Dollhouse Build Project

Greetings friends. Today I am going to give you peek inside my non-paper crafting hobby life. Dollhouse miniatures. I first loved dollhouses as a young girl. I still remember the Christmas that Santa brought my first dollhouse! I think two factors crossed paths and contributed to my re-venture into the world of miniatures. First, for the last year my granddaughter has been playing with Calico Critters and their houses.  Apparently I am THAT grandmother who wanted her to have more than one house and one set of furniture. And then there is my friend Marti.  For what seems like two years that gossipy Internet site, Pinterest, has been showing me the miniatures that Marti has been pinning (because Pinterest is a big gossip and tells all of your friends what you are up to). It finally all got to me and I wanted my own dollhouse!

I spent several weeks (read months) looking at dollhouses on Pinterest and sometime last winter I decided that I wanted to build a dollhouse of my own.  After much serious looking I began to narrow my choices and select a house kit.  I wanted something not too complicated, with GREAT directions, and yet stylish design.  I also did not want a huge house, like The Pierce house I built 34 years ago.  I finally chose The Alison Jr kit by Real Good Toys (available at Hobby Lobby with your 40% coupon).

But you know me, well a lot of you do anyway. I could not just go with the set kit design. Oh no. I spent days reading the construction instructions and looking at Pinterest again for Alison Jr hacks. I knew I wanted to personalize the house and make my own mark on it. I made a number of notes on the plans, brainstorming ideas.

The two photos below show the basic Allison Jr kit house.

To set the stage, when I first decided to build the house I did five weeks worth of Bitten By the Bug 2 and The Merry Christmas Blog projects, thinking I would finish the house in about a month. In the meantime I ordered the parts I thought I would need for the build. Then I put away my Cricut and most of my scrapping toys. Little did I know, that was not enough time. Well, to be fair, if my international vendors had quicker shipping it would have been plenty of time. But alas it was not.

So what changes did I make from the original kit? The first change was to remove the single entry door and add French doors to the main entry.  I ordered the the doors and when they arrived I traced where I wanted them to go.  Hubby cut the enlarged doorway for me and I installed the door.  The other alteration I made to the exterior of the house was I added a window to the tower.  I measured and traced the window from onto the tower front, then I drilled out the the window area.  I also decided not to use the porch rails and shutters that came with the kit.

I made some design changes to the inside of the house as well. First I went with an open floor plan (watching too much HGTV perhaps?). I also decided not to use the stairs. I did not like how much floor space was lost to the stairs on both the first and second floors. I will tell you more about the interior changes when I post on the interior.

I purchased shingle dye and dyed the roof shingles a dark gray. The photos above and below do not show the true color of the house or the shingles.  Please refer to the first photo in this post for truer colors.

I used Magnolia Market paint on the exterior of the house (thank goodness you can purchase 8 ounce cans). I chose the color Soft Linen for the exterior and one wall of the kitchen. I used white paint for all of the trim.

I painted and added my own porch rails. I chose a painted wrought iron look. I also added the balcony on the top bedroom window.  Lastly, I added stained glass panels to the front doors and to the lower left kitchen window.

No dollhouse is complete without landscaping. I added the window boxes filled with pink and purple flowers. I also added a flowerbed and a small lawn. There is a potted palm tree on the porch, and as soon as they arrive in the mail, I will be adding three hanging plants to the front porch openings.  

I have to tell you that I have LOVED building this house.  In all I only had two frustrating days where I had to walk away and start again the next day.  One of those days involved the dreaded electrical installation. I only had to ask Doug for help on one wiring issue - positive and negative wires I connected to the transformer (I did not want to get that wrong).

In addition to the plants, I am still waiting for a number of inside accents as well as two more light fixtures.  When those arrive I will make quick work of installing them and then I will share the house interior with you.

How much did I love building this house?  I have already ordered another, more challenging kit.  I will have to get much further ahead with my paper crafting this time!!

Happy New Year

Hello friends! Welcome to my project(s) for this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut NON-Challenge.  My wonderful Design Team sister, Maureen, is hosting a non-challenge this week. She has asked the design team members to share our favorite Christmas or New Year's project, past or present. I chose the two layouts featured here from Christmas 2016.  

For details on how the layouts were made, you can get all of the info in these two blog posts.  

Thank you for stopping by today.  Happy 2018!!

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Cards

Hello friends! Welcome to my project for this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 Cricut Challenge.  I am hosting a non-linked challenge this week.  I have asked to design team members to share their favorite Christmas card they crafted this year.  

My absolute favorite is the pink card above.  I loved this card.  It seems to the capture the magic and joy of Christmas, all presented in soft layered colors.

The vintage looking card above is the card which I reproduced the largest numbers of copies.  We sent out 22 copies of this card. a good hunk of the 75 cards we shared this year.  

I loved the elegance of this red card.  The word JOY is so festive looking with the cut outs in the letters, and I like the golden pine cones.

Below is another of my favorite cards.  I like the vintage image of the sweet little angels watching over baby Jesus (need I add, blonde, Caucasian Jesus?).  Ah the 1950's and 1960's ideas about Jewish Baby Jesus. 

I hope that you have enjoyed viewing my favorite Christmas card from 2017.  I am already planning a style change for 2018!!

From our family to you, Merry Christmas!!

Vintage Christmas Holly Girl

Hello friends! Welcome to my Christmas project for The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog, where every challenge, every week, is an Anything Goes Christmas challenge.

For this week's challenge, I created another of my vintage image Christmas cards. As with the previous vintage image cards that I have shared, this image was also found on Pinterest for free.  Just like Monday's card, this one is another card that I reproduced in mass while at my weekend crop to mail out.  I like that the card is stylish yet completely flat so it will mail well!  Since the US post office likes to charge extra for bumps and baubles on the cards, flat is always nice (because yes, I can be cheap frugal like that).

I used cuts from three Cricut cartridges as well as a basic shape or two on this card. For the holly branches, I used Anna's Winter Wonderland.  For the holly boughs with ribbon, I used Anna's Christmas Cards and Embellishments 2. I used Edge to Edge for the snowflake lace.  I did weld a rectangle into the middle of the snowflake lace to help reduce the amount of cutting required to mass produce this card.  By adding the rectangle my Cricut had far fewer tiny, delicate cuts to make.

Have you also been working on your Christmas projects?  If so, you should share your creations with us at  The Merry Christmas Challenge Blog, where every challenge is always Christmas themed!

Baby Shower Projects

Hello friends! Two Saturdays ago I had a baby shower for my son and wonderful daughter-in-law.  Their son is due in about a month (that will be my third grandchild, second grandson for those who are keeping count), and we thought a month out was good shower timing.

Knowing they are having a boy, I went with a baby nautical theme.  I purchased some of our party decor and serving accessories, but I also used my trusty Cricut (with Design Space) and crafted several of the decorations, as well as the invitations.

The small sailboats above were the party favors.  They were made using a hexagon cut, sliced in half, and the sail section of a sailboat.  Add a bit of Design Space welding and a bit of Design Space slicing, and voila!  

I filled the boats with custom covered (yes, I made the chocolate wraps) Hershey nuggets which read, "Ahoy! It's a boy!"

I made two paper banners to use at the shower.  The first was this cute baby boy sailor banner.  It was Avaleigh's favorite because it had "babies."

The second was a sailboat and anchor banner that I placed over the drink station on our antique cabinet.  Crissie and Aaron took this banner to use in the baby's beach themed nursery.

I used disposable paper products for the party (though it pained me to do so as I am a "use real plates and glasses" kind of woman).  The main reason I went with disposable plates, napkins, and solo cups, was to match my color scheme.  I added a bit of decoration to the red solo cups by adding vinyl cut anchors to the tumblers.  My paper crafting friends who attended the shower did note the detail!

I used these mini popcorn boxes (via Amazon) to add a bit of pop to the serving plates.  I added the chips to the popcorn boxes, with dip on the side.  In the right rear is the nautical cupcake tower - also purchased.

I downloaded some free nautical printables and used them in several places.  All of the food and drink labels were personalized and printed.

Another of the printables is visible behind Crissie in the photo below. It was a simple printed banner.  In this photo, taken after ALL of the gifts had been opened, Crissie is opening her "diaper cake", which isn't a cake at all.

The diaper cake is actually a diaper ship!  Very in keeping with our nautical theme!

Because I forgot to take photos until the very end (duh), I missed a lot of the guests.  

But someone did snap a couple of photos of me with two of my girlfriends!  I love these women!

This a photo of the dining room BEFORE all of the food was placed.  We served sliders, chips, veggies, chocolates, cupcakes, drinks and at the end, banana split "boats" for an ice cream sundae bar.

I will be back on Monday morning with this week's Bitten by the Bug 2 challenge!

Susan's Almost World Famous Rolls - Repeat

Hello Friends. This is a repeat post from January 2012!  I recently had a request for this from a friend and I remembered that it was once posted on the blog.  This recipe produces the best yeast rolls that I have ever eaten, bar none!  I hope you enjoy....

From 2012

I was asked to post the recipe for my rolls when I posted the photo of them over my Christmas break. These are NOT quick rolls, but they are not difficult and worth every minute you invest in them. They truly are THAT good! You mix, rise and shape the rolls on the first day and then you bake them the next morning. They smell and taste SO GOOD straight from the oven.

Ingredients:

4 Cups of Water

1 ½ Cups of Sugar

1 Pkg of dry yeast (NOT Rapid Rise)

1 Cup of Shortening (I use Crisco)

1 Tbsp of Salt

4 Eggs, beaten

14+ Cups of All-Purpose Flour (I use unbleached)

¼ Cup of sugar

¼ - 1/3 Cup of milk

Very Important – begin the rolls around 1 pm (depending on how early or late you prefer to go to bed)

Combine 4 cups of water and 1.5 cups of sugar in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil and boil continuously for 5 minutes. Pour the boiling water into a very large bowl and add 1 tablespoon of salt and a cup of Crisco. Let the water mixture sit and cool unit the temperature is between 105 – 110 degrees (roughly 45-60 minutes). Add the dry yeast to the mixture and let it develop for five minutes. Add four beaten eggs and mix well. Add 6 cups of flour and stir. Add another 5 cups of flour (or so) until the dough is firm enough to handle. Roll the dough onto a floured surface and begin adding flour and kneading. Knead the dough until it is firm but elastic and not too sticky. 

Put the dough back into the large bowl and cover the bowl with a clean dish towel. Let the dough rise for four hours. Punch the dough down and let it continue to rise. Two hours later punch the dough down a second time.

You are now ready to shape the dough into rolls. I cannot stress enough that if the yeast was proofed correctly, this dough will rise!!! I “pam” several large baking sheets and place dough balls (a bit larger than a golf ball) onto the baking sheets. You may also choose to put three quarter size balls into regular muffin tins and let them rise to become Parkerhouse style rolls (see the photo for the risen PH style rolls). I fold the dough around itself creating a smooth top for the rolls. Cover the pans with clean dish towels and let them rise in a draft free area over night.

The next morning preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes (approximately). While the first pan is baking, mix the milk and ¼ cup of sugar in a small bowl. As you remove each pan of rolls from the oven, using a pastry bush, glaze the rolls with milk and sugar mixture.

This recipe make about 60-70 rolls, depending on how large you shape the rolls. I ALWAYS freeze any rolls that are not eaten on day one. The texture of rolls changes slightly as they age. By freezing the rolls they stay Day 1 fresh all of the time. 

I usually just wrap the frozen rolls in foil and reheat them in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes. My kids will microwave a single roll and snack on them, but they are better from the oven.

I hope you enjoy the rolls if you decide to bake them. 

 

Lil Tree Hugger

Hello friends.  Happy Spring Break to my Aiken Peeps.  At Bitten By the Bug 2 this week we are celebrating Arbor Day.  Our Design Team sister Kelly chose this challenge. In honor of Arbor Day, later this month, we were to include a tree on this week's project. 

I knew exactly what photos to use when I saw our weekly challenge! I have had these two photographs of Avaleigh since last fall. I just love both photos and had been planning to scrapbook them.  This challenge helped to get me motivated to design the single scrapbook page above. 

I love that Avaleigh is watering a tree, as well as hugging a larger tree as she contemplates life.  The title of the layout, Lil Tree Hugger, came both from the photo and from the nickname for ecology minded individuals. Perfect for our sweet little helper. 

I used four Cricut cartridges on this layout:

The flowers were cut from Live Simply.  I did make some edits on the leaves on the bottom flower.

The watering can was cut from Walk in my Garden. I added words and dots to the can.

The tree was cut from C.M. Stork's Delivery.  I used the slice feature in Design Space to use only a portion of the tree.  I also welded a very narrow rectangle to the trunk to extend the length.

The fun leafy border in the middle of the page was cut from M.S. Birthday Cake Art.  There are a lot of cute borders on the cake cartridges!

The font I used is called Naira.  I had the Cricut write the words onto the cardstock by using the font and "attach" feature in Design Space.  I then used watercolor pens to color in the letters.  I especially like the way the letters look on the pink print layer.

Recently I made a discovery in Design Space, which made me feel - to borrow from Will Smith in IRobot - "like the dumbest dumb person ever."  I had NO idea that there was a tool in Design Space that identified the cut and cartridge of each image placed on the virtual mat!

I was checking the color of the watering can and on impulse I clicked the i at the tops of the color layer attributes menu.  Much to my surprise, a message popped down identifying not only the cut, but the cartridge!  I had been asking for this feature FOREVER.  I now wonder if it has been there all along and I was the "dumbest dumb person" who never before clicked on the i?  

Hoping that I am not the only person who had to search images all over again once their design was complete in order to identify the cartridges they used, I decided to share my find.  Below is a close up of the drop down menu. Please no laughing and finger pointing from those who already knew this.  Sigh....

I completed my layout with white pen doodles and dots on the flowers and the tree.  I also added adorable sequins to two background areas.  And even though the layout is busy, I feel like the photos of Avaleigh are still the focus.

  

Thank you for stopping by today.  I do hope you plan to go by the Bitten By The Bug 2 blog today.  Our team came up with so many cute variations of the Arbor Day theme.  They are sure to inspire you to create your own Tree themed project!

Cute Baby Jude Layout

Hello friends. Welcome to this week's Bitten By the Bug 2 challenge - Cute as a Button Baby challenge.  One of the other new grandmothers, Maureen, chose this week's challenge. I discovered a stash of completed layouts stacked together and realized that I had never shared any of them on my blog.  And as luck would have it, among them was this darling layout of one day old baby Jude.

I used three Cricut cartridges on these two pages:  Baby Steps, Disney Mickey Font, and 3 Birds on Parade.  

I found this cute little new delivery baby on the 3 Birds on Parade.  I removed the bird and suspended the bird from my Hey Jude title.

The sweet baby sleeping on the moon is from the Baby Steps cartridge. This is a go to cartridges on all things baby related.

The phrase OH BOY was cut using the Mickey Font Cartridge.  

The Beatles cut below is an SVG file I made using a cartoon image from the Internet.  I used this same SVG cut in iron-on material and made Jude an adorable gown and cap set.

If you have not already been by Bitten By the Bug 2 blog today, please do visit.  The design team has created ADORABLE baby projects.  You will love them.  Also, we would love to have you join our challenge this week.  If you have baby photos to scrap, or a new baby card to make, this is your chance!

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I do have additional layouts that I plan to share later in the week.