Greenleaf Dollhouses Sixth Annual Spring Fling Contest

Greenleaf Dollhouses announced and revealed their newest annual project for the Sixth Annual Spring Fling Contest! The details are below:

Greenleaf is proud to announce the start of our Sixth annual Spring Fling Contest! Last years contest was such fun, we decided to to get back to what Greenleaf is known for... Afforadibility! We’re getting back to our roots by offering an ultra-affordable delivered project… only $18.95 with FREE SHIPPING ON YOUR ENTIRE ORDER*! Now how do you like them apples! Speaking of apples, one of the additions available this year is a cute farm stand just ready to be filled with mini fruit! Of course, it can be used for many other purposes just like the other available options, but all are meant to change the feel of the kit and not necessarily make it a bigger project, so they aren’t necessary to compete. I’d like to point out that a lot of these accessories would look great on a variety of other Greenleaf dollhouses, so here’s your chance to pick them up at a substantial saving! I'm also happy to announce that the ever popular prize category called "luck of the draw", which is a randomly selected winner, will be returning this year. Also, time is not of essence because we are extending the contest until September 3, 2012 (Labor Day)!

As usual, we are making it extra interesting; we're going to name this new dollhouse after the winner! That's right, we'll rename it after you… it's your chance to be forever immortalized as part of the Greenleaf product line. Now how cool is that?

In a nutshell, just submit a picture of a scene with your project that must include the base house and you might win one of these great prizes below. The best news is that Greenleaf has put together a special deal on the Base Project kit for $18.95 with FREE SHIPPING on your entire order* (more details below)! So join us in the fun as we celebrate the seasons!

SPECIAL SAVINGS ALERT: ALL PAST SPRING FLING KITS ARE ON SALE AT 25% OFF FOR THE NEXT SIX DAYS! They're all listed on this page.



To buy this years house, click here http://shop.greenleafdollhouses.com/Spring-Fling-2012.html

Decorate your contest kit and include it in a scene, maybe next to your dollhouse or in a garden setting, whatever strikes your fancy. You can turn your project into ANYTHING your imagination can dream up. Please note there is only one entry per member.

Submit your 3 BEST pictures to thewinner@greenleafdollhouses.com by Labor Day, September 3, 2012, with the words in the subject line "I'm a winner". You can include a short description of your project. If you are a member of the Greenleaf Miniature Community, please include your forum name.

A select group of Greenleaf Staff, not Forum Staff, but the people that actually make your dollhouses, will select the winners based on originality.

The winners will be announced the first week in October!

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!

McKinley Dollhouse Construction Blog (The Beginning)

 

May 24 2008
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Starting The McKinley

This time I am only blogging the changes that I made to this Gorgeous doll house kit. The McKinley has been my favorite since Lisa from Greenleaf asked me to make one 4 years ago. This is something that a newbie can do if they have the patience but since most new people have a hard time with the kt instructions I want it to be known in advance that, this McKinley Dollhouse blog is really for the advanced builders who can look at these brief comments listed and make the changes.

I started the building of this house a few weeks back. I started out building this kit pretty much like everyone else on the Greenleaf Build Team. You'll notice though (if you have your instructions nearby) that I did start a little bit out of sequence. When I have built a kit several times, I don't view the instructions as much. I have been wanting to bash (Alter) this kits' design since I completed my last one . I started on the back wall since I knew I was going to bash it by extending the roof line. I took wood that Greenleaf uses for their kits. They sell extra sheets but you have to call them for plain sheets that are not punched out yet.

When the original roof is finished, it is only 4" high. Mine right now is "bashed" to have a 9" high ceiling.

The next big change was that I wanted to change the kitchen wall so that the opening would be in the front of the room, not the back. I did this by cutting this wall into three sections so that most of the tabs would still be in most of the right parts of the floor for stability. I figured this out through trial and error and it took me over an hour to get it straight, stable & right. I also moved the kitchen wall over by 1" to make the kitchen larger.

I then had to attach it to the rest of the structure that I had already assembled:

It ended up looking a bit like this:

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog today. I am moving my build blogs over to my blog here on blogspot so that things will be easier to find. That is why you may see older dates written on the blog posts.

Hope you are having a Fantastic Day! 

The Thought Of The Day is ~ There is a saying "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficult thing." What thing is difficult in your life right now that you can turn into an opportunity?

Coventry Cottage Dollhouse Building Blog Days 7 - 10

April 23 2006
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Bay Roof Weathered Copper Painting

  I added a roof to my front bay window. I decided to make it a copper roof and I wanted it to look nice and "aged" to help give the house more character.

I weathered it by putting on a base coat color of "Sea Mist" by Deco Art. I let it dry then I "Dry Brushed" the second color on which is "Metallic Antique Copper" by Folk Art.

This is the way it looks now that it has been painted

 

April 27 2006
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Stone & Brick sculpting completed

Well, I finally finished all of the stone sculpting outside if this house. This house is really a fast & quick build. So far, I have only spent 5.5 hours on it. I added a fireplace in the Living room so I felt I had to have a Chimney. This is something I noticed that I have started to add to all of my houses and if one is missing, the house just does not look complete to me . This is the picture of what it looks like before the stones and bricks are added.

 
I also decided to add some texture to my windows so I took some clear "Gallery Glass" and added it on the windows. I am pleased with how it turned out though I am not sure it shows up well in the pictures.

 
I have added all of the inside lights and outlets so I will start adding the clay on the inside and then add the wood roof shingle the roof and then, I will paint Sounds like a lot to do bu,t since we are expecting it to rain this weekend, I don't think I will be tempted by the sunshine  since there won't be any   See ya in a few days!

May 2 2006
Posted by Minis On The Edge
Shingles added

I have added the shingles to this wonderful house. It is so fun to see this project take shape!! The only thing left for me to do is the inside. I have done the Chimney on the outside but I guess I did not take pictures of it . I added a widows walk like thingy on the roof I made. I used a plastic iron fence. I cut it down to the size I needed. Of course, I ruined two fences because I cut them wrong the first time around. I was much more careful the next time around .

Enjoy the pictures! More to come soon!!

 May 3 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge
Moving Right Along

Well, I spent the past 2 days playing catch up. I should have been complete with this house and I can happily say, it is all downhill from here . All of the paper clay I have to do is DONE and I am quite happy about that !

Now, all I have to do is paint. Because this house is so much bigger than I remember last, I do not think I will add a base to this house because it is so much harder to ship the houses when they are larger because the base makes it larger

It's amazing how much the paint adds to the house so don't be afraid, it will come to life as soon as the paint is on. I am letting the new clay added dry a bit before I paint.

I have spent a total of 34 hours on this house so far. The clay is intense I used about 6 1/2 packs of creative paper clay (16 ounces packs ) Here are the pictures

This is what the Coventry looks like on the Box. So now you can see how many changes I have made to it.

Thank you for following along and read my blog! Hope my tips help encourage you to think outside of the box!

Coventry Cottage Dollhouse Build Blog Day 1 & 2

The following blog is of the Coventry Cottage created by Greenleaf Dollhouses. It is a really cool kit and is very versatile. If you can visualize something in you minds eye, you can create it. This house inspired me to add or change things that are not on the box cover. I built this kit and did this blog back in the Spring of 2006. Follow along with me as I build this kit!

17 March 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Looking for Ideas Day 1 Part 1

 Well, I have had this in the box for about 3 weeks and I keep changing my mind on how I want this one to be done. My first thought was to try to tole paint it similar to the one Sally Eckel did for Greenleaf. There used to be a decorating packet by her that shows you how to create your own original like hers pictured below.

Then I decided that I wanted to create a tower where the porch is at. But, as with all of my projects,  they seem to sometimes have a mind of their own. I hope you enjoy following me on this new journey of creating & Bashing (dollhouse editing)  a Coventry cottage. I hope to inspire everyone and encourage you so that you can see that you can make YOUR Dollhouse Dream House different from the one that appears on your kit box. 

Last night was the first day I had to finally get started on my Coventry Cottage. I was still thinking to myself, "Will I have a tower, if so how can I make the adaptions quickly since I have only a limited amount of time to work on this one." I have been reading the instructions trying to come up with ideas and decided last night it was time to start the build.

I Love this kit and this will be my third time building it but my first time bashing it. This kit is fun and it sort of lock together. Greenleaf made a couple houses that has this same interlocking system such as the Cantebury and the Story Book Cottages. The tabs on some parts are longer and helps to create the "raised" foundation.
Here is the first step showing the front wall.

See the long tabs? It is so important to slide this as far as you can because it can mess up the entire alignment of the house (roof and all )

It is very good to glue it when you are directed to glue it in the instructions so that you will not have any shifting . This is the center wall that locks into place.

This house has one Small tricky part and it is locking the second floor in place. These instructions are updated because the picture in the instructions is MUCH more clear on what to do and how to do it. Here are a couple of pictures of how this is done. 

 

This one shows the right wall:

17 March 2006

Posted by Minis On The Edge

Day 2 Bay Windows

I started on the Bay Windows. I have also decided to add an extra room to and omit the porch. I created a wall in the front that will have the front door.

This house has one BIG tricky part and it is with the bay windows. It is almost impossible to assemble it with out breaking a part. You can glue it back together and it will be almost as good as new. Don't panic if this happens . Every time I have built this kit and the Storybook Cottage, I break one of the window sills or another part of the bay window structure. A little glue and a lot of sanding afterwards and you'll have a smooth finish that does not show the break.  

In the picture below, I was thinking about adding a false wall on the side that opened up so that you could see the hallway.  

Well, after looking harder and also building it, my mind started thinking something else. I closed the wall up and open up the kitchen wall

I will be adding paper clay to this house too.

Thank you for stopping by to read my blog!