Merry Christmas!!!

Wow!!! the year went by so fast.... but i did get a lot done this year. My dollhouse is complete now , and the next step is decorating. I made the Christmas tree almost 6 months ago. I only got the kitchen done recently so I did not had enough time to devote to the family house as much as i want to as i am so very busy with the miniatures right now.
But this is what i did so far...grin

e got home from church service and after we had our special Christmas supper, the girls and I set up the family dolls for a portrait picture... lovely!

Note... crazy choice of clothes were not mine,grin, teenager girls!!!!
dad's close up...
Becca in the kitchen... can you see the copper kitchen? this was a gift... it is exactly like ours in a miniature size.love it!

Hallway... many of my paintings will be hanging here later on.... but for now you can see the beautiful stairway... next year we shall decorate with lots of greenery.

Rose, jackie ( our dogs) with kiwi and me :-)

Floors and walls are almost done!

I know , I know... it looks like that my blog is getting cob's web but hey! I like spires!!!*grin*
No, really , I have just working very hard on important things lately. There are so many things to do during the summer.... I need to focus in what is more important to get done because of lack of time and for me right now is our family doll's house.
*as you see*, ((( singing))), grin, THIS has been very important because I can gladly tell you that my floors, walls and stairs.... did I mentioned how much I love these stairs?? Are all done!
the paint is matches my own walls . I can not wait to start making reproductions of my paintings and hanging on the walls but all will take some good time and i am not in a rush as this is such a relaxing and enjoyable project that has taken many people to get accomplished.

The family doll's dollhouse

I am so very excited because our family dollhouse is getting closer and closer to be ready. Our family dolls have been so patiently waiting for their home for about 2 years now. The home project started out on 2010 but it has been a slow process to get it done. I huge collaboration with a meticulous carpenter , and lots of ideas and plans, I am finally able to say that *soon* my living room will have the new dollhouse set up.

This is a quarter scale ( human scale -as any thing in our world divide by 4 is a quarter scale). This scale is miniature however is quite large. I am only able to make our dinning room, hallway and kitchen with the space that we have to set the house. Perhaps in the future I will make another with some rooms but for now, I am glad I have this because like in my own home, our kitchen is the *center and heart* of our home and so it will be for our family dolls. *grin*

The home was build with furniture grade birch wood. This is very expensive wood and very fine too. But for our floors I wanted to be perfectly match with our own wood floors so I went with hand cut veneers. Wow, what a job.... many.... MANY hours to get this done and MANY waste too. they kept splitting as it got cut.

A special shrink table and tools were required to professionally attached the veneers/glue/floors.

The scale is *perfect * to our home.

Here you can see *mine* stairs and the dollhouse one.

Look the details..... a miniature lathe was used to make the spindles... no I did not make them. I wish!

there is NOTHING in this dollhouse that was bought pre fabricated. Everything is costume made to detail , mostly done in a miniature lathe.

I am sooooo excited to start the staining now.... you won't believe what it will look like when is all done............Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh

Welcome to my new readers

I just want to send a warm *welcome* to my new visitors, Teresa and Susanne. I did send invitations for few more friends so you are also welcome and I invite you ((( not))) to be a stranger!!!!!*grin*

I was not able to spend my Wed doing dollie work but I was able to sew a little bit. lots of my newly outfits are from thrift store baby clothes. I try my best not to buy anything that I can make myself or use something that I already have. Shoes is probably the only thing at this time that I rather buy from the Chinese... ohhhhh, I confess,, I can't resist... they are perfection and better than any that I would do my self.

Front of the house progress picture

Now things are starting to look better and make more sense,no?

Wednesday -doll-day.....yeahhh.....I was able do spend a great deal of time in my shop today. i then work at the barns and now I feel accomplished and happy. Gabby made the little video besides the clip below and it is so sweet. I will be posting soon and oh, yes, i must to add that Becca is the one that made/cut all the bricks for me.*grin*

This side of the house is getting the grout between the 'bricks"now . I am truly happy with the material choices because the entire front is very sturdy and yet light weight so far.

I hope you too had a blessed day!!!*grin*

Gabby's first stopmotion clip

Making the front of the dollhouse

Hello there~

I start making my dollhouse last year.It was just on paper plans but the beginning of this year I start making the house it self. I will be showing you bits and pieces but I did not record everything I did so one will see the end results.
The "front' of the house will be detached from the house it self because its size. Just for you to have an idea, the front is 8 feet long... this is a quarter scale to human scale.


I uploaded my pictures backwards,sigh, I do that often,*blushing*. I will try to make sense as much as possible.
The picture below , I am cutting my 'tiles" . the actual titles of my house are 8" long by 2" wide. So for the FD it has to be 2" long by 1/2" wide.
Below are just some samples and not cut to the right size.


I spent 2 days thinking what material to use for the bricks. It NEEDED to be light weight. After experimenting with 3 different materials, I found one that I am super pleased. The picture above is showing a piece of foam, one Styrofoam and the other stuff .The last one is the one I choose. It is cheap and is something used on buildings. I got at the home improvement store. I tested to see if would take paint , and it did very well.

here are the tiles cut.... well.... started.... i will have to make few hundreds...

Most of the dollhouse is made at the wood shop but because we don't have air conditioner there but I do have here at the pottery shop, I "squeezed"things around so I can do some work here
I know it probably does not make a lot of sense but here I am making the base for the front of the house.

This picture was suppose to be placed before the one of the top....sigh.

This is a similar thing that I made in a 1:12 scale. Much easier then what I am attempting now.

Another one in a 1;12 scale. This is for my props....grin

Here you can see the entire piece.

my next pictures for the front of the house will make more sense.

Christmas turkey...yumm!!

Okay, I know I know it is not Christmas yet ,BUT I have many, MANY plans for our family dolls for Christmas , sooooo.... it is never too early to get started!!!*grin*

Making food -again!!! Ohhh... I must confess ....it is SO much fun!!!!!!

Okay, I better get to the point:
I choose a picture online for my turkey dish. I realized that I needed to make grapes , oranges and the turkey. First time for all... so needless to say .... I was nervous!
First I made the oranges ...
here you see.... sliced waiting for texture and color....

It is hard to show but the one I am holding has been texture and shade....ready to be baked.

For the grapes I used translucent fimo and shade with pastel green, I also painted the little leaves

the turkey turned up so good.... I was able to give a texture ( I used paper towels ) that looks just like the turkey skin!!! yeahhhh!!


I will make a second one .... it is for my copper kitchen.... do you want to see progress??let me know and I will post!*grin*

Here is my final dish and the picture I got online...what do you think????

Mini book and me!!:-)

Hello diary and my dear friends~
I confess I have been anxious to show you ...uhh, cough, cough,...me!!!*grin*



So no better way than to also share with you my first book scale for our family dolls.

To read more and take a peek on the inside of the book click here!!!

I hope you all had a blessed weekend like I did!*grin*

sewing day

My dolls!!!!!*smiles*
Hello Diary and my dear ladies!!!*grin*

I have been trying to spend part of my wednesdays doing something for our family dolls.
Today , for most part of the afternoon, I sew and was able to make several new dresses. I cut an easy pattern and it work so nicely that Imade few of it.
Most of the fabric are left over from my own dresses, I am almost done with a dress that I made for my doll from a fabric that is from a new handmade day dress for me. Because I have not been feeling well ( sore throat, yikes) I don't feel like taking a picture but as soon I feel better again, I will and post here.*grin*


I love them!!!!!! Aren't they cute??

sweet Becca!!!

Silly Becca!!!!

Another one finished!

They are almost ready!!!!!!!!!

I have made many many dolls but "NOTHING" compare to the joy that I had making my family dolls. yes, pouring the molds and forever sanding was something that i honestly disliked but I kept thinking how it would be when they were finally done.
Above is kate and gabby....
Here you see Josh, becca and ben
again....
becca LOOOOOOOOOOOVES her doll!!!
Sthef, kevin and are waiting their wigging... mark is sitting at my work table with a plastic cap on waiting for his gray highlights.grin... and clothes of course! Some i am making some I am buying from the Chinese.... they are incredible by the way...


I am having soooo much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

donuts...delicious donuts!!!:-)

Hello diary and girls!!!:-)

I never truly considered making mini food...why?because there are so many people already making and some really good ones BUT, when it came to find food for my family dolls , there were none!!!
Soooo... here I am"making mini food" pretty much for the first time, and guess what ?? i LOVED IT!!*grin*

yes, yes, I am the kind of artist that loooveeees to try some thing new... that is true but the end results is what truly made me happy.

As you see .... i end up with 2 different sizes.... yes... my mistake BUT I am so happy I did because I know some young girls across the country that has larger dolls and I am fixing to mail the large one for them as surprise! I think they will love it.

I made the boxes and even added the plastic.... now what you don't know is that my food actually needs a label.... "don't eat it" not for the looks but because they SMELL like the real thing...how? food scent fragrance...

isn't it cool????

I can't wait to add to our dollhouse kitchen.

I may sell some of my "mistake' sizes on ebay or etsy and honestly i am not hope for new business but give some girls out there with large dolls some fun time!!!!

Stove & Fridge

Hello diary, Nita , Rosa & Christel!!!*grin*


Yesterday , was able to work with couple appliances. I should had taken pictures of what each of them looked like but sometimes my time is so "timed" that I get focused on the most important things and forget that taking WIP pictures is also important.
The stove above is partially covered with masking tape while I am spraying with cream color to match our REAL kitchen gas stove.



This are pictures of the stove almost done. I added the legs to match ours but also because this is the right scale for our dolls. The fridge is one that I bought on a state sale (((years ago))) I think I got for our marionettes but didn't use it. You can only imagine how excited I was when I took out the box and realized that it was "almost" the right size.


"Almost" is right. I had to add a good bit and sand it with a power tool because the fridge was so rusted I almost gave up.I am glad I did not because it turned up very nice, don't you think?

well, I still have some good work to do like painting the fridge and sculpting the handles..... but the stove only needs its legs painted. What do you think???/ Hey, is only the three of you here!!!*big grin*

Oh yes... that is (((me))) today as I got home from church and Gabby snap a picture of me so I can make an similar outfit for my own doll...*blushing*