Make a Country Dollhouse Table

I made this cute little table out of wood, foam core and mat board. 

I started with dollhouse stair spindles because I couldn't find the proper table legs. I wasn't crazy about the shape so I thought I'd try and change them. 

I used my xacto knife to first shave off some of the wood. Then I sanded the spindles with sandpaper and smoothed them with my new, cool rotary tool that my husband bought me. After trimming, the finished leg length is 2 1/2".

Next I glued two pieces of wood together for the table top ending up with a piece 6"L  x  3 1/4"W.  

I decided on a nice curvy shape for the table apron and drew the template on card stock then traced it onto mat board. The apron width is 1/2" x  5  2/16" approximately, though this was measured for this post after the table was finished. I had to cut off slivers here and there to make it fit, so my numbers are not exact. I learned about the mat board as a building material from Kris Compas of One Inch Minis.

 I cut it out in chunks because it was difficult getting around those curves. I also sanded the cut side with a very fine sandpaper to clean up my edge.  

After that, I notched out the corners of the foam core for the leg placement. I wanted them to butt up against the apron, then I glued it in place. Before that, though, I had to trim the foam core a bit, my measuring was sucky. The foam core measures approximately 5 1/2"L x  2 3/4"W

I dry fitted it together using a bit of Instant Tac to hold the legs in place. You know, the rubber stuff your teacher used to stick paper on the chalk board, instead of tape. Don't forget to remove it before you glue, though. Once I was satisfied with the fit, I started gluing.  

After it was all adhered I realized I probably should have painted the sides and legs first. 

So I did that while it was drying. 

And here it is, a cute little country table!  It's not completely finished, I still have to give it a nicer coat of paint. But I think it's awesome for a first try, even if I do say so myself. 

The finished table is 2  3/4"H  x  6"L  x  3 1/4" W.

Poppy's Bedroom

 I've been working on a little room for a photo shoot. I sewed the bedding and painted all the furniture. There's still some things I want to add but I figured this was pretty good for now. I'm taking way too long at this. The walls are fabric taped to two, 16x20" stretched canvases I had in my cupboard. The floor is my favourite, it's a bamboo place mat.

A cozy bed with lots of pillows. I scanned a picture of Peter Rabbit onto photo paper and made the frame out of mat board. My husband made the bed from clothes pins and foam core. The head and foot board I added using mat board. 

 The lampshade was made with card stock covered in the wall fabric and the doily is two pieces of lace sewn together. The lamp base is made from wire, beads and jewelery end caps. The little bureau gave me such trouble and it's not even finished yet. I still have to sand it an Mog Podge it.  It was a little reddish stained piece from the dollar store and the stain kept bleeding through no matter what I tried. There must be 10 coats of paint on that thing. 

I made the little book the same way as the picture by scanning my flower fairies book onto photo paper. The ottoman was made from a toilet paper roll, a tiny button and some fluff. There's a little more to it than that but I forgot to take pictures of my process. 

The flowers on the furniture are roses from one of those free printables sites that I scanned and glued on, then Mog-Podged over the whole thing. I've never used the stuff before, but I sure like it. 

It was fun to sit little Poppy on the bed and make her look so sweet. Now I just have to take some back views of her so I can list her for sale in my Etsy shop. 

Lydia Mae Green, Rootin' Tootin' Comet Buster!

Illustration Friday topic this week is, Space. 

This is a pencil crayon illustration I did for one of my stories called, 
Lydia Mae Greene, Rootin' Tootin' Comet Buster. 


Story Exerpt:

Before rocket engines and aeroplanes, there lived a girl named Lydia.

Each day Lydia practised her trick roping on Lighting, her painted pinto. He could leap farther than tomorrow and lope as gracefully as the morning mist. Lydia quickly became known as the best―some say, the best in the world.

Meanwhile, many miles away on Curly Maple Hill. Perched atop the highest piece of land in the valley, was a humungous telescope. It peered it’s gleaming eye past the the edge of the sky, beyond the moon, through the Milky Way and now precisely into the face of danger, a gigantic comet―with earth and destruction written all over it.

 A comet bigger than any ever seen was hurtling through space and in exactly three days time...would crash to earth!  Unless something was done immediately, this could be the biggest catastrophe the world had ever seen. What they needed was someone brave enough to travel to the edge of the sky, jump across to the moon and grab hold of the comet’s tail as it passed by. It was their only hope. 

     “We need hero―pronto!”  wailed Governor Noodleblatt.

Shortly, a telegram arrived addressed to Lydia. 

THE FATE OF THE WORLD IS IN YOUR HANDS, MISS GREENE. Signed Gov. J.P. Noodleblatt.

Lydia’s mother fluttered, “If ever there was a call for courage, it’s now, my dear.”

     “I’ll do it,” yelled Lydia, punching the air.

     Errol J let out a low whistle. “Holy Dinah!”

So, Lightning and Lydia, along with little brother Errol J. set off to save the world. 

Mini Madness

Perfect peony. Too bad they didn't last longer.

This year I thought I'd outsmart my lovely little Clarebear and make a walkway for her to stand on, since her favourite pastime is staring at me through the window till I let her in. She can be very unnerving with her commanding eyes. 

 Last year this whole space was full of flowers that she so kindly tromped on. So I layed some stone and made a mini garden.We've had the slate hanging around our yard in piles for the last twenty odd years. When we were young and strong we went up the mountain and collected it thinking we'd make a patio.

My yard is a disaster right now as you can probably tell by the garbage can full of weeds in the background. With all the rain this year I've neglected it, which means now there's ten times as much work. I like the way this turned out so much though, I'll use it in the rest of the gardens that she tears through. The girl has no respect for a hosta. Trouble is, I don't think she likes all my hard work. She won't come in it, you can see her peeking in from the side of the shot. I showed her how it works, but, no. Now she does a lot of staring in from the outside then goes up and rings the doorbell all day instead. We put a bell on a rope outside the kitchen door, sometimes I hide it. I wish she liked her new garden, I did it just for her. 

Here's the view from upstairs looking down.

Oh well, maybe I'll turn it into a bunny park. Be a great place for photos.

Speaking of bunnies, I've been making some props. Lately I've been crazy over all the miniature dollhouse artists I've been seeing. 

There's a story brewing in my head and I need some rabbity rooms to photograph. Just a few more things to make for this room before it's done, then I think I'll make a kitchen next and a birthday cake. That would be fun.   

Out of all the bedroom things I made, I'm most proud of the little lamp and ottoman. 

 Please disregard the nose in the mirror, I think it has a sunburn. 

Wanna Party?

Olga's feeling a little lonely tonight.

Clearly, little Sally Sailor knows the way to Benny's heart is through his apple pie.

Olga, on the other hand, tries a different approach.

She may look shy and demure and she's always appreciated a rabbit in glasses. Yowza! Who wouldn't?  

But just give her a piano, some lively music and a handsome devil to stare at and she's the life of the party. She be bustin' a move faster than you can say, "Play it again, Sam." 

 Ahhh, made for each other. Iggy's a sucker for a bunny in a head scarf. 

Party's over. Bye for now. 

Nothin' Spells Lovin' Like a Pie From the Oven.

My studio got a little messed up with all the sanding and painting I did today for this photo shoot, but all things considered I think it turned out pretty well.  I redid a few things for Sally's kitchen, like painting the furniture and making the wall art from vintage seed packet pictures. And my cute sculpey pie is a perfect prop. I'm going to try and build a full kitchen with a sink, stove and a bigger hutch but I'll have to exaggerate the finishing details. I see from the photos my paint job doesn't show up that great. And of course there will be lots more little household items to include. 

The more I get into photographing these little bunnies for my greeting cards and stories, the more fascinated I become with this mini world. 

My Clean Studio

I finally cleaned my studio and thought I'd better document it as it's not likely to be this clean again, ever, though I will try to keep it this way. Makes life so much easier to start off in a clean room. As you can see this is my sewing area. 

The room's a funny shape, but nice and big for all my junk. The entire studio is 24' long and 12' wide in the sewing area and 10' wide in my drawing/computer area. It used to be our kids rooms when they were home. David tore down the wall and put in a lovely big window for me to stare out of.

But mostly I just stare into Clare's face. Her blanket is right below the window beside my chair where she keeps me company all day long.  I'm afraid I'm going to have to fence that garden area off because last year she stomped on all my flowers. Lucky for me I haven't planted them yet.

This is the smaller end of the room where I have my art table, computer and Clare's bed. And my comfy chair where I usually have my tea and knitting break and watch a bit of Kojak on TV. 

Boy, if you saw what this looked like a few days ago, you'd be shocked. I don't think you could see the desk top. 

Long view of the room.

My fun little shelf above my computer. Love that little elephant lamp. It used to be in our daughter's room when she was little. 

And here's what I've been working on, miniatures. I've been inspired by some wonderful miniature artists lately. So now I've gone mini crazy. Here's my first attempt at an apple pie made from oven baked clay. The plan is to make some realistic props for my rabbit photos. 

Next on the menu, carrot cake, of course.