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