An Update on Cora's house

Yesterday.... I had Big plans for what I wanted to do today..... But I'm still having some health issues and didn't wake up until after 3 this afternoon. And about the only thing I care to do is lie here and watch tv (btw.... we're, the bf and I, are watching What's Eating Gilbert Grape... one of our favorite movies.) ....So to bring myself out of my funk- I thought I'd share with you what I got done Thursday evening.....

If you remember..... Otis had been in here and had made a mess of the whole house. I think I have fixed this problem now.... but he's a smart cat and always finds away around what I've done.... So I've been putting the house back together.... but I've packed up a lot of the accessories until I can 'glue/stick' everything down.

So.... Here's the living room. The couch began as a pink couch and when Cora got her first dollhouse- we painted it black. Then when we built this house we decided to use this material- I'm still pleased with how it came out! The big cabinet on the right is one i had in my dollhouse as a kid... One day it will get filled, lol. Let's see.... I built the coffee table myself and the 'glass' end table in between the 2 chairs is actually an old fauctet knob.

And here's her naked dining room.... One day I'd like to repaint the table and cabinet cause they look horrible in pictures. In person it's not that bright.

In this house..... it's always Christmas, so I did put the tree and presents back in.

Here's one of the few mini paintings I have done..... It hangs in her dining room.

I also put the kitchen back together.... and kept everything in it. How would it be a pineapple kitchen with no pineapples? When I was cleaning.... it brought back lots of good memories on how everyone helped me to finish this room! I don't know if I can ever thank All of you enough!

The last room I put back together was the pink room. Otis had broke the bed so I had to glue it back together. One day.... I need to finish this room. I have so much to hang on the walls.... just haven't got around to it yet.

One of my favorite scenes in her house is this bed. I have a tray with nail stuff (cotton balls, nail polish and finger nail fillers) and then up front are a pair of pjs that once was a scrapbook sticker. I folded them up and wrapped a ribbon around them. The white blanket is one that my Mom made for this house.... and that dingy pillow in the back was one of my barbie pillows from when I was a kid. LOL... I really need to wash it, huh!

I'm hoping this summer we can finish this house..... but I'm afraid Cora has lost interest. She'll be 14 next week.... and well.... You know how that works.... Oh well.... I'll keep plugging away at it and one day she'll come back around. Right?

.....until next time...........

I've been busy!

Let's see.....

I decorated the tree a little more. Made some stars from polymer clay, then painted them gold....also added gold bells......and some confetti~ red gingerbread men and some gold one from Valentines Day that say 'Love'. I just need to add bows...but I can't make little bows. I have tried, and they're not pretty.....so I may have to get Cora to try it, or beg Mom to make some...That's after I get her to make a quilted tree skirt....among the many other things I have lined up for her to do. We have lots of little sewing projects for her:)

I repainted these business card holders Mom gave us! They look a lot better in person, and really add a lot of character to the room.

And I got the trim done in the dining room!!! I never did find that blue tape, had to go buy more....then I lost my tool used to cut angles~ and had to eye-ball everything.......And.......

I LOVE IT!!!

Now if I could get the furniture on the left to look like the side table on the right.....Oh, and please excuse the lady in the background.....had to use her for her weight:)

So...here's what the living room now looks like.....

...and a picture of the whole thing.....See how much better the dining room looks now that it has all that trim up???

I've also been working on some printies....Made a few mini Christmas cards......

...and then today I made some minis for Cora's cabinet.........

This little guy is My Favorite!! He's just adorable!

...and this little guy was made with white clay verses pearl clay like the others. He's so much brighter!! And cuter!

I'm still in the Christmas mood here....so who knows what else I'll make??

Until Next Time........

Merry Christmas to Everyone!

Well, First let me start by wishing All of you a Very Merry Christmas!!! I hope all your wishes came true and that everyone was able to enjoy the company of their family and friends!

We spent the day next door, cooking, cleaning......cooking some more.....and we got their tree up and decorated! It was nice to be around so many 'happy' people during the holidays! We came home stuffed, and promptly went to bed! We opened presents this morning.......and now all my kids are at their other families house.....for the whole week:) ..............so maybe, Just maybe!! I can finish this:

Welcome to Cora's half finished living/dining room!!!

This is what it's looked like for the past six months.......

Terrible! I know!!

But I had to wait till we had our Christmas money before I could order her her dining room set..... She got a table, 6 chairs and this cabinet......I have started filling it with some of my Christmas minis....that canister on the bottom I've had for at least 15 years.....It one of my favorites! Says "Reindeer Rations" on the side...How cute is that!! And I have recently started to collect mini Christmas plates. The one of the top I've had since childhood, and the other one I ordered last year form HBS. The one I ordered for this year is on back order:(

I found a white tree at Wallmart for a dollar! Added a string of red beads...and then glued some gold beads onto the ends of the branches. Also added the Santa Star to the top....isn't he neat?! It still needs some more decorations.....thinking I might have to break out the polymer clay for that though:)

Also ordered these 2 chairs. I'm still trying to figure out how I like the living room most, but I guess If I really think about it, it doesn't really matter how I want it, now does it, lol!

But I will say this...there's still lots to do.....

Trim needs to go up...

The dining room set needs to be a dark walnut color....and not RED!!

The dining room chairs need to be recovered!

Curtains need to be made then hung....

Pictures need to go up onto the walls!!

She needs plants.....rugs....

...and I'm sure if I sat here long enough I could think of a million more things....but instead....I'm going to turn the computer off....and go find my blue tape so I can get started on the trim...You wouldn't know where it is, would you?? LOL

So until Next Time!

Enjoy the rest of your holidays!!

:)

Katie

Update on Cora's House....

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still here......I just haven't done anything productive. Well, not in the mini world anyways. I have thought about making this and that, just haven't wanted to do much of nothing. You can understand that...right?! LOL I did do a post on my other blog about the health issues. If you want to read them, lol. Nothing serious, anymore.....just another bump in the road:)

So........I have managed to move some things around in Cora's house....and I thought I could tide you over with these pics....First we have the 'Gothic' room....

I found the nail polish stuff I made for her a while back....so I put them in the back corner of the room.

....and I put her TV in here, so her bunnies could watch Twilight. Aweeee. That little cow came out of a 25 cent machine.

I put the telephone booth and Double Decker bus that my Step-dad brought back from London for us in the sitting room. I'm trying to fill her shelves with all things red, and I didn't realize that they(the booth and the bus) would fit so well in here!!

And.....in between all those hospital visits last week, I snuck out to the Dollhouse store. I haven't been in months and it felt good to look around! I didn't have much money...but I was able to pick this little high chair for $6!! Now her baby has somewhere to sit.

I like this part of the process! When everything is almost done, and your still hunting for those perfect pieces to make it complete! And I like having different props, so her bunnies can have a variety of activities....Tonight, Grandma is making Lemonade!! Umm ...Yum! Who knows what they'll be doing tomorrow........

:)

Been on a roll today....

And got a little more done on Cora's 'Gothic' Room. I painted the base to the bed black....this will eventually have some black ruffles around the bottom, and maybe some fancy black trim? I was able to rummage up some carpet padding and made a mattress. Then, I put the 'fitted' sheet on the bed, but until I find a piece of material I like, I mean Cora likes, I can't finish making the bed. I can make those skeleton pillows, but I have to sew them by hand....and I hate doing that, it's sooooo boring!! So for now...this is what the bed will look like.

I also painted the chest today.......Looks good in here, huh!

I painted it black......stamped some gold images onto it.....

....painted the inside 'wild iris'...and then put a coat of varnish on it. I also remembered to take the hardware off before I started painted, so I also had to put that back on...

This will be the perfect place for this 'Gothic teen' to store all her treasures!! Wonder what we can make to go in here?

I'm getting there....

I spent the day yesterday, trying to figure out how to go about making the bed for Cora's Gothic room.....And while I was hunting for ideas....I came across this little end table. It was a kit that had been put together...but sat unfinished. So, I painted it black, filed off the edges, coated it with some varnish......and added a gold star stud earring as the handle. I'd like to find a skeleton or something instead of the star...but for now it will do.

And here's where I'm at today. I got the bed frame built......Just needs a mattress. Now, I sat and thought about this issue pretty hard yesterday....and was almost ready to beg one of you for something to use...but then it hit me. Carpet padding! Duh! The bf installs carpet for a living and all I need to go is remember to grab a 3x6 scrap next time one of the vans is here!!

I thinking black satin sheets.....Some skeleton pillows......A fuzzy (black?) fur rug!~ LOL, gotta find something to break up that white floor! That little trunk behind the bed will probably get painted black, too...to match the night stand. Oh......and the wall needs another coat of paint....and I was thinking I might stencil something on the walls!? It's a good start, huh???

Almost forgot the snakes!!

I finally found the head!! It was up under the curtains, which tells me, a certain kitty cat has been stealing my things again in the middle of the night.

I've had a really 'blah' week....which I'll get to in a minute...But first...Let's check out what I did with the headboard for Cora's 'Gothic' room.....

I did use a mold for the face, it was one I bought at Michael's a long time ago. And I went with an idea that Lireal from http://liraeldreams.blogspot.com/ suggested. (When you get a chance, go check out her blog....She's got some neat ideas, amazing stories, and a Beautiful White kitty:) So...I went with the Medusa look, although, I got a little carried away with her hair, and forgot to add in the snakes till I was almost done. I was able to put 2 in there....

.....But they're not very scary looking....Kinda cute, actually....lol
Click on this next picture....and look at her face. I wet the face down, before I baked it...and pushed in some sand around her face. After I baked it, I used a tooth brush to scrub out all of the sand. (Next time, to make my life easier!, I plan on just using a piece of sandpaper to give it texture instead...I had a hard time scrubbing all the sand out of those little holes!!) But it's those little holes that makes it look more like stone.

After I baked the whole thing again....I covered it in black paint and wiped away the excess.

Looking at it now, I think I'd like to add some more paint to the bottom of it, But it will do for now. I'm not completely in love with it...But I think I will be by the time I get done with it.

And Cora likes it, so isn't that all that really matters:)

LOL...Now I get to build a bed frame and dress a bed:)

So....getting back to my personal life, not too much going on here, LOL. Made the mistake of going to the library and have been engrossed in books ever since. Found dollhouse books, polymer clay books, Lots of eye-candy to look at! Even found Angie Scarr's book!! I did manage to pick up a novel, and spent 2 days reading it...couldn't put it down till I finished it. And was rather disappointed in the ending...but it was a good read, so I didn't mind, too much.

Oh...and I've been trying ever so hard to make friends with the strays. They are on the porch every morning to eat....and I find them on the steps quite often during the day....They act as if they live here. LOL. Still trying to figure out how to help them, they can't live under my house forever!! ....That dang on Momma cat was out there the other day getting her groove on with Rufus, and I had to go holler at them. Asked them if the 5 they already had wasn't enough or something!! Good lord! How many cats do they think I'll feed??? So.......that's it....Reading and talking to the cats! I must find a way to get out more, Hahahaha!!!

....so.....

Until Next Time!!

:)

The Stone Headboard comes to life....

A couple of days ago, I started mixing up A LOT of gray clay to use as stone for Cora's headboard. I mixed in black sand to give it a better texture....And then I started to build. I used rubber stamps to do the images....and an earring stud to do the frame around the headboard. This part was baked last night...........and I still have to finish the middle. I made a stone face as well, she's been baked....but I think she's hiding. She waiting for me to figure out how I want to do her hair. I want stone-looking carved curls, lol. I spent some time last night looking at images, but so far no ideas have come to me.

......so I'll keep looking. I'm going for a Bratz hairdo....I think. lol

Gothic Bed Ideas

I found this bed on EBay earlier......And have totally fallen in love with it!! The detail is amazing!! It's a bed for a real house, but I think I can pull inspiration from it to make Cora's mini 'Gothic' bed!!

Here's the link to it:

http://cgi.ebay.com.my/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120400318415&ssPageName=MERC_VI_RSCC_Pr4_PcY_BIN_Stores_IT&refitem=180265260500&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=active_view_item&usedrule1=StoreCatToStoreCat&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget&_trksid=p284.m184&_trkparms=algo%3DDR%26its%3DS%252BI%252BSS%26itu%3DSI%252BISS%252BUCI%26otn%3D4
Isn't it beautiful?!

And here's another picture I found last night....Thought this would also make an interesting headboard!?!

So, when it came time to lie down last night I grabbed a piece of graph paper and started sketching out what I wanted....

.....Then it dawned on me....I have something similar to this in Polymer clay that I had made for a door frame for a haunted house. I never did make the house, and now I have these 'stone' pieces laying about....But they're great inspiration for me to go off of. I'd use this piece, but...it's too big! But that's Ok, at least I know I can make something close to it......

So.....I Thought ya'll might like to know what I was doing at 11pm last night...LOL.....I keep thinking, I hope none of my neighbors saw me last night or they'd think I'd lost it!! So I happened to go outside to see if any of the kitties were there, when I spotted movement across the street. And upon closer inspection, I realized it was the Momma kitty and 2 of her kittens......I was able to get some dry food, and started chucking it under this van to fed them, And Boy were they hungry....Then I made my son go get a can of wet food.....and as soon as I opened it, Rufus appeared!! LOL...So here I am, crawling down the middle of the road, in my PJs mind you...using my fingers to get small pieces of tuna out of the can so I can lure the kittens out...and with my other hand I'm trying to cover the can so Rufus couldn't eat it all. I was able to get my hands on both kittens, but they're quicker than me, and wiggled free..... These guys are totally feral......but I think If I could get them into a good home, they'd be OK. That's if I can catch them, lol.......Here's a horrible picture I took.....Haha~ You try taking a picture covered in tuna, Not easy, lol!!.....But you can see the little black one on the left and on the right is Momma and right behind/under her is the black, orange and white kitten......One thing I can say for sure is they were Well fed last night! Bet they went home and slept all night! Not to sure where her other 3 kittens were....hopefully they'll turn up again soon!

Well...I'm not to sure how much mini'ing I'm going to get done this week...I have to start getting the kids ready for camp....and figure out which way we're going this year! I refuse to go through the middle of the mountains again.....My body does like all that up and down, and all those curves and what not.....It's beautiful! But I can't do it this year!! The drive itself is already pushing it....but it's only once a year, and it's for the kids...so I don't mind! And I normally find somewhere interesting to stop along the way.....makes the drive more bearable if you break it in half and get out and walk around!!!

So....until Next time!!!!

I can't believe I let her talk me into this!!

Sometime over the weekend, Cora decided that she wanted the last room in her house to be a 'Gothic teen girls room'......If you remember, this room was first going to be a craft/sewing room.....then when she got her bunny family she decided she wanted the big brother to have the upstairs room......Well, I guess I waited too long to start working on it or something.....Cause the poor big brother is now the big sister, and she'll live in the "Gothic Room", Oh MY!!! LOL...She tried to convince me to paint the room black, and I told her she was crazy, so we finally agreed on purple.

This next picture is more the true color of it.....Still pretty dark if you asked me (dark for this house anyways).....but I figured I better get it painted before she changes her mind again...Although, Now that I think of it, that might not of been that bad of an idea, huh!! LOL

Boy, is it 'Pretty'!! LOL I only have the first coat done....looks like it may need a few more before I'll be finished. And then I get to start thinking of how to build a Gothic twin bed...I'm seeing one of those Gothic arches in my future....And maybe some Polymer Clay?!

She's lucky this is her house....LOL....If it it were my house....it still be a craft room. She did give me all the sewing stuff we've collected so far to go into MarshMallow Manor....seeing as the grandparents will be living there! What would Grandma's House be without her sewing stuff????

Any ideas on how I can achieve a Gothic look.....Or any good sites as to where I can see some good eye-candy as to what might look good would greatly be appreciated!!! Thanks!