Delightful

The Christmas rush is finally over. I can't say that I was bah humbug this year, but I sure didn't have much enthusiasm for the holiday season. For nearly twenty years Santa has paid a special visit to our house the Sunday before Christmas. Over the years, I've invited neighbor children, relatives, and friends; the party has always been a big deal and so stressful because there were gifts to buy for the children and invitations to send out--real mail letters, baking the Christmas goodies, and making sure that everything was perfect for the children, Now, the most of the children have grown up. The oldest of my grandchildren is 16 and not into Santa, but he has a little brother who is. The party fell on Dec 23 this year--poor planning on my part, so I was doubly stressed. In the end Santa's visit went off without a hitch, well, almost. My sweet little grandson, Nathan, was not able to come. He was very sick at home, so it was just the three girls, and I think the older two know the secret, but Little Lily does not, so we invite Santa for the youngest children and the young at heart (me). 

Once the Santa party was over, I felt like I could finally relax, even though I had a Christmas dinner to prepare on the 24th. And then my daughter and I both have birthdays. Mine on the 20th and hers on the 24th. 

I fell behind on all of holiday preparations because I was trying to get a dollhouse finished. I was really nervous, worried that Lily wouldn't like it, but she did. So here is the Grand Reveal. 

I have a bird cage about the size of this  package and I kept wanting to uncover the birds! I put the house on a little child's tea table; it belonged to Lily's great grandmother (my husband's mother). Lily was just a tiny baby when we lost Great Grandma, but she is always here in spirit.

Today I called Lily and asked her if she had people to live in her house, and she does--an entire family, including grandparents, so I will finish the third floor for the children and grandparents. I told her the house needs another bedroom. 

Second floor bedroom: bed: pre-made, purchased from my favorite miniature retail store in Denver that is now closed😞. Dresser: junk dealer, curtains store bought, chandelier--I made, and Pop the pony's portrait. She loved that.  Bathroom all stash--things that I have collect for various junk dealers. 

Fire place came with another house, but can be purchased at Hobby Lobby. Coffee table stash. The Crash on the mantle is an old Hobby Lobby decoration. I don't know if you even buy them anymore. I didn't put out all of the pieces because they took up too much room. Same for the little nut crackers that came in a package of six. I bought them last year and couldn't find them this year. The train came from Hobby Lobby mini section, the other toys are hot glue on a tree skirt that was attached to another tree that came from the junk dealer. The white furniture and care are another Hobby Lobby buy. I had bought the furniture for the Bellingham to go with a brown leather for the more rustic look.

Everything from my stash in the kitchen. The light in the kitchen came from Hobby Lobby that has a new line of white fixtures. I ruined the chandelier that I had placed in the living room, or else it was a bum one, but the light bulb blew out. I was just as glad because it put out way too much white light, washing out the other muted soft lights. I think I can replace the bulb and use it anyway. I didn't want expensive chandeliers because little hands are not always careful.

Lily who asked who the little guy in red by the stairs was. I have a package of little cake toppers that my had way back when--a long time ago. I am pretty frugal with them, but dole them out for very special occasions to a wee bit of my mom.  She would have adored these grandchildren and loved the dollhouses.

Lily does love all of the bits and pieces that finish the rooms, but I want her to use her own imagination to make the little things and perhaps her sisters will help. Ellie, the 12 year old is very good at using sculpting clay. Perhaps she will help Lily.

The wall paper came from Hobby Lobby except for the living room, which I ordered from Itsybitsy.com

I made the chandelier from stash beads and findings. It's the second one that I've made and is inspired from a pair of chandelier earrings that my mom used to wear. Now looking at it the, the bottom beads could be smaller.

Lily loves to go fishing with her dad, so from my stash I added a pail with fish and a fishing pool. She loved that and walked around showing off her fish, saying that she was a good fisher.

The Christmas tree inside adds the warmth of the holidays.

I have a bit more work to do to finish up, but I think it turned out so nice. I made the planter boxes from balsa wood. I started out with wide craft sticks, but they were hard to cut, had knots, and some were crooked, so I bought tow nice pieces of balsa strips and made the boxes. I filled them moss and lots of Hobby Lobby silk flowers. 

 Lily loves her house, but left it here so that I finish it. I have some painting touch up and two bedrooms to wall paper.

Children are so smart; they are logical thinkers by nature and look at life literally, so I should not have been surprised when she asked me  why there were flowers in the flower boxes when it is winter with  Christmas decorations. I didn't have much of an answer. 

With the Cranberry Cove finished, I still have plenty to do in the workshop. I have to shingle the Bellingham--that will be a big job and finish Jen's San Franciscan and, of course, Lily's house final touches. I want to work on the little toy store, too. So I'll have plenty to keep me busy.

And here is my newest project. You may recognize a Robin Betterly kit, a Christmas gift from my husband. I stayed up until after 11 last night making tiny things. Really tiny. things I know for myself some of the things that I add to my houses aren't true 1:12 scale, but they work and sometimes I like the wee bit larger items because they show up better; now I am working with this lovely kit that is true to scale. I have to be thankful that my eyes are still good, even tough I have implants for cataracts and wear bifocal glasses. My, hands, too, not strong enough to screw off a sealed lid from a jar, they can still handle the tiny things and I count my blessings because I don't have arthritis in them.

The entire collection is packed with such cute Easter things, all that have to be assembled and painted. I stayed up last night painting tiny little chocolate rabbits and assembling the bunny pull toy. It was so relaxing and peaceful to just play.

The kit comes nicely packaged with the laser wood pieces marked. 

The photographs are very helpful along with nicely written assembly instructions.

I love the bunny. Instructions said to use a craft knife to removed the excess product from molding, but I used a small emery board to sand the lumps and bumps from the ears. Worked nicely.

I don't like the hinges for the doors since they are cardboard, so I dug in my stash for metal hinges and of course I have three of four. I'll have to order what I need.

This little pull toy originally caught my eye and I could have just ordered it alone, but I sent out a text to my family suggesting the entire pricey kit.

Sadly the hutch doesn't fit in the toy store--unless I move a light on the wall behind the hutch.

I've made own pull toy from scratch and now I have good idea as to how to make more. 

Several coats of acrylic craft ivory paint.

Those beads are so tiny. The glue will dry clear, thankfully.

               Mine is almost as nice as the professional one. I did okay.

Next, I decided to do the chocolate bunnies:

I thought it would be impossible to paint these tiny Easter bunnies, but I did it.

Next I decided to do the chocolate bunnies.

Close. I need to do some touch up since I painted them on the card before I punched them out, so I have to paint the edges.

More touch up work and then on the cupcakes and the cake plate, though I might use my glass one instead. 

Thanks for stopping by. I know that you have some great projects, so I'll be visiting to see what magic you all are working. 

As the new year begins, I send my good wishes for a Happy New Year, for a year of good fortune, good health, and good mini projects. I know--or at least hope--that there those who visit but don't leave a comment and that is okay, but in the last year I have made some new friends and I am so appreciative of the interest that you have shown, along with the kind, encouraging, and sweet words that you leave after your visit. Thank you, thank you.

Bringing the Cranberry Cove Project to an End

It has been a very long day. My main challenge came from my son-in-law who asked me to keep his wife occupied for the day until 4:30 while he prepared the house and meal  to celebrate her birthday with is December 24th and we always celebrate it here, leaving out her in-laws. I realized tonight at dinner just how much they all love her and were so excited to share her birthday. The granddaughters had already started their holiday break, so Jen baked up a batch of sugar cutout cookies, whipped up the frosting, and brought everything over so that we could decorate Christmas cookies. With half the batch frosted they decided to out and play with  Pop the pony, and they helped grandpa clean the barn, the corral, and a do a variety of other things to keep mom busy. They finally headed home around 4, and I had to jump in the shower and get ready for the party. So yes, tonight, I am beat. I should be wrapping packages and putting the final touches on Lily's house, but I'm too tired. I'll write instead. 

While not quite ready the grand reveal, here's a peak at the Cranberry Cove nearly ready to be handed over to its new owner.

It has turned out so cute. I had some challenges installing the roof and the porch railing. I didn't quite follow the direction and when my husband took a second look at the instructions he said that I had glued the railing to the roof wrong. I assembled the porch roof and the railings first with idea of gluing the entire peace in place at the same time, but something was wrong. The pieces didn't fit very well.

You can see that I glue them behind the support beam instead of on top of it. No wonder the unit didn't fit in place. Since I had glued to painted surfaces, the pieces were easily removed after I heated up the joints with heat gun and warmed glue released easily so then I cleaned them up and re glued the porch posts in the proper place. It pays to get a second opinion sometimes.

Window boxes were one of the last projects and a specific request from Lily. I built the first one out of large craft sticks, but decided that I would use balsa wood instead since it was easier to cut and cut straighter. Some craft sticks tend to be crooked and I just like the balsa better

Using a glue gun, I laid a line of hot glue in the bottom of each box and filled them a layer of moss.

I cute apart long stems of small silk flowers and glued them with the hot glue. 

I haven't used any hot glue to affix things, but today I attached the window curtains with hot glue--so much easier than fighting with white glue to get it set.

The window boxes went into place easily and quickly using hot glue.

I haven't created any artwork for the house, hoping that Lily will create her own, but I wanted a photo of Pop for her. I had made this frame and decided to use it. The photo seems out of scale, but Jen thinks that is okay. The second photo is her favorite one of her and Pop. It didn't print out as nicely as I wanted. I have anew printer and these are the first photos that I've printed on it. The color seems off.

I am still working on how to display the Christmas tree.

I've furnished the house with things from my stash. I had bought the white furniture for the Bellingham and decided that I didn't like it and bought leather instead. The fireplace came with San Franciscan and since I have another fireplace for it, I used this one. The little tea set was originally charms that I found in the beading section at Michale's. 

The table is set for Santa with a nice gingerbread man snack. I bought the package of  4 at Hobby Lobby. The mug and saucer I bought last year at Michale's. The roast turkey and chocolate cake, along with all of the furnishings were in my stash purchased from a junk dealer. I made the refrigerator from a Houseworks kit. I think the floor must be unloved because the doors won't stay closed.

There will be more to come on the Cranberry Cove as I finish it up. I'm about out of time, aren't I!

Christmas has come to other houses in the neighborhood. Look at the upstairs patio at the Bellingham, a cardinal has come to visit. (Don't know where he came from since we don't have them in Colorado) The cacti came from a couple of places. The three planted in the little red planter I found at a local antique store, while the others--paper ones--I found at Hobby Lobby in the card making section. There are six in the package. 

Some baking has been going on in the kitchen.

There were four little mugs in the package and 4 gingerbread men in their package.

Another plate of Christmas treats that I found last year at Michale, not so much luck this year.

Lots of baking going in this kitchen, but on so much in mine.

Such a happy little cookie guy. I spent all of my time working on the Cranberry Cove thus I haven't done any real time baking. It'll be a lean, reduced sugar holiday. And that's not so bad. I do love to make gingerbread guys, though. 

Santa has arrived early at the Blue Farm House (now painted pink). He's a cute little guy. I don't remember where I bought him, but I do remember that one of my girls convinced me that I needed him. He's handmade.

Maybe next year if I don't have a big build going, I'll focus on decorating the houses for Christmas. I'd enjoy that. This year I just threw a few things together from craft stash.

Inside while probably out of scale, a Hobby Lobby pink tree reflects the tree in my own living room decorated with pink  and white light and pink, gold, and silver balls. I've done a pink tree for years, long with always buying two pink poinsettias. This one I purchased from Miniatures.com. Yes, there is usually some sort of technology on my coffee table, but not cupcakes.Tomorrow, shopping. Ugh. I'm done with the gift shopping, but I need to grocery shop for the kids' Santa party Sunday and the Christmas Eve. Still too much to do.

Merry Christmas, dear friends. We've had a great year, and I have so enjoyed watching you all build and work and create and then so generously write about you projects, inspiring all of your followers to try new things. I've learned so much from everyone. Thank you for your encouragement and for taking the time to visit and leave sweet and kind comments. 

 I'll see you next year.  Wishing you a Happy New Year, too.