Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014! 

2013 was filled with surprises for Cinderella Moments.  It was such an amazing year.
We were featured in the New York Times which was one of the biggest honors. It opened doors for us that will hopefully thrust Cinderella Moments into the next big adventure. Thank you Julie Lasky, Deputy Editor of the Home section at the New York Times.
Thank you Ms. Gail Cooper.  I believe you are an angel of God. Your letter was so incredibly timed!  It solidified the course of my business. 
Thank you Jodi Kahn of Woman's World for featuring my rose tutorial in your magazine.  The feature was so pretty!
Thank you Auralea Ashdown of American Miniaturist Magazine for inviting us to be part of your incredible publication. 
And a big,big thank you to Dave Pullano and his team!  The amount of work you have done for us is incredible.  We are so grateful.   I'll let all of you know what that's about a little later.
We have some very exciting events which took place at the end of 2013.    I hope to have good news about that this upcoming month.  Either way I'll let you know what this big mystery is! :)
And a huge thank you to all of you who have made Cinderella Moments so popular on the internet.  I appreciate each and every visitor.  We are so humbled by the incredible support we have received from the online community.  There are so many talented mini artists out there. To know that you think our work is on par with those master crafters is such a great honor.
To all of the people who leave such supportive comments- you have no idea what a difference your words have meant to us. We appreciate it!
And last but not least! Thank you, thank you to all the Cinderella Moments customers.

Cinderella Moments designs are only available on this website cinderellamoments.com or in my Etsy shop-CinderellaMoments.  Beware of imitations. 

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Christmas at the Beach...Again!

It seems to be a Christmas tradition now- Christmas at the beach. So we (my parents and 2 sisters) went to Florida. 
Lizzie is totally attacking a seashell here.  She has such a great time everytime she goes to the beach. She loves digging and running after dry seaweed.
It was not bikini weather though. It was only in the high 50s. Although there were people on the beach in their swimsuits, in the water! They must be from very cold weather places! There's no way I'd even wear a t-shirt. 
I hope all of you had a magical Christmas! 
hugs♥,

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas everybody!  I hope Santa visits all your homes and leaves you a very nice gift. I know you've all been very good this year.  May this Christmas be  filled with joy, fun and family.
hugs♥,
Caroline

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Jen's Cottage - a Commissioned Custom Dollhouse

 This is how all the dollhouses start out.  Pieces of walls I cut out of pretty thin plywood.  I buy the plywood sheets at the regular big box hardware stores.   It costs about $11 a sheet.  
Then I gather my wallpapers if the house is going to have some.  These all come from the scrapbook department of a craft store.  I apply the wallpaper to the walls with white glue before I put the house together.
The house comes together very quickly after that.  Next, I put the wood floor in place. These are craft sticks painted with watered down white acrylic paint.   I also started working on furniture. 
I have a mantel, chair, table set, and kitchen sink/counter. 
 I bought this table and chair set.  It was pristine white.  So I sanded the edges and took a craft knife to make nicks in it too.  I wanted a oilcloth tablecloth.  A real one would have been to thick to fall correctly. So I took my favorite fabric and coated it with 5 layers of gloss. It looks just like oilcloth!
 I made this chair from scratch out of wood veneer.  It's covered with a very pale pink fabric.
 The mantel is wood.  I made it smaller than my usual mantels so it would look more Victorian.
 The sink piece is not quite finished.  I just laid the countertop on the cabinet for the picture.  This piece has a tutorial here:  http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/2012/02/kitchen-cabinets-how-to-make.html
This lady is very talented. She explains everything.
 This chandelier will be featured in American Miniaturist Magazine as a tutorial in March. 
 I had made the bed a while back. I needed the perfect space for it.  It will fit perfectly in this house.

The 2 walls have different wallpapers. I still need to finish the front wall. 
More to come! Thanks for coming over.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Pearl Cottage - Another Cinderella Moments Shabby Chic Custom Dollhouse

 This is Pearl Cottage.  I found this lantern in the scrapbook section!  It's battery operated.  I hid the 2 AA batteries under the house. To turn it on you just have to plug it in.
 I had to make little bees for this one. They are clay bees and a clay beehive.
 I just love this siding look on a dollhouse. It's very Swedish, very simple and super cute.
 The vines are Hobby Lobby regular floral department vines. They just get cut into small pieces to be mini sized.
 The interior lights have the switch and battery hidden in the chimney.

 The interior style is very tattered shabby chic. It's my absolute favorite style of decorating.
 I made all the furniture by hand.
 A cozy bed in the loft is so necessary!
 A little kitchen area to prepare snacks...
 I painted the rabbits above the mantel.  I saw this on Pinterest and decided to try it. It's the perfect fit here.
The bed is hand painted. And the linens are on there permanently.  This dollhouse is available in my Etsy shop. www.cinderellamoments.etsy.com
The pastel dollhouse is next for real this time! LOL! :)

Friday, December 6, 2013

Mrs. Gruyere and Vintage Tattered Style Dollhouse Furniture

This is Mrs. Gruyere.  She's my sister Sophie's latest creation.  A little mouse made out of clay. 



She looks very vintage. And that's the perfect look for my new pieces of furniture.
 I'm totally obsessed with Nina Hartmann's book Vintage by Nina.  I wanted a miniature dollhouse chair that looked completely tattered and shabby chic just like the ones in Nina's photos.  I hand dyed some cotton fabric with a brown/black watered down mix of acrylic paint in the sink.  Let dry. After I put the fabric on each piece of the chair I cut little rips here and there with a sharp blade.  I colored the rips and edges with a brown ink pad. Then I used the watered down brown/black to make more stains.  I used spindles for the feet of the chair. 
 This armoire was also made from scratch.  It's a very simple rectangle with 3 shelves, feet and a ornate topper.  I painted it with a coat of acrylic paint (the color is called linen).  I dry brushed it with white here and there. And again I used my brown ink pad to age galore!  Then I flicked my paint brush full of the watered down brown/black paint. It made very interesting stains like mildew.  The curtain panels are muslin sprayed stiff with hairspray(a trick I learned from LibertyBiberty)
 Here's some technical info.  The background is just a photo in a book by the way! Makes a great backdrop!  I'm also using a new light. It's an Ottlight with a pose-able goose neck.  It's really working well for my photos. Mimics daylight very well.  And my camera is a Canon T3i DSLR.  I've had a few questions about that and I thought I would share with all of you.
Mrs. Gruyere will be available in my Etsy shop next week. We're dealing with ice here in Texas and the streets are covered in it!  It rained, sleet and iced all night long. The trees are all bent with the weight. We'll see what kind of damage is done whenever this finally melts. Hoping to keep our power on! There will be no venturing out for me or my car this weekend. Hopefully, it will be gone Monday. Brrrrrrrrr!
Coming up next is a pastel themed dollhouse I'm building for Jennifer.  Until next time! Happy building!
hugs♥

Monday, December 2, 2013

Doris Moore Farmhouse

I had to pleasure of bringing to life Ms. Doris Moore's real farmhouse as  a birthday present from her Daughter and Son-in-Law.
Above is a photo of the real house. 
I put plenty of flowers and birdhouses because those are her favorite.

I hid the battery and switch behind this vine.
The wall looks blue in photographs for some reason. But it's actually a very, very pale green.

Thanks for taking a look!