Miniature Dollhouse Curtains

 Hello All!!  Today I am sharing the method I use to make curtains.  You know, to get the real life (as I can!) look of flowy, pulled back drapes.  I've been combing my fabric stash all summer looking for just the right fabric for the dining room of White Pine Cottage.  The room itself is long and narrow so I felt it needed a larger scale set of drapes to sort of pull the wall to you.  

I follow a gal on YouTube named Angieaug and she is the one who taught me to make my own curtain pleater very easily and I have used it many times since.  You will see it in the pictures below.  

Today I saw an instagram post, which I can't find now ugh, that had a set of velvet curtains and thought... where do I have some velvet???  Then I remembered that I recently bought a set of hair scrunchies from the dollar store that are velvet!  I thought the pink one would work but decided that the champagne one would be better for this room.  So I cut the fabric and the elastic inside, ironed the fabric and cut it in half.  Turns out it was the perfect length for my curtains.

I placed the fabric onto my pleater and gave it a good dousing of hair spray.  Then I used other skinny stick pieces to push the fabric (not-so-neatly) into the pleater and dried it for about five minutes with my hair dryer.  Next I stood the pleater up and pinned it to a block of foam, sprayed with hair spray and pinned the heck out of the billowy bottom of the curtains.  Then used my hair dryer to dry.  This method works so well and is so easy.  The whole project took about thirty minutes.

I don't have a completed picture yet but here shows my window curtain box.  I guess it would be a Cornice Board??  I made it to resemble a mantle and it is wide enough to place items on top.

Hope you enjoyed this mini curtain tutorial!  

Please feel free to browse my other miniature tutorials HERE!

Miniature Haunted House

 Hello all!  One of the most satisfying things about the way I make my miniatures is turning everyday trash into something that you would never guess is made from trash.  Today I made a miniature haunted house from a printer cartridge box.  Luckily it already had the roof slant which is what inspired me.  The house isn't an exact scale.  It could possibly be used as a large dollhouse inside a 1:12 scale dollhouse.  What I envisioned was a Halloween playroom inside a carveable pumpkin with the tiny haunted dollhouse being the focal point on the center of the playroom floor... with possibly a light-up ghost next to it.  It's a thought in progress at this point.  It's been a while since I have made a Halloween pumpkin.  Maybe it's about time!  I hope you enjoy this demonstration in pictures :)

Here is the small box I used.  It was slanted on both sides so I just cut one slant off and glued it to another piece of cardboard from the same box.

I drew my windows and door and cut out the windows with an exacto knife and cuticle scissors.  They aren't perfectly cut out and I'm Ok with that.  I think it adds to the look.

I used almost the entire box in this project.  I glued pieces together for the steps and used toothpicks for the porch columns.

I added another piece of cardboard for the roof and thin string for the details.

When the glue dried... enough... I am so impatient, I painted the whole outside black.

Actually, I fibbed, I used a piece of cardboard from something else for the floor divider.

I decided to furnish the inside a little bit and give it an abandoned look.  For the bed I used a piece of an earring and two small nails for the headboard, stacked and glued pieces of the box and beads for the bed feet.  I also dug out a tiny piece of black crushed velvet for the bedspread.

I made a fireplace and broken chair for the downstairs and glued bits of paper on the floor to create a mess.  I also used tinted sawdust for the moss.  I wound up putting some on the outside of the house too.

That's it!  I hope you enjoyed my teeny haunted house!  If you did please share to Pinterest for me!!

Miniature Fabric Covered End Table

 While throwing a jug in the trash this morning something caught my eye.  The lid seemed the perfect size for a mini end table for White Pine Cottage.  So I kept it out and got out a dowel for the legs.  Then dug around for fabric.   A little while later an end table was finished!  Here's how it went...

I cut a wooden dowel into thirds leaving them 2 inches each and hot glued them underneath the lid.

I cut a circle of fabric by tracing a small Pyrex bowl.

I also thought a floral cover on top of the white fabric would look nice.  I used a paper napkin with a smaller circle traced and cut it out.  Then I removed the layers of the napkins until I only had the top printed layer.

I Mod Podged the fabric to the top of the lid.  I thought it would be smoother than hot glue.

The I did use hot glue around the sides of the lid.  I used a little at a time and pinched the fabric to form ruffles all around.  I then used Mod Podge to glue down the floral layer.

In the mean time I used spray starch all around the ruffles and tied a piece of string around while drying to sort of control the ruffles so they wouldn't splay out too much.  I also used a combination of watered down brown paint and dry brushed brown paint here and there to give it an aged look and also depth.

Here are links to other mini-tutorials pictured...

Miniature Wicker Chair

Miniature Paper Rugs

Miniature Vintage Lamps

Miniature Paintings and Frames

Miniature Book Tutorial

Miniature Bee Hive Tutorial

 

Howdy All!!!  Here is a mini-tutorial about making miniature bee hives or skeps.  Made from oven bake clay, thread, glue, paint and tinted sawdust.  Super easy to make and a precious addition to any mini garden or home!  Enjoy!!

First, I take a small wad of clay and roll it, cut it and shape it into a hive.  Then use a tooth pick to make the bee hole, going around in a circle until I feel it's the right size hole.  Then I bake them according to the manufactures directions for the clay. 

For the skeps I use a thicker DMC floss so it will look more like rope.  I'm sure there's a proper name for this thread but I am lacking in knowing what it is.

If you want your skep to have a handle it is better to glue this in place first and let it dry.

I place a dab of glue... wood glue it what I use... on the bottom and place the end of a long piece of thread in the glue and let it set for just a few minutes.  Then begin to place glue and wind around the bottom then up the sides placing glue in sections as you go.

When you get to the hole just wind around it and cut the string later with tiny scissors when it is dry.

Apparently the turorialist (aka Me) assumes that painting is a given.  So there aren't pictures of this step.  You can paint them as you wish.  

These were listings that sold in my Etsy shop... hence the A. B. C.

The "moss"  is sawdust that I tinted with a tad of paint.  If you put a little bit of sawdust into a plastic sandwich baggie and a few drops of paint it makes for a nice hint of moss on any mini project!

And this is Hamish.  One of my mouse friends that lives and hangs out in my creations.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!!  Hope you make some bee hives!