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

:)

Greenleaf Rosedale Dollhouse

Yesterday, the laser cut Rosedale Dollhouse kit arrived. I was so excited to get it because I have had the older diecut one downstairs forever waiting to one day be built. Dean (the owner of Greenleaf dollhouses) told me to put it together as soon as I got it so I could see for myself just how fast I could assemble the house. I must say, after working on this house, I have decided that I only want to do laser cut houses!! I literally did not sand ANYTHING!! All of the wood pieces and trim pieces were just perfect. I assembled the entire house (Minus the inside window trim only) in 2 hours (Okay.... I had a lunch break and kept the timer on cause I forgot to turn it off).

This house is much bigger than i thought it was too. The clean cuts really gives the finished product a really beautiful look. The wood looks perfect. I just gotta say once again that I loved building this kit and if you have NOT tried a product from the Greenleaf Dollhouses Laser cut line, now is the perfect time to.

Now, I'll go back to sanding the Beacon Hill die cut house that i had been so excited about (until Dean spoiled me with the Laser cut house LOL ). I think I want to build a Rosedale for myself one day soon.

There are some New Surprises coming our way from Greenleaf Dollhouses soon too so stay tuned!

I also wanna say Thank you to Dean & Lisa for sending me the kit. It really made my day to have the chance to put something together this fast. Yeap, I am still working on the Beacon Hill. I feel like i am working on it in slow motion. The house is huge and there are so many pieces to it!! There are over 10 pieces to assemble each dormer window alone and there are five of those plus other windows. I was able to get those glued in place today too! The picture below shows the Beacon Hill next to the Rosedale (before I added the Beacon Hill Dormers).

July flying By & Jackson Rathbone

Edward Cullen at the Chestnut Cottage before it leaves our house to it's new home.



Wow, here it is the middle of the month and I am just now posting!! It seems like time has been flying by fast. This month I started Phase 2 of P90x (Classic version). I celebrated my 15th year wedding Anniversary on the 9th and I have been so busy with different things with the kids.

The Chestnut House sold Tuesday of this week and while I was emailing the buyer which had bought something from me this past spring, she mentioned that she was trying to forward the pictures of my "Edward Cullen" action figure to her nephew who plays as Jasper Cullen in the movie Twilight............ Yeap, there was a long pause as I read that sentence 2 times to myself then a couple more times aloud and then the screaming (From behind me started). Every girl in my house at the time (now this is early morning mind you) stands behind me urging me to ask her if this was for real or not LOL .

Well, after several more emails she has confirmed it that she is actually Jackson Rathbone Aunt and she loves miniatures. I thought that was the coolest thing to find out. Here is a picture of him playing as Jasper in Twilight:


Here is one of him without the Blond hair and as his natural handsome self:



I am hoping that they release more of the action figures! I want them all and I hear they are releasing the Alice Cullen action figure next so I am hoping they include Jasper because Alice wouldn't be Alice without her Jasper.

Also, yesterday my Dear friend Deb sent me a note to let me know that she had blog award for me to pick up. It's called the Bella Sinclair Award:


The history of this award is:

"It was designed by Ces for her friend Bella. Ces wrote:- I designed this award to celebrate art in the blogs and to honour the value of friendship, sisterhood, sharing and caring. It is to be awarded to the gifted, accomplished, eloquent and talented blogger, whose friendship and influence inspire us to do our best. That I named it after Bella Sinclair is because she epitomises all of these things."

Thank You So much Deb (http://debsminis.blogspot.com/2009/07/thank-you.html ) for your kind words, your friendship & encouragement and help you have given me through the years! She has been having a rough time dealing with her AI issues and also has Graves Disease (as I do) and has managed to live with it and create a positive & creative way of telling others about it and to help those who have it know that we can over come the obstacles we face (it just may take us a little longer LOL ).

Love you Deb!!

Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog today!

Yard Tutorial By Sarah Topps

My Seven year old Daughter, Sarah did a Wonderful Tutorial on the yard she & her big sister created for the Spring Fling Contest on the Greenleaf Dollhouse forum. Sarah did most of the work on the yard. To create your own wonderful yard scene click Here

You can see the tutorial below also:

 First, you take some cardboard and set the house on the center part of  it. You can see Rachel in the background while Sarah is trying to see  how much yard is needed.

 After that has been decided, cut the card board down to the size you  want and then trace the footprint of the house. Next, paint the entire  yard on the outside of the footprint (You would adhere the base after  it is all dry.

You would paint the entire base a light green (Sarah's paint is apple barrel "Leaf Green" Color). After that dries, you will pour a dime size amount of hunter green color paint. Dip your brush in it and then wipe off access paint till the brush is almost dry. Then you will pounce this (alternating in different directions so that there won't 
be a pattern)

 Next, take your brown paint and squeeze out a dime size amount. Dip your brush in it and then brush off access paint till the brush is 
almost dry. Then you will pounce this (alternating in different directions again so that there won't be a pattern). You may not wish to have much of the brown as you do the greens. 

 Next, Sarah decided she wanted a "stone" walkway. So she took out the  stone pattern stencil.  First, you have to paint the area Gray. After  it dries, then you lay the stencil on top. Then you would take your  dark brown paint and dry brush the outer edges of each stone and dab a  little in the middle. Then after that dries, you will take a lighter gray, and again, dry brush each stone. Sarah did this color only two times randomly in each stone. When that dries, then you can remove the stencil and viola, you have a walkway.

Next, with the help of big sister Rachel, make a straight glue line 
with hot glue and then add some green poly fiber on each side. When this dried, Rachel cut the loose fiber and then Sarah took the tacky glue and put a drop on top of the fiber. She then took Hot Pink colored foam and put that on the tacky glue and now the yard has flowers to help dress up the entry way.

Next, glue the house to the base and add the Green Poly Fiber around  the house. You can even add a fence to enclose the yard like Sarah did.

They had so much fun joining in the Spring Fling Contest fun This year!!

Thanks for reading my blog!

Tracy Topps

Conny Dungen Dollhouse Blossom Tree

Conny Dungen has so many wonderful Miniature items! I was on her website a couple of weeks ago and was looking at her "Titanic" Miniature scene again and while I was there, I came across a Wonderful Tutorial she has on her website on how to make this Gorgeous Blossom Tree. While you are there looking at the tutorial to use for your own miniature house, you HAVE to look at her different miniature settings that she created. She is truly and Amazing Artist!!

To see the Blossom Tree Tutorial Click Here

To see her different Miniature Scenes, Click Here

Help Peter Facinelli! For Those Who Tweet

Okay, I am a Fan of the actor Peter Facinelli . Some of us in the dollhouse community has been talking about a bet he has made. Peter Facinelli has recently accepted a bet with one of his friends named Rob, from a Developement company. Rob bet that Peter couldn't get 500,000 followers in a week. We only have until Midnight, Pacific time on June 19th, so be sure to spread the word. To add him click below:





Just in case you don't know who he is, that means you have not seen Twilght (He play Dr. Carlisle Culle )He is also in the new Showtime show Nurse Jackie (as Dr. Cooper). To see more movies he has played in, click here .

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Day 2

Well, I spent Day Number two, adding the ceiling lights, sanding and varnishing the floors, wallpapering the walls and adding the staircases. It's starting to look like a home.
:)

1st Floor entry hallway:

2nd floor hallway:


Third floor hallway:


The third floor wall is wallpapered but not added to the house yet. That is the end of Day #2

Beacon Hill Dollhouse Day 1

Though I started this some weeks ago, I am going to Blog them by Day here since that is how I have my Albums set up on my computer. Some Days, I may post more than one day at a time BUT, that particular post will be labeled by what day number I was actually working on at that particular time.

The Beacon Hill kit can seem like a daunting project, especially if this is your first dollhouse kit ever. Please know that if you follow the instructions, your kit can look as beautiful as the one that shows on the box cover.

It does take time and patience and a lot of Chocolate!! But, because I am no longer eating my cookies N stuff like I used to while I build ('Cause this year I decided to change my eating and work out habits) I went through LOTS of chewing gum .
:D

I always use a highlighter to highlight the step I have completed. By doing this, if I have to walk away for a moment (or day), I know exactly where I left off at. The Foundation (Step A) walls & Floors (Step B) went by quickly on Day #1.

The thing that took the most of my time on Day one was the staircases!! It took Hours to remove & sand and then assemble it all. I always add wallpaper & wood floors as I build and this is something you should do anyway to all of the hallways because once the stairs are assembled and glued in, you will not be able to access most of the areas easily. The stairs for the 1st floor took me 3 hours!!! That's right, Three hours to complete. The second floor was not as hard but it still took 2 hours. The third floor was just the railings.

You can see the progress pictures of the stairs as I started. This was a part I was stuck on because this is not pictured in the instructions. The rest is simple to figure out since the instructions has pictures of it LOL. I am a visual learner and know so many of you are too so here are the Pictures of the very first part. this is how it looks front and back:




This is a picture of right before I started working on the 2nd floor staircase:

Most of these rooms will take 2 wood sheets (which is quite expensive) because of the depth & width of the rooms. Also, you will need at least 4 sheets of wallpaper per room since some of these rooms are a nice size.


After I assembled the stairs and stained them and sanded them again and then stained them again, I called it quits for Day #1 . I guess I did not take as many pictures of that days work as I thought LOL. I was too busy working to snap pictures LOL.

"How To" Create New Miniatures

Do you want to try your hand at making some miniatures yourself? Why not take a look at some of the Tutorials we have posted on the Greenleaf Dollhouse Forum. In this topic alone, we have links on how to create Lights for your house, Books, Flowers, blinds and even how to create a Thatched roof. There are many more things listed so why not take a look and see what you can create! Click Here for the Tutorials.

Greenleaf Dollhouses Spring Fling 2009

Well the results are in! My Girls Won 1st place in the Greenleaf Dollhouse Spring Fling Contest 2009!! They won a Aster Cottage & Everyone who entered is going to get a 144 scale version of the Loganberry Mill!


To read more about the contest and to see the Winners, click here .

To see pictures of ALL entries, click here & for kids entries, click here.

New Dollhouse Creation "The Chestnut"

Every year (sometimes more than once) I try to customize the Greenleaf kit called the Primrose. I always try and make it different from what is on the box and from what I have done in the past.

This is what my newest Primrose cottage looks like:


I call it "The Chestnut" and that is what the sign above the flower box says too. I did not add the upstairs attic room but just left this with one room to decorate with high ceilings.


I created 2 hand made floral items on this one. The first is a rose bush that has white & magenta roses blooming and the second is a cute vine with small blue flowers on it. There is even a butterfly stopping to smell those flowers on the vine. All Stones, Stucco, Bricks and shingles were each hand sculpted and hand painted several different paint "washes" to create a realistic look of real stones, shingles & bricks. I sculpted a "herringbone" brick pattern by the entry way which take much more time to do but it really give the outside some "extra" character. The Door (that opens and close) & the window, is an upgrade from what came with the original kit. The aged door knobs & door knocker, window box and outside coach light were hand painted to give a nice look of aged copper with a verdigris looking finish.

The insides are painted a soft gray (which has a blue look to it) and all wood is painted a nice warm dark chocolate color. The floor has the look of real stone. This creation has been electrified which means all lights (inside hanging light and outside coach light) light up and the two outlets really works too so you can add lamps as you decorate this room. You can have it as an office, shop or a small cottage.



This creation is 1" scale. The size of this creation is 16" H x 13 1/2" D x 13 1/2" W
This is a picture of what the basic kit looks like after it has been assembled:


To Purchase this item, Click Here

To see pictures of other Primrose dollhouse kits I have done in the past, click here
To see a tutorial on how to create a stone floor click here