Missing Willow Farm

Alpha Stamps recently announced a few new tiny dollhouse options and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them! One is a Quarter Scale Dollhouse that stands just under five inches tall and the other one is an even smaller version that has holes on each side so you have the option of turning it into an ornament. I started with the smaller of the two, a Quarter Size Dollhouse Ornament. This one is included in the November Kit along with some awesome things you can use to decorate the interior with.

It’s a cute little thing that is ¾ inch deep once it’s assembled with a bit of tacky glue.

The kit comes with this Quarter Scale Dollhouse Furniture Half Sheet which includes this little wallpaper/flooring combo that fits perfectly inside the dollhouse when folded. It also included an oval rug image that I couldn’t resist.

I got out my smallest paint brush and painted the window frames and door frame overlay with ivory acrylic paint. The building’s exterior was painted a deep green. For the windows, I shrunk one of the images from the Stained Glass Digital Set Download then printed duplicates and glued them in place. This digital set has 29 images to choose from, each one prettier than the last.

I used something new (for me) to attached the building’s front to the main structure of the dollhouse – hinging tape. It’s a white tape with water activated glue. I cut a little piece to the size I wanted, scored it then set it in place. It was then painted over to match the green of the building.

The November kit also comes with this chipboard set of Tiny Flat Furniture Shapes for making little furnishings. Sooo many possibilities with these things. I knew I wanted to feature a few ‘treats’ inside the ornament so chose a little table top that got painted ivory.

The kit ships with a few wooden blocks/rounds included that you could use as a table base but I had this single carved bead in my stash that matched perfectly. I set the table with a chunk of cheddar cheese and a cluster of white grapes made from polymer clay. I made a cracker using the Mini Silicone Biscuits and Bread Mold and topped that with a slice of pepperoni from a polymer clay cane. Charcuterie anyone? Stop by for a snack!

I attached a wire loop before gluing down the two roof sections. It was finished with the installation of Tiny Scalloped Shingles. I added the smallest little 7 mm Resin Clock Cabochon (another kit item) and a tiny porcelain mouse to welcome you home.

Next up is the Quarter Scale Dollhouse. Here are all the pieces laid out ready for assembly. On the left side of this photo you’ll see the horizontal piece that acts as a divider so you can get two floors inside the structure. I wanted to use the entire height of the dollhouse interior so set that piece aside.

The interior was going to feature some sort of dark woods. This Meeting the Wolf Collage Sheet has the perfect gloomy feel. I cut around the Red Riding Hood image (sorry, Red!). The side walls were cut using the dollhouse walls as a pattern before assembling the structure.

Looks pretty gloomy to me! All of the structure’s edges were painted before assembly.

The front of the dollhouse has three facade strips with windowpane and doorframe cut outs. I used a brick paper from Honey Bee Stamps Home Essentials for the exterior. The window openings were marked using the facade strips as a template. The openings were then cut using an x-Acto knife.

I painted the window grilles (yes, I had to google what those things are called) black and chose a really pretty yellow/orange image from the same Stained Glass Digital Download Set as before. The front of the building comes together like a layer cake. The structure front has the stained glass images showing through the window. This is topped with brick paper that has the window openings cut out, then the papered facade strips. Before all those layers get glued down….

I attached the front of the building to the side using my new best friend hinging tape. I cut a piece to the size I wanted, scored it, glued it in place then painted the fold brown so it would blend in. Love love love those stained glass windows!

The hardest thing about the 1:12 Gingerbread House was choosing the colors I was going to use. These little things are so fun and satisfying to decorate.

For embellishing the finished house, I pulled from the Mixed Fruit Polymer Clay Slice Mix, the Polymer Clay Cakes Slice Mix, the Minty Cool Christmas Polymer Clay Slice Mix and a few slices of a Polymer Clay Lime Cane. The roof is trimmed with Stickles Sea Glass glitter glue.

I look forward to making a few of these little gingerbread houses every Christmas and finding new settings to place them in.

The Quarter Scale Dollhouse includes a set of door and window frame trims, those all were painted ivory. The roof was finished with more of those Tiny Scalloped Shingles. Final details include a Narrow Cabinet Door Handle and a set of Raw Brass Box Feet Cones.

The gloomy woods were completed with a section of mini green grass mat for the ground and a few model train trees for the forest.

Happy Holidays and thanks for stepping by! You will find all of the pretty little things I used for these projects right HERE.

Every now and then I make something just for me. This is one of those somethings. We got a Nintendo Switch last Christmas and it has kept us entertained as we have been staying safe at home. My favorite game by far is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. During Link’s adventures he discovers a house that is being torn down and would I like to purchase and fix it up? You bet! Here is my version of the finished home.

I gave the walls a rough plaster look with a thin layer of modeling paste.

The furniture was designed by me and cut with my Cricut. There are potions made from resin and a slice of fruit cake. Besides defeating monsters and machines, there is also cooking in this game.

Link uses his home to store extra weapons and shields. I made these from polymer clay and chipboard. The basket of fruits, mushrooms and vegetables in the storage box on the floor are cooking ingredients you gather in the game.

I made the table from craft sticks, the plates and food (goat butter and veggie cream soup) are made from polymer clay.

Majorca’s mask is also made from poly clay, so is the monster cake in the shelf below it.

Ya – ha – ha, you found me!

If you’re a fan of the game, you get it. If not… look at the cute little room I made!

I have always admired accomplished women and Julia Child certainly embodies that description. She is known and loved worldwide. Her awards include 3 Emmys, 4 James Beard Awards, a Peabody, a National Book award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

She donated her Cambridge, MA kitchen to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian in 2001. It’s where her TV show was frequently filmed. I was inspired to make this homage to her favorite room, which she described as “the beating heart and social center of her household”.

The cabinetry, counter, butcher block and stove were all hand built by me to emulate the look and feel of the space to the best of my ability. I determined that the counters would be 3 inches high and 2 inches deep and got out my graph paper to see how much I could realistically fit into a Deep Open Front Room Box which is 10 inches wide by 10 inches tall by 5.5 inches deep. The pieces I designed were cut from medium heavy chipboard and everything was assembled using tacky glue.

This room box has a front piece that adds an additional 2 inch facade to the top of the structure. Here I am holding it in place to decide if I want to include it, along with the roof/ceiling of the structure. I eventually decided I wanted the room open so all of the miniature details could be easily seen. The floor is a sheet of DCWV Photoreal linen paper that I thought looked like 1950’s linoleum. The countertop is a woodgrain paper. The walls were painted with acrylics, the cabinet pulls are straight pin heads. The sink was molded from polymer clay.

The kitchen window has blinds that I made by cutting a section of a manila folder the same width of a 4 Panel Rectangular Window then scoring it into pleats. You can’t really see the sunny blue sky outside with the blinds on top but that’s OK… I know it’s there.

When I made the decision to leave the ceiling off of the room, that left me with these upper tabs to cover. My solution was to paper the exterior all the way to the top of the tabs then glue 0.2 inch square bamboo craft sticks to the top of the tabs. Below those I glued lengths of 3/8 inch width x 0.078 inch craft sticks which emulates a crown molding at the top of the room.

That pegboard was quite a project, and Julia had boatloads of it in her kitchen! I cut chipboard to the dimensions I wanted then gave it a coat of acrylic paint. I taped a sheet of ¼ inch square graph paper on top of it and poked all those little holes using a pottery needle tool.

After deciding where I wanted hangers in each peg board, I expanded those holes using a tiny drill and threaded straight pins that I bent at a 90 degree angle through them. The pins were taped in place right before I glued the peg boards to the walls. That kept them from shifting around.

Now for the fun stuff – decorating the space with some of the Alpha Stamps incredibly detailed kitchen miniatures!

The cat and artichoke artwork she displayed on her cabinets were reproduced and set into two of the Mini Frames Set. The planter on top of the cabinets holding yellow flowers is one of the Set of Miscellaneous Flower Pots that I washed well and painted with a few coats of acrylic paint.

Between the window and the cabinet I hung a couple of mini cookie cutters and a Large Strainer (which I adore). Below the window hangs a collection of knives.

The magnetic knife strip is made from a wooden craft stick painted silver. The black ones are from a set of Miniature Carving Knives. The red handled one at the top is from a set of Butcher Block Tools.

The poly clay sink was completed with a Sink Spigot with Faucets. It’s perfect! To the left of the sink you’ll see a Miniature Dish Rack that holds another tool from the Butcher Block Tool set, a Silver Muffin Pan, Metal Scoop and cup from the Mini Pitcher and Measuring Cup Set. Below the dish rack are shelves that hold a Vintage Mixing Bowl nestled inside the Rustic Green and Yellow Fruit Bowl Set. Below that are a Set of Metal Mixing Bowls.

The kitchen counter holds a bar of poly clay soap sitting in one of the dishes from a White Plastic Mini Serving Dish Set, a mixer, a Retro Silver Toaster, the Mini Wooden Spoon and Wire Wisk Set, some items from the Kitchen Utensils Set and a miniature rolling pin. On top of the butcher block sits a few of the Butcher Block Tools. The peg board holds a Copper Bundt Cake Pan, the Mini Ladle Set, a Spatula and more of the Utensils Set.

Julia’s kitchen table is a rectangle of chipboard with a Set of Wooden Table Legs glued to the bottom. The yellow tablecloth is a piece of cotton that I dipped in a glue/water mixture that was draped and allowed to dry. I made the fruit basket and bananas from polymer clay.

The pegboard above the stove stores pot lids from my stash, a Meat Cleaver Charm, Mini Working Scissors and the whisk from the Mini Wooden Spoon & Wire Wisk Set.

The little shelf holds a White Canisters Set, a jar of mustard I made from a turned wood blank and the most adorable Salt and Pepper Set I’ve ever seen.

The stove holds a Copper Tea Kettle and some copper pots and pans I had in my stash. The peg boards between the stove and cabinets hold the Mini Cast Iron Frying Pan Set, some Copper Bundt Pans and more pots and pans from my stash that are similar to these copper and silver sets.

This project was truly a labor of love and a chance to stretch my artistic abilities. HERE is the supply list of the all the great kitchen miniatures that made this project possible.

I have another project for Alpha Stamps today, one that is perfect for the season. This little stand works perfectly for a Halloween sweet treats market booth. I could see using this piece for so many different projects – a hot chocolate stand, Christmas market stall, farmer’s market stand, bakery pop-up, the possibilities are endless!

I started this project by making a platform from a House Ornament Base and a Small Brick Wall Stencil. After stabilizing the stencil with painter’s tape, I applied texture paste with a palette knife.

Once the paste was dry, I painted the entire surface with an off white acrylic paint which would become my grout color.

From there, I just randomly layered different shades of brown and orange paints onto the raised bricks.

The entire thing was finished during a crafty skype with a friend.

The market is made from a Small Rectangular Niche with Shelves. It comes with a front, back, niche and two little shelves (I only used one for this project). I painted the niche walls black and glued the sides in place. All of the paper I used in this project came from the Alpha Stamps October 2020 Halloween Market Kit.

Here is the assembled niche along with the market front wall.

The niche needed a bat shelf so made one out of one of the Chipboard Bats Set and a small section of bass wood. Sitting on the shelf are some jars I made from Amber Glass Beads, round head pins and some tiny bats that were included in the October kit.

It looks great glued in place.

Also included in the niche are some mini resin jars, Tiny Wrapped Gumballs, Red Apples, jars of microbeads & bats and dishes of polymer clay candy slices.

The jar of green bats was made by sifting through the Dark Polymer Clay Halloween Slice Mix. The jar lid was made from a metal bead and head pin.

The Market Stall Niche Add-On has a floor, facade, counter and two small connector pieces. Here is the floor covered in striped paper and the facade which has an Orange Pumpkin Border.

The counter is a chipboard box that gets folded up and glued together. I chose to paint the top black and paper the sides with this great bat paper.

This market of course needs a cauldron. I painted a Metal Cauldron with black nail polish after giving it a good wash with soap and water. It came out nice and shiny!

To fill the pot, I made eyes from the Eyeballs Collage Sheet and some 10mm Round Glass Cabochons. So creepy!

For the counter top I painted a couple of Tiny Wooden Bowls and filled them with more polymer clay slices.

The candied apples are made from green polymer clay that got some brown and red chalk highlights after it was baked off. A toothpick stick was glued in place and they were dipped in a mixture of red acrylic paint and Glossy Accents.

Cotton Candy was made from tiny bits of roving inside a small cellophane bag. They are hung from tiny clothespins that I decorated and glued in place onto one of the stall supports.

When my girls were little, we used to decorate blown eggs for Halloween. That inspired me to make some in miniature from polymer clay. They are displayed in a small basket on top of Mini Easter Basket Grass. I’ve set it on top of a decorated One Inch Wooden Block.

I used a Mini Sandwich Board Set to make a sign showing some of the treats for sale.

I hope your holiday brings you lots and lots of full sized sweet treats. Happy Halloween!

You can find all of the wonderful Alpha Stamps products I used HERE.

I am co-organizing an altered spool theme swap on craftster.org.  It means you receive a partner’s information along with five different themes they enjoy.  You choose a theme and decorate a spool to match.  My partner had Alice in Wonderland near the top of her list so I was inspired to make a tea party.  The base of the spool has a white rabbit, a ‘drink me’ potion, an “I’m Late” pendant,  Alice playing cards, a key and keyhole and lots of flowers and ladybugs.  Alice holds a timepiece on the top of the spool.  The ‘Curioser and Curioser’ locket opens up to display the Cheshire Cat and White Rabbit.  I made the cake and macaroons out of polymer clay.  She was a lot of fun to make and I got to give it to my partner in person when she came for brunch this morning.  Fun times!

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Here is a project bag I made for my friend Lora for a Halloween swap we’re doing.   It can be used to keep a crochet or knitting project intact while in progress, or for a million other things. I took some in-process photos and decided to write a tutorial for it.

If you hover your pointer over the photo slideshow, you can pause it to review the photos. 

The first thing I did was cut out forty eight 2.5 by 2.5 inch squares, then laid them out how I thought they looked best. 

I started sewing the squares together in rows of four with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Once one row was completed, I ironed the seams, set it aside, and went on to the next row.

When I had all the rows completed, I stared sewing them together with the same 1/4 inch seam allowance.  It came together pretty fast!

I chose linen for my accent fabric at the bottom of the bag, but you could use most anything.  I cut a piece of linen 3 1/2 by 14 1/2 inches and pinned it to the bottom of my patchwork piece.  Another 1/4 inch seam and it’s attached.

I gave it a hand embroidered detail by doing a running stitch with six strands of orange embroidery floss right along the seam I just completed.

Next it’s time to turn your large rectangular piece into a tube which will form the sides of the bag.  Just fold it in half with right sides together and sew a 1/4 inch seam up the edges.  Press the seam open when you’re done.

Using a compass, draw a 7 3/4 inch diameter circle on a piece of paper then cut it out. This  will be your template for the bottom of your bag.  Pin the paper circle to the linen fabric and cut out the circle.  Pin the linen circle to the bottom of the tube.

Sew the round bottom to the sides of the bag with a 1/4 inch seam.  Clip the curve every half inch.

The lining is really similar to the process you just followed to make the exterior of your bag.  Cut a piece of lining fabric 11 by 24 1/2 inches and sew up the short side into a tube.  Cut another 7 3/4 inch circle, pin it right side together to the bottom of your tube and sew it on with a 1/4 inch seam  Clip the curve.

For the drawstring case, cut a piece of fabric 2.5 by 25.5 inches and iron a 1/4 inch seam along one of the long edges.  Turn both of the short ends over 1/4 inch, then another 1/4 inch run a seam down the middle to give the drawstring opening a finished edge. NOTE: the drawstring used in this project was actually 1.5 by 24.5 inches and I decided for future projects, I would increase the width in order to make it easier to sew.

Place the lining inside the exterior bag.  The wrong side of your lining should be touching the wrong side of your patchwork piece.  Now it’s time to attach the drawstring case along the top of the patchwork piece.  With right sides together, pin the un-ironed edge of your drawstring case to the outside of your bag.

Sew the drawstring case on using a 1/4 inch seam.

The final thing you need to do is to fold the drawstring case over and hand stitch the ironed edge to the lining.

Thread a drawstring and you’re done!  This project won a second place ribbon at our county fair!