T5 challenge continued

Well, I'm making a big mess with this challenge, lol.
So far I've used the stir sticks, toothpicks, paper, box smaller than 3 inches, qtips, bottle caps, feathers, beads.
Here's a picture (nothing but the box and photo are glued in yet, and not all items are in the picture.

T5 challenge in progress

It's not that nice looking.  Apparently my imagination is miles away from my ability, lol.  I know how I want this to look, but can't seem to do it.

I'm far from done, and there are only a few more days left in the challenge.

It doesn't help that I don't know how to use printies.  I found the cutest little treasure chest printie, but I can't shrink it down enough.

This photo shows the boat, made from stir sticks, the dock made from 4 toothpicks and stirstick left overs from the boat.  The dock is held up by two bottle caps on one side, and the small box covered with crumpled and painted paper (to look boulder like, lol) on the other side.  I have oars made from one double ended qtip, but it's still wet.  I want to make an anchor from a paper clip, and a sword from a paper clip and paper, if possible.  I have some feather trees, but thery're still wet.  I'm going to use the tea from the inside of a teabag as dirt, with part of a buried treasure (more beads) sticking out.  I wanted to make a little shovel.  I still have to use foam, more paper (not cardboard or poster board...I can't think of the name...some sort of paper board, lol).  I'm going to use part of the ribbon as a flag, and part of the ribbon as a rope to tie the rowboat to the dock.
I'm supposed to use thumbtacks...and I forget what else.

Bathroom furniture, for Plastic Canvas dollhouse

plastic canvas bathroom 

I finished the bathroom for my Pink Plastic canvas dollhouse.  The pattern didn't call for a flusher thingy for the toilet, or for facets, but I wanted to add them.  I have to buy silver paint next time I go shopping.  This is a copper color.  I have gold, but it's icky.
I want to make a little glass with a tiny toothbrush for the sink, and I want to drape a towel over the side of the tub.

6 inch tall felted bear in tub

Here's my 6 inch tall bear in the tub, for scale.

T5 challenge

Well, I joined a Canadian online miniature group, and they're having a trash to treasure challenge.  The ladies are all very talented, so my attempt at this challenge is going to fall far short, but I want to try, anyway.
When I first read the list of items we have to use, an idea popped into my head right away.
I read "napkin, tea bag," and thought "Treasure map!"  I thought I could dye the napkin with the tea and crumple the napkin up to look like an old treasure map.  I thought it would be cool to make it a 3D treasure map, with a sunken boat (the mast made of toothpicks sticking up out of the water), an anchor (paper clip),rickety falling apart dock (stir sticks and toothpicks), rowboat (stirsticks), skull (beads from Halloween), palm tree fronds (feathers painted green).  I'm allowed to use felt, a piece of green material, a piece of card stock, foam board, and other things.  We're allowed to use glue and whatever else we need to put it together...I wonder if that includes spackle, so I can make some caves?
Anyway, I have no experience with minis (other than my plastic canvas dollhouses), so even though I have lots of ideas, I don't know if I can put them into practice.
I tried playing around today, and this is what I have so far.  It's very rough...I was just trying to see if it could be done.  There's no stain or paint or anything, and the clamps are still holding the pieces together:

Rickety dock out of 4 toothpicks, 2 caps, part of one stir stick.  Rowboat from stir sticks, left overs from dock.

 

After the glue dries, I'm going to paint the caps grey to resemble cement, and stain the dock and boat.  I have to make a bottom for the boat, out of card stock.  I have weird looking toothpicks that I found at the dollar store that will make perfect oars when cut in half.  The toothpick sticking out of the boat isn't part of the boat; I just put it there to give the clamp something to hold onto.

Mac is on the Mend

I had a scare yesterday. I took Mac to the vet and he tripped on the vet's doorstep and fell, hard.  He cried and cried, and just lay there on his side.  I had to help him up.  Then he fell again on the stupid ceramic tiles in the vet's exam room.  Why on earth wouldn't vets make sure they have no slip runners for the dogs to walk on safely.  I think he hurt himself badly at the vet.
The vet checked him and thought it was Mac's spine.  I had to leave him there for tests and I was a complete basket case.  Thankfully, the xrays and blood tests all came back good.  There's no fractures, no infection, and his discs look good.  The vet thinks he just has inflammation, which is causing pain.  So he gave Mac a shot, and sent him home with prednisone and antibiotics.  I usually get prednisone and antibiotics when I'm sick, so I feel better knowing he's taking these.  He took his pills last night without problem (I hid them under peanut butter, smeared on a dog treat.  Then this morning I hid them in his cream of wheat.  He ate them right up.  The vet said he should start to feel better within a day or so.  He went outside to pee this morning without problems, but I leashed him so he couldn't go far.  He ate and drank and I told him to go lie down and relax, and he did.  He's sleeping on the couch now. I feel so much better that he's on the couch.  I love that dog.

Dollhouse furniture, kitchen

plastic canvas dollhouse furniture, kitchen

Hello!  I finished the kitchen furniture for my pink plastic canvas dollhouse today.  I love the little stove.  The pot and frying pans are erasers from the dollar store; so cute!

I found some tutorials that I'm dying to try.  One is for a mini wall clock, made out of a button, printie, and epoxy resin.  The other is a newspaper made from a printie, paper, and modge podge.
I don't have any epoxy resin; I'm going to look for some next time I go out.

I think I'm going to call the vet back tomorrow.  Mac hurt himself on Sunday night.  He ran into the screen door; neither of us noticed it was closed.  I've since put long strips of masking tape on the screen so we can see it better, but the poor guy already hurt himself.  He's walking without limping, and he went upstairs twice today, and all the way to the back of the yard 3 times, but he whimpered tonight when he took a step.  If he sprained his ankle, he's probably in a lot of pain.  I sprained mine last month and it still hurts if I step wrong, or drive (or walk too much).  I'm hoping the vet will be able to give him something for pain.  I love my boys.  Mac is a big guy, but he's still my baby.

I hope everyone is having a nice evening.  Good night.

Pink Dollhouse, Complete!

Pink plastic canvas dollhouse

Here's the completed dollhouse, from the "My Pink Dollhouse" pattern book, by Karen McDanel, printed by the American School of Needlework in 1993.

It took me about 2 months to cut out and stitch all of the individual pieces, and 5 days to put all of the pieces together (I blogged about the steps earlier).

Interior of house

Here's the interior of the house.  I used sparkly Christmas ribbons to stitch the mirrors, and the fire in the fireplace.  Everything else was stitched with Walmart super saver yarn.  I already stitched up some of the little pieces of furniture...the crib, toilet, fridge, and couch.  The coffee table is from the dollar store, and fits in perfectly.  I still have to make the rest of the furniture...the stove, kitchen table and chairs, tub, sink, bed, easy chair, and end table.

You can't see it in this picture, but I goofed big time when assembling the inner house.  I don't know how, as I kept chanting "make sure the windows are on the outer walls" as I stitched them together.  I stayed up too late the night I put the inner house together, ended up putting the living room fireplace on the outer wall, and the window wall on the inner side.  I think it's because I kept thinking that the fireplace should have been on the outer wall, with a chimney on the side; I don't know.  It bugs me because I was aware that I might make a mistake and made it anyway, lol.  Oh well; it's still cute.  Maybe I can find a way to disguise the inner wall, and put curtains over the pictures by the fireplace so they look like windows showing an outside scene.

The Nursery

The nursery is my favorite room.  Everything is plastic canvas except for the rocking horse (Christmas ornament), crocheted dress and slippers, gift box (made from a "printie", which is just a printable picture that can be cut and folded), gift bag (another printie), and little felt duck (the size of a penny, in the gift bag). The hangers are made from paperclips.

When I made this room, I didn't have the pattern book yet, and the e-copy that I was using was very blurry. I couldn't see what was supposed to be in the frame so I put the ducks in...they were originally supposed to be magnets, lol.  I don't know why the duck necks look so long in the photo when they look OK in real life; it must be the angle of the photo.  I used sparkly ribbon for the mirror, and crochet thread for the little dress and slippers.

Living Room

The living room is my second favorite room, even though I goofed.  I just love the fireplace.  

Everything here is plastic canvas except for the coffee table (dollar store), box of cookies (printie), and plates (plastic inserts from diet coke bottle caps).

Livingroom again, showing my goof up...I reversed the inner and outer walls.
The windows should be on the outside.  Then again, fireplaces are usually
on the outside walls.  Maybe I can disguise the windows somehow, lol.

Here's a photo showing my mistake.  Now, how can I hide those windows, lol?

Kitchen, with fridge open

Here's the kitchen (with the windows on the right walls, lol).  The pattern (for all of the kitchen walls) was supposed to be like the back wall, white with little purple stars, and a purple and white border.  I hated the look of those stars (they look too spider like, lol), so I did the other two walls in purple and mauve stripes, with a matching border.  The fridge doors open and close, and there are 3 shelves for food.  I have little erasers shaped like food inside.  I found them at the dollar store and only bought one package because I wasn't sure they were the right size, but they are.  There's a little pot with a lid, a tv dinner, and two frying pans, one with bacon and eggs inside (I can't remember what's in the other one).  I have all of the pieces for the stove stitched...I just have to put it together.  Then I'll do the kitchen table and chairs.

Bathroom

I love the "tiles" on the bathroom walls.  The pattern is perfect for faux tiles.  The pattern also called for embroidering flowers in the white tiles, but they looked too spidery so I left them out.  I like this cleaner look.  Above the toilet, there's a cabinet with towels stitched right onto the wall.  On the opposite wall, harder to see, there is a mirror, and two towel racks, with a hand and bath towel.  I still have to make the tub (it will go under the window, and the sink (which will go under the mirror).

Bedroom

This is the master bedroom, with a stitched on dresser with mirror, and photos.  The plants in the photos aren't in the pattern book; the ones in the book are much nicer, but I didn't have the book yet, at this point, and was using a very blurry e-copy of the book.  After I stitched this room, a friend sent me a better e-copy of the pattern book, but I didn't want to pull out the stitches to start over so I left it as is.  I think it's cute. I was able to buy a hard copy of the pattern book recently, so if I ever do this house again, I'll be able to put the right paintings/photos in the frames, lol.

Close up of fireplace

Here's a better shot of the fireplace and outer door.  I really love this room, despite the mistake, lol.

Close up of "towel cabinet"

Here's a better shot of the inner bathroom wall.

The toilet lid can be opened or closed.

Close up of nursery

Here's another shot of the nursery.  The little felt duck in the gift bag is the smallest thing I've ever sewn.

Livingroom with doll to show scale.

This dollhouse doll came in a package with a daughter (I can't find her).  I added her to show scale, but this won't be her house.  My needle felted critters will be moving in, since they're unhappy in the Haunted Dollhouse.

Dollhouse construction day 2 and 3

Inner house

Well I was wildly optimistic to think I could construct this dollhouse in one day.  Here's day 2, the inner house, complete.  It was saggy so I used small dowels in between the first and second stories to firm it up a bit.  Once the inner house is sewn into the outer house, it will firm up even more.

This video was supposed to appear later in this post, lol. I don't know how it arrived up here, and I don't know how to move it down; oops.

Inner and outer house, side by side

Day 3 of construction (yesterday), I sewed the outer house walls together, along with the floor.

Porch construction

Last night I added the porch roof, and the porch front and side walls.  These were awkward to sew onto the main shell of the house because the house is so big it was hard to hold and sew at the same time, yet too floppy to just leave standing on the table while I sewed.   I stopped after midnight last night.


On another subject, we had quite a snowfall last night.  We have a winter storm warning in effect today, with white out conditions.  Here's a video I took this afternoon, of the birds, eating at my deck.  They were so unafraid they let me stand right there with the door open as the landed all around me.  The bird video (above) is supposed to go here, lol.

Birds eating

Birds on my deck after March snowfall

Also on another topic, my reborn doll sold on ebay; woohoo!

Latest reborn, sold on ebay yesterday

Putting pink dollhouse together.

Putting pink dollhouse pieces together

I stitched these rooms together.  They look like little roomboxes; so cute.  Tomorrow I'll stitch these together to form the first two floors of the inner house.  Then the attic, and then the outer house.  Hopefully I'll finish it all tomorrow.

Pink Dollhouse pieces done!

Woohoo!  I have all of the pieces of the pink dollhouse stitched!  It took me the entire day (from morning until now...11:30 PM, to do the window sill pieces...the last pieces.  I'm going to put it together tomorrow.  Can't wait to see how it will look.
Take care!

Teeny Tiny Felt Bird

I made this little white bird to go in the giftbag.  It's just a bit bigger than a Canadian penny!

Little Stinker (Mouse)

Well, I've done crazy things in the past, and likely will do them again in the future, but today's crazy thing backfired in a major way.
I love mice.  I love mice cartoons, mice photos, mice stuffed animals, real wild mice...so when I saw a mouse up for adoption at the local humane society, I thought "great".
I adopted a mouse.  A fat, adorable, bright eyed stinker.  I think a pet skunk would smell less.  This little creature's odor could be used as a weapon of mass destruction, if it could be bottled and sprayed. 

Isn't he cute?  I mean, look at that adorable face.  He's friendly and curious and just the cutest little thing.  But he smells so bad I am sick to my stomach.

At first I thought it was just his cage.  I figured it just needed a good cleaning.  On the way home from the humane society, I almost passed out the smell was so bad.  My eyes were watering.  I had to open the window (he was covered with a blanket).

The first thing I did when I got home was to clean his cage.  I scrubbed it with antibacterial soap, and water as hot as I could stand.  I scubbed his little mouse house and his food dish and put down some nice fresh corncob bedding.   While I did this the mouse made friends with my big poodle, Mac.  I don't think I've ever seen anything as cute as the mouse standing on it's hind legs, cupping Mac's nose in his little human-like hands while Mac licked him.  It would have made a a great photo.

Unfortunately, the cleaning didn't help.  The new bedding didn't help. The mouse stinks, badly.  His name should be Stinker, or Pepe Le Pew, or MC Stinker or something.

He's in the bird room now, and Smokey the parrot isn't singing. Noel isn't whistling.  I have the door open a crack to let the air circulate and I can still smell him.  I put as much Vic's Vapor rub up my nose as I could fit and I can still smell him.  The smell is making me sick...headache, nausea.  He's the cutest little guy and i'd love to keep him, but i can't.  He's going to have to go back to the humane society tomorrow. I'd bring him back now, but they're closed.

I feel terribly guilty, but nothing will have really changed for the mouse, except for the fact that he got a car ride, a nice clean cage, some treats, and he made a new friend (Mac).

I'm hard of hearing...is there such a thing as hard of smelling?  If so, the mouse would be a perfect pet for someone like that.  As for me...I think I'll just make a needle felted mouse, give the humane society a donation, and try to stop feeling guilty for not keeping him.  Poor little mouse.

Dollhouse update, and links to cool miniature websites

Well, I got an email saying my dollhouse kits have been shipped today, woohoo! 

Meanwhile, I finished stitching the interior of the plastic canvas dollhouse I'm curretly making. The pattern is called "My Pink Dollhouse", and it's for a 6 room, 3 story dollhouse.  I did all 30 of the interior pieces; here they are:

I'm using a big gift box from the dollar store to hold most of the pieces (I put a ful sized kleenex box next to it to show scale).  I love those dollar store gift boxes; they're perfect for storing craft items.  I have 4 of them, and want more, lol.  They'd actually make great room boxes too; they're already "wallpapered", in tiny patterns.

I've found soooo many great websites for making my own dollhouse miniatures.  My favorites are the trash to treasure websites, where they show how to use regular household items, like broken jewelry, straws, etc., to make miniatures.  Here are a few of my favorites so far:

My Small Obsessions
Creating Dollhouse Miniatures

I also found some terrific youtue tutorials:

I can't wait to try these out.

I also found a wonderful book  called Making Dollhouse Miniatures with Polymer Clay, by Sue Heaser.  It's the best Polymer book I've ever seen, and I'm so excited because it even shows how to make an old fashioned kitchen, complete with woodstove and country sink!  I can't wait until i have all of the supplies I need to try this. 

Doll houses

I' ve always wanted a dollhouse, ever since I was a little girl.  My best friend had a little tin one that was cute, but I always wanted a wooden one.

Lately I've been making plastic canvas doll houses.  I did a small carry and play house called "Bear Cottage" which I blogged about earlier.  Then I did the Haunted Dollhouse.  That's a bigger one, 6 rooms/3 floors.  Now  I'm working on the  "My Pink Dollhouse" pattern.
My Pink Dollhouse

I have all of the interior finished except for the attic floor, which I'm working on now.  I took a break from stitching the house last week and started on the furniture.  I did the toilet first, just because it was so cute, lol.  Then I did the couch, fridge, and crib.  They're also cute:

Furniture for My Pink Dollhouse, with needle felted doll and bear.

The fridge doors open and close, to show 3 little shelves.  I liked it, but thought the fridge looked bare, so I googled "how to make miniature food".  I was amazed by the world of miniatures.  I discovered "printies", small printable decorative items for miniatures.  You just print them out, fold them into whatever shape is needed,  and glue them.  I tried it; easier said than done, lol.  First,  they said to spray the prints with sealant before use.  I didn't have sealant. Plus, my printer needs a new color cartridge so the prints weren't great...I figured I'd just use them as a practice run.  I discovered that none of the 5 types of glue that I have work at gluing photo paper.  So I ended up taping the little boxes together.  I ordered the right glue online.

Then I found a little tutorial on how to make a tiny clothes hanger out of a paperclip.  Of course, I couldn't find my paperclips, lol.  So I used a Christmas decoration hook thingie.  It's not pretty, but it works.

I wanted to also try to make canned goods, but I can't find my dowels (where did I put them?).

Here's what I have so far; they're not great, but you'll get the general idea of what I'm trying to do:

Now the baby feltie has some Cheerios to munch on in her crib.  Her dress is hanging on the little hanger.

When I get the proper materials, I'm going to try this again.  It's a lot of fun.

In the meantime, I took the plunge and ordered a "real" (read, non plastic canvas) doll house kit online last night.  Actually, two kits.  The  main kit is a 5 room, 3 story farmhouse with a wrap around porch.  It's called the Laurel. The second kit, the Primrose, is a two room addition to the Laurel.  Here's a link that shows both:
Laurel and Primrose doll house kits

I am so excited.  I can't wait to see them.

Last week I purchased several plastic canvas books, mostly dollhouses and dollhouse furniture, from a lady who was selling her stash.  She said she put some extras in the box, so I can't wait to see that, either.  So now I'll be watching for the mail carrier like a kid waiting for Santa, lol.

Take care,
Kat

Christmas 2011 Photos

Mom and Dad's tree

Smokey sitting on her present

Nicole, Mom, MacKenzi

Dad

Mom and Dad

MacKenzi modelling the beret and scarf I made her

Nicole modelling the scarf I made her

Mac and Ben opening their presents

Noel ringing his bell.

Mac Christmas morning

Me and Mac

Felties go house hunting

Kinect Disneyland Adventures is an amazing game.  The graphics are gorgeous, and the game itself is magical.  You really have to experience it yourself to understand...it's like being in a cartoon...a Disney Cartoon.  You get to interact with all of the characters, go on missions, go on the rides...which are cartoon adventures in and of themselves.  This game will delight anyone who remembers the magic of childhood, and who wishes to re-experience it, or share it with the children in their lives.
I highly recommend this game.

Moss Collecting

The dogs and I went for another nice walk at Hiawatha Park today.  The weather was gorgeous; sunny and cool.  I picked a LOT of moss, and this time I found some really cool mosses and lichens.  I even found some with elf cups in them.  We had a big wind storm a few weeks ago, and some trees were down, so I was able to get some branches with moss and different kinds of lichen too.  I bought more jars, and big tupperware containers to store the moss.

I'd be in great shape if I picked moss every day, lol.  I bent over so much it was like walking and doing toe touches at the same time.  Man, is my back sore now.

We came out of the bush just before sunset.  As I drove home, the sun started to set.  It was so beautiful that I walked the dogs again, at the Marina, just to enjoy the light.   I love the light just as the sun starts to go down; it seems golden.  Then the sky turned orange and pink.  I wish I would have brought my camera.  I'll post a picture I took a few days ago, of the Marina at sunset.