Making a solar tv for dollhouse from vintage coaster holder

This is a vintage coaster holder. You can use any coaster cabinet for the tv. 

This is what the inside looks like with the doors open.

This is plastic I got from a throw away container, I like to use these for a lot of my projects.

You need to cut a piece of the plastic to fit the size of the opening. Remember you need to have the doors to be able to close.

You will also need two pieces of wood.  They will be on the front plastic area. You will see in the pictures.

I had this picture which was part of a card that had a kitty on it. It's made of transparent plastic so I had to also cut a piece of paper for in back of the picture. So you need a piece of the plastic, a piece of white paper and the picture.  They all need to be the same size.

First is the plastic piece from container, on top of that you glue down the piece of white paper and then the kitty. In another blog I show you how to make a solar tv out of a picture you would download off the computer, you can check that one out also.  Let’s get back to this one.

Now you need to glue the two pieces of wood on the piece you just put together, you can see this in the photo.

Next, go on the internet to find images. Print out a picture of a tv panel, you will be using this next.

On the one piece of wood, you will be cutting the tv panel out of the printout and gluing it to the wide piece of wood.  On the thinner piece of wood, cut out a piece of the brown area on the picture and glue it down using tacky glue.

On the panel I cut a piece of wood dowel making a circle that could make the dial 3D, I covered it with aluminum foil or you can paint it silver I then glued it over the picture of the tv knob.  The line on top of the knob is a piece of a round toothpick which I also glued down and drew a black mark on it.  I then glued this whole piece to the inside of the coaster holder as you can see in the photo.  To make it easier what I do with my projects is put tacky glue in different areas of the piece and then putting dots of hot glue in the areas that don’t have tacky glue on it.  The tacky glue keeps the piece in its spot while the glue is setting.

Here’s what it looks like with the doors shut.  Next is the solar light getting installed to light it up.

In the back of the cabinet you need to drill a hole the size of the LED on the solar light so it can slide right in and be held into place.  If the solar light keeps sliding out use some black electrical tape to make it tighter.

In Walmart and the dollar tree you can buy cheap single solar lights. All you need is the top part of the light, with the solar cell and the LED.  But remember don’t throw out the other piece you need to recharge the solar panel for it to light up.

After putting the solar light into the hole in the back, this is what it looks like with the doors opened.

This is what it looks like with the doors shut. Use your imagination put in any picture maybe use a picture of a family member etc.. Use your imagination and it will soar!

Making a wishing well for a Dollhouse

You are going to start with a mini clay pot.  Start cutting out square pieces of an egg carton.

This is one of the egg cartons that I will cut square pieces out of.  Next you need to glue the squares around the top ring of the clay pot.  You will see what it looks like in the photo above.  After you do one layer around the top, you then put pieces another layer between each of the first pieces.  I glued down these pieces with a mixture of wood glue mixed with flour.  This makes a very thick paste and this the glue you will be using. When it dries, it will be harder than a rock.

You will then coat the whole clay pot with the wood glue and flour mixture, add some gray paint to the wishing well.  You will then cut two popsicle sticks for the side pieces that will hold up the roof.  On the top of the popsicle sticks you will cut angles on them, so the roof pieces will lay on them. Also cut two pieces for the roof and glue them in place.

Then make a mixture of gray paint mixed with craft sand which you see at a flea market etc. Paint the whole thing with this paint.  Then add some black paint to this mixture and using your paint brush dab on some of this darker gray shade.

With a thin brush paint brush, paint lines around the top like lines you would see from the spacing in the brick.  Then take some white paint and highlight some areas. Do the same for the bottom.

You will need a rook from a chess set.  You will be cutting off the top of it for a pail.

In this picture you can see the top piece cut off of the rook which is going to be the pail.  If you don't have this chess piece you can use a toothpaste cap in its place.

You then need to drill a hole through the pail from side to side so you can run a string through it.

In this picture you can see the string I used.

In this picture I took the small dowel and put the string over top of it and then glued in the dowel from one side of the popsicle sticks to the other, holding the pail in place.  I then put some hot glue in the pail and took a blue marker to make it look like water.

This is what it looks like finished. I am using this for a room in a dollhouse. I'm working on the themed room that is Snow White and the seven dwarfs inspired.  Use your imagination and it will soar!

Making Andy's bed from Toy Story Part I

The first thing I did was draw a picture of the headboard and foot board. 

I used balsa wood which is a soft wood and it is easy to work with. I cut out the footboard.

I then cut out another footboard but this time I cut out a piece of moon shape in it, this is going to be the headboard.

Then I cut out the two pieces that go under the head and footboards.

I then used a round toothpick to make the pieces that attach the top of the head and footboards to the supports.  I used the end of the toothpick to make a hole in both pieces and then cut small pieces of the toothpick to make "dowels". Then I poured glue on both ends and connected the two pieces together.  I had to do this to the footboard and headboard.

In this picture both pieces are glued together. The toothpick "dowels" really help out.  I then took a screw driver and made a dent in the top middle and bottom middle, its time to put the decorative lines in it.

I added toothpicks that I cut down and made the dents in the wood so that the toothpicks could be glued down.

These two pieces of wood came from something I broke apart, that's where I get a lot of my wood from.  I cut these pieces down to the size of the side railings for the sides of the bed frame.  It all depends on how big I want the bed to be.

I then took a dowel and cut pieces that will go on the front and back of the bed.  If you look at the photo you will see the poles.  I picked these beads that you see on the tops of the dowel.  I had to whittle away some of the width of the tops of the dowel so they would fit the beads.  I glued the dowels into the beads.

In this picture you can see where I glued the posts on and also the side railings.

This is another view.

I then cut a piece of the balsa wood to make the floor of the bed, this is where the mattress will sit.

I then glued on a piece of balsa wood across the bottom to give it a finished look.

The rest of the steps will be here, part II

Making a curtain rod for a dollhouse

This is what you are going to need, a small round dowel and two beads that have holes in them.

You need to cut two pieces of dowel the size you need for the window.  What I did then was use a razor knife and make the ends to fit into the bead holes.  First you put some hot glue in the bead hole and put one end of the dowel in the bead.  The hot glue holds it into place.  Next put on the curtain you are going to be using.  I used a very wide piece of trim that I cut a piece off of.  You put it zig zag through the holes of the curtain then on the other side glue on the other bead.

This is what I used for my curtains, it had holes in it that I could put the rod through.

In this picture you can see where I cut the material, I wanted to get curtains and toppers out of it.

Here is my curtain.  Now to put it up, I’m going to show you how to make the piece that holds up your curtain rods in my next blog post.  You can use and type of material to make your curtains. Use you imagination and it will soar!