Dollhouse Miniature Snow Flake Flag

 

Watch the video here.

Like always we are starting with a strip of plain white, 100% cotton fabric. I use bleached muslin for my flags, you should be able to find this fabric in any fabric store/department especially if they carry any fabrics geared to quilters. For our flag we need a strip that measures 1” by 3”.

The other item we will need to begin is some paper backed fusible web. This is basically a fabric glue that is heat activated and comes on a sheet of paper making it very easy to use. I prefer the Heat 'N Bond brand. There are other brands in stores and you can use whatever brand you can find. I do recommend you pick one that is designed to hold without sewing. Mine is labeled “Ultra-Hold” this way you won't need to worry about your flag coming apart later. You will need a 1” square of the paper-backed fusible web.

Follow the directions on your fusible web product to form your flag.

 

Once our flag is formed we get to start the fun part the decorating. This month I am painting the background of the flag with a light blue paint. I like this as a base to look like the sky. Give both sides of the flag a nice even coat of the paint and allow to dry.

 

Now I used a bit of the same light blue as well as a bright blue and a white paint and using a cotton ball as an applicator I pounced on just a bit of the colors to make the background more interesting. I also used a brush with the bright blue to make a narrow band at both the top and the bottom edges of the flag. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

Now we are going to paint our central snowflake design on the flag. I started by finding the center of the flag panel and putting a dot of white paint at t location. Next I placed 6 more dots kind of evenly spaced around the center dot to form the ends of the snowflake arms.

 

Then I drew some lines from the center dot to each of the 6 dots to form those arms (?) on our snowflake. I added some dots to these lines.

 

 

 

Since you will be painting your snowflake without having to keep it under camera it will be easier to get yours a lot more even than mine ended up.

Repeat the snowflake on the reverse side of the flag allow to dry and your flag is ready to display on your flag bracket on your dollhouse.

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 Snow Shovel

 

Watch the video here.

I am really excited about today’s project because I’ve been wanting to do it for so long. It just took me a while to figure out exactly how to get the shape the way I wanted it and have it not be too hard for you to replicate. There are a couple of things I’ve learned about snow shovels in the last few years. First off thy are almost comically large. And second they come in a wide range of colors so this should be a fun project to make.

 

 

This is another project that I have made a free pattern for you to use to make yours. You can find the pattern here.

 

 

In addition to the pieces of white card-stock cut from the pattern you will need some 20 gauge wire and a cocktail straw. Also some construction adhesive will be useful, more about that when we use it.

 

Glue the sets of the pieces together as shown in the video. You should end up with these pieces to work with. At this point it is a good idea to mark the centers on the pieces shown in the picture. This will make assembly a bit easier.

Now we can glue the shaped overlay (the funny shaped piece) onto the shovel back. Be sure to line up the bottom edge and center it as best as you can. This is a good time to give the back of the shovel a cure at the top using a pencil. Glue the strip reinforcement piece onto the top edge of the shovel at the same time. Allow the glue to dry.

 

 

 

This is a good time to start gluing the sides to the shovel. Be sure to glue the sides with the flatter side toward the back of the shovel.

 

 

Now we can glue one of the smaller rectangles over the inside of the shovel. First lay it in place and using something like a dotting tool push the card-stock in around the shape of the back of the shovel. You want to be able to see the ridges we have glued onto the shovel. Now glue the piece in place using the same tool to really work it into the those shapes.

 At this time you can also glue the top edge of the sides to the shovel back. I used a couple of drops of super glue to make this a bit easier. Set aside to dry.

Now we can work on the handle. First cut the cocktail straw to about 3” long. Next start forming the handle shape in the wire add the paper tube we made earlier and form the other side of the handle. Twist the wire ends together and cut to fit the straw. 

 

 

 

Now smear something like the construction adhesive I used over the twisted wire and slide it into the straw. You need something that will hold the wire stable in the plastic straw. Set aside to dry.

 

Painting time. I like to make the handle just a plain black that seems to be the color most of the real shovels have. But the shovel itself can pretty much be any color you want. I have seen a rainbow of colors of shovels around here. Of course they do come in just plain old boring black but why not make yours a fun color you love or that at least coordinates with your dollhouse. I decided to use a nice bright blue for mine. Be sure to paint at least the top half of the remaining small rectangle with the same color as the shovel you will need it soon and it will be a lot easier if you have that top edge painted.

 

Once the paint dries we can glue the handle to the back of the shovel back centered side to side and fairly close to the bottom. I used super glue to make it a little faster.

 

 

 

 

Once the handle is set use tacky glue to add that last piece to cover the back of the shovel. Let the glue dry and finish painting it.

 

 

 

 

Once the paint is dry give the entire shovel a coat of Satin Mod Podge and allow to dry before displaying near the door of you dollhouse.

 

 

 

A big thank you to Plaid for providing the paints, brushes and the Mod Podge used in this and many other tutorials.

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 Clam Chowder in a Bread Bowl

 

Watch the video here.

This is a project I have had in mind for a long time to do on the channel and now just seemed like the perfect time. Where I live the snow has been falling for a couple of days and is piling up. I always refer to this time of year as “soup season” so I figured it should be the same in the dollhouse. I love a good bowl of clam chowder in real life and in a bread bowl it can’t get any better. So why not make it mini too.

We will start with the bread bowl, for that we will need a small ball of the “bread mix” clay we have been using on out different mini bread projects. That is simply 4 parts white polymer clay mixed with 1 part Sahara by Fimo. This makes the perfect bread color.

 

For each bread bowl you only need a ball that is about 3/8” in diameter. Make as many as you feel you need for your dollhouse this winter season. Since it is a very small amount of clay and these are easy to make you might as well make a lot.

 

 

 

Now we need to add a baked bread texture to our bread bowls. To do this roll the ball of clay on a piece of aluminum foil that has been wadded up into a tight ball then flattened out. You want to have a lot of texture to the foil so just un-crump
le it, don’t smooth it too much. Then just roll the clay ball on the foil so it picks up some texture.

 

 

Now we need to make the bread look baked, by adding our normal 3 tomes of artist chalk- yellow ocher, rust, and brown.

 

 

 

 

First coat the entire outside of the clay ball with the yellow ocher color using an eye shadow brush.

 

 

 

 

 

Now repeat with the rust, using slightly less of the rust color.

Now finish off with just the tiniest touch of the brown if desired.

Now we need to firm up the clay by putting it in the freezer for 15 minutes. This will allow us to cut off the top of the bread bowl without distorting the shape. Once you take it out of the freezer work quickly (but carefully) to cut off the round top from each ball of clay. This will reveal the pale bread color interior with the baked crust.

Next use a small blade (I used my x-acto type knife) to take out some of the interior of the ball leaving a place to put the chowder.

Now use a piece of sandpaper to do a simple texture on the cut surfaces of the clay.

Once you are happy with the way your bread bowls look set them aside to bake and we can move onto the bits that will go into the chowder.

 

For our “bits” use mostly translucent clay, a small amount of white clay, a small amount of a light green clay (I used Fimo’s Apple Green) and a small amount of a pink beige (I used the one from Sculpey)/

 

First mix about 1 part white with about 3 parts translucent and divide this mixture into 3 parts. Set one aside. Mix one part with a tiny about of the green about (3:1) and the last part with the beige (again about 3:1)

Roll these colors out very thin and cut into tiny bits.

Bake all the clay items for 10 minutes at the temperature suggested for your clay and allow to cool to room temperature.

Now we will make the broth portion of the chowder. For this first mix a tiny bit of yellow ocher oil paint into a tiny amount of white oil paint. Just enough to warm up the white so it looks more creamy. Now use a very tiny amount of this color to mix into your liquid polymer clay.

Use a toothpick (or something similar to fill the bread bowls with the liquid clay mixture.

Now mix some of the bits of clay we made earlier into this mixture and add just a few peeking out of the chowder. You want it to look like the celery, potatoes, and clams that would be in the chowder. You can also add some drips of the liquid clay down the sides of the bread bowls to look like you overfilled them.

When you are happy with the look bake them a final time at the recommended temperature for another 10 minutes.

Once cooled they are ready to display in your favorite mini scene.

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 Blind Bags December 2022

 

Watch the video here.

Fist things first I get all my blind bags from eBay and they come from China. This batch was labeled as “cup models” and the set cost less than $3. I ordered on November 1, 2022 with an estimated arrival of between December 1 and January26. They actually arrived on November 25, so a bit faster than expected. I have a blog post complete with screen shots showing how I look for the blind bags on eBay which you can find here if you are interested.

Now let’s see what I got and then I will talk about how I feel about these items at the end of the blog. I did get Mrs Doll to show you how some of the items look when she holds them so you can see scale of them.

 

Bags 1 and 9 both had these cute cut glass style glasses. I am fairly certain we have gotten these before also so we are collecting a nice set for use in the dollhouse. (I do love repeats with this set of items)

 

 

 

Bag number 2 is this cute stemmed glass with a square bottom. I haven’t had time to look to see if we got this same one before or not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number 3 was another stemmed glass, a bit slimmer in shape this time. I do love getting the wine glasses in the blind bags.

 

 

 

 

Bag number 4 had a beautiful stemmed glass but unfortunately it arrived broken. These are pretty delicate so not surprising. Even broken it might find its way into a mini scene someday.

 

 

 

 

Number 5 a large white coffee mug. I was actually surprised that it doesn’t look as big in the doll’s hand as I thought it would.

 

 

 

 

Bags 6 and 8 both had these steins. I’m pretty sure we have gotten the same ones before and I am okay with that.

 

 

 

 

 

Number 7 another stein this time with a ridged detail on the outside of it. Again I think this gives us a few of these and I am happy for it.

 

 

 

 

Lastly the 10^th bag had this over size glass. To me this one looks way to big but I am going to be trying to figure out a way to use it anyway.

 

 

 

So final thoughts. I love the “cup model” blind bag sets. Overall the items can all be used in some way easily in the dollhouse. That is why I keep going back and ordering more of these. 

 

 

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 Snowman Teapot

 

Watch the video here.

This week we are starting a new addition to our monthly themed series. Last year about this time I made the first cookie jar and at that time I had debated between doing cookie jars or teapots. I decided at the time that cookie jars would be what I wanted to focus on for the year. Now we get to switch to the teapots. I am so excited to do these. I have tons of ideas to go with the different themes we have been working with.

A couple of things I want to cover before we start. Most months the teapot will not be a match to the cookie jar, it will coordinate and be the same general theme but not be an exact match. My plan is that these are parts of the same collection of many items that the doll house dolls have been collecting for many years. They are not going to be designed to be “matchy-matchy” as a set. That being said some months they might match just not all the time or probably even most times.

Also one of my favorite features of the cookie jars were that they could open up the teapots will not be able to open. They will have a “lid” as a permanent part of the piece.

Since this is the first in the series I am still working out how these will be made so especially with the first few I might try a few different ways of doing them. We can all learn together what is going to work the best.

Okay, now that that is out of the way let’s get to work and make a snowman teapot.

We only be using 3 colors of polymer clay to make this little guy. Along with some liquid clay, some basic colors of paints and a few types of Mod Podge. All of the paints, the Mod Podge, and the brushes were provided by Plaid to use in videos for you guys so a big thank you to them.

We are going to start with a ball of white clay that is a little under ½” in diameter. Then we are going to press it to become about ¼” tall by around ½” you need to be close but don’t stress if yours is a bit bigger or smaller. Teapots come in different sizes just be close to these sizes and you will be fine.

We are going to be baking our clay between each step, that will preserve our work and prevent us from messing up the shapes we are adding. So for this first part I want you to bake your teapot for 15 minutes at the temperature recommended for your brand of clay. Then let it cool completely to room temperature.

 

 

Once cooled we will add the hat of the snowman. On some of the real teapots I saw online this was the lid and on some only the very top was the lid. Regardless that is the next step. For the hat we need 3 small pieces of black clay- a ¼” ball, a snake that is ¼” in diameter cut about ¼” long, and a very tiny ball of clay.

First step, take that ¼” ball and with your finger flatten it to a thin disk to become the brim of the hat. Then add a tiny bit of liquid polymer clay to the top of the baked clay to act as a glue. Add the brim centering it on top of the teapot. Then add a small bit of liquid clay to the top of the brim and add the piece of the clay snake to act as the hat. Normally I don’t use the liquid clay when
adding raw clay to raw clay but since I don't want to ruin the shape of the hat the liquid clay will act as our insurance that the hat will stay together. Next make a tiny divot in the top of the hat with a dotting tool of something similar then add some more liquid clay to and the tiny ball of clay to act as the handle for the lid. Now bake the teapot again for 10 minutes and allow to cool again.

Now we need to clean our work area really well because we are going to be working with the white clay again. Clean all your tools, your work surface and your hands thoroughly because any little dot of black clay that is left is going to show in the white clay.

 

 

Next up is the spout of our teapot. For this you need a small snake of white clay. Cut one end flat then add a bit of liquid clay to the body of the teapot where you want your spout to start. Carefully smooth the not cut end of the snake into the teapot and shape the spout as desired. Use something small to make a hole into the end of the spout then bake again for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

 

 

Next get out your red clay and make a small snake. I used the textured area on one of my clay tools to texture this to look a bit like it was a knitted piece. Then add a small dot of liquid clay across from where the spout is attached. Add your handle at the top bend it around and bring it to the bottom of the teapot. Smooth the end at the bottom. You can make your handle round or more angled depending on the look you are going for. Bake again for another 10 minutes and cool.

Now using the same red clay make another snake and wrap it around the base of the teapot using some liquid clay as glue. Try to be as neat as possible but the red will probably smear a bit. We can cover up some of that in the next step. The read is supposed to look like the scarf of our snowman so give it some texture with the same tool as you did for the handle. Bake again for another 10 minutes (this is our last bake_

Once cooled we can use some paint that matches the teapot to touch up any areas where things aren’t the correct color. Maybe there’s a bit of liquid clay showing or maybe the red clay smeared. A thin coat of paint will cover up those little imperfections. Allow to dry.

 

 

Now for a bit of insurance seal the teapot with a thin coat of Mat Mod Podge. This way if you make any mistakes when painting the face you can “erase” them with a bit of water on a cotton swab. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

Now I do recommend painting one feature at a time since if you mess up any of them it will be hard to remove just the one that went wrong. Paint dries pretty quickly so it will only need about 10 or 15 minutes between and you should be fin. I used my pointy tool to paint the tiny bits of charcoal that form the smile.

 

 

A dotting tool for the carrot nose.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally a dotting tool for the eyes and cheeks.

 

 

 

 

 

Once dry give the entire teapot a thin coat of Satin Mod Podge and you are ready to add to your snowman collection.

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of both the teapot I made on the video and the one I made while taking the pictures for the blog post. I love both of them and they very definitely have different personalities.

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.