New Dollhouse Kit

I have some very exciting dollhouse news to share. A brand new dollhouse build is on the horizon!

Hobby Builders Supply contacted me recently and offered to send me their Denise's City Cottage Kit to build and blog about. I am so thrilled to be considered for this honor. Hobby Builders Supply is "the go-to place" for just about any miniature you can imagine. They have been selling dollhouse and miniature supplies through their print catalog for over 35 years and online at miniatures.com for more than 20 years.

I'd like to spread the word about the HBS miniatures.com 22nd Annual Creatin' Contest. The Denise's City Cottage is this year's contest kit. Now, I won't be entering the contest (to be fair to those who purchased the kit to enter), but this is an amazing contest with a grand prize of a $1,000 gift certificate. There is a limited quantity of the Denise's City Cottage kits available, so get one before they're all gone. Deadline for contest entry is December 16, 2015, so there is still plenty of time to build your kit and enter.

If you want to be inspired, check out all of the entries from the last 21 years of Creatin' Contests by clicking here. Once you're there, you can see pictures of every entry by clicking each year's contest in the column to the left.



Here is a sneak peak of the contents of the Denise's City Cottage Kit. Straight out of the box...

The windows and door.

Just one page of instructions, so it should be pretty simple to put together.

Now, an important part of the creative process will be to decide exactly what this kit is going to be. The architecture of this kit easily lends itself to a modern design style with it's curved roof, contemporary style windows, and gliding door. This definitely does not look like the traditional family home. It could be a studio apartment in the city or a boat house on the lake. I am inclined to do something different with it though, to color outside the lines... I am drawn to think outside the box... I'm thinking about an old fashioned General Store. Well, that might be a bit of a stretch and a real challenge to create something old fashioned out of a modern style design. Can it be done? What do you think?

 Hugs ♥

Dollhouse Update Tour

Hi Doll Friends,

I thought I'd share some scenes from the dollhouse today. If you've ever worked on a dollhouse, you'll know that a dollhouse is never truly finished, but they continue to be worked on and evolve much like our own homes. I am always on the lookout for new and old things to add to the dollhouse, and I have a plethora of dollhouse ideas just waiting to be accomplished.

So this will be a kind of tour of how the dollhouse looks as of today. Here is the exterior front of the house. Plans are to add lots of greenery and flowers, so the curb appeal will be changing soon.

Out on the veranda, is the new barbecue pit that I picked up at Michael's last weekend. On either side are red metal patio chairs.

A close up of the metal barbecue pit. The cute red gingham towel came with it.

At the other end of the veranda is the rabbit hutch and a twiggy chair.

Continuing our tour inside, we'll start in the kitchen. There are black and white checkerboard floors and red wallpaper. I custom built the rustic cabinets, island, and the appliances.

The dining table is set for a lovely tea party.

The style in the kitchen is a bit of vintage shabby chic with a touch of Mary Engelbreit.

Next door in the living room, you'll see my custom made ceiling fan. Click here for a tutorial to make your own ceiling fan that really spins with manual power. I am planning to make a shabby chic slip cover for the sofa and chair. This was my last room to buy furniture for, so a lot of finishing touches are still needed in here. Lamps, doilies, artwork, and much more to come.

Heading up the stairs to the 2nd floor brings us into the craft room. All manner of sewing, arts, and crafts goes on here. Mom is busy at the sewing machine, and her friend, the little primitive clothespin doll, has stopped by for a crafting party. She has brought a basket of craft supplies and snacks for the party. The french door opens out onto the upstairs balcony. The door on the left goes into the master bedroom.

The master bedroom has pink floral wallpaper and hardwood floors.

There's a comfy quilt on the bed and lace curtains on the bay windows. I found the little walnut table that's in front of the window at an antique store last weekend. The table has six legs and is marked Strombecker on the bottom. It is from the 1930's.

The bathroom is situated on the 2nd floor next to the master bedroom. It has dark blue tile floor and light blue walls with white wainscoting and lacey trim.

The metal washtub and washboard are next to the sink. The linen cupboard is filled with fluffy towels and tissue paper. Hanging above is the rose plaque that I painted on wood.

Finally going up the stairs to the 3rd floor, you'll find the kids room.

The back wall of the kids room has fairy garden wallpaper. The kids love dollhouses, so you'll see there are quite a few in their room, along with their various other toys.

They love the tiny Kewpie dolls that I bought last weekend at the antique store.

The kids decide to have a tea party to try out their new table and chair set.

On the other side of the room is the nursery where Amelia Thimble is babysitting quite a few little ones.

Inside the crib is a tiny Heidi Ott infant dressed in a white crochet dress and bonnet.  A tiny Pinocchio mobile hangs above her crib.

Two Renwal toddlers are playing in their 1950's Renwal playpen. I found a little Sunbonnet Sue quilt that fits perfectly in the bottom to keep them comfy.

Here is a final view of the whole inside of the dollhouse at once.

I hope you enjoyed our update tour of the dollhouse. Please leave your thoughts, questions, and suggestions in the comment section below. I'd love to hear from you!

 Hugs ♥

Thrifty Finds This Week

Hi Doll Friends,

We hit some of our favorite stores and antique malls this weekend, so I thought I'd share some of our thrifty finds. If you like miniatures, you should definitely check out your local Michael's. They have just put out a brand new selection of dollhouse miniatures. One of the two Michael's stores that I went to had placed the new miniatures on a completely different aisle, separate from their old mini stock.

I only picked up a couple minis from this new line, because I like to use a coupon to get a bargain. I'll definitely be going back for more though. There were so many cute new minis that I hadn't seen elsewhere before. I got this adorable metal barbecue pit. It is just so realistic. It was one of the more expensive miniatures at $8.99, but it was still only $4.50 with the coupon.

I thought these little metal guns were very realistically detailed too. They are actually made of metal, not resin or plastic. They came two to a pack for 4.99 before the coupon.

I'm planning some new craft projects, so I also picked up this set of 36 Artist's Loft watercolor paints on sale for just $2.99

At one of my favorite Antique Malls, I found this very old, antique doll trunk. It is made of metal and wood, and it is probably from the late 1800's.

My daughter has been collecting old primitive wooden boxes, and when she found this old doll trunk in our favorite primitives booth, I just had to buy it.

I'd love to know the history of this old doll trunk. It's fun to just imagine who it belonged too, where it's been and what treasures it held.

I also picked up this sweet little primitive stuffed sheep from the same booth.

I found lots of dollhouse miniatures at the antique malls too. These two tiny vinyl Kewpie dolls will be perfect toys for the dollhouse at just under 2" tall.

I also bought a miniature old fashioned metal washtub and washboard and a tiny brass umbrella stand.

This adorable miniature red wooden table and chair set is painted in a dutch style I think.

I really love the chippy paint on this little cast iron potbelly stove.

Here it is with my Gone With The Wind Mammy doll that I got at the doll show.

It must have been a day for finding stoves, because I came home with quite a few. This is another cast iron Queen stove to add to my collection. Mini American Girl Samantha volunteered to show you how big it is.

This is my third cast iron stove, but the neatest thing is that all three that I have found are different sizes. This latest find is a medium size when compared to my other two.

Mini American Girl Kirsten shows off another new stove. This is a vintage German MFZ tin lithographed stove, probably from the 1940-50's.

Ann Estelle is claiming this rusty old vintage Marx Pretty Maid tin stove for her kitchen. It is also probably from the 1940-50's.

Her Mary Engelbreit teapots look very new against this rusty old stove, but Ann Estelle thinks it will do for now.

Ruby, my Ruby Red Galleria Bleuette shows off this antique reproduction buggy that I found at an antique mall.

I added a tiny antique China to my growing little china doll collection. She's the little one in the rusty orange dress.

I purchased this little 6" China from my local doll club friend who travels to doll shows all over the country, buying and selling antique dolls.

The back of her shoulder plate is marked Germany.

I just love her tiny sweet face.

This last one was an eBay find, a 4" tall Itty Bitty Hitty. This 4" version is also carved from wood by Robert Raikes. She is dressed in a burgundy print dress with an ivory pinafore. She is jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips. Here is Itty Bitty Hitty with my traditional size 6 1/2" Hitty.

I hope you enjoyed seeing our latest thrifty finds. Please leave a comment below to tell us about your latest fun finds.  I'd love to hear from you!!!

 Hugs ♥