Little masks and boxes for dollhouse

People say that art imitates life.  I bring you a post about something of the sort.

This year our way of life has been altered by Covid-19.  Masks, gloves and plastic screens have become an everyday necessary object to use, to protect ourselves, and others as well.

I have seen many (many!) people incorporating such articles to their miniature scenes.  I refuse to do it.  First, because Kassandra is a vampire, and as such, she cannot get sick.  But second, because for me, my miniature wold is an ideal place.  A place where bad things cannot happen.  Where people do not die, and sickness cannot enter.  Covid-19 does not exist in miniature - even though the real virus is smaller than 1:144 scale.

I asked my mom today if she would be interested in some masks for her dolls, and she said no - apparently, she thinks the same as me: that with real-life Covid is more than enough.  However, she said she would be happy to have a box for her medical scene - a doctor practice.

Some days ago, I found a blog where the owner was providing a template to make a mask box.  Doing the mask was another thing.  I managed to come up with a method using blue tissue paper, regular white paper and a bit of white cord (white thread would work as well):

It is a little bigger than it should, but I could not manage to make it smaller.  If you are in need of a mask for your dolls or a little bit of hand sanitizer, you can get them at Buttecups Miniatures.

Stay safe and happy holidays!

One final renovation in the library

 Kassandra called me up this morning so I would come help her with some flooring issues.  Good thing I am on vacation and I have some free time!

"What is it that you want to do?", I asked when I arrived there.

"I got rid of the stairs; they took up so much space off the living room."

"Yes, I already know that".

"Well, we need to close up the ceiling of the living room.  Or the floor of the library, however you prefer".

"Oh, my.  Does this mean we have to rip up the library floor?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

And so we did.  We took off all the wood flooring and procedeed to close up the gap in the floor.  My coworker Carlos was able to help with that.  He cut up for me a piece of wood to insert in the gap.

I only needed to sand the edges a bit so it would fit on the gap.  When we were sure the piece fitted, we glued it and let it dry.

Meanwhile, Kassandra showed me another new floor she had acquired.

"Marble?  Well, it will look very pretty for sure."

"Do you not recognize it?"

"No, I'm afraid not."

"My dear, this floor comes straight from the Opera Garnier, in Paris.  You surely know that is the place that Gaston Leroux used to set up the stage for "The Phantom of the Opera"?  I love that book!  I would haved liked more a different ending, but I am happy to enjoy some of Erik's floors in my house."

"I see.  Well, it seem very fitting to your tastes, for sure."

Trying on the floor...

... and getting it installed!

"Well, I must say, I like the library much better now!  Before seemed so dark, with all that dark wood..."

"I know.  Veroniqué, the lady that designed the floor, is very talented.  I may redo the floor of the ballet studio with another of her designs..."

"Oh, Kassandra, another floor change?!"

"Well, do not take it like that, I have still not decided.  Is it my fault if I find things I like better?"

"I guess not..."

"It's looking good!"

"Yes.  I still have some things to put up in the walls, but I may order new furniture, and I won't do it until then..."

Free printable, because Christmas is coming

This weekend I found Kassandra very busy.

"What are you up to?", I asked.

"Well, since the weather is awful and we are better at home, I decided to decorate for the solstice.  Our kids love this time of year."

"Oh, you are still starting."

"Yes, I only have hung the bounting.  I still have to take out the Christmas tree and decorate it.  Would you like to help?"

"Sure, why not?  It will be fun."

Taking out the Christmas tree...

... and putting on ornaments

"What about this?"

"Oh, that is Santa's mailbox.  Each kid writes a letter and deposits it inside for Santa to pick up.  We only let them ask for one thing each, although we always put on more gifts for them."

"And do you write Chrismtas cards as well?"

"Those are for the kids to write to their cousins.  We have family all scattered throughout Europe, and they like to send them cards.  But we will see them at the Solstice party".

"Of course!  I forgot that you do not actually celebrate Christmas..."

 

"But you have very little decorations, Kassandra..."

"I have bought some more this year, but I still have to prepare them before I take them out.  You'll see them soon."

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Do you decorate your dollhouse for Christmas?  If you do, do you have a Christmas tree? And if so, does it have its proper box to be put away the rest of the year? No? Well, you are lucky, because I bring you one!

I designed this box some time ago, but today is the day I actually printed it and assembled it.  It measures about 8.5 cm long, so I could fit my mini Christmas tree inside, but you can make it bigger or smaller if you need to.  There are three files: one with the box as you can see in the pictures - you can print this one in white paper; one in which the box has no decorations, so you can use any colored paper that you like; and one with the labels so you can cut them and stick them in the box, if you prefer that look.  HERE you go!  Just click on the file(s) you want, right-click and select "Download". Have fun!

As always, feel free to craft and gift, or share the file (links back are nice too!), but please, do not sell the files or your finished creations.  Thank you!

Free printable! Miniature box of condoms

This is something that I have been wanting to do for years!  I love that we can include in our houses modern stuff like tablets, phones and computers.  But my favorite things are the subtle ones: like a box of tampons... or a box of condoms!

The one I have made I have scanned from a brand new box that I had at home; I composed the images, cleaned them a bit and made to scale.  I even scanned the condom packets and the pamphet!  Unfortunately, the pamphlet did not look good in 1:12 scale, so I omitted it.  But I very much like the end result:

The fun part is, the condom packets fit inside the box!  I may try something adventurous and glue a tiny jump ring inside them, to mimick an actual condom - I don't know if jump rings will be small enough to fit, but it's worth a try.

This will go into Kassandra's nightstand :)

I am very happy to share with you all the printable to make this.  As allways, feel free to share, make and give as gifts and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too), but please do not sell the file, or your creations.  Thank you!

HERE you go!  Have fun!

New piece for the museum

I had been wating for ever to finish this project, but today was the day.  

I bought a file cabinet from Beautifully Handmade to transform into something very different:

I wanted something to display in the museum that gave the illusion of organized artifacts.  I have a thing for antique documents, and since it is so difficult to display books on a small roombox already filled up, I opted for a file cabinet with folders.  They can be extracted, opened, and the maps removed from them for study:

All the maps are previous to the 19th century (some are from the 17th century!).  The folders are made with cardboard and texturized paper (brown snake skin).  The inside covers and the maps are prints on regular paper.  To top everything up, there is a little bookend with a rotating globe on top of the cabinet - I am currently waiting on one with better looks.

It took me several months to start this project, but once on it, it took me about a week to finish it.  I am very happy with the final result, and it looks fantastic on the museum:

Happy Halloween!

Kassandra hopes you all had a wonderful Halloween!

She certainly had fun.  She offered a party for friends and family, and she had so much fun decorating the house and the living room:

You certainly need a vampire pumpkin at your door

The coffin shelf was full of games for the kids, who naturally forgot their candy bags as soon as there was fun stuff to do... 

Some spooky drinks for those thristy...

The kids had some toys and activity books set up for them...

Happy Samhain, everyone!

Details for The Island

Today I found Kassandra very busy, sorting out some stuff in the cabinets of the Island.

"What are you doing?", I asked.

"Good morning, dear.  I was organizing some materials I brought.  Now that I have the space for a crafting room, I can tidy up my hobbies supplies.  Are you fond of dollhouses?"

"Absolutely!  I did not know you liked them as well".

"Why, naturally!  Don't you know that when a female vampire marries, it is custom to gift her a dollhouse to decorate?  If she has the money, she will order one that looks like her real life house, and she strives to decorate it as close as possible as the big counterpart."

 "How charming!"

"Indeed!  I have my own, but I want more.  So I brought some dollhouses kits and supplies to build them."

"I'm sure you will have lots of fun doing so."

 

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 Fantasy apart, it's the details that make a dollhouse look like it is lived in. 

A couple of days ago I found a fabulous idea at Shrews Miniatures shop:

Picture by Shrews Miniatures

This dollhouse making kit is made of win!  I absolutely wanted one, so I made my own.

I love designing boxes, so I searched the internet for dollhouses kits in a box, to make several for Kassandra's craft room.  It took a while to find them, but I like how they look, considering the images I used are of pictures of the actual boxes:

The Atlanta is the best-looking one

 Then, I searched for some tutorial books, and made them, filled with pages, but glued shut:

After that, the wallpapers, the carpetting, the glue bottle and tiny boxes with furniture and components:

The images of the boxes are of real dollhouse kits, and I designed the headers of the carpetting bags.  The wallpapers are a smaller version of the wallpapers I have in my small dollhouse, and are the creations of Ana Circea.  The glue bottle is a long forgotten beauty bottle that never seemed to find its place - now it has found its purpose!

I had a lot of fun making this.  I could even try out our new printer - the old one is no longer functioning properly.  So nice to be on holiday to do some crafting!

Upgrade for the terrace

Yesterday Kassandra wanted to do another makeover.  She insisted she had found a lovely Spanish tile for the terrace, and nothing would convince her to maybe wait because she could change her mind again.

So we stripped the terrace of the previous floor and installed the new.  Even I must admit that the change suits the terrace well:

Before

After

"I'll admit, Kassandra, that the new floor is very pretty".

"Isn't it?  I absolutely love the central ornamental piece!  The other tiles just looked old, and since this is a new and modern home I did not like that.  Besides, the lady that made this floor is really talented.  I also bought from her the floor in the conservatory.  I must admit that I peruse her new creations often..."

"Surely you won't pretend to change another floor, will you?"

"Oh, no, dear, not anymore.  I think I am happy now will all my choices.  But in the future, who knows...?"

Free printable! Game boxes

When Winter is coming (ha ha, see what I did there?), what is better than an afternoon with family or friends playing games?  There are a lot of traditional games that would look awesome in a dollhouse setting.  I spent several afternoons searching the web for pictures, and I am happy I was able to make some very popular games, which I am sure many of us have played at least once:

It was so much fun to design these!  So, to not waste my efforts, I am happy to pass along the printable with all the boxes and the accessories.  Here you go!  I hope you have fun making these!

For the Twister mat, I printed it in regular copy paper and covered it with clear adhesive film - my box of Twister had a plastic mat, so this gives it a shiny plastic look.  The bad things is, you cannot fit the mat inside the box (the cover will pop up), so I am thinking in printing it on fabric paper; that way I can fold and store it in the box. If you want to display it unfolded then you have no problems.  The rest you can print in matte photo paper for best results, or you can print in regular paper and glue to cardboard before cutting and mounting.

Please feel free to print as many copies as you like, make gifts for friends, and pass the printie along (links back are nice too), but please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you, and enjoy!

Free printable! Ballet calendar for 2021

I have been busy this weekend crafting a calendar for The Island room.  I have a cork board in which I wanted to hang it from.  So I made one for the remaining months of this year.

However, upon finishing it, I thought to myself, "why not make one for the next year, since I am already in the mood?"  Well, said and done.  I made one of those that you can change the page each month, but even though it is fully finished and functional, I am not sure it will hang well, because even though it is 1:12 scale, the paper is still 12 times too thick, and it looks a bit stiff:

Even though I love the design, it does not hang very well...

 

So I changed the style, and made one whose pages you have to tear off each time the month changes.  It is very easy to make, and you can find instructions on how to make it in this post - even though it is a different design, the process is still the same.

Once you have finished glueing the pages together, you only have to glue them onto the base with the picture - you should glue the base onto a strong cardboard so it won't bulge, or you can print the base onto photo paper, which is stiffer.

You can hold it in place with double-sided tape or dollhouse wax.

The theme is ballet, which I think will not look out of place in any dollhouse, but I have included an empty base in case you want to use your own picture.  

Here is the free 2021 calendar.  I used for the design the Print a Calendar site.  You can make several types of life-size calendars for your needs, or you can have fun designing your own in Big Hugh Labs, even making a small calendar for a CD case!  I am warning you, once you have tried their stuff you'll keep coming back for more!

Have fun making your own calendar!  Feel free to share it, give it as a gift and pass the file onto anyone (links back are nice too), but please, do not sell your creations or the file.