Guess who won the battle of the stockings

Posted by: Paulette

I told you yesterday about how my almost 5 year old daughter, Katie was throwing a fit about me wanting to make new stockings. After going back and forth between two arguments:
The house is the kids, not just mine
and
I want a cleaner more grown-up look
The second argument won. I made the stockings assembly line style, and after completing the first one, Katie asked where hers was. I let her switch them out on the mantle. She felt like she was Mommy's helper and it seemed to appease her. That was until it was time to put the other ones in the donation pile. And then I remembered that we have a family of 6 coming to visit for Christmas. We could use those stockings for them!
Problem solved.

 

 

 There are a ton of how to make a Christmas stocking tutorials available on the net, so, I'll just tell you a little of what I did. 
Edited to add link of tutorial
The girl's stockings have pleated cuffs, and the boy's stockings have welting. I used canvas drop cloth fabric. It's becoming my favorite to work with. Once it's washed, it's not stiff anymore. And I love the color.
The cuff of the stockings is made from a old bed skirt that I cut apart. I still have a ton of fabric, and all of the lace edging for other projects. I think this one got caught in the vacuum and ended up with black stains from the belt.
The painted on initials is done with acrylic paint, mixed with fabric medium. I used a fine line brush to fill in the outline that I'd made with a pencil. I put the letter I wanted under the white fabric and was able to see through to trace. The bells are strung onto red ribbon and the then sewn with a bow over the top to the top of the stocking.

 

I'm not very happy with how the script turned out. What is it they say, and optimist writes upward and a pessimist writes in a down slant? I guess I'm an optimist.
Remember the doors I painted with chalkboard paint this Fall, that were from my entertainment center? There they are, put to good use.

 

This was the very first Christmas present I ever gave Dave. We weren't even sure we'd be able to afford a Christmas tree that year. This nativity holds a special place in our family history, and the kids know they're in BIG trouble if they touch it. It lasted 13 years without any real damage. Sophia, 3years, took down some pieces to play with while I wasn't paying attention and broke some of them. thank God for super glue!

Dollhouse

Posted by: Paulette

I finished the bookshelf dollhouse today. In all, it took about 3 weeks of work.

I got the white bookshelf from Goodwill for $3.50 on their half off Saturday. The furniture is made from cardboard, mostly from diaper boxes, newspaper, glue (TONS OF GLUE), fabric, felt and paint.

Bedroom

The furniture was put together as boxes. Rectangles glued together with hot glue, and the covered all over with school glue and newspaper. When dry, I added the details, like tiny buttons for drawer/cabinet pulls etc. And then painted them with acrylic craft paints.

The linens are sewn in miniature. And the headboard was tufted with tiny buttons. The lamps are made from a scrap of lace, dowel and a button. The flooring and wallpaper in this room were done with scrapbook papers.

Livingroom

 

The fireplace was made of cardboard and newspaper. The couch was made of cardboard, layers of felt, and fabric, all hot glued to the cardboard. The planters next to the fireplace are spools from thread, and the "candles" on the fireplace are beads.
I didn't buy anything except the bookshelf for this project. It was made from things I already had. I guess that's a great argument for hoarding, right?
The curtain rod is made from a bamboo skewer, and the finials on the end are pearl beads.

Kitchen right

Everything is hot glued into the house, so that the furniture isn't lost or destroyed by water. The rug was made of strips of fabric, crocheted into a chain and then sewn into a circle. When I started making the appliances for the kitchen, I thought it would be fun to give it a retro look. And I've always loved cherries.
 The EAT and utensils on the wall are made from
cardboard that was painted to look like zinc.

Kitchen, left

Bathroom

By the time I'd gotten to putting the bathroom together, I realized that it would be easier to make the faucets from oven bake clay, than paper mache. So they look more realistic in the shower. I made some boo boos, while putting the furniture into this room and scratched the paint. You can see where I tried to match the color and failed. All houses have imperfections. Why not this one?

It was a failure keeping the dollhouse a secret. So the girls know about it already and have attempted to play with it already.
All of the furniture is Barbie size. Thank goodness I don't have to make the dolls too!
One more present down and I don't want to think about how many more to go. It's 2 weeks until Christmas, and we have house guests coming. Aaaaak!