Greenleaf Dollhouse Miniature Spring Fling 2012

I started on my Spring Fling Dollhouse Kit a few weeks ago and so much has been going on, I still have not completed it. I did want to share this picture of it with you all. I am also building another one but it is not finished yet either.

I have a little more done to this one than it shows in this pictures. I have shingles on the cute house . I Love it!

 I love the size and the design of it. I  was so happy that it came with various roof options and different door designs. It makes it so easy to change it up from the basic kit. If you build multiple kits, you can have a different look because you can change the elevation of it by just adding a different upgrade kit to it.

If you still are on the fence about buying this years Spring Fling dollhouse kit, I say get off the fence and buy one today! You have plenty of time to enter the contest also! This year Greenleaf Dollhouses has extended the deadline for submission. 

To Purchase this kit and to see the official rules to enter this years contest, click here:

http://shop.greenleafdollhouses.com/Spring-Fling-2012.html

I'll add more pictures when I am able to work on this again. Thank you for stopping by to read my blog!!

Tracy

Brimbles Dollhouse Kit Village Shoppe 2012

I am just about finished working on a Village Shoppe for a client of mine. I am so excited about it because this was a project that I turned out loving at the end. My customer wanted a sage green house with dark green trim and she wanted dark wood on the insides. She mentioned she wanted the house to have siding and brown stucco and at first, in my minds eye, I could see this house, even before it was built!

I assembled the house pretty quickly. When I moved on to the outsides of it, I found myself stuck and no longer feeling the house. I was a little bit ill this past fall up until about November or so of last year and though I worked on this house slowly, I still could not really get into the house.

I even thought about refunding the down payment because I did not think I'd ever finish this house. I know when I don't "feel" the house, it's all downhill after that. Last month (Actually, the end of January, I was sitting in front of the TV and looking at my work island at this house and saw right away what my problem was! My customer wanted a sage green house. Do you know how many SHADES there are of sage green? I had 7 samples on my island. I finally picked one and found I still was NOT happy with it. I also did not like the dark brown I used for the stucco. That is when I decided it was time for me to mix paint again to create my own blend of paint. Once I did that, I was amazed how changing the shades of paint (even though just a little bit) made this house more pleasing to my eyes and I was able to finish this house more quickly. 

The paint color to the left of the screen is the color this house originally was. The top too dark and the bottom too light. The right side shows the color I changed it to:

The best part was, not only was I happy with the color but my client was too and that made me feel Wonderful inside!

The next time you fall out of LOVE with a project, it may not be the "house" itself. It just may be something as simple as the color of your paint!

Soon as I get the doors (I broke one side accidentally) and add the last 4 pieces of trim, I'll upload more inside shots.

Thank You for stopping by to view my blog!

Brimbles Village Shoppe 2012

Greenleaf Dollhouse Barbie 2" scale Roombox

Several Years ago, I got my hands on a 2" scaled Barbie Roombox by Greenleaf on eBay. I was so excited because I used to always collect any of the older Greenleaf dollhouse kits I could get my hands on. I was so excited I did not want to open the box. One day I hit the jack pot. Someone was selling all of their old store stock and they had 3 of these kits sitting on their shelves. I bought them and decided to build one for my youngest daughter back in 2008.

This is what it looked like when I finished it. She was younger at the time and everything had to be pink.

Last year (in December), she wanted me to freshen it up a bit. She took very good care of the roombox but it had writing on the walls and scuff marks so I told her I would do it. I got so busy (working to pay bills and everything else life throws my way) I let those get in the way of my doing it.

Every time I walked past it, I would clean it up and I even sat it on my work table a few times but I never "worked" on it (So she would take it to play with of course). I always felt guilty for not getting back to it.

Yesterday Morning, I decided to put all of my other work on the back burner for the day and spent the day fixing up her roombox. For the most part, it still looked great considering how much Sarah & Rachel had played with it. This is what it looked like Yesterday Morning when I "stole" it from her bedroom.

The floor boards were all in tack but where dull looking so, I added a darker stain to them and then added a varnish on top of them. She had already picked out the wallpapers she liked so I decided to use one from her stack of wallpapers which is a light turquoise.
 I decided to accent and compliment that with a darker turquoise blue on some of the trim.

I then added some details on all of the white trim I decided to keep. The stained glass window still look great so I kept that in place. I also decided to add a stone paper to the fireplace instead of the red brick that was there. This past winter, I had purchased a 3 light outdoor post from the dollar store. It was a smaller scale because it was sold for their train village and it lit up via a battery pack. I kept looking at it and decided if I painted the post part silver it could become a nice ceiling light (And because it used AA batteries, I wouldn't worry about them playing with the electric). By the end of the day yesterday, this is what the roombox looked like:

 Of course, Sarah is very pleased with it and has begged me to make her two more rooms so I will build them this week and let her paint the trims and everything else (to one of them and then I'll do the other).

Sorry that the colors still don't show the "true" color shade but, maybe one day, I'll take lessons on learning how to use a camera to take pictures correctly 

You can see more pictures by clicking below:

Sarah’s Barbie Roombox

Thank You for stopping by to visit my blog today!!

McKinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Electricity)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Adding Electricity

 I used a mixture of hard wire and tape wire to light up this house. Because this house has a flat back and will hang on the wall, I fed all of the wires to the back of the house by clipping off the plugs and feeding it through holes that I drilled into the back of the house.

After that, I added a 11" strip of tape wire and took the plastic cover off of the tape wire. Next, took the wire and split the two wires about half inch down and then added one side on each side of the tape. Do not let the two exposed hardwire touch each other when you lay them down. I then took some masking tape and tacked it in place so that I could do all of the wires this way. Once all wires were added, I then took my soldering iron out to heat it and while it was heating, I added soldering flux (just a little touch) to the exposed wires (All of them) so that the solder will adhear to the wires to the tape wire. 

After that, I add some solder to the tip of my soldering iron and then to the exposed wired to affix it together. I do this to all exposed wires. Here are the pictures to help you with the visual side of the instructions

After that, you can remove the little pieces of masking tape you use to help tack down the wires and keep them in place while you solder them in.

After that, I taped down all of the loose wires and labeled which room each wire it for. You can also add more lights & outlets to this later on if you like.

  Now, all you need to do is add the Junction Splice and put one prong on each side of the tape wire. Then you add your transformer lead in wire and transformer and You have Electric!

It really is simple to do. Don't over complicate things by thinking too hard.Remember, if you have more questions feel free to ask in the comment section.

McKinley Dollhouse Build Blog (Roof Editing)

May 26 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Roof Editing

I started with foam core just to see if this design would work and if it would look really nice. I ended up cutting the roof height (on the raised roof side) down to 8" high. This is what it looked like in the beginning:

It took a while (3.5 hrs. ) to get the angles right because I found out that this house needed a little more support now that I was bashing it away from how it should have been done.

This is after I added the wood roof & attic parts. It was level on one side and not the other and I went around and around with the leveler I did finally get it right . After I got it to the point where I was satisfied , I added sandpaper and painted it black to give the roof floor an "Asphalt" look. I then added the Chimney stack :

I wanted to add roof trim to give the roof more detail. At first I started off by using the kits trim:

I ended up using some iron railing for the widows walk instead. 

I aged it with a sea foam green paint:

Thank you for stopping by to read this blog!

Coventry Cottage Dollhouse Building Blog Days 11 & 12

4 May 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Painting has Started

No matter how many times I have worked with Paper clay, it always amazes me to see the house "Spring to Life" when you add just a little bit of color to it. I dirty washed the entire house and have only added one color so far to the bricks and the Shingles. Yes there are more colors to add to them to make them look more realistic and I have not started the stones (other than the dirty wash) but I am very pleased with how it is turning out.

It is beginning to look like what I imagined it to look in my minds eye. I did decide to add a very small base for this house.

Enjoy the "Eye Candy" below!!

06 May 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

More Painting

I have done more painting but I am still not finished. I had expected to finish this house last night but this was as far as I got. I still have to add 2 more colors on all bricks and stone and 1 more color to the roof to give it the proper aged look.



I know I will finish by next week for sure!

Enjoy the pictures!

This one is of the side with opening

This is the front view

11 May 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

More Painting

 I have completed this house!! It is raining so I have not had the chance to take pictures out side but to see the ones I took so far you can look in my Coventry Cottage gallery too. I will add better pictures when I can get outdoors and do that.

This house was very fun to build and decorate. I want you all to leave my blog  knowing you should NOT feel afraid to alter your houses!! Each kit can turn into a unique item. Just think outside of the picture on the box! So many people miss out on these wonderful houses because they are afraid to think outside of the box. Don't just see a pink house and think that is the way the house has to be. Bring in your own personality. Bash the kit. When you have questions know I are always here to help!!

Even building the house as it is on the box can be VERY rewarding. Some people look down on diecut dollhouses but I have not only told you, I have shown you that you can do a LOT with a diecut Greenleaf house! Have fun and Build On!!

This is the Kit box Picture and my edited version of this house

You can see bigger pictures by clicking below

The Coventry Cottage

Thank you for viewing my Blog and I hope you enjoyed watching me build the Coventry Cottage Dollhouse Kit by GreenleafDollhouses.com  

All dollhouse kits have been made in the USA Since 1947 and is owned by the Original Family that started it all. Read the history of how it all began by clicking here

Greenleaf Dollhouses Spring Fling 2011

Greenleaf just posted on their official website about the 2011 Spring Fling Contest. They are sharing new shots of this Great new kit they will be offering in a few days. You can read more info about this on their Official Blog by clicking below:

Greenleaf Official Blog

Building The Greenleaf Pierce Tower Day 5-6

This is the Main Tower. I added the Third Floor as you can see in the first picture. It went together very easily. I only had one stubborn tab but I cut it down some so it could fit into the slot. This is totally easy to do with your hobby knife. Notice how the round wire was fed through the outer wall.

Inside Shot 

Now the instructions calls for the back wall (Kitchen wall) to be added. The Kitchen back wall is in. I just need to glue in the crown molding it the top.

The tower in the Living room
This is where one of the window seats will be (I am creating this it is not in the greenleaf instructions it will be shown later) . It will be covered in a burgundy & gold print. This one will be dressed in a plum or purple colored fabric I hope you like this chandelier. I thought the brass looked great with the glass shades

Tower in Attic
This is the tower attic with all the walls in it. It will be hard to add furniture and see into the room

This is the tower with one wall missing on each side. I did not like the fact that it hid the view of most of the room and it will be easier to furnish by removing one wall on each side. Laura, please email me and let me know because it's up to you to make the decision. I was thinking of making a lighted wall torch should go in here since you want a more Castle feel in the attic.

This is Lena's Sewing room
This is the Pink flower vine wall paper you and Lena Picked. I Love this glass globe iron detailed hanging light so much, I bought more. Henry liked the choice you picked for this room.

Bathroom

This is the Bathroom light and wallpaper. The light shade is real glass. The tile floor is white but the wallpaper is green and lavendar stripes. The trim is a very pale lavender. This is Sue stopping in to see the work being done.

Click Here for Day 7 Of The Pierce Dollhouse Blog

Thanks For Viewing My Blog!

★☆•·.(ツ) Tracy Topps ★☆•·.(ツ)