Evalina Rose and her little sister Posy Anna are the main characters of a series of children's stories that I am writing. In this blog I will share the final stages of crafting their half scale house--Honeysuckle Cottage--and the miniature stuff that will make up the settings of their stories.

Monday, June 25, 2012

A Crazy Week

Save me!

Just so you know what kind of person I really am...I often find myself doing really terrible things to my creations in the name of realism.  In order for such a tiny bear/ dog 's cloths to hang correctly, I had to do this to him.--I am truly sorry.  I once tried to needle felt a nativity--I stopped at jabbing the baby Jesus.  I just couldn't do it.
.
I think Pie might be a puppy.  Anyway he and Humble  are central to the Evalina stories.
     It has been a while since I have had any time to post.  We have been dealing with, the end of school, packing and sending off boys for a big camping trip, a visit from my mother and a pretty sick little girl.  Well, the boys are back, my mother has gone and our little girl has antibiotics. 
      I have not been idle all of this time, just unable to sit alone.  So I will spend some time catching up.
I have finished knitting the doily and hand towel for the wash stand.  I added a row of purple button -hole stitch to the edge to give the effect of a crocheted edge.  I love the colorful edgings  on vintage linens.  The doily is lavender.

This is a new Cassidy Creation kit awaiting pink bead knobs.

The bathroom of honeysuckle cottage is going to have a dressing room combined with the bathroom, .  It is still waiting for me to hang the wall paper.  The wall paper is above, under poor Pie.  I made the sink, and am trying to figure out a way to make a toilet and a tub.
      One of my original ideas for this blog was to have some projects for children, and to include my 7 year old daughter Annabelle as much as possible...she will out grow me soon enough.  We decided to make a beach house together.  It is meant to be a cottage, which I think should be both whimsical and elegant and of course diminutive.  So we have chosen some very beautiful wallpaper from Itsy Bitsy Mini,   http://dollhouse-miniature-wallpaper.com/shop/ , that will make the inside fun and pretty.   I will show you when it comes. 
      The inhabitants are Grandmother (who I've named Gwendolyn and Grandfather who is named Joseph after my father).   There are pictures of them in earlier posts.  The top floor will house their granddaughters who do not exist yet and have no names.  We do know that there are two of them  and there are no boys.  The girls will visit often.  The baby, who is their little sister, will stay home with Mommy.
     We chose pool blue, hydrangea green and cream for the exterior paint.  To my great surprise, pink is not Annabelle's favorite color; she likes teal, blue and green.  I like pink.  So the house will be a combination of those colors inside and out.  I am trying really hard to let Anna make decisions with me, instead of my taking over the whole project.  I do not want her to remember this summer as the summer that"Mommy wouldn't let me make the dollhouse the way I wanted it".  I would love some suggestions on projects that children can do.  She loves to make food and luckily there are a lot of Youtube videos for us to watch together.

This little shell collection is the reason that we decided to make a beach -house.  Isn't it great?  They are real.
We chose the  Laurel by Greencraft because of it's "ease" in assembly and the wrap around porch.  A beach house should have a lot of outdoor living space.  We will have double the foot print for it's base , so.that we can have a garden, lots of flowers and a patio.

I have decided to work with what we have, so that means a lot of prep work.  I have rubbed  a slurry of  wood putty into all of the trim pieces so that they won't splinter when I sand them.  I think the bay window will be the center piece of the tiny kitchen, so I am putting a lot of work into  it.  On the inside I have smeared a watery paste of paper clay and sanded it smooth-ish.

The doors and windows have been wood puttied, sanded and await their place on the house
These flowers are  from my garden and I think the colors will go nicely with the blue and green of the house .  I plan on using these colors for the window boxes plus lavender-pink and candy red.
I have been rambling on...this is what happens if I have too much time to sit alone.

Have a wonderful week,

16 comments:

  1. que de choses !
    Torturé, mais au final il va très bien ce petit chien, il est très mignon, le petit ours aussi. Les meubles sont beaux, le tapis brodé et la maison ...idem.
    Minima

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wonderful to see your vision take form...thank you for letting "us" watch over your shoulders. I hope to visit off and on all summer to see what a mother and wee daughter can do! love, Rose

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wat een schattige miniatuurtjes heb je gemaakt. Ik schrok eerst van de psekden maar gelukkig kwam het goed :)

    Groetjes Xandra

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wow, you sure have been busy, enjoy the summer with your daughter! They grow up so quick.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your summer must be veeeeeeeeery long for all the work you've planned to do :D!! All looks wonderful, the choice of the colors....everything!! I'll follow the progress.
    Greetings, Ilona

    ReplyDelete
  6. How nice to spend a summer with a little girl working on a mutual project. I love the idea and am sure your daughter will remember this summer as one of the best. The house and colors you chose look great. I shall be following with pleasure.
    Hugs, Drora

    ReplyDelete
  7. Seguro que vais a disfrutar las dos del verano y de ese precioso proyecto.
    besitos ascension

    ReplyDelete
  8. Heheh, I relate to your problem with torturing your creations! I tell myself there can be no beauty without some suffering ;)

    Love the little beach cottage and the colours you chose are so pretty!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow! Your mini things are wonderful.
    I like the new project with your daughter.
    Bye Faby

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh Humble and Pie are so adoreable and I think your beach house is going to be amazing, I love the framed shells!!
    I like to stay very connected to the little girl in me :) and I really love to make party scenes with my handmade teddybears and dollhouse minis, this might be something Annabelle would like too, and she could use her mini food for this :)
    Hugs to you both, Vicky xxx

    ReplyDelete
  11. P.s I forgot to say what about picnic scenes too :)
    Hugs xx

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fantastic idea with your daughter for the summer. I am sure it will be something you both will always remember. They grow up so fast so enjoy it :) Looking forward to seeing your progress.
    Hugs Maria

    ReplyDelete
  13. Your miniatures are fantstic.
    Enjoy the summer with your daughter.
    Greetings
    Melanie

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really like your works, especially your needle works bears!
    Have a happy summer!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hello Lucy
    I am a new blogger on the miniature hobby level, come and visit me one day.
    You have a very interesting blog you're a pure artist to make small little things. I'm very impressed. And good stories, you also get served. I look forward to seeing more.
    . Good luck
    Wyrna

    ReplyDelete
  16. The shell collection is wonderful. Your blog is always full of inspiration.
    Geneviève

    ReplyDelete