Happy Holidays!

above : The new Blythes with my CA Blythe.

above: Christmas presents from my boyfriend! (Yes, that is a Snuggie!)

below: My CA Blythe in a holiday dress I made for her, hanging out with the presents under the tree. And a Chewbacca ornament.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday, and has some great plans for New Years Eve. I have the perfect party dress (J.Crew espresso brown taffeta halter dress), but it's going to be so so cold. I think I'll just wear it with tights and a cardigan and suck it up, though.

Anyway, for Christmas by boyfriend bought me some new Blythes! So, here are Simply Peppermint and Simply Lilac! They are so cute, I cannot wait to make them some clothes... because he also bought me a sewing machine! Mind you, I haven't used a sewing machine since 8th grade sewing class... so it's going to be an experience.

I also am eager to reinvigorate my miniatures/dollhouse hobby. It's just so messy. I think I might start working on some of my HOM kits. Maybe I'll add that to my resolutions (which include 1. be better to others 2. eat healthier 3. read 1 classic book a month ~ I'm reading The French Lieutenant's Woman right now, which is very cool, structurally.)

So, enjoy the dolly pics and Happy New Year!!!

Sew-mania, and dollhouse shopping!

So, it's been a while, but don't doubt that I have been busy with crafting and real life (stupid work, stupid cleaning the apartment, planning a halloween party, eating brunch...)

A few weeks ago, the annual Greensburg (near Pittsburgh) dollhouse show was held, and I had a really fun time this year... I didn't drink the night before so I was perfectly prepared for shopping! And shop I did... these pictures are kind of cruddy, but they give you an idea of the cool things I bought. I was in a holiday mood (I'd love to do a Halloween or Christmas themed mini store or house, even, someday).

Below are a few of the purchases I made... The first pic shows a cool Bodo Henig manger scene. Also, a pumpkin pail filled with candy, a fiesta-style pitcher (I have a real life one in kelly green), and an adorable bloody mary tray with cocktails and trimmings.

Here is a ginerbread house, a pumpkin, and a fiesta style holder full of kitchen utensils.

A purple dollhouse to go inside of my nieces purple dollhouse, some rococo-style porcelain wall hanging things (for the Emerson Row boho house), and a bunch of HOM kits (I got 6 for like $40!)

Here is the whole haul. including a red step up chair that I see sold everywhere, but love. It reminds me of a chair my grandparents had in their kitchen when I was little.

Also, a washer and dryer for the Emerson Row basement!

Okay, so much for those poor quality pictures. Here are some pictures of sewing type things I've been doing lately. The first is the beginning of the teen bedroom for the Emerson Row. The bed and shelves are Daisy House kits I bought heavily marked down on Ebay. I made the bedding, curtains, pillows, and stool thing. The stool is an empty thread spool covered with batting and then I glued on some fabric. It was cheap, easy, and I think it came out pretty cute. One day this room will have a floor!

I finally made bedding for the girl's bed for my nieces dollhouse. Here it is in the E.R. basement just for photo's sake. Making these doll comforters is a good way to practice sewing by hand, and also easy to do while watching tv on dvd!

The E.R. master bed is also dressed in this awesome brocade pattern fabric (it is sitting in the E.R. living room for now!)

Finally, I've been trying out more involved Blythe patterns, and I'm getting a bit better at sleeves and collars. This is one of my favorite outfits so far, even if it is a little Little House. It's even got bust darts! Woot! With cheap fat quarters and a little practice, anyone, even me (who has been sewing for like maybe 4 months now) can create some cool dollhouse textiles, or a Blythe wardrobe. Since the dolls cost so much, who wants to spend a lot more on pricey dolly clothes - I'd rather hit up a J Crew sale for myself!

As always, thanks for reading! Hope everyone is having a great fall!

A Lot Of Re-ment!

This weekend, my boyfriend bought me the Re-Ment shop shelves (I've been wanting something to display my massive amount of Re-ment sweets). It's really great, and perfect for displaying all sorts of things, and it is the absolute perfect size for Blythe. Unfortunately, I need another because I ran out of room for cakes!

Activist Blythe!

Well, Pittsburgh is abuzz with the G-20 summit, and the next few days are going to be awful with traffic and protesters and blocked streets, etc, etc so a few days ago my boyfriend and I started quoting PCU (a great '90s movie) to each other, "We're not going to protest! We're not going to protest!"

In honor of that, here is my lovely Blythe with her sign, protesting the protests... if only she could find me a way home tommorrow since pretty much every way will be blocked...

Back from Vacay-- Also, anyone want to trade Re-Ment?

UPDATE: in case anyone wants to swap, still, the chocolate set and fairy tale dishes set are spoken for! thanks!

Hello, there! Well, we just got back from our vacation to the shore... where it rained everyday except for the day we left and the sun peeked through the clouds for like 5 minutes the whole week. Of course, now we are back in Pittsburgh and Voila! The sun is out, it's blue skies all around, and pleasantly warm.

Anyway, I took my Blythe with me, and was afraid to take her out until the last day because of the rain. But here are a few pics of her hanging out on the beach. I made her dress from an XOXOBlythe.com pattern.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was trading Re-Ment. I have a few doubles and actually like buying blind boxes but don't want to have to go the whole selling route. I would love to trade for your doubles, sets you don't really like but that I don't have, any dollhouse miniatures that fit my style, or anything Blythe related. Maybe even for leftover fabric/ trim or craft supplies? If anyone is interested, here are the doubles I have right now:

IS DINNER READY, SET 2 BENTO BOX

This set has a lot of little pieces, but the best one is the plaid thermos with removable top... it's very cute and would look great with a Blythe or a Barbie.

KAWAII KITCHEN, SET 4 GELATTO SET

This set has a cute box filled with wafers, 2 gelatto bowls, and gelatto in a pan. I like the wafers and box, especially.

FAIRYTALE TABLEWARE, SET 8 LITTLE RIDING HOOD DISHES

I actually bought this set on purpose, and then got it in a blind box like 2 weeks later. It's so cute! It comes with 5 plates and plate stands that tell the story of Riding Hood. Great for display in a Blythe or Barbie house, or maybe even as over sized decorative pieces in a 1/12 house!

Lastly:

LOVELY CHOCOLATE, SET 9 "RELAX CHOCOLATE TIME"

A very nice set that will make you crave chocolate just looking at it! Comes with a tray, and cup of cocoa and a saucer, a plate with removable ice cream and a separate lava cake with fudge. Also comes with fork and teaspoon. Oh, and little tiny decorative raspberry garnishes. Seriously a nicely detailed set.

So, if anyone is interested in trade, please contact me via the blog and then we can trade emails or whatever! See you soon!

More Blythe!

I've been having so much fun with my new doll (says the 29 year old!) and I've been trying to learn how to sew. Back in my younger days when we were forced to take sewing and cooking class, I really hated them and preferred wood shop and metal shop (we had to take all of them different years in middle school). I thought sewing and cooking were too girly, too stereotypical or something... now I love to bake and wish so much that I could sew. Blythe has inspired me to be creative and crafty, which I haven't felt in a while.



I went to Michael's and found a plain hat for her big head, and decorated it with fun flowers and ribbons. I wish I could wear big flower hats like some kind of crazy Golden Girl and not be looked at funny!

I went out and bought a Re-Ment hutch and now all of the Re-Ment I keep in shoe boxes has an owner:


I used some of my dollhouse fabric for the bohemian dollhouse (which I've ignored for about 4 months now!) and tried to glue together a dress for her, which looked OK:

But finally, I got the nerve and found some needles and thread and downloaded an awesome free pattern online (puchicollective.com) and I actually sewed this dress with cruddy, crooked stitches... but it fits, and it looks OK! Maybe there is hope for me yet?



P.S. It's even lined, and it has Velcro in the back! Doesn't she look sharp?

I'm around here somewhere!

Well, the weather this summer has been pretty awful, huh? I've actually gone to the pool when it was like 74 degrees and cloudy just to get my money's worth out of my season pass! It's been so un-summerlike that I didn't even have my first funnel cake until a week ago! And now I know it's almost fall because I just had my birthday, which is always symbolic of autumn for me b/c as a child and even a teenager, I always got back to school stuff as presents!

Anyway, as the nights are getting a little bit longer, I can feel my urge to mini start to bubble up again. I've been collecting Re-Ment a ton now that I found a store in Pittsburgh that actually sells them (blind-boxed, though). I've wanted a Blythe doll for a few years now, and my sweet boyfriend bought me one as a present for the b-day (guess I'm too old for back to school clothes!) and I love her... I took some pics with little bits of Re-Ment.

So, hope everyone is having a nice summer and having lots of adventures and funnel cakes! Talk to you soon!

Summer...

I haven't been doing as many mini related things lately because it's the brief part of the year the weather in Pittsburgh is actually delightful! This weekend we went out with friends for brunch and sat outside and I drank a frozen mimosa (sounds strange but very very tasty!). With the summer coming up, many free days are taken up by Sandcastle (water park with a bar!) and all sorts of only-in-summer things. Also, the Sims 3 is coming out in a few weeks, and I'm really excited for a new video game!

Here are some of the things I bought/ made recently.

This is my Lorne (from the TV show Angel) action figure I found at this cool store in the mall. He came with some great 1/12 accessories, too, like a microphone and stand, speaker, vodka, and cocktail glass. The Buffy/ Angel action figures always come with some fun accessories!
This is what I got in the mail today (oops! and when I got home I ordered a bathing suit and sandals from J.Crew!). The Bozart set with shipping was $20, the unfinished but built kitchen cabinets retail in the HBS catalog for around $10-$15 each and I got them for $5 each (2 wall cabinets and 2 standing ones) and the HOM bed kit was less than $10. I buy these kits when they are cheap. I think I can make some of the dresser kits into more contemporary looking furniture.

A close up of the Bozart kitchen set outside of packaging. So cute! The little tumblers are perfect! Some of the best modern mini dishes I have seen.

Also, here are the bed (Daisy House kit) and end table (HOM kit) I built for my niece's dollhouse. I still have to glue together some bedding, but it's pretty cute. I wanted it to be more "shabby chic" than pure blinding white. The night table has scrapbook paper lining the shelf, and also lining the inside of the drawer.

Also, in case you didn't think I had other hobbies (or, daresay, a life?!) here is a picture of some real life sugar cookies I made last week (it was still on my camera when I downloaded these pics). The colors were meant to be spring like. They were really good, alas, I should have been thinking about bathing suit season.

I am also trying to build a mini tulip table out of a dowel, some circle woodsies, and paperclay, but I got frustrated with it and took a break! I hope to see and talk to you all soon! Enjoy these first fabulous weeks of summer!

In other doll house news...

Working on the Kylie dollhouse was fun, but since it had time constraints, it got to be like a chore sometimes (especially in the end, rushing to finish the floors and furniture). However, in the last few months I've still been trying to keep up with other mini things.

My modern dollhouse is a mess right now, but I ordered a few more designer chairs (this lot of 4 cost 99 cents plus $11 shipping... $3 a chair is a steal!). I also ordered the laptop and TV from a seller in Hong Kong. The computer came with a perfect little cell phone and the TV has a remote. They are very cute and realistic. I also ordered the modern style vacuum from HBS with my last order (though I'm sure the people in my dollhouse hate vacuuming as much as I do!)

The Emerson Row is currently holding a lot of craft supplies. The poor thing is a mess.

However, I did assemble and stain the bed (an HOM kit) which I plan to make bedding for sometime soon, probably in cream and white with some blue trim.

Lastly, a few months ago we were killing some time before meeting some friends before brunch when I decided to visit a store here in Pittsburgh called Kawaii. They had a bunch of Re-Ment for sale there, and it lead to a new Ebay obsession! Here are my little Re-Ment all in a shoe box. It kind of makes me want to build a play-scale house or buy a ridiculously priced Blythe doll and give her a weird name!

I entered a contest on the Re-Ment USA website and won a free, supposedly rare set called something birthday cake which is too cute. It has a red and white polka dot tea set, all sorts of little desserts, and a cake with candles.

See you soon!

Bathroom shelf

Just wanted to add some pictures of the bathroom and the bathroom hutch from Kylie's dollhouse. The hutch is one of those $1 Michael's things. I ripped off the doors, painted it tan, applied crackle medium, painted white, sanded a little and modge-podged. The shelves are lined with cool scrapbook paper and the edges are thin ribbon. All together, if you already have paint, crackle medium, and modge podge this is a very cheap and fun and easy project and it looks pretty good. $1 for the hutch, 50 cents for the ribbon, and probably like 70 cents for the paper.

Baby Present Accomplished!

I finally finished my niece's dollhouse this week after an emergency order from HBS for some "hard wood" flooring (their shipping was so fast, as it generally is, and I had 22 bonus dollars to spend...). We are leaving for the drive across PA in about an hour, but here are some pictures of the finished house.

I still have things I'd like to buy/ make for it, but it turned out to be a big project to accomplish in 2 months (considering almost everything in the house is made from kits or handmade). I still want to make family photos, etc.. and it needs some kitchen things.

The pictures are in no particular order, mostly because I am lazy and still have to pack.

The whole back of the house:

The porch with some hanging plants (bought from HBS):

The whole front of the house:

The couch, built from a vintage Realife Living Room kit bought in a lot of mini stuff from Craiglist:

The whole living room, complete with House of Miniatures clock kit & end table, Realife couch, coffee table, side table, and chair, and poorly homemade curtains & pillows:

Picture in kitchen from catalog with Chrysnbon frame:

Future kitchen with House of Miniature chairs, cool tile wall and floor, and lace curtain (made by gluing a piece of lace to a painted stick and gluing it to the window!):

Detail of homemade bedding, and homemade frame and catalog cutout picture in bedroom. Furniture from vintage Realife bedroom kit bought from Craiglist (got 2 Realife kits, Chrysbon kit, bathroom set, and a dollhouse kit for $20)

Michaels $1 hutch painted and decorated with scrapbook paper in the room which will be the little girls room one day (I have some more kits arriving):

View of whole little girls room with homemade curtain:

Upstairs hallway with H.O.M. table kit and homemade painting (from a catalog, with a "matte" made from a paint color sample from Loews!):

Whole bedroom, homemade curtains, bedding, Realife kit furniture, Chrysnbon kit chair, rug I accidentally bought 2 of, and a hat I received in a grab bag decorated with scrap ribbon and lace:

Office room with cool adhesive ribbon trim on walls, chair from kit bought from HBS, desk and shelf (can be separated) from Realife Living Room kit, vases are little wood bits from Michaels:

Me with the dollhouse in our messy living room... I call our decor, contemporary clutter!

The bathroom pictures didn't attach, but bf is getting eager to begin our 5 hour odyssey! I'll attach them soon, just because the hutch in that room is very cute! Anway, see you next time!