Shoebox Dollhouse

This week I've worked on a really fun project as a gift for my mom. She makes the cutest little clothespin dolls ever, and I wanted to give her a place for them to "live" while we are selling at the farmer's market. Here are some of my mom's clothespin dolls. These are actually made from handmade "clothespins" that she carves from wood, so these are bigger than standard size, but she makes standard size too, just as cute!


Not long ago I purchased a pair of shoes for one of my sons. They came in a great shoebox! Sturdy! And the top was attached to the bottom so that it would open and close like a chest. I opened the box as far as it would go, so that the lid was sitting back on the bottom (still attached--I did not separate the top from the bottom) and it made a two-story doll house.

I hot-glued the top to the bottom so that I could then cover it with paper and decorate it!

I used color coordinated papers from my scrapbook supplies and glued on "wallpaper" and "carpet." To get the wallpaper just right, since the top had a curved edge (as you can see), I stood the box on end and traced around it to get the paper cut just right!

One of my favorite things about this is the Victorian feel and the very Victorian dresser! It has a mirror held up by two little cherubs and three little silk roses glued in front of the mirror.


Ahhh, the little fireplace. Michaela and I made a recent trip to The Scrap Exchange, and one of the items in the bins were a ton of these "leather" coasters. I cut some up in the shape of a fire place and hearth and hot-glued them on. The hearth portion of the fireplace is three layers deep to give it the appearance of a real hearth. The basket is made from Sculpey and filed with real wood. The fire is from a picture, Mod-Podged into place of course!


What an opulent little bed! I found that an herbal tea box is the PERFECT size to make a bed for a clothespin doll. The bed is actually made from two boxes, cut down and glued back to back so that it's open on the top and open on the bottom. The top got filled with old powder puff material from the scrap exchange. The headboard is made with heavy wire covered in bed and poked on each side through the box before hot-gluing on a pad, fabric, and a pillow.


There's even a seahorse watching over the little bed.

One of the finishing touches is a little key on the pretty Victorian dresser.


I had been turning over in my mind how to make a chair for a clothespin doll. Their legs don't bend, after all. I finally hit on an idea with something we found -- again -- at The Scrap Exchange.




You know the containers that things come in from gumball machines? The large containers? Well, I molded Sculpey around on to make a chair and then baked ONLY THE SCULPEY. Once the chair was baked, I pushed the little container down into the chair and hot glued into place. I trimmed the edges, one with ribbon and one with heavy cord.

So the dolls can truly sit IN their chairs! :)



The back of the box is Mod-Podged with pages from an old (falling apart) copy of Little Women. I can't wait to see what the shoppers think of the Clothespin Dolls' Shoebox Dollhouse.

Have fun creating!

Where We Are On The Faery House

The Faery House, which will be located in the woods near the doll house, is coming along quite nicely.

This is the upper level -- up in the treetop. I have layers to add yet to make it seem more "in the clouds" and somehow I have to add a faery bed that will fit in.

The lower floor houses a rustic Sculpey table and chairs set with teapot and cups -- also from baked Sculpey.
I've pulled the little faery table out so that you might see all the food they've stashed underneath their tree. Faeries love a taste of human food sometimes. A lot of the embellishments came from old Mary Engelbreit paperdolls from her magazine. I LOVE her magazine, Home Companion.

Will show you more as I go. Princess of the Universe will have so much fun with this! She has not seen this at all yet.

Lynn

More Doll House Work

Yesterday my husband picked up a 20-dollar piece of white beadboard that he could cut to size and staple (with a pneumatic stapler) to the back of the bookshelf doll house I got from A.C. Moore. This makes the rooms look more finished.

I would love to add lighting at some point, and perhaps stain the wood. Not sure yet. For now I am just going to clean off the scuffs and lightly sand a couple of places where the wood's not so smooth.

Won't the dolls just love this? Not to mention my daughter! I can't wait to set up the little loft area!

Lynn

Great Doll House Deal With A Coupon

I wanted to share something that Princess of the Universe is getting for Christmas, and it was a GREAT deal!


I have long noticed this dollhouse/bookshelf in A.C. Moore, but for 99 dollars I never really spent that much time looking closely at it. Until yesterday. Princess of the Universe is at Grandma's and Grandpa's for a few days, which means easier shopping for me!

I had one of those 50% off any regularly priced item from A.C. Moore. I actually printed mine from on line by searching Google and finding a current coupon, but the Sunday paper usually has one as well.

I inquired about using the coupon before I had them pull this big item from the upper shelf it was on. Yes, they said they would take the coupon - as long as the item was regularly priced, and it was! Yippeee!!

I called my husband and he said he could easily cut a piece of pretty white beadboard-type wood to fill in the back of the shelf so the rooms will look finished!

For 50 dollars, I bought it. Oh boy, will the doll house adventures continue this year!!

She will be so excited. :)

Lynn

The American Doll

Yes, it's true. The mysterious foreign doll who showed up at the doll house needing a home wants to become an American. Even now, she is studying to become a citizen.

Gasp! She's reading about... War?


Oh, it's a particular war. The beautiful doll shows us that she is learning about Abraham Lincoln from her little history book for dolls.

By the way, we are still trying to learn her name. I have an idea for a name for her. My daughter has a few ideas. Do you have any suggestions for a beautiful name for the mysterious foreign doll? I would love your comments!

Making A Doll House Book

I've been wanting to make a little book for the dolls. One with actual pages. Thank you to Mommylion, a commenter who pointed out this mini book tutorial at Hitty Print Mini. It worked out great!

I printed the covers for the little doll house books from Hitty Print Mini and then used little strips of words cut out of a no-longer-useful book.

By the way, I am always looking for books at the thrift store that have beautiful pictures or words -- something that would be great for a doll house project, but is no longer readable. I would much rather reuse a book than to see it thrown away!

My children LOVED reading through these little doll house books. A word here or there that jumps out and makes them think of something historical!

Fun stuff. The little doll house bookshelf up next!

Lynn

Tiny Little Books

I want so much to make books with pages that will open and close. I need to surf around and find a place with detailed instructions and suggestions. Until that spare moment...



this little book was simply made by printing the cover from Hitty Print Minis and then cutting pieces of paper to fit inside, stacking them evenly and setting them right into the book on a strip of hot glue run right down the middle.

I will get better at this. You know how I love books.

Lynn

The Beginnings of a Faery House

Faeries don't need huge houses, of course, being such tiny creatures. And faeries just love rustic, out-of-the-way places where no one would think to look for them, like this shelf I'm turning into a faery home for Princess of the Universe.

There is SO much more I've yet to add, but wanted you to see the first layers. A tree to hide under. Pink tissue paper Mod-Podged in for the base. A bird on each level. I'll post updates as I can. Princes of the Universe has not even seen this project yet. Shhh. It's a surprise.

I think this would be a great little shelf for her art desk -- to keep her inspired.

Lynn

Doll House Lanterns

Again, another sweet doll house project from Hitty Print Mini: precious little doll house paper lanterns.

We did as suggested on the website and cut off the "paper" sticks which will print out with the lantern. (You'll know what I mean if you look at them on the website.) Instead, we hot-glued toothpicks into place after cutting the ends off the toothpicks with scissors.

Okay, time for a disclaimer: Ends of toothpicks are sharp and should not be left on the floor to be stepped on. They can be dangerous. Cut over the trash can so that all sharp pieces go into the trash. Secondly, moms, do the cutting. Not children. Also ALWAYS supervise the use of hot glue guns. They are not for children without supervision.

We used just a dab of glue inside each corner to attach our little strings for these two doll house lanterns. They will probably hang up in the dolll house somewhere near the door or in a doll's bedroom.

The Well Read Doll

My dear friend Michele at Smile, Wink, Nod posted a wonderful link today, so I have to thank her for helping me find this! How could I have missed this sweet bunch of miniature printables at Hitty Print Mini? Oh, never mind, at least I know about it now! And I thought you would want to know as well.

Today we made the dolls a bunch of books for the doll house!


These were so cute printed out!! A page of book covers. I simply cut out each tiny book cover, folded it in half, and then glued it with a glue stick around a piece of nice smooth cardboard (think thick card stock).

Just to show you how mini they really are.


You know now I must make a doll house bookshelf. These dolls love books! I love these dolls.

Lynn

Wall Papering The Doll House

Today my daughter and I wall papered the doll house (bookshelf) that had not yet been papered! This is something we have been wanting to do for a while. Yesterday we made a trip to the Scrap Exchange to pick up odds and ends, just perfect for doll house stuff. We left there with a roll of left-over wall paper. It's plain but fancy. You'll see what I mean.

First I measured the inside of each room: height and length around the three walls. Then I cut.

We used a paint brush to brush glue onto the walls inside the dall house, one room at a time, then we smoothed our wall paper into place.

The last thing we did was to draw beautiful doll house windows with our Prang colored pencils and art paper. We cut the windows out and "installed" one in each room of the doll house using Mod-Podge.

The window in the second picture is top is mine. I'll have to give you a close-up later. It's a delicate tree outside with a cardinal in it. My daughter's window, the one in the third picture, is lovely. I love it! There a "huge oak" outside, and a sunset.

The Doll House General Store

The dolls are busy this week building a doll house general store. Yesterday I had the occasion to be in A.C. Moore and I saw the most adorable little doll house cash register and jar of candy canes.

As a bit of "building background" the general store will be located in a shelf I found on sale some months back at an antique store. This shelf, which serves as even more rooms for doll house adventures, I think was an old cabinet with doors -- thinking maybe 50s or 60s. It was cleaned up and painted and sold to me! But I'm sure one could be found at a thrift store as well for even less. Just be patient and keep looking!

You can see Princess of the Universe playing in front of the shelf, on which sits the doll house. It no longer holds books and toys, but is a wonderful extension of the doll house.

Anyway, I had to travel out of my snuggly old home yesterday for a work meeting, and on the way I stopped at A.C. Moore to see if any doll house things caught my eye. It took awhile, but finally the candy canes spoke to me the loudest. And then the cash register.



For just a few dollars, every once in a while, I love to find little things to bring home to Princess of the Universe and her dolls. Little things like this add a fine touch to the doll house that I cannot always figure out on my own.



Upon examining the cute little cash register, the wheels in each of our minds began turning. I'm not sure who thought of it exactly, but we decided to install a doll house general store beneath the dolls' home. It will be a wonderful place to put "leftover" furniture, lamps, and of course the supplies that any doll family would need.

I promise you'll see pictures soon of the Doll House General Store, as well as some other things we've worked on.

A doll house is such a useful thing.

How We Made Our Doll House

First of all, I don't have the money to buy a 200-dollar wooden doll house kit. And secondly, right now I don't have the time to put together a kit like that. I needed a simple and inexpensive way for us to have a fun, usable doll house. The perfect thing ended up being a small wooden bookshelf like you can buy at A.C. Moore or Michaels. I realize that even these can seem expensive, but we found one of ours at the thrift store. The second one I bought new, but if you check your Sunday paper, oftentimes you'll find really good coupons for stores like A.C. Moore and Michaels.

You can see us sitting in front of it playing. It is not fancy, but there are so many crafting hours and good memories tied up in this doll house. I believe that someday I'll have a fancy doll house -- maybe for grandchildren, or maybe for my daughter and me to work on when she's in her teens, or grown. For now, though, this is perfect. We made a trip to a store that sells scraps from area businesses and stocked up on paper, wallpaper supplies, little carpet pieces and little pieces of wood. A thrift store offers much the same by way of old books that you can get pictures from, fabrics that can be cut up and reused, and little miscellaneous items that can be recycled into doll house furniture. Get creative!

In addition to the wooden shelves (if you want to go totally frugal) we decorated two cardboard boxes as two little "loft" rooms that sit, one atop each wooden shelf. We used glue -- you can use either fabric glue or a hot glue gun (just be careful and supevise!) -- to apply the fabric. The room above is nothing more than adecorated cardboard box.

We have splurged from time to time and bought some wooden pieces new (remember those coupons and always look for sales). We've also judiciously picked out some wooden pieces at The Dollar Tree. Some of the above we made ourselves, and I'll post individual instructions about what we all we make.

The kitchen probably holds the least homemade furniture. It is also, for now, a room that's not fully decorated yet. As for the furniture, we lucked out and found the big stove at the thrift store for 99 cents. The table and stools against the wall were a gift. They are currently decorated for Christmas with pipe cleaners. (Remember it's a 10-year-old girl decorating the rooms.) The pretty green table and chairs were a splurge with a coupon.



Another cardboard room (above), the bathroom, with a pretty fireplace made from a paper-towel roll. I'll post instructions on making this later. My daughter likes for this to be the bathroom so the dolls can be warmed by the fire when they get out of the tub. The tub is a recycled soap dish from the thrift store.


One of the rooms in the wooden shelf (above). Do you see Santa hanging by the chimney? Mother is sitting by and the kids are in bed. Perhaps she is making sure they go to sleep. This room has been wall papered with wall paper scraps and glue. The windows were drawn first on drawing paper with colored pencils and then cut out and Mod-Podged into place on the walls. The same goes for the pretty fireplace. My daughter made the large bed out of a recycled metal tin.

All of the above was inexpensive and fun! It just takes time, but the memories you'll create and the talks you'll share make it so much better than something ready-made.

Lynn

PS - Disclaimer: Please just remember to always supervise the use of craft supplies, scissors, glue and glue guns, etc. And remember that small pieces represent a choking hazard for small children. Supervise. :)

Doll House Emergency Supplies

This week we finished up our studies of Storm in the Night.



And you know me. I was inspired to make something for the doll house. As luck would have it - or should I say as the occasion was presented to me, I ran out of my favorite eye cream. The little jar could certainly not be discarded. Anything small has to be considered as furniture or some little thing for the dolls. You'll see the little jar sitting up at the corner of the book, above, freshly turned into a stool that doubles as storage. For now, let's take the top off and see what's inside.



Oh, it looks exciting!!



It's emergency supplies!! A book of matches for the doll house candle, and a flashlight! And they'll always be located in the comfy storage stool so we know how to get to them quickly!



Do you know what the flashlight is made from? The little extension pieces that you would use to increase the size of the posts in a scrapbook! They even unscrew so the dolls can pretend to put in new batteries. The tip, light and switch are tiny pieces of felt that were hot-glued on.



Here's brother, who's pulled the stool up close to sister's bed so he can read to her. She's not feeling well today.



The satin trim on the stool came from an old pair of pajama bottoms that finally wore out, but the tie around the waist was too pretty to throw out, so it went into the "string drawer." The top of the stool is padded with a cotton ball with a circular piece of fabric placed over the top and then hot-glued into place. The final touch was the trim glued around. The little matchbook is just a little black piece of paper folded with the matches drawn onto a white piece of paper and glued inside.

Lynn

PS - Miniatures are fun, but remember they are small and not for children too young to understand about not putting thing in their mouths.

Cute As Pie

Is it just me, or is this just cute as pie?



Do you see the apple pie on the table? I had a bottle cap from my ginger-ale today and thought this would make a perfect doll house pie pan, if only the edges were brought out some.



And what a way to finish up How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World!



This little pie is just a bottle cap with the edges flattened out somewhat by pliers, a circle of felt glued in for the bottom crust, little pieces of felt glued in for apple slices, and felt strips glued on the for the top crust. I think the dolls will have wonderful conversations about Italy and Sri Lanka and England...

Lynn