Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Blog Laziness

I admit I've not taken the opportunity to blog the past couple of weekends, and I'm feeling a bit guilty because of it. So I figured I'd pop on tonight & share some "before" photos of my latest acquisition, probably the dollhouse most coveted on my wishlist for 3 years now. Even though I own a kit for this house, it has sat in a corner of the closet upstairs in my craft room, as it's much larger & scarier than the small kits that keep it company in that closet.

Then what should appear on a Craig's List ad but an assembled Beacon Hill! I jumped right on it, had the seller send more photos of the house, including the interior. The good news is that the exterior is done. The bad news is that interior is not. Or maybe that's not bad news after all, because I've had a vision for the Beacon Hill for quite some time. In a dollhouse display room full of pretty pastels and an occasional Tudor, I don't have a dollhouse that says autumn. You know, piles of colorful leaves in the yard, pumpkins on the porch, the smell of some seasonal baking wafting through the insides (or at least the miniatures indicating some seasonal baking lol).

So here are the before pictures of my Beacon Hill, which I get to transform into an autumn beauty, both inside & out. Plus I get the added bonus of learning to electrify a dollhouse.



The blue isn't a terrible color but it doesn't fit with my fall theme. I'm deciding right now on a new exterior color for the siding, something in the red or orange family. The chocolate shingles will work though with the fall coloring I think so they'll stay. May add some railing to that balcony because the window above the porch actually is an opening door, so why not have a little balcony for the future residents to enjoy?

So stay tuned for more on the Beacon Hill. But first, as I order the supplies I need to complete the interior, I'll be sharing some blogs on my first ever dollhouse build, the Paw Prints Pet Shop in the town of Littleton. More to come!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Hobby Lobby Comes to Town

Yay! During the past few years as I've talked to others bitten by the dollhouse/miniatures bug, I've repeatedly heard about this craft store. Unlike local shops such as Michael's and Ben Franklin Crafts, Hobby Lobby has a dollhouse and miniatures section. As luck would have it, I heard a radio advertisement late last week announcing that a Hobby Lobby was now on West Broad Street in Richmond. So Saturday I went to check it out.

I've ordered some craft items online from Hobby Lobby, since they offer 40% off coupons pretty frequently. Alas, the dollhouse/miniatures section is small, but at least they have one. Plus they have a dioramas section with fake grass rolls (good for landscaping your dollhouse), balsa wood pieces and trims useful in dollhouse bashes or making furniture, and the typical craft store items of acrylic paints, tacky glue and scrapbook paper. Scrapbook paper can serve as economical dollhouse wallpaper. The trick is finding smaller prints, stripes or plaids that are true to 1:12 scale. Admittedly I fudge that a bit if there's a pattern I really like that will work with a dollhouse theme I have planned. Here's what I purchased.



The sofa & chairs are for an existing dollhouse. The food & banana bunches are for a future general store. The piano is for a future music shop I plan to build. Can never have too much tacky wax for securing your miniatures in place inside your dollhouses. And scrapbook paper was 50% off, so I racked up on papers for some future projects, including that music shop.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Tudor Dolls


This is the Tudor family who resides in the Harrison, whom I've dubbed the Duke & Duchess of Richmond, Edward & Mary. They have a daughter, Margaret, and a son, Thomas. These beautiful dolls are the work of Tiggy Goldsmith. You can find her wonderful dolls on Etsy at Mrs Tiggywinkle's Dolls. My most recent Tiggy doll is this lovely Tudor wench, Dorothy, who is helping in the family kitchen below.


I really enjoy finding inhabitants for my dollhouses, though I admit I've gotten a bit carried away in the dollhouse doll department. I have acquired quite a few dollhouse dolls, although most of them are budget dolls & not artisan creations. I collected vintage dolls for over a decade, of the non-dollhouse variety, so I guess it was only natural for me to be drawn to these little people. I feel any dollhouse shop or residence isn't complete without folks at work or at play inside.