Dollhouse Miniature Trash to Treasure Metal Flower

 

Watch the video here.

First I want to talk a little bit about this project and the whole trash to treasure concept. In this project I am using a hair clip I found in a street. Although I am pretty sure that this one probably came from somewhere like the dollar store you might not be able to get the same item. And that’s okay because you can do the same process with whatever hair clip) or similar item you do have and get a fun finished project. The idea of these projects is to inspire you and get you thinking outside of the box a little bit.

So this hair clip, I remember when my daughter was little and my mother in law would buy similar ones for her. She loved them because they were so cute, I hated them because they wouldn’t stay in her hair. We almost always lost them somewhere. I’m pretty sure that was the case for whoever had this one in there hair also. I found it in the middle of a street as I was out walking. There were no other people in site and I figure it was better to grab it to make a project for you guys today than to have a car drive over it and smash it.

The first step I took (off camera)was to was it thoroughly with soap and water and allow it plenty of time to dry.

Next I trimmed off the extra stuff I didn’t need for the project I wanted to make. In this case the back of the clip and the little thingy on the back that is supposed to hold it closed.

Once trimmed I used some poster tack to attach it to a craft stick which I could use a handle while painting. This is important if you want to get the paint to adhere.

Once it was safely on the handle I used some 91% Isopropyl alcohol to clean off any oils that may have been transferred to it from my handling it. I sometimes use distilled vinegar for this step depending on what is handy at the moment. Both work really well. Once you have wiped it down really well don’t touch the plastic again until you have all the finishes on it and they are dry.

On a flatter item I would have sanded the surface but this flower was just too detailed to sand so I skipped that step. If you want to sand do it after the item is washed before you stick it to a handle.

 

 

Now my next step was to coat the flower with some Mat Mod Podge, on the areas I am going to paint. In my experience this seems to help the regular craft paint to stick to the plastic better that if I skip ti. Allow to dry completely. If the Mod Podge is not allowed to dry completely the paint over it could crack.

 

 

 

 

Now a good coat of a black craft paint. This is the base color and will give the finished piece most of its color in this project. This needs to dry completely.

 

 

 

Now I added a thin coat of Brushed Silver craft paint over the black. I was trying to replicate the finish on a necklace I used to have that I loved. I believe the label on it had said it was a gunmetal finish. Allow to dry.

Once dry your metal flower is ready to hang in you mini scent. I am seeing a lot of metal art like this in my neighborhood while out walking and I love how this came out.

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 Lemon Garden 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.

 

 

 

 

 

I wanted to make this a shaped flag so I used my circle template to draw a half circle t the bottom to use as a cutting guide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we will need to paint our flag on both sides with some white craft paint. This will seal the fabric so that the lines in our next step stay crisp and don’t bleed into the fabric. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

Now I like to add a line where the lemon slice area and the top of the flag meet, at the top of the rounded area. This allows me to get my stripes placed more accurately.

For my strips I used some bright blue paint and a slim stick to act as a spacer foe my lines. I painted diagonal lines on the top of the flag going one direction. I then set it aside to dry.

 

 

 

 

Once the first lines are dry paint the diagonal lines going the other way. And allow to dry.

 

 

 

Now repeat these lines on the other side of the flag. Allow to dry completely.

 

 

 

Now if you feel the need to do any corrections use a tiny brush and some white paint to neaten up the lines on the top of your flag and allow to dry.

 

 

 

Now using some bright yellow paint fill in the rounded bottom area of the flag. This will be the yellow parts of the lemon. I find it much easier to paint the white details on to a solid yellow area than to paint it white and try to get the yellow parts lined up correctly. (Also my yellow is somewhat translucent this is easier for that reason also)

 

 

 

Now we can add the white lines onto the yellow lemon area of the flag. I like to sue a pencil to help me with placement. Do draw your lines just barely dark enough to see them. I made mine for the video much darker than I would have normally so the camera could pick them up. That made them much harder to cover with the white paint. I think I needed 3 or possibly 4 coats of white to cover them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allow the white to dry.

 

 

Check if you feel you want to do any corrections with s a tiny brush and the same paints we used earlier for the design.

 

 

 

Once the design is the way you want it and the paint has dried you are ready to display your garden flag 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 Lemon Slice Sign

 Watch the video here.

I have another free pattern for you to download so you make the project. You can find the file here. In the download there are 3 files: a PDF for hand-cutting of the pieces, a PNG to use with your electronic cutting machine and a text file with handy hints and tips (and the sizing information) to use the PNG.

As with most of these projects I cut all the pieces from medium weight white card-stock, the kind used to make cards and such. This is way more economical than having to purchase a bunch of colors and in my experience the paint colors are a lot more stable than the paper colors. I rarely get noticeable fading with the painted projects.

You are free to use the pattern as many times as you wish and even to sell the finished project. But, please don’t give away or sell my patterns. I spend a lot of time creating them and the only compensation I get is from people watching the videos and checking out the blog post. I really want to keep offering these for free so please if someone else wants to make one send them to the video and blog so they can get their own copy of the pattern.

I love how this lemon slice sign turned out, lemons just scream summer and I absolutely love lemons combined with a bright blue. I took inspiration from several real life signs I found online and this is a combination of the parts I loved the most. I hope you enjoy the project.

We start with the cut pieces, I do recommend no matter how you cut yours keep them in the groups they are on the pattern. This will make your life so much easier. This time there are 4 of the back board pieces and then just 2 of each unit to be glued together. Do be careful to keep the 2 round pieces straight they are two different sizes. Also you want to end up with 8 of the lemon segment units (2 layers in each) To glue I use a thick tacky glue in a thin layer. Do your best to line up all the pieces to make nice neat units. Allow the glue to dry completely before you go onto the next step.

Once your glue dries sort the pieces by the color you will be using to paint them. I like to attach all the pieces to a bit of tape that is taped sticky side up on my work tile. This keeps everything in place so I can get everything painted. Do note if you cheat on letting the glue dry the paper might stick really badly and tear when you go to remove it later.

 

 

 

I used only a few colors this time. A bright blue for the backer board, a bright yellow for the larger round and the segments, a white for the smaller round, a cream color for the back parts of the banner, then the cream mixed with white for the front piece of the banner. Allow the paint to dry.

 

 

The first step of assembly is to add the yellow segments to the white round. I like to work with 4 segments at a time, lining them up like this. Then allow the glue to set so they will stay in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next add the other 4 segments like this and allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a good time to give the front piece of the banner a quick coat of mat Mod Podge. This will act as a bit of an insurance policy when we add the lettering later. It is much easier to remove both pencil and paint from a sealed surface than from just the painted surface. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the white round with the segments to the yellow round centering as best as you can. Allow to dry enough that it won’t move around on you.

 

 

 

 

 

Now add the lemon slice to the blue background, again centering it as best as you can. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

By now the mat Mod Podge should be dry so it is time to add whatever word you want to the front of the banner. I chose hello because I liked how it looked. I like to use pencil first before I add the paint. Then I used the smallest dotting tool I have to do the lettering with the same blue paint I used for the back board. This tied the piece together and again I just love blue with the lemons. Allow this paint to completely dry before you move on to the next step. I waited overnight to be extra sure it would be dry. I didn’t want to take a chance on smearing those letters.

Once the lettering dries add the tips to the banner, I like to add one slightly above and the other one slightly below the front like this.

 

 

One the glue sets add the banner to the front of your lemon slice at whatever angle you like best. Allow the glue to dry.

 

 

 

 

Once the glue dries it is time to add a thin, even layer of Satin Mod Podge and allow it to dry. I do coat both the front and back of my signs allowing the first side to fry before I coat the reverse side.

Once dry you can display your sign in your mini scene. And along with the rest of the lemon items we have made I think this sign looks wonderful.

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 June 2023 Blind Bags

 

Watch the video here.

We have another batch of mini blind bags today, and this is the “cup model” set which is always my favorite. At right around $2 for the 10 bags it is a wonderful and fun way to fill the dollhouse kitchen.

I ordered these on April 26^th with an expected arrival between May 21^st and June 27^th. They arrived around May 20^th so ahead of the expected dates. They cost right around $2. and were purchased on eBay.

If you want to know step by step how I look for the blind bags I have a blog post that contains the steps I usually use complete with screen shots of the steps involved. You can find that post here.

Now onto the goodies we got today.

 

 

1- stemmed glass, I normally get at least one of these in every set of these blind bags and I am so glad I do. I am building a nice collection to both display in the cabinets and also in various scenes I might want to stage.

 

 

 

2-blue mug, I have gotten a few different colors of this mug in the different sets and at first I felt they were a bit too big but I am now thinking they are just fine. After all you can get larger real life mugs in the stores and they are basically the equivalent of these. I don’t remember getting a blue one before and this color will be perfect in the
Beachside Bungalow.

 

 

 

 

3- pink “cut glass”, I know this is supposed to be a drinking glass but to me if looks like the perfect bud vase and I am sure that is how I will use it. Ir really reminds me of a bud vase my grandma had so many years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

4-clear mug, this one is a bit bigger that the blue one somewhere between a mug and a stein but I will be useful anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5- huge glass, this one is huge and while there are sometimes glasses in real life this big I will probably use these for flower vases. We have collected several over all the blind bags we have opened.

 

 

 

 

 

6- another stemmed glass, this one is identical to #1 and to several I already have so the collection grows.

 

 

7- blue “cut glass” I am not sure if we have gotten the blue variety of these before but I know we have had the yellow/amber ones in past sets. I love the color of these for the Beachside Bungalow.

 

 

 

 

 

8- empty. Although disappointing to have an empty blind bag its not the end of the world at the price we are paying.

 

 

 

 

9-another blue “cut glass” just like #7 so we have at least a pair of them

 

 

 

 

 

10- embossed mug/stein, again the size is kind in the zone between a large mug and a small stein and I am pretty sure we have gotten the same before so they can be displayed as a set someday.

 

 

So now for my thoughts, I am always actually hoping for duplicates when I get the cup model blind bags since that will make them more useful and I am collecting a good size collection of some of the pieces. Most sets have at least one item we haven’t seen before and this time it was the pink “cut glass” glass, I love it so much as a bud vase and really hope more of those show up in future sets of blind bags. It was disappointing to have an empty bag but things happen and I will still be buying these many times in the future.

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 Lemon Gnome

 

Watch the video here.

Today I have another gnome to add to our growing collection, this time one to go with our lemon decorating theme we started last year.

I created a free pattern for you to download so you make the project easily. You can find the file here. In the download there are 3 files: a PDF for hand-cutting of the pieces, a PNG to use with your electronic cutting machine and a text file with handy hints and tips (and the sizing information) to use the PNG.

As with most of these projects I cut all the pieces from medium weight white card-stock, the kind used to make cards and such. This is way more economical than having to purchase a bunch of colors and in my experience the paint colors are a lot more stable than the paper colors. I rarely get noticeable fading with the painted projects.

You are free to use the pattern as many times as you wish and even to sell the finished project. But, please don’t give away or sell my patterns. I spend a lot of time creating them and the only compensation I get is from people watching the videos and checking out the blog post. I really want to keep offering these for free so please if someone else wants to make one send them to the video and blog so they can get their own copy of the pattern.

 

 

Here is a look at the pieces before I removed them from my cutting mat so you can see how they are organized. In the video I went over what each piece was while it was still on the mat in hopes you can identify them easier.

 

 

I did leave off the pieces to create a stand on this one since there were so many pieces and that would have made the size of the overall pattern a larger than I wanted. I don’t know if you have noticed but for the mini projects I am trying my best to keep them under 6” in width so if you only have a Cricut Joy I think you will be able to use that to cut the projects.

I did fix the pattern pieces for the lemon our friend is holding, I made both the round layers a bit bigger on the finished pattern so that you will have both more of the white layer and the more of the yellow layer showing than I did.

We start by gluing the groups of pieces together. Most of the groups are sets of three except the backing piece has 4 layers so that our gnomes will be nice and durable. Also the segments of the lemon slice are in sets of 2, so there are 16 total to glue into 8 segments.

I like to use a thick tacky glue for the construction of these projects apply as thin of a layer as possible.

Once the glue dries it is time to paint our pieces.

 

 

For this project I used these colors in addition to a flesh color hat I mixed (I really need to get to the craft store soon)

 

 

I do recommend taping the pieced down to paint them. I am using some wash tape again this week because I still have not been able to remember I need masking tape while I am out in a place to purchase. I only remember I am out when I am reaching for it…..

I like to group my pieces by the color I am going to use to paint them, all the green pieces in one place, the yellow in another etc. this just helps to keep me more organized.

Allow the paint to dry and then it is time start gluing our gnome friend together. I like to do this in stages so pieces don’t shift on me.

 

I started by gluing on the beard to the body piece. Just center it side to side and have the tip either lined up with the flat bottom edge or a hair above this point. I also glued the white disk to the yellow one. This was when I discovered the two pieces were a bit too close in size, I had wanted the yellow to show just a bit more. I did fix that on the final pattern so yours will show more.

 

Allow the glue to dry at least a bit before you move to the next step. If you move too fast things can slip out of position but you don’t need to wait for the glue to dry completely to move on.

 

 

 

Next we can glue the on the hat, it’s designed to overlap the beard a bit. Also add the segments to the lemon slice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the glue on those pieces is set up add the nose, the shoes, and the lemon to the gnome. Normally I add the shoes way earlier but I somehow managed to miss painting them so they had to wait until they dried to go on the gnome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly add the hands to the front of the lemon slice to “hold it: and add the band to the bottom of the hat. Now all the glue needs to dry completely before the next step.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once the glue is dry give the gnome a coat of a satin clear finish, I used Mod Podge. Allow this to dry, I do like to coat the front then when that dries I give the back a coat also.

 

 

 

 

 

Once the clear finish is dry it is time to place your gnome in your mini scene. I love how this little guy looks with the pieces we made last year.

 

 

 

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.