Making dollhouse planters from closet door slats

Just in case someone out there doesn’t know what the closet door looks like that I’m talking about (referring to other blog posts), here it is.  I picked these two doors off the garbage last night, they have great wood.  So I busted the doors apart for the slats.

Here’s the slats you get from those doors.

Here’s the dollhouse I need planters for, under the front windows.

I decided to work on the larger windows first.  So I measured to see how long I wanted the planter to be which was outside width of the windows.  I also measured for the depth I wanted the planters to be.  After cutting the pieces from the wood slats I glued them together.

Here the wood is glued together.  For the floor in the planter, I am using a scrap piece of wood.  I just place the planter onto the wood and draw lines around the base for the piece I need cut.

Here is the scrap piece of wood that I used.

Here is the piece cut out for the floor.  I glue this piece on the planters bottom.

I then glue in some of the green Styrofoam material that holds in fake flowers so I can add flowers. 

This is what they look like on the house with decorations and flowers.  If you want to see how I put the decorations on and flowers check out my blog on decorating a flower box.

Making a beautiful scene using a wooden clock shell with solar lite

This is the clock shell I will be using.  You could use any clock shell for this project.

To cover the hole in the back wall of the case you need a piece of hard cardboard, this piece I’m using I got off a cardboard placemat.

This is a picture of the circle I cut out to fit the hole in the back of the shell.

I needed to bring the inside bottom up so I used a Styrofoam material to bring it up.

The last piece of Styrofoam I cut, I glued on a piece of indoor/outdoor grass looking carpeting.

This is what it looks like on top of the Styrofoam.

For two of the items that I will be gluing down on the inside, I used a disco looking Christmas ball and the base of this cheap candle stick.

I glued the ball on top of the candlestick base.  I need to make two of these.

I will also be using this angel figurine.

Here I'm showing you the two pictures I got off the internet that I will be using.  The background picture which is a stairway to heaven and a saying I typed out, "Angels here on earth". I glued them down with tacky glue.

I painted the inside of the clock shell the same blue I painted one side of the cardboard circle I cut out from the cardboard earlier. Now I am gluing this piece into the back hole opening.

In this picture I glued in the two disco ornaments that I made earlier and the angel figurine.  I also glued in some small fake flowers.  You will also see some lace trim I glued around the opening.  The crown on the top was a piece I cut out of a playing card.

I had this very small piece of decorative trim lying around and I thought this is the perfect time to use it.

In this picture I did some detail painting using metallic gold paint from folk art collection.  I also glued on the trim and added some jewels to the bottom.

This is what the back of the clock shell looks like.  You can see the picture part of the cardboard I made so you can see it in the back, the other side has the picture of the stairway to heaven glued down onto it.  I drilled a hole in this circle for a solar light cap.  You will see what it looks like on the inside. As you can see on the clock case box it used to be a clock.  When I bought this at a garage sale it was just the case no clock was in it so I got it cheap.

Here is the solar light I’m using.  I bought it from Walmart, they sell single solar lights and it costed me 97 cents.

This is what it looked like lit up.

I used a piece I got from something I took apart, I put it around the solar light on the inside of the clock case.

Now this is what it looks like.

This is what the back looks like with the solar light.  Use your imagination and it will soar!

Making a quilters themed solar light using a bubble gum machine

I love these bubblegum machines they make great displays for that special item in your garden or house.  Today I’m going to make a quilters display for the garden using this bubblegum machine. First, you need to take out all the pieces on the inside (this bubblegum machine didn’t work).

I had my son cut off the metal nub on the inside of the lid with his Dremel.  You need to do this for the solar light, so the light shines into the display instead of concentrating light in one spot.

After taking out all the pieces, this is what it looks like on the inside.

Next I used a Styrofoam sheet to make a floor for the inside.  I had to cut two pieces which I glued together.

I needed to cut a hard piece of cardboard to use for the floor on top of the Styrofoam. I used a piece from a checker board. It was bought at a garage sale for cheap (missing pieces).

I then glued a piece of material to glue on top of the cardboard to give it a finished look. Next I glued the whole thing down onto the Styrofoam.  Finally I glued down the plastic sealer that came with the bubblegum machine.  It holds the glass dome in place.

First, picked out the items I wanted in the glass dome.  I ended up picking out two quilters sitting at a table, a dog and two little candlesticks. Which were made from two buttons for the base, two blue beads and two pieces of stiff white wire material for the wicks.  I glued these all together to make the candles.  Remember a lot of times quilters work till all hours of the night they need candles.

I made sure I hot glued down all the different items I used for the theme.  Then I hot glued down the globe to the top and the red cap. Now, for the light.

In Walmart they sell 97 cent solar lights and all you need is this piece off the top. This is where the LED is and the solar panel.  Make sure you put a little hot glue to hold it down into place.

This is what it looks like lit up.  These type of lights are unique and look beautiful in a garden, and best of all no electric bill! Use your imagination and it will soar!