Remember all those bottles I made in October? Well, I did a fun project for my doll club and I realized I hadn't posted about it so here are the samples I made for the workshop:

Everyone had a good time making their own bottles and setting them up on the pre-assembled bookshelves I put together.

Here are the plain bookshelves, which I painted purple.

Gingerbread!

 Mini Gingerbread House

I have been admiring the Gingerbread houses in the magazines and decided it was time for me to make one for my dollhouse kitchen.  I am very pleased with the results!  I was not sure about the glitter because it seemed like it was maybe a little too "glam" but it actually turned out to just the right amount of sparkle.

I started with a molded plaster house

The house is raw sienna paint and the white "icing" is fake whipped creme used in making mini foods

Glitter added

The final result added to my dollhouse

Potion Bottles

 Working on a Halloween themed room box and I need some fun "witchy" perfumes or potions.

I got out my beads and started working.  So much fun!  Here are the results:

The process starts out a bit chaotic but ends up in neat bottles.

Mini Queen Anne style doll

 Sometimes you need a miniature doll for a dollhouse project and you just have to make one yourself!

This was the case for me recently.  I wanted her to look old and a bit rough around the edges.  But she needs appropriate brocade clothes and crazy big 18th Century hair!

Here she is...I love her.

Miniature Theaters

 I decided to give miniature Theaters as gifts this year to some of my doll friends.  I had made one for myself a few months ago and decided I could probably improve on it.  I also made rod puppets to go with them and packaged them in little trunks.  Merry Christmas!!

 Valentine's Day Miniature Cards

I have been wanting to try my hand at making these lovely miniatures.  I have seen them at miniature and Doll House Shows and shops.  I think this would be a great class for the future!  They turned out fairly well.  I found that I liked using original materials instead of using reduced size photocopies.

 Dressing a doll...

Passing the time in quarantine last year, I did a number of projects.  This one turned out much better than I thought when I started.  This is an 1800s style child's dress made from a handkerchief.  I did it in the French style.  I was thrilled when it won a ribbon in competition at a recent doll conference!

 Zooming...

Lots of my programs have had to be adapted for Zoom, due to the Pandemic.  I often forget to photograph them.  But here is a fun little project I did using die cut houses.  The supplies were mailed out to participants in advance, and we assembled them on the call.  This project was for Junior UFDC members.

This past weekend was the Wonderland Regional Doll Conference in Brea. I served on the Board of Directors for the Conference, as the Chairman of the Helper Room.  This is a donation center and many dolls and miniatures were donated and adopted!  The room raised about $2700 for this non-profit organization!

 Dollhouse display

I was recently asked if people ever build display stands for their houses, or just concentrate on the houses themselves.  Here is one of my favorite examples of a dollhouse where the artist built not only the house, but the cliff it sits on with the ocean waves crashing below.  

 It's that time again!  I'm at the Carmel Doll Shop in Northern California.  Here I am presenting my chosen Rohmer reproduction "Matilde" to the table.  This is always such a wonderful gathering.  I am privileged to attend.

 Adopting Another Dollhouse

Here is a Log Cabin!  This looks like a great project for the high school class!

 I had a wonderful opportunity to lecture to a group of PHD students about Business and the Creative individual as part of the Triple Helix Executive Leadership program.  Lots of discussion about managing creativity.  Really a wonderful time!  

 Dollhouse Moving Day.  Just back from a presentation at the Library.  For those of you who might wonder...yep...this is how we move it!

Halloween Doll Club Meeting & Luncheon

I hosted my doll club, The Renaissance Doll Study Club, for our October meeting.  Of course, I had to do some fast dusting and tidying of the doll room which usually tends more towards chaos.  I preset the dining room table for a buffet to keep it simple and I did my program on the Christian Hacker Shops.  Sooo...that sounded great in theory until it occurred to me I had to move them downstairs for the talk.  The shops have a lot of "little" things in them!  Lol.  All in all a good time was had.

 

The Shops set up for the program....all the little things made it safely down.  These shops were made by The Christian Hacker Company in the late 1800s early 1900s.  

Meanwhile up in the Doll Room....

My collection of Kitchen miniatures resides in an antique Hoosier cabinet.  I have a lot of fun setting up the displays.  I always place dogs in the settings...every doll needs a dog!

Even though I have not started the monster restoration project that is the Mystery House...I had some fun setting it up for viewing....