Mckinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Completed)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
The Finished McKinley Dollhouse

These are pictures of the finished McKinley Dollhouse! The Greenleaf dollhouses are loved by many great miniature Artisans. There are so many things you can do with a Greenleaf kit. They are lighter in weight but sturdy when assembled. They are simple to cut (I only used my hobby knife for this. All you have to do is think outside of the box. I always regret not taking the final pictures of this house after I cleaned up the edges and did touch ups but, these are the only completed shots I have of this kit.

Remember, if you dream it, you can do it! Have fun & feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comment section.

This is what the Kit looks like on the box:

This is what mine looks like:

You can see more pictures of the McKinley by clicking here:

Black Briar (Mckinley)

Thank you for viewing my blog today!! 

Magnolia Dollhouse Build Blog Days 5 - 9

April 9 2007

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Days 5 - 9 Of "The Maggie"

This house is really a Fast Build. I completed it in 10 days with working on it just a few hours every night. I added the window trim and it really makes this house begin to POP I also added the porch roof and porch trim. I covered the plastic windows so that I could do touch ups to the window frames. I LOVE this house and look forward to making another one soon

These are pictures of the staircase assembly. I used Quick Grip glue because it is paintable

I used the foundation brick sheet that came with the house kit. I put a dirty wash of black paint over it to color the mortar Gray. You can see the difference it can make because the left side has the "dirty wash" & the right side shows the natural way it comes in the kit (which looks to clean to my eyes)

 I also decided it was time to add the roof

 

This house is almost finished in time for Xmas giving. I'll tell you the story about this client I was building this kit for soon. Towards the end of the blog. His story is what kept me working so hard and so late in the early morning hours to have this done in time. It's a True Story about a Grandpa in a VA hospital and the love he had for his Grand daughter......

Thanks for stopping by to read my Blog today!! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.

:)

Building The Un Haunted Dollhouse Kit Days 2 - 5

08 September 2005

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Day two Paperclay Work

Today, I started adding the paper clay on all the side walls and on the base. If you have read my previous blogs, you know how I do this. I will clay the entire house before I even start painting it. I am also waiting for lights before I finish the insides. So far, I have only added the floor to the insides

 

 

I decided to add "crazy" brick to the porch floor. This is brick laid with no rhyme or reason but creates a nice uniform pattern anyway.

also started adding the roof shingles (Clay again cause I love the effect it gives)

 

 

The cave will have a fireplace and a side stone shelf. I made the shell of it by using foam board again. I have not made the fireplace yet.

14 September 2005 

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Day Three 

I started looking at my cave and wondering what I could do to add something different. The corner looked so bare and I decided to make a shelf there.

 

 

Here is the shelf before the clay was added

I did not want to sculpt stones down in the cave so I decided to add more pieces left over from the cup holders randomly on the walls so that when I add the clay there will be parts sticking out.

I know where I want the candle lights to go and I decided to add a fireplace which will have a flickering light and it also makes the other lights in the house flicker a little. I just cut it out of foam board (1' thick) and it looked like this

I decided I liked it here better:

I added paper clay to the cave

I then started adding clay to the roof

More to come soon!!! Thank you For stopping by to view my blog!!

19 September 2005 

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Day 4 Shadow Cliff House 

Well, I have finally decided to name my House Shadow Cliff House. I have added the lights and did a dirty wash on the house outside. Take a look

The fireplace flickers too! More to come soon! Maybe, later on today!

20 September 2005 

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Day 5 Shadow Cliff House 

I have added the chimney stack and some stone around the windows. It is now beginning to look like home 

I will started painting this house and as I have said in the past, the paint is what makes the house comes to life. Here is a picture with more colors being added

I was going to do a how too regarding the stain glass windows because I used real lead but I deleted the pictures by mistake. Sorry This is not the finished house though I am really close to being finished now. I know, it looks like it can be a creepy house but you have not seen the flowers yet. I don't picture this house as a haunted house at all. The story I created for this house is as follows (It may seem  like a weird thing to some, but everyone of my creations has a story that I form as I build):

This cottage is owned by single artist/writer. He has been living here for a while and he love the cliffs because they inspire him. He played here as a kid during school breaks because his grandparents lived nearby and one day, he got lost in the cave below. His grandpa found him hours later. Because he knew how adventurous his grand son could be, he knew just where to look. 

As years went by, that cave became the favorite hideout. He would write and sometimes, his grandpa would come down and they would talk about the days activities or anything important that was on his mind.  Years later, when his grandfather died, he found that his grandfather had purchased the above house and even left him money to repair it to make it livable.  He decided that this was where he wanted to  live so that he could help take care of his aging grandma.

Anyway, that is just a short part of the story but it's been a fun build so far. Hope you are having a Wonderful evening!

Tracy ~ MinisOnTheEdge.com

Glencroft Dollhouse Build Adding The Paint

(The Original Date Of This Blog Entry Was July 22, 2005)

I have been painting the paperclay today and it looks like I will meet my deadline of being finished tomorrow!! It is amazing how the paint really brings the details out in this wonderful house!! When I added the door yesterday, I did not even glue it in cause I wanted to just "see" if it would fit. Ha, ha, Ha! I can't get the darn thing out at all!! So it is there for good.

My beautiful Dolls came in from Margaret. I had to add them because they look perfect by the stone work. I took these early this morning.

 Insides

 More to come soon!! Thank you for Viewing!!

Miniature Clematis Vine 4 Dollhouse

This Months Greenleaf Gazette has a tutorial on how I made a miniature clematis vine. I love to try new things on my dollhouse miniature scenes. I made this in 2008 and had a lot of fun putting this tutorial together for you all. I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to send pictures to me of your Clematis vine that you make so that I can see how much more talented you all are in doing flowers.

:)

You can see it by clicking here: Tracy Topps Clematis Vine

You also gotta read the entire issue of the Greenleaf Gazette, there is a tutorial from Jen Barrick on the different Techniques she used to create her wonderful Loganberry Wind Mill from the 2009 Greenleaf Spring Fling.

You can see it by clicking here:

Jen Barrick Windmill

The Editor of The Gazette also create a wonderful collection of tips on how to create window treatments for your dollhouse.

You can see it by clicking here:

Deb Roberts Window Treatments Tips

 Here are the supplies you need:

 Two shades of green paper
Lavender, pink and purple paper
Scissors
Yellow gel pen for the center of flower
32 ga. wire
Ball stylus
Thick foam
Tacky glue
Tweezer
Brown paint
Leaf punch & flower punch as shown

 Cut the wire and knot it around and add a drop of tacky glue to hold it in place to make it look like a vine and paint it brown.

Using the tweezers and drops of tacky glue, add the leaves you punched out from the two shades of green paper.

 After you add all of the leaves, it is time to add the flowers.  Use the yellow gel pen to color a circle in the center of the flower. Take the Flowers and lay them on top of your thick foam piece. Press the center of each flower with your stylus to create a natural looking curve and it helps define each petal. You can even run the ball stylus over some of the petals too. Take the flower and glue them onto your leaves randomly. Add different colors randomly to your vine.

This is what it looks like after you have added all the flowers. Now 
you can add it to your miniature scenes.

Thanks for stopping by to read my Blog today!! See my Clematis vine below!

TT

:)