Collecting and Using Scraps

As soon as I discovered my baby was going to be a girl I started dreaming up a dollhouse for her.  The dollhouse I'd played with while I was young was AWESOME and I wanted something just as awesome for her, full of magical promise and fun-filled days and nights.  So I started collecting supplies.

Being a crafter anyways, I have paintbrushes and paints, a sewing machine, tons of fabric and ribbons, paper and stickers...  The list goes on and on.  But the fun thing about a DIY dollhouse that's meant to be played with is the imagination and its scale.  When you finish working on that baby blanket for your cousin there's always scraps of fabric left... so make a quilt for the dolls.  When you finish working on that shelf for your garage keep the little scraps of wood and look at them and imagine. 

Suddenly towels or raggedy wash clothes can become little teddy bears, old pajama bottoms blankets, chunks of wood can be carved into everything from wooden spoons to bowls to chairs, that old cologne bottle is great for a lamp (that one's coming soon just to let you know hehe!)

Looking at things from the outside of a box can be difficult, but the more you do it the easier it will become.  

That's where this little piece came from.  A little unpromising chunk of wood cut from the curve of the child's bed.

Start with a small chunk of wood and work with its general shape, in this case I immediately saw a house.  Sand it down, and paint it with acrylic paints.   Seal it with polyurethane, and you can get something like these.



A tip for painting TINY little objects - use a brush with only a few bristles, if you want to add depth paint first with one color and then a second color over (note the dark blue edge on the door to the right and the slight brown behind the red door below.)