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 table for a dollhouse using Melissa and Doug wood container

My daughter bought something for her son, it came in this wooden crate.  She didn’t want to throw it out, she knew I could use it.  Well I needed a table for a dollhouse so here it goes.

The first thing you do is take out two rows of the wooden sticks on the sides, don’t take out the last row that is left for your table.

Here’s what it looks like after you take out the two rows of sticks.

You can put a border around the edge of the table, I used this. The next picture you see will be with this border on it.

In this picture you can see the border, which I glued into place around the table.

Here’s what the side looks like.

I wanted some decorative pieces on the legs so I used these ornaments which I got from Michael's craft store during Christmas time.  You can also find them sometimes at thrift stores and garage sales. I’m going to cut pieces off them.

You can see on the legs of the table the pieces that I used.

Another view.

After looking at the table, I decided to add some trim around the top where I glued on the other wood trim.  You can leave the trim on only or add some other trim to it.

At some dollar stores they sell plastic in rolls that have pictures on them, I bought 2 feet worth off the big roll.  Then I cut the pictures separately, this is one of the pieces I will be using this for the top of the table.

I then took some metallic gold paint and with my finger rubbed it all over the table top. Next is to glue on the plastic picture using mod podge.

Here it is with the plastic piece glued on with mod podge.  I know you can see the white glue under it but the best thing is, it dries clear.

I thought I would show you how beautiful it looks set up with items.

Here is the table inside the dining room in the dollhouse. The rug under the table is made from a placemat. You too can make a beautiful table with 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 bottom trim for a dollhouse

This is the room that I need trim for on the bottom of the walls.

All you need are scrabble pieces and popsicle sticks. You can find old Scrabble games at garage sales or flea markets for cheap (usually missing a few pieces). 

 The first thing you're going to do is glue the scrabble pieces down around the bottom of the walls. When you get to an area that the whole scrabble piece won't fit you are going to need to cut it down. In the next photo I will show you the tool that I use.

This will be your favorite tool, it cuts fantastic, the best part is you can buy it online.  I cut the scrabble pieces down with this if I need to. It'll cut through quite a few materials and items that are otherwise difficult to cut.

In this picture I also added popsicle sticks over the scrabble pieces on the bottom touching the floor. It makes for pretty good bottom trim.  I then painted over the whole thing with paint that I mixed with crafting sand that children use at carnivals.  This way, it fills in small openings and gives texture to the bottom trim.  So if you don't have money for trim, make your own its cheaper. Use your imagination and it will soar!