Making fake pencils for a dollhouse and something to hold them for on a desk

These are the toothpicks I will be using to make the miniature pencils.

I use the point end of the toothpick I cut them down to the size I need the color pencils to be.  I color the tips with different color markers.

This is the drawer I’m using to hold the fake pencils.  I take the knob off it so it looks like a desk piece.




Here is the pencils done.  Next I will show you a picture of a paper holder that can be made the same way but you need to cut paper that fits in it.  Use your imagination and it will soar

Taking draws for a dollhouse that you have left over and turn them into a desk

In this picture it’s a bag of draws that I keep that don’t have anything they go to.  But I’m going to show you what you can do with them.

These are two draws I’m using for a desk.  The first thing I do is take off the handles but I’m keeping them to put them in a different area on the desk.

In this picture you can see how I glued both of them together, and the drawer pulls are out.



Next in Home Depot store in the kitchen cabinet display area they have samples of countertops for free, just get one that you like this is going to cover the top.




After figuring how big to cut the piece I glue it down to the top.  I then glue the drawer pulls on the front  to look like there are drawers on both sides.




Here’s the desk in a dollhouse, use your imagination and it will soar!  Next post I’ll show you another drawer project for a dollhouse.

Making a bed for a gingerbread house

The top floor of the house you can see two beds. This is the way they were made.  First you take a piece of paper and draw a design for the headboard which will also be the same design for the footboard ( make it simple) and two long rectangles for the sides which Connects the headboard and footboard together.  Make yout gingerbread and use the templates that you drew to cut the shapes out of the gingerbread batter before you bake it. You will also make two more long rectangle shapes that will get glued to the inside of the railings to hold up a mattress.  You would need to make royal icing, this is used for gluing pieces together.  In the baking supplies in your craft center like michaels you will find edible icing paint this is great for painting.  Once you glue the whole frame together the mattress is made of a piece of rice crispy treats and has white royal icing covering the mattress.  The blanket is a fruit rollup which is found in the food stores.  The bed frame was then painted with edible paint.

Making a fake leather couch or chair for a gingerbread house

In this picture you can see in the bottom floor of the gingerbread house a couch and two chairs.  The funny thing about how this was thought of how to make is me playing with my caramel candy while  a passenger in a car.  The couch and chair base is made of rice crispy treats, you shape it into the shape of the furniture you want.  Once you are done the next step is taking the square pieces of caramel and putting it in a bowl and putting it into the microwave.  Microwave these caramels until they are soft and easy to shape it will feel like play doh.  Then you cover the furniture with the caramel I like to flatten out the caramel and drape it over the pieces and using your fingers to push it into the shape of the item.  If you rub your fingers over the caramel you can make it shine more. I put in little dings to make it look like real leather.  You can also make pillows for on the furniture the same way. Use your imagination and it will soar!

Making a stained glass window for a gingerbread house, candy canes

This is one of the stained glass windows I made in a gingerbread house.  This is as easy to make.  First at the end of the holiday season the stores sell their candy canes very cheap.  I buy the different flavored candy canes which are all different colors.  What you do is smashed them down in a ziplock bag then put the pieces in your blender and chop them down to a powder consistency.  I keep all the candy cane powder in mason jars it keeps very well from year to year.  You can use this favored colored powder for in your hot chocolate to give it a different flavor if you want.  Now back to the window.  You take a piece of parchment paper and put it on a cookie sheet.  Next dump some of this candy cane flavored powder on the sheet I sprinkle it on and make it an 8th of an inch thick.  Next set your oven at 350 degrees. Once it finishes preheating, put it in the oven.  I keep an eye on the cookie sheet, it only takes seconds for the power to start to bubble.  Make sure all the candy cane powder is bubbling (just a little bit of bubbling, if it’s bubbling too much you left it in too long).  Once you see the bubbles, take it out of the oven and use a spatula to smooth out the melted powder ( if you need to reuse the spatula, make sure that you rinse it off with hot water to get the hardened candy cane off).  When it cools down enough that is flexible you can use scissors to cut it and leave it on the parchment paper, don’t take it off.  Cut the paper along with it. If it gets too hard as you cutting it pop it back in the oven for a second or two and take it out and cut it again.  Depending on the size you need you just keep putting it back in the oven each time and cut it.  Make sure you measure the window opening that you need the size to be.  Each of the candy canes come out different colors.  I will show you another colored window in the next photo.

This is another window I needed for the front of the gingerbread house.  If you have any questions about this send me a message at. Sghi50@aol.com. My daughter and I won first place in a gingerbread contest with this house at the Christmas con in Edison, New Jersey. 

Here’s the house, this was taken at the contest.  Hallmark was one of the sponsors.  I’m going to also be posting how We made the furniture, light up light in front, etc.  if your going to enter a contest these are posts you don’t want to miss. 

This is the inside of the house.  It has leather looking furniture.  Everything is edible with the exception of the strand of battery operated lights. Use your imagination and it will soar!