Dollhouse Miniature French Daybed Tutorial

Today, I will show you how to make a daybed for your 1/12 scale dollhouse.

  You will need:
-1/16" x 4" x 24" bass wood(http://www.hobbylobby.com/Crafts-Hobbies/Wood-Crafting/Unfinished-Wood/1/16%22-x-4%22-x-24%22-4%22-Wide-Basswood-Sheets/p/29804)
-All purpose glue(I use Aleene's)
-Paint
-sandpaper
-craft knife/box cutter
-legs(I used stair spindles. You can use any 1/8" dowel.)

First, let's cut the wood. I used a small box cutter. A craft knife works too.

 You need a back piece and bottom piece(same size): 6 1/4" x 2 3/4".  The 2 side pieces are 2 7/8" x 

2 3/8". And the bottom rail is 1/2" x 6 1/4".

Lets make the back of the bed a little more interesting by cutting a nice detail at the top.  I cut 2 1/8" from the side and 3/8" from the top. Now the sides of the bed will be even with the back where they meet at the corners.

 I drew a line all around the back and 2 sides 1/4" from the edge. I'm going to cut a channel all around to make a nice groove detail. I used the Xacto knife to cut and lift the wood. Don't cut too deep. We only want to take off one layer of wood.

Remove the wood inside this little channel you cut. Sand inside the groove. Also sand all the edges of your sides and back pieces of the day bed.

 It's now time to glue the bottom of the bed. I marked all the pieces to make sure the bottom will be straight. I drew this line 1/2" from the bottom. We'll be using the 1/2" rail we cut out earlier in the front of the bed under the bottom.

 Glue everything together. I glued the bottom to the back first and then each side. Lastly, I glued the 1/2" rail to the front, under the bottom and between the sides.

Let the glue dry completely(or the wood will warp and un-glue with the paint).

 To make the pretty decorative relief I used cardstock and cardboard. To make a flower, I used cardstock cut into a flower shape. The flower shape is 3/8".  I use 3 flower shapes to make 1 rose. The middle is rolled and glued onto one flower shape and then glued onto one more flower shape.
The leaves are cut out of cardboard(like the cardboard from a cereal box).

 Make a pretty composition.

You will want to harden the flowers or they will loose their shape with the paint. I used Modge Podge. You can also use white glue. Let dry completely.

 The legs of the bed are 1 1/8".  I used stair rails that I cut to size. But a simple dowel 1/8" in diameter works too.

Glue your legs in place and allow to dry completely.
Once everything has dried, we can paint! For a true shabby chic I would first paint this bed grey, let dry, cover with glue, let that dry for 5 minutes and apply a thick coat of white paint. You would get a gorgeous crackle effect.  For this bed I painted mine with 2 coats of white.

Then I took a pencil that I cut with my box cutter to expose more of the lead and applied it into the grooves and around the edges. The more you apply the more dramatic the effect. I did mine pretty light.

 Once you wet the lead with your last coat of white paint, you will get a soft grey highlight to all the places where you applied the lead.

 The mattress base is a piece of cardboard 2 5/8" wide x 6 1/8" long. I hot glued some stuffing/pillow filler on top of the cardboard and trimmed it neatly. There's 1 3/4" of stuffing on my bed.

 Next, I covered with fabric. The fabric piece is 8 3/4"x 4 3/4".

Hot glue the cardboard mattress to the bed. Now dress the bed with bed skirt, blankets, pillows. I put a dot of glue to hold the blankets in place. Some places I used hot glue.

For the pillows, I fill them with candle filler sand. This makes the pillows heavier and more realistic.

That's it! You're done. Enjoy your new daybed!

Miniature Boiling Over Pot

I made a little discovery I thought I'd share with you.  I needed a little pot of soup to place atop my stove.  I decided to try something new.

The result was fabulous!

All you need is 1 ingredient: Original Gorilla Glue.

I filled the pot a quarter of the way and in about 6 hours it made this terrific boiling over effect in a bouillon color. 

It dries hard with those bubbles permanently set.  After I filled my pot a fourth of the way, I placed a spoon in it. I also put the steam at the same time. This is just pillow stuffing/filler. I used the end of a brush to make sure the "steam" touched the glue. I placed the pot on a paper towel just in case it spilled over too much while the glue dried. 

So easy! Give it a try. You are going to love the result!

Hugs,

Caroline

Dollhouse Custom Construction Part 4 - Featuring Lilac Cottage

This is the final part for building your dollhouse!

 Upstairs, I added the last 2 chandelier. 

 I pulled all the electric together upstairs and hid it in a chimney. The chimney is made of 4 pieces of cardboard. 

 Everything got covered with concrete I applied with an artist spatula.  This is Dap's Ready Mixed Concrete. The chimney has little rocks added to it once the concrete had dried. I just drop these little mounds of concrete and shape them into rocks so they are 3 D.

 The bump out is covered with clapboard I bought at  Hobbylinc. I also made a little vent with craft sticks and clapboard cut into narrow little pieces. 

I carved cornerstones while the concrete was not set. I wait about 5 to 10 minutes to do this. If the concrete is too wet the lines just disappear.  To carve the lines I use an old X-acto knife.

 The roof got a little trim made of craft sticks. 

 I put a little trim on top of the chimney to finish it off.

 I painted the clapboard white and the stucco(smooth concrete) a very pale shade of purple. It's so light you can just get a hint of the purple hue. 

 Now the roof. The main part of the roof is shingles.  To color these shingles I make different paint "baths".  Here I have some grey tones, brown tones and darker brown tones.  Just add some paint to water in a container. You want just enough paint mixed in with the water to show up on the shingle.  Something like 1 tablespoon of paint to a cup of water. It's a color wash.  
I covered the porch roof with a piece of cardboard. This is so you won't see the wire under the fabric piece that will be my awning.
The stones on the foundation are painted greys and creams.  The corner stones are white.

 The bump out roof is "metal".  This is actually cardboard (those gift boxes that are white on one side and grey inside) cut into strips.  They are about 1" strips on the bottom. And each seam is covered with 1/4" strips. Paint grey, silver and age with white.

 The awning is a striped fabric.  I glued it onto the roof with Aleene's tacky glue. 

 I added flowering vines to the house. These vines are from Hobby Lobby: http://www.hobbylobby.com/Floral-%26-Wedding/Bushes-%26-Garlands/Garlands/Green-Baby%27s-Breath-Garland/p/8668
The Flowers are here: http://www.hobbylobby.com/Floral-%26-Wedding/Floral-Stems/Purple-Statice-Spray/p/1850
To fit on the house just cut the vines and the flowers into little pieces and glue on with hot glue.  My hot glue gun is a high temperature/professional glue gun.  

 I had also trimmed the awning with wood pieces to look neater.

 For the front yard, I used sand for the walkway. This is the sand you put to with candles.  I applied a generous amount of regular white glue.

 Then I poured on plenty of sand.  Tap down to make sure the sand is in contact with the glue. Once the glue is dry tap off all the excess sand.

 The bushes are air dry clay rolled into balls and left to dry completely.  I then paint them green.  I use Aleene's glue to glue on moss. Let that dry completely and then you can use scissors to trim and shape each bush.

 For the grass I use a moss mat. It already has a sticky backing to it.

 I make templates of the places I want to cover with grass and cut the moss mat. 

 Here's the sticky back.

 Voila!

 I added a little fence and more flowers and plants in the yard. And the house is all done and ready to be moved into.

 The finished front yard.

You can now make this house into your dream cottage with all the furniture and accessories of your choice.  I hope you will try to build your own house now that you see it's not that difficult. 
Lilac Cottage is for Jennifer.  Thanks Jen!

hugs♥,