The Little White Cottage Dollhouse Finished

The Little White Cottage Dollhouse is done. 

All the vines are from Hobby Lobby. 

 When I started to put the moss on the chimney I thought it was a mistake. But I kept outlining the bricks with moss anyways. And I love the finished chimney.

 The chimney hides the battery and switch for the porch light and the chandelier inside.

For the porch light I used a little crown turned upside down.  This house turned out exactly as I had imagined it - simple, clean and fresh. 
The Little White Cottage Dollhouse is available in my Etsy shop: cinderellamoments.etsy.com

Back from Vacation

Hi everybody!

I'm back from the beach!  Watersound, Florida
And New Orleans, Louisiana too. We started in New Orleans.

This is Bourbon Street. People were a little crazy throwing beads at our heads from balconies. I thought that just happened during Mardi Gras???

Also saw jazz player Jeremy Davenport at the Ritz.

Then it was on to the beach.

Perfectly calm waters were great!

Lizzie was very happy!

This is the look I get after I take too many pictures of her.

Posing is not Lizzie's strong point!

This is the house where we stayed.  There's nothing better than spending a few nights in a million dollar home.   : )

The good thing about clear water is that you can see the sharks coming.   I don't think they are interested in people at all. 
I also want to take a minute to reassure everyone that we are fine after the tornadoes in Texas.  The storms were south of where I live.  It's such an expected thing here in Texas.  We have had less tornadoes in the past few years.  When I first moved to Texas 20 years ago I was terrified of these huge storms. Now- I have to admit I don't pay attention to them anymore.  Thank you so much for all the sweet emails of concern! You all make me feel so special. ♥♥♥ I love you guys!!
I'm talking with the New York Times Monday!  I think the article comes out next week.  I'll let you know what I find out on the phone Monday. : )
Hugs♥

The Little White Cottage Dollhouse Curtains

 This house will have plain white curtains.  They are 9" in length.  I like tall curtains hung far above the window and puddling onto the floor.  First, I pin the curtains in position on a piece of cardboard.

 Then I spray with hairspray so it will keep it's form.  You can also use starch spray for the same result.

When you take the pins out, the curtains stay the way you had them pinned.  I use craft sticks cut in half lengthwise and painted white for my curtain rods. Next time- the finished house!

The Little White Cottage Dollhouse's Roof

 I want to thank Nellie of Nellie's Cozy Place  for featuring my blog and work on her blog:  http://nelliescozyplace.blogspot.com/2013/05/want-to-introduce-blog-friend-that-i.html

Nellie

Nellie is a sweet, sweet blogger.  If you need good, positive and reinforcing words -  Nellie's blog is the place to go.  And who doesn't like positive people in there circle of friends?  Many times Nellie writes on her blog not knowing how her sweet words touch us.  Go visit and say hi.  You won't regret it.  http://nelliescozyplace.blogspot.com/
 
 Today, I'll show you my shingle process for the roof.

The shingles are simple pine shingles.  I used my own dying process to color them.

 The shingles go into a bath of 1/4 paint color and 3/4 water.  Some are darker than others. I did this by putting less water in the dying bath.  I used a mix of brown and black paint- twice as much brown as black.

 I staggered the shingles.

 To get the shingles to cover the ridge, I apply hot glue to the back of a shingle.

 Then put it on the ridge and slowly bend it over the ridge.

 Put the next shingle halfway over the previous shingle.

 Go to the halfway point of the roof.

 And start from the other side working towards the middle.

 To finish, apply the last shingle in the middle.

 I did the little porch roof too.

The Little White Cottage 's Chimney

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My dollhouses have been featured in an e-magazine by Maria Angels from http://mafalda200minis.blogspot.com/

http://www.youblisher.com/p/615714-NR005/
Thank you Maria! You made an amazing magazine. I'm so pleased with the photos of my work in it. And there are so many incredible tutorials in this magazine. Go check it out. You'll be so happy with all the info.

Time to put a chimney on our Little White Cottage dollhouse.   I'm hiding the battery and switch inside.

 I have 2 side pieces that measure 6 2/8" x 2 2/8".  I cut a triangle off at the bottom that measures 2" at the bottom x 2 1/2" on the right x 3 1/8" so the sides sit straight on the roof.

 The front piece of the chimney is 5 6/8" x 2".

The back piece is   1 7/8" x 3 1/2".  I hot glued all the piece in place.

 I also hot glued the white light switch on the inside of the chimney.

For the exterior of the chimney, I use pre mixed concrete patch from Lowe's.  This concrete should be moist enough to stick to the wood.  **Sometimes air gets in the plastic tub of concrete drying it out a bit.  You'll notice the concrete is hard and very dough like.  You should see moisture in it.  If you don' have enough moisture just add a bit of water.  I usually spread some of the drier mix on the house and dip my artist spatula in water and mix it with the concrete right on the wall.  Try to work on a horizontal flat position if possible.  Spreading the concrete on a vertical surface is much harder.

I like to wait a couple of minutes after I have spread the concrete on all 4 sides of the chimney.

I want to carve some bricks in it.  But if not enough water has evaporated, your lines will just disappear.  I use an old Exacto knife to make my bricks.

The bricks I carve are freehand, imperfect and not perfect.  They are like handmade bricks.  This gives great character to your house. Let everything dry completely.

Time to paint.  I matched the house's exterior paint on the chimney - off white/cream.

 Then I used red and taupe paint.  I dipped my brush in the taupe and in a tiny bit of red.  What came out on each brick was a flesh colored pink.

Then I dabbed white paint to look like mildew on the bricks.

I also finally published my Fairytate Dollhouse how to book.   It's available on Etsy as a PDF or Blurb  as a PDF or  book.
Till next time!