Dollhouse Miniature Chinese Checkers

 

Watch the video here.

The day after Christmas I was talking to my daughter and she asked what I was doing that day. I told her I was trying to figure out what to make for today’s video tutorial. She said I really needed to do a project for New Years this year. I told that was a good idea but I still had no idea. Then she suggested a board game of some kind. She then reminded me that when she and her brothers were growing up New Year’s Eve was always a family game night. We would dig out all the board games to play and eat snacks to stay awake until to ring in the new year.

After I got off the phone I googled board games and settled on a Chinese Checkers set since it didn’t look as complicated as some of the other games and I also remember not only playing with my kids but I remember playing it as a child.

I did create a template for you to use to mark the holes on the board for the marbles. This template took me a while to figure out but was a really fun project. You can find the template here. You are free to use the template as many times as you wish and to make more Chinese Checker sets with it, you can even sell the games. Just please don’t sell or give away my template.

I did have to film this video on Saturday to have it up for you guys on Sunday so you got my first time through on all the steps. If I had had more time I would have gone back and re-filmed the cutting and marking of the board.

In the video I rolled the clay out, cut it with my round cutter then placed the template on top and used a pin to mark where the holes need to be. In hindsight I think it would have been better to put the template on the sheet of rolled out clay and marked the hole placement with the pin. Then used the cutter to cut out the round shape. I think it would have been much easier to get the board centered.

Since I had to wait until the last minute to film I didn’t have the time to start over by the time I realized this. My filming time is very limited this last week and probably for the next week or so. They are doing a major construction job on the building I live in and it is very noisy. For anyone interested they tore all the balconies off the building and are replacing them. Since I am on the first floor I don’t have a balcony that was affected but the noise of them working on the one just above me last week was really loud. I can’t film while they are working so I have to work when they aren’t. Hopefully they will move on to other parts of the building soon.

I decided to just use some white clay since it was handy but I saw some beautiful boards online made out of everything from acrylic to glass, to wood to marble and probably other materials I can’t think of off the top of my head. So pick something pretty for your board.

So to prep condition the clay of your choice and then roll it out, I used my set of double thick craft-sticks for the thickness. Lay the template over the clay and use a sewing pin to poke through each circle on the template. I know there are a lot of them but I was surprised at how quick this went once I turned off the camera and could just focus on what I was doing. (as suggested above I suggest actually cutting the circle out at this point instead of prior to this step like I did in the video)

Once all the holes are poked in the surface of the clay use a very small dotting tool to kind of open up those holes made with the sewing pin. Again this didn’t take nearly as long as I expected.

Once the holes are finished transfer you game board to a baking surface (paper plate) and bake at the recommended temperature for the clay you are using for 15 minutes and allow it to come to room temperature.

Once cooled I used a tiny drop of super glue in each hole (use a toothpick to apply the glue) and I used the raw spaghetti trick to transfer a tiny no hole bead to the holes. You will need 10 no hole beads of each color and you will need 6 colors. I set my game board up so it is ready to start playing. However, you could set yours up part way through the game to tell a story that is specific to your setting.

This was by far the most tedious part of the project (after actually making the template for you to use LOL) but I worked on it over about an hour. I would finish one color of beads. Then walk away and do something else for a couple of minutes. Then come back do another color set and again walk away for a few minutes. I find this helps me to get through this type of project much easier with fewer mistakes.

 

 

Allow the super glue to dry/set up then give the board a couple of coats of a matte or a satin clear sealer. I used Mat Mod Podge.

 

 

 

 

And here we have the board set up in a scene, it looks like the kids talked grandpa into a game of Chinese Checkers…..

 

 

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 Christmas Gnomess

 

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 as shown on the video using your favorite white glue. I like to use Tacky glue and I use a toothpick as a glue applicator.

 

 

Once the glue is completely dry I laid down a strip of masking tape (sticky side up) to hold all the pieces that needed to be painted. To make that easier I group the pieces by the color that I am painting them. I did the same thing with the 3 single layer cookie pieces but I used a piece of washi tape since it is slightly less sticky and won’t tear the single layer of card stock as easily.

 

I painted the back and hat with red. Then once dry I added a slightly lighter color of red to the hat to give it a bit of dimension.

 

 

 

The plate for the cookies with metallic green.

 

 

 

The braids with a golden yellow color.

 

 

 

 The hands and nose with a flesh like tone.

 

 

 

 

 

The had band with white.

 

 

The shoes with black.

 

 

And the cookies with a cream color. And once dry I added some “chocolate chips” with dots of a brown paint.

The cookies are simply a ¼” round and if you want a different shape cookie you could use any shape ¼” hole punch to make them.

Once the paint dries completely it is time to assemble the gnomess. This will be done in stages allowing the glue to dry at least a bit in between so everything stays in place as you add parts.

 

I like to start by gluing the hat to the hair and the nose as the first step. Then this can set up. Since she is holding the plate of cookies I also glued the cookies to the plate so they could also dry.

 

 

 

Next the hat portion can be glued to the body/backing piece. I wish I had glued my hat on lower to the body but I was feeling really rushed as I was working on the gluing since the building I live in is in the middle of having all the balconies removed and new ones put on. Just as my paint was dry they showed up to do the removal and it was very noisy for the rest of the day.

After the hat part add the shoes, the plate of cookies and the hands. Then allow the glue to dry completely.

 

Now we just need to add a thin even coat of a clear finish. I am using Satin Mod Podge on mine. I did coat the back off camera (including the edges all the way around) then when that dried I came back and coated the front on camera going over the edges a second time. I find doing 2 coats on the edges really helps to seal all those layers and makes the finished gnome look a lot nicer. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

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 Monster Windsock

 

Watch the video here.

As I was looking through some images online of Halloween decorations for real front porches I ran into several different designs of windsocks for the holiday. I remember how much fun the ghost one was that we made on the channel in the past so I decided to pick one and make it for this week’s tutorial. There were a lot of choices but the monster one was just so cute I had to go with him today. And besides it was a great excuse to play with some of the metallic paints I recently picked up.

The main part of the windsock is just a strip of medium weight card-stock that I cut to ¾” by 3” I just used some that was leftover from one of the Cricut projects we have done.

 

 

I then painted both sides of the strip with some of the Metallic Lime Green paint, of course you could use a regular lime green paint or any green color you want for this. Paint both sides of the strip and allow to dry completely.

Next we need to add the streamers to the bottom of the windsock. I like to use embroidery floss for this. For a windsock this size I like to use about 12 streamers and I cut them 3” long. This time I decided to alternate black and dark purple. The real ones had a variety of colors, some were the same green as the main part, some were black but a couple had the mix of black and purple and since purple is my favorite color I had to choose that combo. To cut the floss I wrap it around a piece of cardboard that is 3” wide then cut at each side where it bends around the cardboard. That is the easiest way I have found to cut multiples the same length.

Now wrap the painted strip around the barrel of a marker (I use a Sharpie) and mark just where the point is where it will start to overlap. We want to just add the streamers to the layer against the pen barrel.

Now lay a bead of glue to the edge of the strip at the bottom edge on that area that will be against the marker and add the streamers. This is much easier than it looks on the video if you aren’t trying to stay under a camera and can just add the pieces it is pretty quick to do. Once the streamers are in place add another bead of glue over the ends of the streamers and pat everything down so it makes really good contact with the strip of card-stock. Allow this glue to dry completely before the next step.

Start by wrapping the strip of card-stock around the marker to make it start to curve. Then add glue like I did in the video and carefully wrap the strip around the marker to create the windsock. Most of the time I find it I hold the end in place for about a minute it will stay just fine. If it wants to come unwrapped just add a small rubber band to hold it in place. (mine stayed just fine even with the paint on the surface) Allow the glue to dry.

 

Now the fun part starts we get to add the features. I like to start at the top with his hair. For this I used some of the black metallic paint but any black will work just fine. Add a narrow kind of crooked band of paint at the very top of the windsock then use something with a point (I used a toothpick) to pull down points of his hair. Then allow this dry so it doesn’t smear as we work on his face.

 

 

 

Next up add the whites of his eyes by dipping something like the handle of paint brush into white paint and making 2 nice big eye balls. Allow to dry.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for some personality. I started with a tiny dotting tool and added a mouth and a scar with the same black paint I used for the hair. Then changing to a larger dotting tool add a black dot to each eye. Where those eyes are placed will really affect his personality so think about how you want your monster to look. Now let this paint dry.

 

 

Now we can add a string to hang him up with. I just cut some of the same black embroidery floss to about 5” long and glued the very ends to the inside on each side at the top of the windsock. You can adjust the length of the string depending on where you are going to hang him.

 

 

 

 

Allow the glue to dry and he is ready to hang on the porch of the 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 Giant Spider Halloween Decoration

 

Watch the video here.

This week I wanted to start making some Halloween decorations for the dollhouse so I spent some time looking at images of real size houses decorated fro the holiday. I kept seeing these huge spiders and I knew the dolls had to have one. I am in love with how he (she??) came out. I am sure after the dolls get past the nightmare view of the spider right outside their bedroom window they will love it too.

 

The body of the spider is simply half of a styrofoam ball. Mine was about 1 ½” in diameter and since we only need half the ball you could make a pair of spiders really easily at the same time. The other main component of the spider is just some chenille stems. I used white stems since I wanted to coat them with the same paint I am going to use on the body both so they match in color and to give a good “spider leg” texture to them I cut my legs to about 4” long so I got 3 pegs per stem so I only needed 3 stems (with a bit leftover)

When I cut my ball in half one side of it kind of flattened a bit so I decided to use this as the spider’s face. I used a bamboo skewer to poke four holes on each side of the spider body and dipped the ends of the legs into some tacky glue and inserted them into those holes. Allow this glue to dry.

Next we are going to disguise the texture of the foam ball by covering it with a layer of wrapping tissue. To do this tear some pieces of the tissue paper then brush some Mod Podge onto a small area of the ball add a small piece of the paper and brush more of the Mod Podge over it. You want to really soak the paper with the Mod Podge. Make sure to cover the top of the spider’s body. If you miss some of the flat bottom that is not so important but the part that will show needs a good coat of it. Also be sure to work some around each leg where it is attached to the body. This will blend the legs into the body and also help to hold them into the body. (we don’t want to have our spider loosing a leg at some point) Allow this to dry completely.

Once dry it is time to paint the spider. I just used some black craft paint for this. I was able to use a brush on the body but I did find that it was easiest (although very messy) to use my index finger and thumb to apply the paint to the legs. Just dip your finger/thumb in the paint and run the leg between them, much faster and I got really coverage with one coat of paint that way. Allow to dry completely.

 

I wanted to add a bit of bling to my spider so I used some purple glitter paint on the legs. It is very subtle and I might go back later and add another coat but I didn’t want to add too much. Just enough to catch the light from time to time. Allow to dry.

Next it was time to add the eyes to his face. I simply used some dots of red 3-D paint for this. I had debated trying to add glitter but in the end like the plain eyes better. Allow to dry (this type of paint takes a while to dry so let it sit at least overnight before you touch the area where his eyes are painted on.

Now it was just a matter of bending the legs and setting him place, I think he really likes the roof of the dollhouse but you could put him anywhere. And since his legs are so flexible you can use those to help anchor him in place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Paint Test New Paints

 

Watch the video here.

I was walking through the Dollar Tree and checking out the new things that were out for fall and Halloween. I happened to notice a box shoved in a corner of a lower shelf that was almost empty that contained bottles of acrylic paints. The firs thing I noticed was the bottles did not look like the normal ones I see at Dollar Tree on the craft aisle. And indeed, these were Delta brand Ceramcoat paints!! I immediately grabbed the box and dug through the few bottles in it. I was able to come away with 5 bottles of brand name paints in what appear to be special Halloween colors. All for $1.25 each. I was very happy indeed and had to share them with all of you as soon as possible.

I did try to find the paints on the Dollar Tree app to see if there were more colors available but they don’t even show up on the app so I have no idea if there should be more than the 5 I got or not. I will be checking for more on each trip to the store for sure though.

Since I wanted to see what these look like I decided to do a paint test/swatch of them and share that with all of you too. I am really excited about these color and I am especially excited to get to use at least 2 of the colors soon.

To do the swatches I made a “swatch card” from some of the 140lb watercolor paper that I have been using for my paint test swatches. This time I had a piece in my scrap bin on my table and used it. It measures about 6” by 6” and I drew a grid of 2” square boxes to test the paints in. I felt the 2” size would give me plenty of room to test the paints and add the color names. And also I have plenty of room if I want to test other colors on the same card in the future.

Here is what each color looked like, all the swatches have 3 coats in the finished swatch.

 

Lime Green Metallic- like all metallic paints (at least in my experience) this one is very translucent. Even with the 3 coats it is still not as opaque as I would like so when I use this color I will need to remember to add an undercoat of a more opaque color. The metallic sheen is nice on this color but not super shiny.

 

 

 

 

Black Metallic- this color is the most opaque of the all the colors I swatched today and I can see me using this on lots of projects in the future. Anywhere I want the look of a black metal this will be my go-to color. Three coats of this color gave really good coverage.

 

 

 

 

 

Dark Purple Metallic-as far as opacity this one is the middle of the 3 tested today. I love this color and I am sure I will get a lot of use out this one as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Orange Glitter- as I expected this paint is orange glitter suspended in a clear paint base. For a complete coverage using a make-up sponge to apply it will probably give the best results. Otherwise for a light glitter haze a regular brush would be fine. All the glitter flecks are orange in color in this.

 

 

 

 

Violet Glitter- pretty much the same as the orange with just a change of glitter color. The glitter flecks are mostly dark purple with some pinkish ones sprinkled in. overall a very pretty color.

 

 

 

So are these worth the price? I think so especially the metallic ones, I can see using those in many projects year round particularly the black one and to a slightly lesser degree the purple one. The green will probably not get as much use but still fun to have. The glitter ones, I’m not sure how much or where I will use them but they are fun and I am sure they will turn up in projects from time to time.

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 Neon Sign (non-working)

 

Watch the video here.

Today we are making a fake neon sign for the dollhouse or a miniature business. I was looking through a very old notebook I have that I wrote all kinds of projects in way back when I was first starting to do minis. This was at least 30 or so years ago. Back then I would go the library and check out any books or magazines they had on miniatures and take them home and read everything cover to cover. Took a lot of notes about projects I thought I might want to try to do someday when I had an idea of how to do them. This project was one of those.

When I read it the other day I was instantly intrigued this seemed too simple to work. But I am happy to report I think this could be a really fun thing to do to create some artwork for a more modern dollhouse room. I will say I would be very careful about where this is displayed since hot glue does have a tendency of melting again if it gets too hot. So keep this one out of direct sunlight. I think it will be fine in a normal room-box just don’t place it right in front of a window where the heat could melt it.

The first step in this project is to decide what your neon sign will look like. I went the easy route and just wrote the word “open” since my brain was not really in creative mode yet. I drew two parallel lines to give me the height of my letters and wrote my word all in pencil. I made my letters very blocky and simple. Then once I was happy with what it looked like I traced just the word with a black marker. This way I would be able to see it to trace over it later. I taped this to my work tile. This is my pattern.

Now I taped a small sheet of parchment paper (the stuff from the kitchen) over the top of the pattern. The tape won’t really hold it but it will help a bit. You need to work on a surface that is both nonstick and translucent so you can see your pattern.

 

Make sure you glue-gun is really heated up. I found with the one I have it needed to preheat for at least 10 or 15 minutes to get the glue to flow nicely on the lines. When I tried it sooner it was very lumpy and looked really bad. You want the glue to be dripping really well from the tip of the glue-gun. One the glue is hot it is just a matter of tracing the lines on the pattern. Keep in mind you might need to do multiple layers of glue to get a good looking line. Just take you time and go slowly. Once you have traced over all the lines on pattern make sure the glue between areas is touching. In my case I needed to make sure all my letters joined together. If there is space between them just add a small dot of glue to act as a “bridge” so that you will have one piece when you are done. Now let this cool and set up but leave you glue-gun plugged in so it stays hot.

Once the glue has hardened check to see if you have spots that are too thin or that you missed and add more glue as needed. You can do this as many times as you feel you need to until the sign looks the way you want it to look. Once you are happy let it cool all the way to room temp and you can unplug the hot glue-gun.

Now you can peel the sign off the parchment and take another look at it. If it needs to have more glue added this is the time. Go ahead and add glue to any spots you feel need it. Allow to cool again.

Once cooled use a small pair of scissors and trim the sign to remove any spots that don’t belong and also those hairy bits that hot glue always leaves.

Once you are completely happy it is time to add the color to the sign. I am using some alcohol markers made by Bic, you could use any brand of alcohol marker for this.

Turn the sign over and carefully fill in the back of the design with the marker. Skip any “bridge” areas you added to hold the sign together. I find it takes about 3 coats of ink to get a really good color. I also found letting the ind sit for a couple of minutes between coats allowed it to stay on better. I think (but I’m not sure) that what is happening is the ink is soaking into the glue.

Once the color is the way you want it you can either mount the sign on a board like I did. Or on the wall of your miniature scene.

I had planned to mount mine on black but I liked how the colors looked against the white better so that was what I went with.

For my board I cut a piece of foam-core slightly bigger than my sign, glued a piece of white paper on the front. Then I framed it with some black card-stock.

 

 

I ended up using tacky glue to attach the sign to the board.

 

Now for the almost disaster I had. I was originally going to use some super glue to attach the sign. And for most of the sign it was fine. But the spots where I put the dots of super glue on the area of the sign that was the green color instantly turned brown. I guess the super glue was reacting with the whatever that color ink was dyed with. The other 3 colors I used were fine just the green reacted. I was able to work very quickly and using a sewing pin I picked off the glue from the sign in those areas and then added more ink over the spots.

 

The sign I did on camera was the third time I traced the letters and I see a great improvement from the first one I did to the last one. With some more practice I think I could get some pretty intricate designs with this method and that could be a lot of fun.

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.