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!