Dollhouse Miniature Apple Gnome

 

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.

 

 

Glue the pieces together with a thin layer of a thick tacky glue and allow the glue to dry.

 

 

 

Once the glue dries I like to place my pieces on some tape that is taped to my work surface sticky side up. I group the pieces by color that they will be painted.

 

 

The beard is first coated with white paint then I like to add just a few gray streaks to it to add a bit of dimension.

 

 

The hands and the nose are painted in a flesh tone, I still haven’t been able to get a bottle of flesh paint so I mix mine from pale yellow and pale pink.

 

 

 The apple is painted red and once the red dries add some brown to the stem.

 

 

 

The body is painted brown, my brown was a bit darker than I had in mind so I mixed in a touch of the white to lighten it up a bit.

 

 

 

 

The hat gets a coat of a leaf green.

 

 

 

And finally the shoes are painted with some black.

 

 

 

Once the green paint on the hat is dry we can add some yellow and orange random dots to the hat to make it a bit more interesting.

 

 

 

Now we are going to start construction of the gnome by gluing the beard to the body. Do your best to center it side to side on the body piece and make sure the tip of the beard is no lower than the bottom of the body. Now is also a good time to add the shoes on either side of the beard, making sure the flat edge of the shoes lines up with the bottom edge of the body piece. Allow this glue to set up enough that the pieces won’t move around on the next step.

 

 

Once the glue on the last step is set up and the dots we painted on the hat are dry we can glue on the hat. Once you are happy with the placement add the nose to the cut out area at the bottom of the hat. I also glued the apple in place at the same time since I was trying to get as much done between the construction noise that has been constant for the last 2 weeks at my place. Again allow the glue to set up so that everything stays in place.

 

 

 

 

Lastly we can glue the hands in place so that our gnome is holding the apple in front of his body. Now we need to wait until the glue had dried clear before moving to the next step, if the glue is still cloudy when you add the Mod Podge there is a chance that it might remain cloudy.

 

 

 

 

 

Now coat the front of the gnome with a thin layer of Satin Mod Podge and allow to dry. I also like to then give the backside a coat of the same Mod Podge to help finish the gnome and I find it makes the project more durable.

 

 

 

 

 

And now our apple gnome is ready to take his place on the porch of the dollhouse along with all the other apple items we have created in past 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 BBQ Grill pt 5

 

Watch the video here.

This has been such a fun project and I am happy to say that today we have the finished grill for the doll family!! I want each of you to just take a moment and think about how far we have come in 5 tutorials. We started with a toilet paper tube and we now have this awesome BBQ Grill.

Okay on to today’s tutorial.

 

So first things first we need to paint that side shelf we added last week with some black paint. This is also a wonderful time to go over the grill once again and touch up any spots where the black paint missed. Make sure everything is painted and let the paint dry completely.

 

Once you are happy with the coat of black on the grill it is time to seal the paint. I am using Mat Mod Podge because it is what I have on hand. I know that there are products that the model rail road guys use that give a true mat finish and that would be better here but I don’t have any. So the Mod Podge will have to do. It will seal the coat of paint so that it doesn’t chip off every time the grill gets bumped. It will also help to that if anything gets on the grill that you need to clean off you will be able to do so with less fear of ruining your paint. You only need to use 1thin coat but do be sure to cover all the areas that have been painted.

While the Mod Podge is drying we can work on the handles for the lids of the grill. I did try to come up with a way to elevate the handle away from the grill but I couldn’t come up with a way to glue the tiny pieces that would be secure enough. So the handles are going to lay flat against the grill. For the handle I am using a bamboo skewer. They are a good diameter to make a handle and they are easy to find. I probably got the one I am using at the dollar store. The first step is to give about half the skewer two coats of a darkish gray paint. Your want a good coverage with the color. Let the paint dry.

 

 

Now we can add a coat of a silver metallic paint to the skewer. I only needed one coat on mine. Since I was going to cut this up I let the paint dry overnight at this point. I find that helps to have nice cut edges on things like this.

 

Once the silver paint is dry you need to safely cut the skewer the correct size. I just eyeballed how far across both the main lid (the one that opens) and the lid to the side firebox) and cut what looked right. Do use something that is designed to cut hard materials. I see way too many people on YouTube cutting this type of thing with scissors and this is very, very, very dangerous. I like to use pet nail clippers, they are strong enough to cut hard nails (these cut large dog claws) and they have the bonus of being made to cut a round object. They leave very little to sand away, an almost perfect cut every time. Once cut touch up the cut ends with the same silver paint and allow to dry.

 

Use some tacky glue to attach the handles to the grill lids in the appropriate places. Allow the glue to dry.

Next up is one of my favorite details on the grill, the thermometer. For this off camera I made a tiny dot with some white paint ¼” up from the handle and centered on the lid of the main grill. This is used for placement. I added a dot of super glue to the area around the dot and added a 4mm silver colored jump ring. Do your best to get that dot centered under the ring and allow the super glue to set up for at least a half hour.

 

 

Once the super glue sets up add some white paint to fill in the area inside the ring. I used the end of the handle of a small paint brush. You just need to cover the black inside the circle. I did use 2 coats of paint and then let the paint dry.

 

 

Now we are going to use some different finishes of Mod Podge to make different areas of the grill really look the part. We start with some Satin Mod Podge on just the wheels, we want them to look like they are plastic so they need a bit more of a shine that the rest of the grill. Allow this dry enough that it won’t smear on the next step.

 

Next we can add more of the Satin Mod Podge to the silver colored handles. This will allow them to look like they are made of metal not bamboo skewer. If you do get any of the shinier Mod Podge onto the body of the grill you can do a touch up with the Mat when everything is finished. Now is also a good time to add just a drop of Gloss Mod Podge to the thermometer, it will probably need two coats to fill up the area. You are trying to have it be level with the jump ring when it is dry. Allow all this dry before handling the grill.

So there you have it, our finished BBQ Grill! I am so happy with how this turned out and I hope you enjoyed it also.

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 August 2023 Blind Bags

 

Watch the video here.

 

I have another set of blind bags for you today, I ordered this set on July 27^th and they arrived to me on August 16^th. This set was labeled as “Dollhouse Accessories” and the cost was a bit under $3 (USD).

I have a step by step blog post detailing how I search on eBay for the blind bags which can be found here.

1) the corkscrew, although this one initially looks a bit on the big side I have gotten these before and when I measured they are in scale. I do love any type of kitchen type accessory and having repeats of things like this just means I can make more scenes featuring them. This was a very good start to our blind bag opening today.

 

2) The perfume bottle, another one that we have gotten before. I am thinking I am going to try re-coloring one of these bottles and maybe adjusting the size/shape but another basic piece that will go in many scenes.

 

 

3) This blind bag contained a little empty planter, and I am love with this item. I know we have had this one before but again it is such a basic item that more can be used.

 

4) The clear punch bowl/ footed serving bowl, I think this one might be fun to put some kind of a layered dessert into for the holidays. Let me know your thoughts.

 

 

5) The light brown bottle, this one reminds me of a milk chocolate liqueur I made for Christmas gifts one year (real size) so I do love it. I think we might play around with coloring this one and maybe I’ll show you how to create a label for it sometime.

 

6) Large glass/vase, I think we have had a version of this one that had a handle but I don’t remember getting one that didn’t have the handle on it. I think this would be absolutely lovely re-painted and used as a flower vase.

 

7) The Coke bottle, I know we have gotten a lot of these in the different sets of blind bags but I love them so much because they can be placed in so many scenes to add a touch of “life” they are practically timeless at this point and I love them. (even though I admit to being a Pepsi girl at heart)

 

8) The little pumpkin, I am fairly certain we had one of these in a previous opening video. I can picture two of these (re-painted) as part of a table centerpiece. Perfect for fall.

 

9) The Boba tea, I am fairly certain we had one of these before, I’m not sure if it was the same color or not though. These are a large drink but not so much so as to be totally out of scale. I can picture this on a table/desk next to some kind of paper work or a laptop or a craft project like the doll is enjoying this treat while getting some work done.

 

10) Those glasses….we get these pretty often and they are so out of scale that they are ridiculous. I really need to figure out a creative way to use them, if you have any ideas let me know.

So final thoughts about the blind bags we opened today. I am really happy that within the 10 blind bags I opened there were no repeats. That is a rare occurrence I find. However, I think we have gotten at least 9 of the 10 in previous sets of blind bags. I would have liked to see something new this time.

So let me know what was you favorite piece we got? What would you like to see me make-over in a tutorial?

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.