Dollhouse Miniature Easter Gnome

 

Watch the video here.

For today’s tutorial I have another project that I have designed a pattern for yo to use. You can find the pattern by following this link. You will find both PDF version if you want to hand cut the project and a PNG that can be used with an electronic cutting machine. (like the Cricut) Be sure to check the text file for sizing directions and a few hints to make cutting the file on your machine easier.

The pattern like most of the ones I have made for you is designed to be cut from a medium weight card-stock and then the layers glued together and painted to the colors you choose for you display.

I totally forgot to take any pictures of the pattern pieces before I glued them together this time. You can see what pieces I had in the video though. I do apologize if I miss any steps in this blog post, I have been suffering with a migraine for a couple of days but I need to finish this post if I am going to get it uploaded. So if I do forget things just ask me and I will fill in any blanks. I'm doing my best this week.

 

 

In the set of cut pieces you will find a couple of small pieces that are meant to be single layer that act as the lining area of the bunny ears. I found that a single layer looked much better for this part so set those aside when you are gluing the sets together.

 

 I have been placing the glued sets of pieces under a flat object (my small ruler) and then putting some weight on top of that to help keep the pieces flat while they dry. They take a bit longer for the glue to dry that way but I haven’t had any problems with warping that way.

Once the glue dries I like to place my pieces onto a strip of masking tape to paint. To prep the masking tape I like to stick it to my jeans a couple of times to make it a bit less sticky then tape it down so the sticky part is facing up. I then place my project pieces on the tape lightly (I like to keep part of each of the more delicate pieces hanging off the tape to make it easier to remove them) I also group the pieces by the color of paint I am going to use.

 

 

Paint your pieces in the colors you chose for your project. 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the colors I used (minus the white) for my gnome this time.

The first piece to glue is to place the beard on the gnome, center it side to side and have the tip just lined up at the bottom of the body piece. I also glued the carrot part of the carrot on to the carrot base at this time.This is also the prefect time to glue the single layer liner pieces to the bunny ears.

Allow this glue to set up enough that the pieces won’t move around on you when you add the next pieces.

 

 

For the second round of gluing we are adding the shoes/feet to each side of the beard and the hat. Again allow the glue to dry enough to hold everything in place before moving on to the next step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once set we can add the nose, the bunny ears and the carrot to our gnome and again allow the glue to set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we add the brim to the hat and the hands holding the carrot.

 

 

 

 Lastly add the stand to the back of the gnome if you are going to use it.

The glue now needs to completely cure before moving on to the next step.

 

 

 

Once the glue is cured we can add a coat of Satin Mod Podge or a similar sealer. This will do a couple of things it will make the gnome look more finished and it will help to seal the edges of the layers of card-stock to make it look like it was made of a heavier material.

 

 

 

 

 

Once dry your gnome is ready to display in your Easter Dollhouse 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 Mandarin Oranges

 

Watch the video here.

 

One of the things about this time of year that I love is that the bags of Mandarin oranges are usually available in the grocery store. I know there are some around Christmas too but I like the ones that we get later in winter the best. I’m not sure it they really are better or if it is just that they taste like summer in the worst part of winter.

So I decided to make them this week for the Saturday tutorial.

Like with a lot of fruits I make from polymer clay I started with white clay that I then will coat with some artist chalk. When I make these from orange clay they just look too dense and heavy and they don’t have that “glow” that the real fruit has. Use any brand of white clay for this.

I find the easiest way to make these is to start with a thin snake of the white clay that is about 3/16” in diameter. (that’s halfway between 1/8” and ¼” if you were confused)

 

I then cut that snake into segments that are approximately 1/8” long. They don’t have to all be the exact measurement, not all the real oranges in the bag will be the exact same size.

 

 

Now roll each segment of clay into a ball and roll it on a piece of medium grit sandpaper to add texture to the surface.

 

 

Now using an eye shadow brush apply some bright orange artist chalk to the balls of clay. I find this easiest to do quickly if I put the chalk dust into a small bowl, add the clay balls and use my brush to gently roll them around to coat.

Now we need to add some stems. For this I took a tan clay (our of my scrap clay bag, any tan will work) and a light green clay (I used Moss from Sculpey) and I marbled the two colors together a bit. That way some of each color was still visible.

 

 

I used my pointy tool to make a hole at the top of each ball.

 

 

 

 Then used the same tool to tear off a very tiny amount of the marbled clay.

 

 

 

 

And added that to the hole at the top of the ball.

 

Once you have all your oranges done bake at the temperature recomme4nded for your clay for 10 minutes then allow to cool completely.

 

 Once cooled add a thin coat of Satin Mod Podge to the oranges and allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now the dolls in the dollhouse have a fun treat for these cold winter days.

 

 

 

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.