Happy New Year!

There is a New Year  Eve's party in the Malibu beach house!

Happy New Year!!


Credits:  The dolls are mostly Topper Dawn dolls, with some Heidi Ott dolls and one of my boy dolls from Childhood from the Little Rascals.  The couch is Minimodernistas and the rest of the furniture is mostly PRD Miniatures.   The purple bowl of chips and dip and the plate of cheese on the coffee table are from a N.A.M.E. swap (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts - it is a fun organization to join).

Merry Christmas!

Christmas preparations are under way in the Malibu Beach House (the family has partially moved in as they've given up waiting for the builder to complete the last 2 floors.   The builder got overwhelmed by all the detailed painting required.)

The children are baking Christmas cookies. 

(The cookie baking set is from Sue Ayers on eBay (the shop is sueslittlethings) (with some additions), and the furniture is from  PRD Miniatures(the couch is from MiniModernista).

Santa's elves are making the final toys and having a good time discussing their Christmas party.

Another view - which includes one elf who is wrapping presents.  You can see the little green bear from HannahsMiniatyrer.blogspot.com.  A very happy child will receive him as a present!

I am proud of my handmade wrapping paper holder (made with toothpicks and coffee stirrers).

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And here is the outside of the little house (it is the Miniatures.com 2014 contest build).  Santa's sleigh is being loaded up with lots of presents.  And the reindeer are getting ready for their flight.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

No. 48 - lights, a staircase and a fixed front door.

I finally put in the lights and a staircase in the first floor of my dollhouse (No. 48) for my children, and I re-attached the door that broke when my 2 year-old was playing with it.   I made this dollhouse out of plywood.  The hinge solution is not pretty, but it should withstand further playing.

(We are just getting started on Christmas decorating.)

The kitchen needs some shelves. 

Here are some children cooking in their play kitchen, some children watching TV, and it looks like an exhausted mother bent over the sink there (who wouldn't be with so many children and dogs and cats? (although they seem all quite well-behaved)).

Now how to build the elevator so they can get from the 2nd floor to the next 2 floors. . .

Some Christmas Danish Elves (or Nisse) have come to visit!

Some Danish elves (or Nisse) have come to visit the dollhouse (courtesy of my children) and they look like they have made themselves at home!

Waterside Way - First Floor

So I just attended my first dollhouse fair, last Sunday in New Jersey in person - the Karen Aird Dollhouse Show and Sale.  We drove out - the entire family, including my mom.   It was great.  But it was hard for me to take it all in in such a short time -- although I was the one who thought 2 hours was not enough time!  We got there around 10:30 and left around 12:30 for my son's nap.  Luckily I grabbed lots of business cards and have been following up on certain things I regretted not purchasing.   Previously, I have only participated in online shows (which give a little more time for thinking about what to purchase).   But it was also so exciting to meet the vendors and to start to put faces to names.  One vendor had a box of little things each for a $1.00, and my daughter and I had a great time going through that box.  There were some great finds there.  Both my kids won roomboxes.  They had a a kids' drawing for 4 roomboxes, and there were only a few kids there in the morning (probably because they were giving away 5 dollhouses in the afternoon and you had to be present to win).  I saw many more children arriving as we were leaving.  

Here's another arrangement of furniture in the first floor (lived in by the family).  But this time, the child lives in a loft bed (custom made by Mini Mod Pod  (ModPodMiniatures on Etsy) - I had wanted the Dolls House Emporium silver loft bed, but it was on my wishlist, and then they stopped stocking it (I had no idea they changed their stock so quickly!), but in the end, this one is much better - I love the natural wood!)

Here's the full view:

Here's a view of the kitchen, living room and dining room:

Here's the parents' bedroom and children's bedroom and the WC is behind the loft bed.  I found the kitchen set in a dollhouse store in Denmark that stocked old DHE merchandise (I managed to find a dollhouse store near where we were visiting) - so thrilled with that find!  The shelf is just the wood stick that they give out at the paint store to stir the paint.

The doll is from a hair barrette for girls.

The train as a toy bin is copied from Mini Modern (www.minimodern.blogspot.com)- she did that in one of her childrens' rooms and I thought it was brilliant (obviously), so I have done the same.

I made the little pink pillow and cut out the picture of the children playing from the back of a card.   The clock was a gift in my first NAME (National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts) swap.  I love it.  (I gave a cactus and a book.)

Here's a different arrangement of the family floor - now with the bathroom in the middle (and with a baby as the child).   

And finally, here are the initial preparations underway for a turkey dinner in the 2nd floor apartment (although it needs more food!).  The chairs are from my childhood dollhouse (it's a Shackman table and chairs).

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So Happy Thanksgiving!! And to those who don't celebrate, I wish you a wonderful weekend filled with food, family and friends!

Happy Halloween!

It's been a busy week preparing for Halloween (both in real life and in the mini-town.)

The baker has been busy baking Halloween treats.

My 6 year old daughter and I made these orange spider web cakes based on the American Miniatures Dollhouse magazine issue #138 article by Natalia Antonelli on how to bake a wicked webbed cake.  We simplified it a lot (because we were also playing with Playdoh with my 2 year old at the same time), but we are still pleased with our first attempt.  We used orange and black Fimo clay and then painted it with Clay Charm polish for a glossy look.  We have to work on our making of the little spiders - they're very tricky. :)

Here is my daughter's Halloween party scene in her dollhouse with the cakes (she used black and orange construction paper to set the scene):

And here are my witches having a Halloween party:

The littlest witch has performed a spell making a rather large rat.  The mouse is trying to escape.

And here is the party food with the magically pouring tea:

Happy Halloween!

Lekker Hagelslag - Delicious Dutch Chocolate Sprinkles on Toast for Breakfast

A big thanks to Josje from A Beautiful World blog (http://josje-bouwt.blogspot.com)

who sent me printouts of Dutch hagelslag boxes so I could make my own.  So thrilled!  Here is a very happy little girl about to eat her hagelslag on toast :) And many thanks to Debora at http://petitpunt.blogspot.com/ who was also willing to help me find the Dutch vendor of these boxes.  

In the meantime, I also am still working on my little office area in Waterside Way.  Here is Penelope working at her desk. I made her a dress in orange.  I made the little file folders in the bookshelf from the Dollhouse Magazine (UK) issue 187 (the Christmas issue) as well as the black binders from cutouts in an old Dolls  House World magazine.

A Dutch Hotel Scene

I started building a Dutch hotel lobby and breakfast scene in a shelf to satiate my travel longings.

My father was Dutch, and so we used to travel to Holland once a year, but we haven't been in years because my children are still small.  (We went once when my daughter was almost one.  I think we spent most of the day sleeping in the hotel room because she was up all night with jet lag, so it didn't end up being quite the trip I had planned, although I still got to catch up with my friends there).  

I am planning to build a canal doll house hotel eventually (but that is going to take some time still and more importantly, I need to find some space).   I think a hotel will be fun because I can decorate the rooms in different styles (and maybe even different color backgrounds (like The William Hotel in Manhattan, which I've seen only in pictures).)

Here is the entrance lobby.

I saw the Bespaq hotel lobby key and mail cubby hole cabinet on ebay, but I thought it was too expensive,  Then suddenly, one of my favorite eBay sellers posted this hutch for sale, and I realized that I could just write the room numbers below the key/mailboxes in chalk and it would have a similar effect.  

Of course, it needed a map of Amsterdam in the background (and tulips).   The reception desk is a PRD miniatures table.  And I bought the pink luggage set at the NAME online houseparty in April from one of my virtual tablemates:   Sheila Seme. They are so adorable with the little luggage tags.  The blue luggage is Japan Yujin toys, and I highly recommend them because they open.  My daughter loves to try to pack in them (and so far, they have not broken.)  The luggage stands are from Dolls House Emporium (does anyone have their new catalogue?  do they have a lot of new products?  I wish they still sent out the catalogue for free, or at least free shipping.)

And then here is the breakfast room - I love fancy Dutch hotel buffet breakfasts.   This has been Americanized (with the bagels etc).   I am still looking to add a miniature box of Hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles that are put on toast for breakfast) and other specifically Dutch products.   

I won the Amanda Phillips' toast and jam set from the American Miniaturist contest - which was a huge surprise.  But I was so happy because I had wanted it for this scene.  

The watercolor art is from my friend Anne-Marie Ambelli's art show catalogue . I still have to make some frames for them.  I was happy to find the miniature Nutella on Ebay (as well as most of the other food). 

Hope you enjoy!

Happy Easter!

 

Happy Easter!  Luckily the kids left their toys out in the living room, so there was plenty of places to hide Easter eggs.

 

I made the two baskets on the table from wooden coffee stir sticks.  I cut them with a scissor and glued the pieces to a thick piece of cardboard. I then cut a thin strip from paint color samples (lots of pastel colors available) to create the basket handle.  I painted the one on the left white and purple.  I got the idea from a shabby chic Easter basket that was on sale on Ebay, but went too high for me.  The chocolate bunnies were made by Megan's Minis.  

    Hope you can find the 6 "hidden" eggs! 

 

Happy Easter!!

Credits: bunnies by Megan's Minis; cat and couch by DollsHouse Emporium; coffeetable by minimodernistas; pillows by me; truck and flowers from NAME swaps/auctions; cupcakes from miniatures.com; and the rest is Ebay finds.

Malibu Beach Dollhouse: a white kitchen

I first started building the Dolls House Emporium Malibu dollshouse, but I still have yet to finish. So many pieces and so much painting!  But I did finish the kitchen.  So I started decorating that (although there is more to do).  I've always been tempted to have a white kitchen in real life, but worried that it might be too sterile, so instead I am playing with it in mini (although I don't have a white oven wall unit). 

 

Of course, you need the lemons for proper "staging."

 

 

Credits:  the table is minimodernistas; the tulip chairs are reac; the blue lamp is Heidi Ott; the central white kitchen counter with sink and range is PRD Miniatures; the range  hood is Elf Miniatures; the sink is from my childhood dollhouse (with an updated faucet).

 

And then I thought maybe it needed some more life

 

And so I added the leeks on top of the refrigerator (which I just love - from beautifullyhandmade on eBay, dishtowel (from CariAd Miniatures) and Scruffy the dog and Audrey the cat. 

Hope you enjoy!

 

Waterside Way - Second Floor - Blue Painting

Currently, the second floor is a bit more traditional - except for the living room.  I love the blue painting.  I bought it on Ebay.  The artist name that was given was AK. 

I have always loved the work of Rothko and Miro, and when I moved into my first apartment, I went looking for an abstract blue painting.  The search, similar to the treasure hunt for miniatures, was in itself fun, because you meet so many interesting people along the way.  (I did find my blue painting eventually - by pure chance.  I liked the expressive brush stroke of an artist that I saw at the NY Affordable Art Fair, but I felt I couldn't spend any more during that show, so I just took down the artist's contact information, and later I sent him an email. And then he wrote me that he was having a show in NY in a church basement later that year.  So I went to see the show, and there on the wall was the blue painting I had been looking for!  Which I still love. )  

 

But it is a lot cheaper to buy miniature paintings :) 

 

I am going to try to take a better picture, though, of it, and the room.

 

The Goods:  The couch is from Streets Ahead; most of the accessories are from NAME swaps, and the Keep Calm pillow is a complimentary gift from Mad for Mod.  The table and the plant are from DHE.   

The traveling bellabox - thanks to the Shopping Sherpa!

Some time ago, I entered the Shopping Sherpa's giveaway and won the bellabox!  And here it is:

 

 

It is a really beautiful box.  It came wrapped in wrapping paper as well, so it looked like a present.  Here are the contents at first glance - so excited to have one of the Shopping Sherpa's pouffes and rugs!

 

 

And then of course I had to immediately play with the contents, and so I created this scene:

 

 

 

The purple pouffe, purple rug, wall pictures, pink flowers, green compiled table and green ornament on the table are all courtesy of the Shopping Sherpa. (thanks again!)  The red couches are from my childhood dollhouse - made by my mom.  And the orange table is from Miniatures by Avalon on Etsy.  

 

But now the bellabox has to travel again. . . (although it will take me some time to fill it up with goodies). 

Waterside Way - current interior

Here is the interior currently of Waterside Way.   In this set-up, a single woman lives on the top floor, an older couple lives on the middle floor, and a family with a new baby (and not enough space!) lives on the bottom floor.  The bottom floor apartment is still too clean - at least in my experience - although I tried to put toys all around the apartment.  I also need to add more art. 

Waterside Way

Working on Waterside Way.  Here is the exterior so far.  I modified the roof because I want to build a roof garden on top.  And below is a picture of one apartment's home office. 

The Goods:  Dolls House Emporium, Re-ment, Miniatures.com, minimodernista, Ebay finds and other places, and I made the colorful folders based on instructions from a recent DollsHouse magazine issue.  Hope you enjoy!