Merry Miniatures: Decorating My Wooden Dollhouse

After assigning a room for the dead, I turned my attention to the living, more specifically, the living room. Below are this year's Halloween decorations for the second floor.  I purchased the foam spider webs last year from my local Michaels store. They're actually drink coasters, but I never wound up using them as such; they're just too decorative to hide under mugs. The rubber eraser cat is a gift I received from a student I once tutored. So adorable and thoughtful (the cat and the student, respectively).    I made the notebook featuring Frankenstein—or rather Frankenstein's monster, to be accurate—using only printer paper, permanent marker, and craft foam. The ghost mug required even fewer materials, just a tad more manual dexterity. If you'd like to make your own notebook and mug, watch the following YouTube video, starting at timestamps 4:21 and 5:33, respectively. To craft the pumpkin, I started with a stuffed ball I had knit...

This post marks the debut of my dollhouse attic, and what better way to introduce it than by featuring a trio of ghosts? I knitted the 2 smaller ghosts using US 6 needles, Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in the color White, and Caron Simply Soft Solids in the color Black. The pattern I followed is called "Little Ghosts," designed by Alexis Hamann-Nazaroff.    Here are the ghosts with 2 LED tealight candles on the outside, ... ... and here they are with the candles on the inside. The third ghost was made from a different knitting pattern, Trixie Zynch's "Gus & Augustus GHOSTS." I didn't have enough yarn to knit both versions, so I opted for the slightly taller Augustus, shown below, using Red Heart Super Saver Solids in the colors White and Black. Stay boo-tiful, my friends!

This post marks the debut of the downstairs patio of my dollhouse. For only a short while I debated which diorama to display. Approximately 3 months ago, back in June, my husband suggested featuring a hot tub as the main centerpiece, an idea that I instantly loved, although I knew it would take more time and effort than usual to acquire all of the necessary materials and then put them together. Thankfully, I had 2 important teachers to assist me: patience and perseverance. For the hot tub, I used a clear plastic spinach container, first peeling off the sticker on the bottom, then applying adhesive remover to get rid of the remaining sticker glue. Next, I trimmed the perimeter with scissors and superglued approximately half a sheet of blue construction paper to the bottom of the container, on the outside. To the inside of the container I glued the bottom half of a clear plastic cube that came with a card game. After allowing the glue to dry, I trimmed the construction paper to ...

It's that time of year again, for K-12 and college students alike. While crafting the dollhouse decorations below, I kept in mind what a 9th grader might be studying this semester: introductory art, biology, and algebra. This is the YouTube video I followed to make the backpack and sketchpad. (See timestamps 2:20 and 7:23, respectively.) My version of the backpack features several modifications to the original design, some accidental and others purposeful. For example, I didn't realize that the foam edging for the top part was too thin until it was too late, so I improvised by creating a roughly semi-circular hole with an X-Acto knife. Meanwhile, I deliberately added stuffing to both the top and bottom parts so that the other school supplies wouldn't disappear when I placed them inside the openings. As a bonus, the stuffing helped fill out the shape of the backpack, perhaps giving the impression that the miniature student is carrying more than meets the eye.   H...

As you probably already know, this summer Americans and Europeans alike are experiencing record-breaking temperatures. Thankfully, for those of us with neither central air conditioning in our homes nor access to a swimming pool, there are other ways to stay cool. Here are 4 simple tips.  1. Stay hydrated. According to Medical News Today , "drinking cool liquids, such as water or iced tea, can help reduce body temperature by cooling the body internally. The regular intake of fluids can also prevent dehydration, which can increase body heat." The bottles below are from a set of miniature foods that I purchased through Amazon. 2. Stay in the shade. If you have to be outdoors, try to avoid direct sunlight. You could, for instance, hang out under an umbrella. Speaking of which, I found this video to be quite helpful:  While following the instructions for my dollhouse umbrella, I made a few modifications. For example, I traced the circumference of a bowl onto a sheet of constru...

Time for some functional decorations for the upstairs bathroom. Here's the video I watched to make the shampoo and conditioner bottles: As you can see in the following photo, I made a few modifications. I started with pink and white construction paper, to which I later applied clear packing tape for a glossy finish. Trimming the excess tape with scissors proved to be a bit trickier than anticipated, but, serendipitously, the bottles look as though they were recently wrapped in plastic packaging, resembling some of their 1:1 scale counterparts. Another issue I encountered was attaching the bottle caps. Initially, I followed the instructions in the video by using a glue stick, but that failed (for some reason), so I turned to superglue. Again, no luck, probably because of its liquid form and the relatively little surface area available. Tacky glue to the rescue!   For the razor, I first glued a small rectangle of aluminum foil to a slightly larger rectangle of black cr...

Dining at home on cafeteria-style trays may not be the most romantic idea for a date night, but sometimes, you have to made do with what's currently in your fridge or pantry before it expires. At least you can spruce up the dining room a bit with some interesting decor. For the tablecloth, I used Becky Greene's "Confusticate These Dwarves!" pattern, along with US 7 knitting needles and South West Trading Company Bamboo yarn in the color Navy.  I also made the chandelier, using thick scrapbooking paper instead of printer paper for greater durability.  The remaining items I purchased through Amazon. I'm honestly not quite sure what the following entree is supposed to represent. A slice of meatloaf topped with gravy and pureed peas? Or a slice of bread topped with chicken pâté and wasabi?     The second entree is just as mysterious as the first. My best guess is a spoonful of macaroni and cheese and two small pickles on top of a baked potato.   To e...

In my 1:1 scale life, I use just 1 purse all the time (until it inevitably needs replacing), but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make 3 for my 1:6 scale dollhouse. To me, binder clips resemble miniature purses all by themselves, so most of the work is already done. Hurray! For each purse, I first removed the metal wire loops of the binder clip, leaving just the triangular prism base to work with. Then, after prying open the top, I attached a short piece of yarn using Loctite Super Glue Liquid to create the handles, and with GO CREATE EZ Shape Non-Dry Modeling Clay, I made matching shapes to decorate the body. The next step was to apply Mod Podge gloss to the right side of each decoration. Finally, once the gloss finished drying, I glued the wrong sides to the front and back of the base. The large purse features clay hearts and Loops & Threads Charisma Big! Solids yarn in the color Cornflower. After rolling out a piece of clay, I used a toothpick to trace the outlines of 4...

British novelist Shirley Conran once said, "I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it." To that I add, "I would rather make miniature cleaning supplies than actually clean." So last weekend, instead of vacuuming the carpet in my human house, I crafted 6 janitorial items for my dollhouse. It was twice the work but also twice the fun. Actually, make that quadruple the fun; vacuuming sucks. (Pun intended.)  Below are the visual instructions I followed to make the bucket, paper towel roll, and mop. (See timestamps 0:50, 3:00, and 5:32, respectively.) For the bucket, I used the cap of a hairspray bottle instead of a yogurt cup and a plain steel paper clip instead of one coated in plastic. As a finishing touch, I added soap bubbles in the form of cotton stuffing. The paper towel roll turned out rather well, on the first try, no less.  The mop was a different story. On my first attempt, I used too much of the wrong kind of yar...