Free printable! Halloween coloring books

One day closer to Halloween!

Who doesn't love it? Although this year is going to be not so much fun, with the pandemic and all.  Trick or treating has been suspended on many places, and we will not be able to celebrate with parties, movie watching with friends or your favorite activity, if it involves many people.

Lucky our dollhouses do not have such problems!  Kassandra has started already to plan a party, and she asked for help with the decorating.  Well, my first suggestion was to put up one of those fake coffins.  She was not pleased at first, with all the implications that could have, but when she saw the piece in question she changed her mind:

This phenomenal piece comes from Ever After Miniatures, a place I always recommend for fabulous books and other paper goodies.  The fun thing about this piece is you can use it with or without the shelves.  Kassandra was considering another one to put Mr. Fortunato inside, so he can enjoy the party too.

We started unpacking games and other knick-knacks to decorate, and Kassandra asked if by any chance did I have Halloween coloring books.  "I do not", I said, "but I'll be happy to make some for you".

Since I did not know she asked for herself or the children of the house, I made two, one for kids and one for adults.  I made them using images found on Google: 

The boxed game is also from Ever After Miniatures

In case you need some coloring books for your scene, I am happy to provide the file.  I hope you have fun assembling and displaying the books.  Feel free to share them, give them as gifts and pass the file onto anyone (links back are nice too), but please, do not sell your creations or the file.

Enjoy!

A little change in the bedroom

As Kassandra mentioned, she was very excited about a new floor for the bedroom.  I must admit that, even though I was not convinced, she found a real jewel for her chamber:

Before

After

 

 

"Kassandra, I must say, you were right.  That is a very regal and very beautiful floor".

"Thank you, dear.  It is another of Evona's designs.  She told me that they are real tiles, photographed in a Teutonic Knights castle in Poland.  They were made in the 14th century.  Aren't they extraordinary?"

"They are indeed!"

Finishing up some details

As we were saying yesterday, here is the update on the door inserts:

Before:

After:

The fabulous window panel comes from the shop of Suzy. She has several models for you to choose from, along with lamps and printable furniture.

Also, I finished up the cellar.  Many thanks to my coworker Carlos for cutting up some wood pieces for me!

For starters, the ceiling.  I just used some craft sticks cut to measure, painted and glued to the ceiling paper.  I wanted to imitate visible beams, which I think is now trendy in decoration.  It just seem the natural thing to do on a cellar:

And it was super easy to affix it to the ceiling:

I love the look!

I showed the pic to Carlos, and he said that is precisely how his cellar is!  

Then, the fun part: walling up Mr. Fortunato!  Carlos help with that too by cutting to measure some wood for the fake walls:

All I had to do was sand them a bit so they would fit perfectly, and cover them up with the same red brick wallpapers as the rest of the walls:

Front

Back

 

Now for the fun part: setting up the stage for Mr. Fortunato!

Looks awesome!

This is what it would look like if you open the cellar door.  If you recognize the painting, you are extra awesome ♥  I love hidden references!

 And finally!  Setting up the residents: Mr. Fortunato and his friend the rattie! My very special homage to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado":

Soooo fun! Even more so with Halloween coming up!!

 I absolutely love how the cellar has turned out!  In case you don't know, the painting in front of the door is The Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies by Van Klomp - this painting is featured in the British series Allo' Allo', and it makes for quite some adventures.  At some point, they hide it in a cellar ;)

The living room is ready for furnishing

It took a loooong time for Kassandra to find some suitable wallpapers to start doing this room.  But yesterday was the day that was finished.

We started by the left wall, in which she wanted to have a bucolic scene, although with a modern design.

"This is very pretty", I said.  "It reminds me of those murals that they used to paint in the walls of palaces".

"Yes, that is why I like it.  I have found a lovely seller that has some wallpapers like those you are referring to, but they are very classic for a modern house like this.  But this one has a beautiful image, and it will combine very well with the other wallpaper."

And so, we put the mural in the first wall:

And then the second and third, with a matching grey and white stripped wallpaper:

 

Naturally, we had to use a template to match the space for the door, but we used the same one of the cellar, only wrong side up.  It was worth it, and it came out splendidly.

"It looks very nice."

"Yes indeed.  Jessica's wallpapers are abundant in this house."

"So, what's next?"

"The floor.  You are going to love it".

"Oh, it's luxurious!  It looks like Italian marble!"

"Isn't it gorgeous?  Evona made it.  The same artist that made the wallpaper murals we were talking about.  I am thinking of using another of her floors in the bedroom..."

"In the bedroom?  But, Kassandra, the bedroom is already finished!"

"I know, but when you see it, you'll understand why.  Let's set up the coffee corner!".

"Coffee corner?"

The jar contains real grounded coffee

"Oh my, that is something!"

"Do you like it?  I told you this house was going to be for entertaining guests.  My favorite humans love their coffee.  Now we can bring back the jellyfish aquarium and the TV set up."

"It's starting to look very cozy!"

"I have you to thank for that!  Come on, I want to finish the last wall!"

Then we embarked in the last wall.  The one with a door and a window.  Obviously we had to make a template; once done, we cut to measure and installed the wallpaper, and the curtains:

"I was starting to miss a little black in this house!"

"Very chic and modern!  Your tastes have changed a bit..."

"I would say that they have evolved.  I love the overall effect!  Tomorrow we have some details to finish.  But we can already supply the door with the doorknobs, that is not much extra work..."

"Fantastic!  And what is it that you want to do tomorrow?"

"I have had delivered some new door inserts.  The ones I bought were nice, but these ones are much better.  You'll see...".

The final touch for the ballet studio

This was the only thing that the ballet studio was lacking: a ballet barre!

I wanted to order a custom-made one, but in the end I finally decided to try and make it myself.  It was easier than I thought.

My coworker Carlos cut the wood for the bases for me.  Then I drilled some holes on them, as well as in the wood sticks:

My husband's drilling tool came in handy!

Then I used a couple of toothpicks to hold the side bars in place:

Then came the gluing, painting and staining part, and voilà!

I think it looks very nice!

The studio finally has all the furniture that it needs! 

Also, this beauty arrived all the way from Italy:

It is the child of Minimariba.  Her shop is full of beautifully made dresses and shoes.  Go check her out!  Also, see the tiny ballet box? That is a free printable from Zena Miniatures, so go and grab it right now!  And, this is the most amazing thing ever:

A box of convertible ballet tights!  Just when I think I cannot find anything else for the ballet studio, I find the most incredible things!  Also the creation of Zena.

Love the ballet studio!

Interlude: Stand for the soap shop

The soap shop is a project that goes on and off depending on my mood.  

After the haberdashery shop was complete, I knew almost inside out Zenas Miniature website, and upon searching for printables, I found a lovely product line called Aqua Spa.  And it being in a beautiful shade of turquoise, I simply had to have it for the soap shop.  Last saturday I purchased it, and I spent a couple of days crafting a display stand to showcase the products with the help of Corel Draw.  It only took four tries (it would have been three if I had not messed up the cutting of the last one) for it to be just perfect.

Today I finished up the mounting of the boxes, and I love the finished look of the set up:

Lots of self-care goodies!

The shop is coming along great...

The aquarium with the jellyfish has moved to Kassandra's new house.  She says everybody should have an aquarium in their home.  Hopefully the work there will resume this weekend...

The cellar is all done

 Yesterday Kassandra and I spent all day setting up the cellar.  We started by putting the floor, a gorgeous piece from Ana Circea:

Then we started with the walls.  Kassandra wanted to have bricks, because she says they help to keep the wines and the spirits in good condition.  The wallpaper is the lovely design of Veronique, from Pixel Market.  Our first wall was the one with the window.  We joined a couple of sheets together, and then made a template for the window:

Then we cut the the wallpaper to measure and glue it to the wall.  We even got the door off the house to work better

The we added the bamboo blind.  Kassandra was very happy with it!

And then we attached the door to its place again

The bamboo blind is the lovely work of Amanda from Mini Maison Miniatures.  After that, we started with the walls.  We had to attach several pieces together, because it was a long wall:

One down, two to go!

The back wall:

And the left wall.  The door gave us a bit of trouble, but everything got sorted out:

It looks great!

We put all the furniture in place, and Kassandra can start decorating:

What's an skeleton doing there??!!

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The story with the skeleton is the following:  I always said that if I had a cellar, I wanted to have a walled up skeleton, as the one that appears in the story "The cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe.  So, now that I have a cellar, here we have Mr. Fortunato after the encounter with his destiny.  He is waiting for me to buy some wood to make a false wall to bury him.  For the moment, he is chained up, sitting besides the famous cask of amontillado and accompanied by a rat.  Hopefully I can take care of him soon...