Barbie pet shop

As of Tuesday, 2/23/2016, the pet shop in our Barbie house/retail area is now open for business! 

In reality... it's just finished and ready to be played in. 

I am pretty happy with the results though and have had a lot of fun making everything for it.

We did get the little animals in the mail Monday afternoon.

 

Cat toys and dog chew toys.

I found this picture in a Mary Jane's Farm magazine.  It looks like Katie Bug (but much cleaner).

 I adore the fish tank I made.  Even though there's no fish.

Cat Toy.

Little leashes.

I printed these boxes and folded them from Myfroggystuff.blogspot.com.

I made the little pet bowls out of clay and painted them.

Some of our animals have already been adopted out!

These two girls have too much fun with Barbies!

 

 

I am already thinking of what the next business will be.  Probably a clothing store.

That could be fun... with handmade purses and clothes and jewelry. 

We'll see how that one plays out. 

What's your opinion? 

What kind of Barbie retail outlet would you like to see us make?

 



suncatchers

I saw this little craft somewhere in the wide world of the web a year or two ago and a recent picture on pinterest reminded me of the simple craft for kids... or adults.  You cut a circle out of the middle of a paper plate and also two circles a tad larger from clear contact paper.  You will also need scrap pieces of colored tissue paper and markers or crayons to decorate the plate. 

 

Decorate the plate and place one of the contact paper circles on the back of the plate with the sticky side showing through the open circle in the plate.  Arrange the tissue paper every which-a-way then cover with the second piece of contact paper.  Punch a hole and string yarn through to hang. 

 

The kids loved making these and as I was taking pictures of their wonderful works with the sun shining through them in the window I realized that they would be taking them home.  Booooooo.  So I had to make more.  I had two extra plates already cut and I used the center cut outs to make more... and more.  I think they look so pretty with the winter sunlight illuminating through them.

 

 

Why this silly thing turns my pictures and won't let me turn them back I will never know.

And this is me... the big kid... coloring. 



Barbie Affliction

I swear y'all I think I have found my calling with this Barbie stuff.  I promise I do have days when I don't make anything or even have time to think about the Barbie house... maybe just a couple of days.  You would think this Barbie house has been in there forever instead of just a few weeks.  I find myself remodeling all the time.  The contact "wall" paper that I had on the bottom floor I was not happy with so yesterday I redid it in wood grain which I LOVE.  I have moved the kitchen from the top floor to the middle floor.  And now I want to redo the wallpaper on the top floor.  I play in this house more than the kids at the day care do but that's ok right??  I don't really play so much as play "fix up" or "house" which was always mine and my friend Mandy's favorite part. 

 

So one thing that has been bothering me is bedding.  I have one little quilt that doesn't fit the beds (no offense to Mom who I think made it).  It just lays there... doesn't drape down the sides, and even falls off when the Barbie is covered up.  So I have wondered what to do to give my Barbie house bedrooms a more modern feel.  I looked all over etsy yesterday (Wednesday) and found quite a lot.  Some of them were expensive and some looked great but most of them fit the same way I am talking about.  And the crochet ones... YUCK!  Barbie houses were not meant for large loop crochet.  I hate when things look too big for the houses... now that I am grown up that is.  Used to we'd make beds out of wash rags and loved it.  Lo, if I'd have had sewing skills back then... we'd have been dangerous.  I took the two beds home with me Wednesday, went through my stash of fabric and made two comforters and throw pillows in under an hour and a half.  I only quit because I was getting tired after a long day.  But I had so much fun and it was seriously stress-free crafting for me.  So enjoyable.  I have made much more for this Barbie house that I will share soon.  It just keeps getting better and better!

 

 

This first picture is "before bedding" but after new wallpaper.  There is a light socket that is covered up in the top right corner, hence the bubble.  Some things you can't help.  Also I made the windows, picture on the left, standing pictures on the dresser, rug and plant.  The plant is the top off of a Downy bottle.  The sea horse is out of that tea I posted about a few weeks ago that has the prizes in it and the bed is just... blah.

And this is "after" with bedding.  I used some outdoor fabric that I made pillow out of for our porch six years ago and drop cloth for the sides.

I fringed the pillows, just by pulling threads of fabric out after it was sewn, which I think gives it a more "size appropriate" look.  Rather than human sized trim or fringe... which a lot of people use.

And this is the other bed.  It is a hard, pink plastic bed with no character really so I decided to cover it totally too.  I used fabric that we cut off the bottom of my craft room curtains when they turned out too long.  It was already stitched on two sides with a backing so I stitched up the other side, put some polyfill in it and sewed over the top to give it some coosh and comfort, like a quilt.  The blue jean pillow, that I added lace to, is my favorite I think.  Maybe because it was cut from my rainy day jeans that I finally let go of and knew I'd wear again with my toosh hanging out if I didn't cut them up.  I love the fringe on it too.  The chicken is a Christmas ornament I found in my sewing stash but it fits perfectly in here!

I do plan to put a small hand stitch in the top corners of the bottom of the bed to make them lay down better.

Too cute huh?!?!

This wardrobe and dressing room is on the bottom floor also.  I made the wardrobe from a youtube tutorial.  It's not my best work and may not last long with four years olds and it wasn't easy to do.  It works though!  I made the coat hangers from large paper clips... also from youtube.

 

I have got to tape those lights up!  I made the peace rug, and the multi colored one from the other picture, out of that plastic cross-stitch stuff that I found in Mrs. Brust's sewing stash that I got.  I cut the pictures from magazines and made the frames from cardstock.  I'm not real happy with the white rug so something else will probably be there soon.  It's just a piece of felt.  Oh I made the jewelry too.  Necklaces and bracelets with beads that I have had forever and tiny elastic string that I bought at Walmart.  There's a bunch of it in the top drawer there.  Too much fun!

 

This is what wallpapering the Barbie house looks like.  And I spilled my water so my jeans were wet from sitting on the floor.

 

 

And this is what I look like in the Barbie house.

I just love the new bedding!



Oh and I LOVE the new wardrobe and jewelry!

 

And this is me in Florida with my family last year.  Not everybody in the family got to go but I sure had a good time!

 

I think the affliction is there regardless of the Barbie house.