A belated thank you to Hannah for the lovely Christmas gifts - now added to the Malibu nursery!

I received some lovely Christmas gifts from Hannah, although my pictures do not do them justice.

 

A riding horse, a sheep pull toy, a little angel and 2 books.  I especially love the expressions on the horse and the sheep!

Maybe, here you can see the horse's expression better.

And as you can see, I am still playing around with the Malibu baby bedroom.  I would like to add another bed for a toddler, but then it will probably look crowded. 

Meanwhile, we have a lot of snow here in NYC:

So hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for sledding and hot chocolate!

Happy New Year!

So, this year, I am just going to try to improve some of all my works in progress. And hopefully finish my Malibu dollhouse!!  And organize my craft room . . . 

But I've got help!

Tom's Painting and Handyman Services:  No Job Too Small!

(For those Americans with 3 year olds, I envisions him as the "Handy Manny" of my dollhouse town.)

Right now, he is on the unfinished deck on the Malibu dollhouse.  I am on Step 72 of the Malibu doll house instructions.  I can't remember on what step I was last January, but I think I got at least a whole floor done this past year.   At Step 95, it will be complete; but I also have the additional sunroom to build on top.  (I have not even opened that box yet).   It seems like there are still a lot of steps left (and that includes the staircases)!   I don't know how people do the work they do for the Miniatures.com contest.

Here is Tom!

So hopefully he will get that balcony finished - maybe when I am working or sleeping.   

He is also being hired by the family who lives in 48.  The kids have taken over all 4 upper rooms, so they need a parent bedroom and a bathroom and they can't really expand too much because their land is limited (i.e., no more space in my apartment).  They also apparently need an elevator because the rooms will be where the stairs were supposed to be.

While the kids are having cookie time with a babysitter:

 . . . after making a Gingerbread house - thanks to Kat from Kitty and Kat Miniatures for explaining how to make the icing bags - so cool and easy!  And the gingerbread house is made out of a brown work folder using the pattern from Ann Vanture's complimentary newsletter from www.paperminis.com
.

(someone needs to clean up the mess by the refrigerator and maybe Tom can figure out how to put  the door back on - because I have not yet). 

And playing while Grandpa watches:

the parents are meeting with Tom and one of the local architects

in a very small office.

As for Tom, he was a doll in my stash.  He was wearing this:

 I made Tom's outfit from an old white button-up shirt.   The bottom hem formed the cuff of his pants as well as the collar.

 His painter's hat is made out of cardboard cut to shape with the white cloth glued on with tacky glue.


So hopefully there will be some progress to report soon.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

This year, I made a Christmas scene in a wreath - because I am running out of space :)  -- although I did not really get a chance to finish it completely.

It is Santa's office, and he is making his naughty and nice list.

At the moment though, he is taking a nap and doing some deep thinking of perfect gifts.     He has his notebook on the Top Toys of 2015 as well as Santa's Favorite Toys.

  He has received lots of letters from children, sticking out on the shelf.  Eventually, I will fill that shelf with letters.   And there is a book on Employment Law for Elves on the top shelf.  (I think I bought that at Miniatures.com).   I will eventually fill that shelf with more of Santa's notebooks about toys.  There are only a few toys -- because Santa brings up only those toys that he is thinking about giving specific children in response to their letters.

And his cat, Snowflake, really likes to bat at the hanging garland.   It is very tempting hanging there.

He has a carrot for any reindeer who pop by his window.

 Merry Christmas!

Making a Super Easy Hanging Star/Snowflake

Well, it's super easy if you have a star punch.  I bought the Martha Stewart Arctic Snowflake punch.  The snowflake is about 1 1/4 inch long.  And I had glittery white paper from another mini project (of making mini tree topper angels).  

One of the things I liked about Christmas in Copenhagen were all the stars in the windows of people's homes.  (I also liked all the little elves everywhere (called Nissen)).  


Cut 4 stars with your paper punch and glue the pairs together so that the glitter paper is on the outside.  Then make a cut in the star a little bit past the center.

(Lots of toothpicks lying around in the background.  I think toothpicks are my number 1 tool.)


And insert them into each other and then I made a hanging string by sewing a string into it. 

And then I hung it in the window. 

And to quote Dr. Seuss in The Cat in the Hat:  "And that's not all, no, that's not all."

You can also sew the stars together in a garland.  This was a project in The Dolls House Magazine December 2014 issue.  

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Happy Sinterklaas Day! And Paper Source Christmas decorations . . .

We are just starting our Christmas decorating.

For any Americans, the store Paper Source has these little wooden moose and trees on sale. There are 25 in a bag and the green trees are called "Green Tree Table Scatter."   I have no idea what you are  supposed to do with them in real life - it seems a bit odd to throw them around a dining table as tiny decorations.

But the moose stand up on their own as a little dollhouse decoration (as demonstrated above).  And I put some 1-step lightweight spackling compound in a button and stuck the tree in that.  The spackling compound looks like snow to me!

Happy Sinterklaas Day!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Credits:  Moose and Tree from Paper Source; the lights are from Dolls House Emporium; the side table is from PRD Miniatures; the little green and silver purse on the table is from Ginger Landon Siegel: http://www.picturetrail.com/gingerlandonsiegel; and I bought the little box of ornaments at Michael's.

Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Times with Friends and Family and Good Food!

The older couple in Waterside Way is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for their visiting children and the other families in Waterside Way, so they have been busy cooking.    The neighbors from downstairs also brought up their table so that they would have enough table space.

(As always, it was pretty exciting when my lights worked.)

The chocolate chip cookies are for the kids (and the kids at heart). 

Making potatoes and soup.  There is turkey on the range (yes, it's a bit hard to tell what that is, but I found it in a eBay lot that I bought)

They spend a lot of time traveling, so they have some fun souvenirs, like the diving helmet.   I bought that at the Karen Aird show last year from Diane Paone Miniatures.  (The Karen Aird show this year was last weekend, but I couldn't go because my daughter's best friend was having a birthday party.  I was a bit bummed that I couldn't go (as only fellow miniaturists can understand).)  The little rabbit on top of the refrigerator is a rabbit-shaped carrot cake that I made when I was a kid.   Its ears are made of carrots :)

I bought the bowl of broccoli (as well as the tray preparing soup/stew above) at the Tiny Doll House shop in NYC, and I bought the bowl of carrots on eBay from Sue's Little Things.   She may have also made the chocolate chip cookie set.  

Happy Thanksgiving 

or 

Happy Times with Family/Friends and Good Food!

Malibu Dollhouse - Parents' Bedroom

Making slow, but steady progress on my Malibu dollhouse. Varnished and installed the floor; found the plexiglass windows for the balcony doors (which were not in the box that I thought I should have left it in for safekeeping while painting the doors), and installed lighting.

I am super thrilled with my butterfly lamp from GiginStudio (Gigi n Studio) on Etsy.  I bought it many years ago for this room, and it has sat in its box until now.  In my mind, I started to worry that it was huge and that it wouldn't actually work.  But it did!  And it is just what I wanted.   I love the light it provides.

The shoes are by Patrizia Santi via her website.  The sleeping dog is from Trinkitbelle on eBay and the sleeping cat is by Annie Willis.  The bed is from MultiforMiniatures on Etsy. I love this bed.  I first featured in my New Year's Eve post earlier this year.   The painting is by A.K. Delaney, bought on eBay.

Through the Malibu windows:

Happy Wednesday!