Dollhouse Miniature Saint Patrick’s Day Gnome

 

Watch the video here.

For our Sunday tutorial this time I thought I would add another gnome to the dollhouse decor. This time in a Saint Patrick’s Day theme. I love these little guys so much both in mini and in real life decorating. Once again I have created a pattern that is free for youto download here. You will find both a PNG file to use with an electronic cutting machine and a PDF that can be used to hand cut the project. If you are using the PNG be sure to check the text file for the sizing of the file and any other hints I have included.

As I was looking online at the Saint Patrick’s Day gnomes I found about half of them were wearing a top hat so that is what I decided to go with also. I think he is so cute.

When you are painting yours you might want to make his beard a red color, I debated but decided to go with the white beard this time.

For this pattern I decided to include a piece to allow the gnome to stand up instead of having to lean against a wall. Let me know which you prefer for future projects. If I do include it in future projects I will be making a couple of changes to make it work a bit better. Of course you can leave it off entirely and just lean your gnome against a wall.

We will start like we do with most of these projects by cutting the pieces out of a medium weight white card-stock. Most of the pattern pieces are meant to be glued together in sets of 3. The exceptions being the main body and the stand piece, both of those have 4 pieces to make them a bit stronger. When gluing the beard be sure to watch the edges since that piece is not symmetrical. Also watch the hand pieces

and make sure you have them lined up. Note you should have two sets of the hand pieces and two sets of the feet/shoe pieces when you glue them. There are 6 individual pieces of each of those.

To glue use a thick glue and I suggest putting something flat on top of at least the bigger pieces to keep them from curling up as they dry.

Once dry add the triangle shaped stand to the back of the main body piece attaching with glue and being careful to line up the bottom edge so it will stand up straight. If you are off a bit you can trim as needed once the glue is dry.

Allow all the glue plenty of time to dry before going to the next step.

Once the pieces are dry lay them out to paint them. I like to put mine on a piece of masking tape on my work tile. I rub the tape against my jeans to de-stick it a bit and then use 2 small pieces of tape to tape it down to my work tile. Then I can place the pieces in groups according to the color I am going to paint them. The only piece I didn’t add to the tape this time was my main body piece with the stand since it would sit nicely on its own.

Now pick your colors and paint as desired. Here are the colors I used this time. Since I still don’t have a flesh colored paint (I really need to get out to the craft store soon) I mixed some from white, pale pink and pale yellow. Since I wanted the buckle on the hat band to be gold I first painted it with a very warm yellow for the first coat, then a coat of the gold will look much better.

Allow the paint to completely dry before starting the assembly of the gnome.

 

 

The first step is to attach the beard since everything else is placed around it. Try to line up the bottom tip of the beard at the bottom of the gnome and center it as much as possible side to side. Allow the glue to set up before moving on. Now is also the time to add the hat band and buckle to the hat so it will be ready to add to the gnome next.

 

 

 

 

 

Next add the hat to your gnome. It is designed to overlap the beard slightly and to lay at a slight angle from the beard to the top of the gnome back piece. Glue and allow the glue to set up.

 

 

 

 

 

Now add the shoes/feet to the bottom being careful to have the flat edge at the bottom edge of the gnome body. Add the nose just below the hat in the cut out area of the hat. And add the shamrock to the front of the gnome wherever you want it. Allow the glue to set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now just add the hands to each side of the shamrock so it looks like he is holding it in front of himself. All the glue to completely dry before moving forward. I like to let it dry at least a few hours, overnight is even better.

 

 

 

 

 

Now just a coat of Satin Mod Podge needs to be added.

 

 

Now he is ready to join the rest of our Saint Patrick’s Day decor items on the porch or anywhere in the dollhouse for the season.

Now he is ready to join the rest of our Saint Patrick’s Day decor items on the porch or anywhere in the dollhouse for the 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 Shamrock Wreath

 

Watch the video here.

Today we are making a fun little wreath covered in shamrocks for the dollhouse. It is kind of funny this was not the project I had planned to do today. I had something in mind and decided to do an image search to help me finalize my idea. That was when I ran across this cute little gem. It seemed like everywhere I looked a similar shamrock wreath showed up and I couldn’t resist, I had to make one for the dollhouse.

This is another project that I have created a free downloadable pattern for you to use. You can find the pattern here. You will be able to download both a PNG file to be used with an electronic cutting machine (be sure to consult the text file in the download for specific instructions on using the file) as well as a PDF for hand cutting of the pattern. All I ask is that you don’t pass the pattern or pattern pieces along directly but instead send others to the video/blog post so they can download their own copy.

 

Once again I am using just a plain medium weight white card stock to cut the pieces.

Once we have the pieces all cut out glue them into sets. This time the 4 large rings are one set, the 3 kettles are a set, and the 24 shamrocks are to be glued in pairs to make 12 finished shamrocks.

 

I like to use a thick tacky glue for this step because that is the glue I have the best luck with.

 

 

 

 

Once the glue dries all the way we can paint the pieces. I like to set up a painting area with masking tape sticky side up (I first press the tape to my clothing to take away a bit of the sticky) to hold all those small pieces.

 

I do recommend using 3 or 4 colors of green paint for the shamrocks to make the wreath more interesting to look at. I did make a switch from the paints I showed initially in the video. I had missed my better green color on my first look through my paint bin.

This time I am going to paint both sides of the pieces to make it easier to put the wreath together.

Once the paint dries it is time to assemble the wreath. Try to place the shamrocks with the colors spaced out on the wreath and be sure to leave a space at the bottom of the wreath for the pot of gold to be placed. I didn’t notice until I was editing the video that I had lost a couple of my shamrocks before I glued them onto the wreath (oops) I was wondering why I didn’t have the even spread of color…..

 

 

While the shamrocks are drying we can add a bit of gold to our pot of gold, for this just a touch of glue and a sprinkle of gold glitter will do the trick.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the glue dries shake off the excess glitter and glue the pot of gold in place at the bottom of the wreath and allow the glue to completely dry.

 

 

 

 

 

To finish the wreath add a coat of Mat Mod Podge to both the back and front of the wreath being sure to dry completely between.

 

 

 

As a fun finishing touch I added a simple bow tied from two colors of embroidery floss (a green and a white) 3 strands of each. Make the bow as small as you can and then attach to the wreath with a drop or two of tacky glue. I also added a couple of drops of Mod Podge to the top of the bow at the knot to make sure it stayed just the way I wanted it.

 

 

Once dry you can trim he long ends on the bow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now your wreath is ready to display either inside or outside your dollhouse for Saint Patrick’s Day.

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 Saint Patrick’s Day Cake

 

Watch the video here.

I could have titled this tutorial “the tutorial that almost didn’t happen” because the first day I tried to film this I had a really bad clay day. It happens to all of us so it you have a day when things just aren’t turning out don’t be too hard on yourself. For a little insight I have been struggling with my depression for a couple of weeks and it makes it hard to concentrate even on things I love. So if you are in the same boat know that I am here for you and I understand. Now on to the project.

I found the inspiration pic for this cake a couple of weeks ago. Actually it is a combo of a several cakes I found online. The one this is closest to had some very intricate piping on the top which I felt would not translate well to mini. Also I love the more simple look that I got in the final cake design.

 

 

To begin our cake we need to make the base or core of the display cake. For this I am using some Original Sculpey. I rolled out a sheet of clay using my double craft-sticks and cut 3 rounds using my ¾” round cutter.

 

 

 

These were then stacked carefully to make a nice straight tall cake. This was baked for 25 minutes to make sure it was cured all the way to the middle. This is the only really long bake for the project the rest will be only the normal 10 minutes. For the core since it will not be seen you could use any clay, if I wasn’t doing a video for you I would probably use some scrap clay but I am always afraid that will be distracting on the video.

Once baked and cooled to room temperature it is time to decorate the cake.

I haven’t had an excess to do a Skinner Blend in a long time and it was a lot of fun to do it for this project. Although in all honesty I think I would call this a “modified Skinner Blend” since I offset the ends a lot to keep more of the original colors at each edge and I didn’t take it as far as normal.

I wanted to use a green and white for the blend so I picked Sculpey III in Emerald Green and white. These were rolled into sheets using my set of single craft sticks as a thickness guide. Cut the two colors in identical rectangles. Then split the rectangles diagonally to form the pieces we will use for the blend.

Put the two cut pieces of clay side by side and smooth them where they meet to make them stick together on the seam.

Start rolling and folding as shown in the video. Being careful to always fold the same way to preserve the blend that is forming. I have a tutorial on the Skinner Blend that can be found here if you are not familiar with the technique.

 

 

 

Here are a couple of pictures of the blend as it progressed. This first picture was taken just after I turned the video camera off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one part way through.

 

 

 

 

 

And this final one when I decided I had the blend to point I wanted it for this project.

 

I was very careful to keep compressing the width of the blend every time I folded to that the final piece was still the shape I needed it to be. If I had just let it go it would have become a square and I wouldn’t have had the colors I wanted in the area I needed them to be.

Cut one green edge straight. Apply some liquid clay to the cake base and lining up the bottom of the cake with the straight edge cover the lace with the blend. Trim and neaten up as needed.

Now bake this to set the sides of the cake. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool to room temperature.

 

Now we can cover the top of the cake. Since the top edge of the clay on the cake sides had a bit of green I mixed the bit I had trimmed when I covered the sides of the cake with some more of the white clay. This gave me a slight tint to the clay so it would look like it belonged on the top of the cake. If I had used plain white the color difference would have been obvious. Roll this tinted clay out using the single craft sticks as a thickness guide and cut it with the same ¾” round cutter we used earlier. This will result in a top that is smaller than the finished cake.

 

 

Coat the top of the cake with some more liquid clay and add the round you just cut. Use your thumb to work the clay and blend it into the baked sides of the cake. Take your time and get it just the way you want it. Then bake for 10 minutes at recommended temperature and allow to cool.

 

 

Now you have a cake ready for the dolls to enjoy in March for Saint Patrick’s Day.

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 February 2023 Blind Bags

Watch the video here.

I have another batch of blind bags, I hope you are all still enjoying them. This time I got some that were labeled as “simulation mini food bottles” with hopes that I would be able to stock the kitchen in the dollhouse. I ordered these on November 28^th with expected delivery between December 29^th and February 27^th. They actually arrived ahead of schedule on December 27^th.I paid just under $3 for the set. This was the most expensive of all the sets of blind bags I have purchased so far.

Let’s get looking at what I got and my thoughts on the items.

1- I do love the look of this tall carafe, I assume it would contain something like a brandy of whiskey. I did look up the name on the label and they seem to the parent company that owns several brands of hard alcohol worldwide. As for the bottle I love the shape and the color. I am planning to remove the label and I will probably leave the bottle with no label. I can see this staged on a table on tray with a couple of the glasses that have come in other blind bags.

 

 

 

 

 

2- I did a search for the label on this one and found it is similar to the labels on Hennessy Cognac although I didn’t see this shape bottle with this label online.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3- from the shape this one looks to me to be a bottle of juice of some kind. The label has a cute puppy on it if that means anything to any of you.. I can see this one in the fridge or on the counter in the dollhouse.

 

 

 

 

 

4-this one makes me sad because the bottle shape is so cool but the top is missing. I can feel where it is broken but the piece is no where to be found. A quick google search tells me this is probably another cognac.

 

 

 

 

5- this one reminds me of the bottles that vermouth come in, I am not sure what the label says it is though. Switching out the label would be a simple task or it could just be displayed as is easily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

6-the label tells me this is Tsingtao which is a Chinese beer. I knew that label looked familiar when I opened the blind bag. I have actually had this one a long time ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

7- the gorgeous Bacardi bottle! OMG I love this bottle. I can’t get the camera to pick up how pretty this one is. There is some pink glitter embedded in the plastic of the bottle. Now a lot, just enough to catch the light and it looks so cool. Not sure if I will keep the label or remove it so the bottle shows better.

 

 

 

 

 

8-this one has the same Hennessy label as #2 but the bottle is a different color. Again it will look so cool in a scene.

 

 

 

 

 

9-okay, this one confuses me, I assume that it was in the wrong bin in the factory. But the pot of cactus will look great once it is re-painted. I will try to do a tutorial on it later in the year when we move back to our cactus theme month.

 

 

 

 

 

 

10- this bottle has a label telling me it is a beer from Thailand. Again a great addition to the dollhouse.

 

 

 

Okay, lets talk about what I think about these items. Overall I am thrilled with them I am a bit disappointed that the one was broken. I would love to see that bottle in its entirety. And the cactus just confuses me. LOL

I am also really happy that there weren’t really any direct repeats. There are some pairs of bottle s but the either the label or the bottle color or both are different on each one.

I can’t wait to use these in some scenes in and around the dollhouse. It does look like I need to figure out a bar to go in the dollhouse though.

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.