Pumpkin dollhouse tutorial by Tori West

A few weeks ago I stumbled across this amazing tutorial that shows you how to make a pumpkin dollhouse from scratch using paper clay. I was totally amazed at the finished house and thought it looked fantastic, a real work of art. This is something I'll definitely be trying at some point this year. The good thing about this tutorial as that as the house is built from scratch you can customise it to look like anything you want so lots of scope for the imagination. The tutorial doesn't have many photos although many of the steps are cleverly illustrated which really helps. Here is a link to the tutorial so you can have a look and maybe think about building your own pumkin dollhouse :

http://www.minimotion.com/HOWTO/quarterpumpkinhowto.html

1/12 scale dollhouse shabby chic rose shelf cabinet

Here is my first full piece of 1/12 scale furniture hand made from mount board and decorated with polymer clay roses. If there was ever anything that I was addicted to making it's polymer clay roses and I add them to just about everything I make. The roses on this cabinet give it a lovely summery country cottage feel. The shelf cabinet has been painted in cream acrylic paint and then the edges have been lightly brushed with gold effect paint for extra effect. I think the finished piece looks lovely and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. That's the trouble with starting a piece of work, you just never know which ones are going to work out well or end up in the bin. Thankfully this one didn't end up in the bin. It will be put up for auction tomorrow evening (Tuesday 19th March) on ebay (seller:fizzyclaret).

Not only am I addicted to making roses but teapots too. Here I have combined the two and you can see these new teapots in my etsy shop https://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=si_shop.

1/12 scale dollhouse shabby chic rose shelf

I have been busy making mount board furniture again but this time I tried it in 1/12 scale. I love making shelves (as you can see) so I tried to make a couple of different varieties. My favourite is the lilac shelf (bottom photo) with the white roses. This would look great as part of a shabby chic themed 1/12 scale cottage or house. I sculpted the roses from polymer clay and then painted some white rose detailing into the corners of the shelf unit. To give it that final shabby chic feel I gently brushed the corners and edges with dark gold paint so that it faintly shimmers when it catches the light. The whole unit has then been sprayed with a matt finish sealant for durability.

The other 1/12 scale shelf unit I created (top photo) is a very extravagant piece with lots of hand sculpted roses. This item would look great as part of a wedding shop, cake shop, perfume shop...etc or you could have it as an extravagant display in your dollhouse. I also made a couple more miniature Easter items (middle photo) and all of these items can be found on ebay (seller:fizzyclaret). The auctions will end on Saturday 9th March and Sunday 9th March around 7pm ish UK time.

Quarter scale and twelfth scale dollhouse furniture and accessories

Here are three of the items that I will be listing on ebay this evening. The first is a cute mushroom fairy house teapot which isn't twelfth scale as it's too big but makes a cute little addition to a miniature teapot collector. The second photo is a miniature flower basket. I can't seem to stop making flower baskets at the moment! The third is a quarter scale (1/48th scale) side board made from mount board and decorated with acrylic paints (the doors are decoration only and do not open). I decided to stick with the peaches and cream colours so that it matches the shelf unit I made a few days ago. All of the above items will be up for auction tonight (ends next Sunday) on my ebay site seller:fizzyclaret.

Miniature basket, peacocks and bunny rabbits

I'm still sticking with the Easter theme at the moment. I'm absolutely desperate for the weather to warm up and to see the first flowers of Spring. At the moment it is snowing heavily outside and is bitterly cold so there isn't much sign of Spring at the moment. Nevermind I have the wonderful world of Pinterest.com at my finger tips and I love to browse through lovely Spring pictures there to keep up my inspiration. The items pictured above are what I have made this week and they will be placed on ebay for auction tomorrow (seller:fizzyclaret).
I'm still working on the shelves but not having much luck with it at the moment. Whenever I struggle to make something I tend to walk away from it but this time I'm determined to try working with some new materials and see if I can make something pretty. Fingers crossed it will work :)

Miniature shabby chic dollhouse teapots

This week I have made some lovely little 1/12 scale dollhouse teapots with pretty rose blossoms coming out of the tops. These teapots would look great in a little cottage or a house with a shabby chic theme. The teapots will be placed in my etsy shop today and you will be able to buy them there http://www.etsy.com/shop/fizzyclaret?ref=si_shop

Next week I'm going to try to make some shelving for the teapots so they can be displayed properly and shown to their best. I'm not sure of which design I'll use but I'm going to work on something this weekend and see what I can come up with. I usually work with polymer clay but I'd like to try something a little different. I came across a blog which teaches you how to make 1/12 scale miniature furniture and accessories. I instantly fell in love with this blog as everything is so well explained with lots of helpful photographs. The blog is http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.co.uk/ please check it out as it really is amazing. After reading the tutorial on 'how to make a kitchen dresser' I felt so inspired to try my hand at mount board shelves so this is what I'll be trying to make next. It'll probably be a disaster to start with but fingers crossed I can manage to make something pretty.

More shabby chic miniature dollhouse accessories and dolls

Here are some of my newest creations for the dollhouse. The first photo shows two teapots and a hat box in lovely soft pastel colours which would look great for Spring in the dollhouse. The second photo shows two 1/4 scale rabbit dolls. My inspiration for the rabbit dolls comes from childrens fairytales and Sylvanian family dollhouses which I think are just adorable. My daughter turned 3 years old just before Christmas and I bought her a starter Sylvanian dollhouse with a few dolls and furniture which she absolutely loved. The thing is I end up playing around with it more than her as it's just so cute, though the way things are going I don't think it will last long as she's so careless with the pieces and items are already getting lost or broken. I thought I'd make my own smaller scale dolls for a 1/4 scale dollhouse and change the design a little but they are still just as sweet as the Sylvanian dolls. I have put the dolls and several other new creations up for auction on my ebay account (ebay/fizzyclaret) to start tonight. Don't miss out!