oversized but I think it is not too far off, this champagne flute can certainly find a home in the dollhouse. It does however have a bit of a tilt and doesn't stand up straight so it will either need to be fastened in place or I will need to figure out a way to straighten it a bit.

Bag numbers 5, 6 and 8- I am going to put these all together here since they are pretty much identical. Here we have 3 wine glasses, I would call them red wine glasses because of the shape and they are another one I would love to have a set of in the future.

Bag number 7- is another wine glass, this time more in the shape of a white wine glass, I wish there had been at least one more of this one in the batch.

Bag number 9- this glass is way too big for this scale but I am sure I will think of something to use it for. It is cute and a bit smaller would have been so good

Bag number 10- this bag produced another beer mug/stein this time a bit bigger and more plain in design.

So what do I think about all of the pieces I got this time. I am very happy, only 2 of the 10 were out of scale and I know at least one of those will be have a place anyway.

Once of the reasons I choose this batch of bags was I was hoping to have a few repeats so I could start building a collection of glass ware for the dollhouse kitchen. I think I got a decent start on that collection and I just might have to order a couple more of this set to see what I can get to add to it.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Bunny Butt Decoration

 

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So this wasn't what I had planned to do for today's tutorial, I had something completely different in mind. Then as I was looking at something else online I came across a picture of one of the cute bunny butt decorations and I knew I had to add one to the front porch of the dollhouse. Since it is my goal to have all the Easter projects finished by the end of March I decided to switch gears and do this one really quickly today. These little guys are just so darn cute I couldn't resist.

While have made these several years ago it has been a long time so I did have to remember what I used to do. Then I had to dig for materials. Ideally I would have had a slightly smaller pompom for the body and tiny white one for the tail. However my huge bag of pompoms did not contain exactly what I needed. So I used what I have on hand.

First let's talk about the container to put our bunny into. I usually use a plant pot but I also didn't have one of those. I did have some wooden buckets that were about the correct size. You want something that is about 1” tall and ¾” in diameter.

I decided to use this pretty blue to paint my bucket with so it would coordinate with the other Easter decor we have made this year. This paint as well as all the other paints and brushes used today were provided by Plaid for use in making tutorials for you.

I then used my favorite silver paint to paint the straps on the bucket.

Once dry I tackled the bunny.

For the body a ½” to ¾” pompom would be ideal. I had that size in lots of bright colors but not a single white one in the bag. (I have gallon size zip-lock storage bag stuffed full of pompoms so you would think I would have whatever color/size I needed....) I did have a lot of 1” white ones so I made that work today. For the tail you need a tiny pompom (about ¼” in size) again I had lots of colors of them in that size but not a single white one. I decided to try painting one and it worked just fine. It is no longer fluffy and a white pompom would have definitely been better but this works just fine.the paint takes a long time to dry though so be prepared for that.

Since my larger pompom was too big to really fit into the top of my bucket I dug out some tiny rubber bands and wrapped one around one half of the larger pompom. This compressed that half enough that I could shove it into the bucket and get it glued in place. The rubber band won't show when you get it in place so it is fine.

Once the body is glued in place add the tail (make sure the paint is dry if you had to paint yours like I did)

I did let this glue set up a bit before I went to the next step since I didn't want to knock off the tail or accidentally pull the bunny out of the bucket.

The only thing left at this point was to add some back paws. I just used a standard hole punch to make two little paper rounds, I used some 140 weight water color paper but any heavy paper or poser board would work.

Glue the paws in place then using the handles of a couple of paint brushes add the little paw pads to the bottom of the paws using some pink paint.

And he is ready to join his bunny friends on the front porch of the dollhouse for the Easter season.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Easter Cookie Jar

 

Watch the video here.

I wanted to add an Easter Cookie Jar to our growing collection of mini cookie jars. I will be the first to admit it is not up to what I had hoped for, I am going to just say I am still not feeling well and hopefully you all will see what it can be.

Like all of our cookie jars I am starting with a strip of heavy white card-stock that measures ¾” by 4. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is wrapped around a permanent marker and glued to form our base, the glue from this step does need to dry completely before you go on to the next step.

Once the glue is dry we can start to build up the shape of our cookie jar. I was aiming for an egg shape, not completely happy with the final shape but it will do.

I used TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) as a glue to add the raw clay to the paper base. I used some white clay, in this case Original Sculpey, to build up my shape over a couple of steps baking in between steps. I also created a small disc of clay that will be the base of the lid for the cookie jar.

 

 

Once I had the basic shape I added a layer of a pale purple clay to my cookie jar for the final color and shape. I mixed this particular purple by combining some of my white clay with some purple I had in my stash.

Once I was happy I set the cookie jar base on my baking surface and created the little pieces that I will need to make the face of the the cookie jar lid, a beak (2 pieces) and a few feathers for the top of the chick's head. These were baked and set aside to cool.

 

 

Next I took some pale yellow clay and formed the head/lid of the cookie jar. It is a basic half ball shape that is the same diameter as the finished cookie jar. I added the beak and the top feathers using some TLS and baked for 20 minutes.

Once cooled (I stuck mine in the freezer to speed the process) I added the disc of clay to the bottom of the lid with more TLS and baked for another 10 minutes.

Once cooled I added some details with craft paint (eyes and dots) and allowed to dry.

To finish off our cookie jar just give it a light coat of gloss Mod Podge and allow to dry. Be sure to make this a very thin coat.

Once again I want to thank Plaid for providing the paint, brushes and Mod Podge I used.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Table Cloth

 

Watch the video here.

I have something a bit different for a Saturday tutorial today, I thought we could tackle making a table cloth that drapes like a real table cloth. This is a really fun and easy project and I love the results. I have had this tutorial in mind for a very long time but never got around to it. Since I have been a bit under the weather the last couple of weeks I decided this was the perfect time since it is a really easy project.

I know a lot of us have made miniature table cloths in past using something like starch to get the correct drape. I usually have very mixed results with that method. Also in the past I have had issues with some fabric starches turning yellow over time. Or leaving a residue on the top of my tables. Now with the table I use in the demo that wouldn't be terrible but if you have a more valuable table you might want to not take the chance.

Also this method of making a table cloth is meant to be able to be changed out and stored so perfect if you want to add some holiday table decor to your dollhouse (note slight hint of possible future planning....)

For the demo I am just using some plain white fabric but you can certainly use any color or design you wish. I think these would be absolutely adorable in tiny holiday prints. After the holiday just remove the table cloth from the table, flatten it out and store it with all the other holiday items.

I do recommend using a 100% cotton fabric if at all possible, that will work much better since we need to use an iron to put this together.

Other than your fabric of choice you will need a piece of aluminum foil and some paper-backed fusible web, I prefer Heat 'N Bond Ultrahold for this. You can pick whatever brand you wish but do try to use a permanent, ultra bond, one that is meant to hold and not need to be sewn. If you are not familiar with this product it is basically heat activated glue that is joined to a paper backing. Your use the heat from an iron to transfer that glue to your fabric and to glue/bond your two pieces to become one. This stuff can be purchased in packages (like the one I have) or by the yard in a fabric store.

The first step is to decide how big you want your table cloth to be. I looked up the proper sizing of table cloths online and found that most places recommend a drop of 6” to 12” on each side for real life tables. This translates to ½” to 1” in our mini world. This is for standard dining tables, if you want to go very formal you can choose to have the table cloth all the way to the floor if you wish. I like the 1” drop on the table I used in the demo, I tried one with ¾” drop and it just looked a bit too short. I think on a smaller table it would have been fine though.

So since my table top measures 3 ½” by 6” I need to add 2” to each of those dimensions to get an inch on each side. So my finished table cloth needs to be 5 ½” by 8”, the same rules would apply to round or oval tables also.

The first step is to draw the finished table cloth size on the paper side of the Heat 'N Bond, then cut that with a bit of extra all the way around. This way we will have the fusible glue all the way to the edge of the table cloth and it won't need to be hemmed.

Following the directions on your package/piece of fusible web use your iron to apply it to the back of your table cloth fabric. Usually this first step is a very quick iron, then I like to allow it to cool before trimming on the drawn line.

Next carefully remove the backing paper starting in a corner is usually easiest. This will leave a shiny layer of glue on the backside of your fabric.

Now it is time to use the iron again to bond the fabric to the aluminum foil, this is usually a longer press with the iron and I like to do a quick press on the back side also. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then allow to cool completely before you try to trim to size.

Now all that is left is to fold the edges up, I like to do this using one of my quilting rulers then place on the table and form the corners.

 

 

 And here you can see what the same table looks like with the ¾” drop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Easter Bunny Garden Flag

 

Watch the video here.

In preparation for Easter I knew we needed a new flag to go on our flag bracket and I decided to stick with the same style of Easter Bunny that I have been using on the other items for porch decor. I do love how he turned out.

So to start we are again using a piece of bleached muslin fabric that measures 1” by 3”. One thing I don't think I mentioned last month when we made the St, Patrick's Day flag was to make sure your flag piece is cut on grain of the fabric. This fabric is a woven fabric so you want to make sure you are cutting the piece of fabric straight with that weave. The easiest way to find the “straight of grain” is to first make a small snip at the edge of the fabric and tear the fabric the entire width. Because it is woven it should tear straight. Then use a ruler and rotary cutter to cut a neat edge that is parallel to the torn edge. Let me know it you would like me to demonstrate this in a video in the future.

Once your have your flag blank cut it is time to decorate it. I wanted a bunny at the bottom corner, similar to the one on the doormat with a “sky” area behind him. This month I am using craft paints instead of fabric paint since I had the colors I wanted. I started with 2 blues and a bit of white and using a stencil brush I make a sky area. I tried to stay away from the corners I wanted to place my bunny in.

Once the paint dried I used my fine tip black paint pen to draw the outline and facial features of our very simple bunny.

Since I had quite a bit of blue paint inside of the ears I decided to use some white paint to cover that up a bit. It would have been fine left as is also.

Once the paint was completely dry I used a 1” by 1” square of Heat 'N Bond Ultrahold to glue the flag into shape. I gave detailed instructions last month on how to do that so here is a link to that blog post if you need those instructions.

After you have bonded the flag all you need to do is trim any loose threads and your flag is ready to display on the dollhouse front porch.

And a huge thank you to Plaid for the paints they provided to help me make better videos for all of you.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Dollhouse Miniature Sliced Jellyroll

 

Watch the video here.

This week for our Saturday tutorial I decided to make some jellyroll slices. I think they turned out really cute and they can be plated up for so many scenes in your mini displays.

To start we need just a few colors of clay. For the cake layer I am using about equal parts white and beige with just a tiny bit of yellow added. All you need to do is make that white not so white and more of a creamy cake color.

Next add some sand to add some built in texture to the cake layer. You could skip this step but then you would need to do a bit more texturing later. Here is what you want the clay/sand mixture to look like.

Now for the jelly filling, this is made with just two colors some translucent and a bit of any red. Keep in mind the color of the unbaked mixture will be a lighter in color than will be after baking. If you are in doubt if you have enough red in your mix go ahead and bake a tiny bit to do a color check.

Once the clay colors are mixed roll each out into a slab to use as the cake and jelly filling.

I used a set of double thick craft-sticks to roll the cake layer.

And a pair of craft-sticks to roll the jelly layer.

You want the layer of cake to be about twice as thick as the jelly layer.

Now put the jelly layer on top of the cake layer and press together a bit. Trim both layers to be a nice rectangle and then roll them together to thin them out just a bit. I used my double set of craft-sticks for this.

Now roll up into a jellyroll shape and reduce the diameter to about 3/8”.

Now would be a good time to add some chalk to give the cake a good baked look (I forgot until I pulled mine out of the freezer)

Now freeze your jellyroll for about 20 minutes to firm it up a bit. This will make cutting it so much easier.

Slice as desired, I cut all of mine into slices.

Texture the cut side of each slice and bake for 10 minutes at the temperature stated on your clay package.

That is all there is to this project, the slices are ready to plate however you wish.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.