The Dollhouse

So this year, Christmas came early at our house. We're headed back to Utah for a few days, and knew we couldn't take everything we were giving the girls with us (especially not as a secret from Santa). We also knew that Cory would be working every day up until we left, so we just decided to celebrate this last Sunday. It was pretty great, though now I feel like I'm in this weird lull between fake Christmas and real Christmas, but with no Santa for real Christmas... it's weird. Anyway. This year, I was super excited about the girls' present. I bought a dollhouse for Breanne a couple years ago on an after Christmas sale for some 90% off. This one, actually (again, note the 90% off. Awesome). I didn't give it to her at the time because Janey was in crazy baby stage (1.5 years old), and I was about to have another baby. This year, though, with Breanne and Janey being in the delightfully responsible-ish enough stages that they are, and Cailin in a somewhat calm (for her) stage, I decided it would work.

 
And boy howdy do they love it. They've been playing with it for the last 4 days almost constantly. It always makes the hours worth it when the kids like what I've worked on like crazy. :) I stayed up many late nights painting and wall-papering and painting and material-ing the floors and painting... did I mention all the painting? It might not have been so bad if I hadn't had to paint the majority of the furniture too... but it ended up great. I love the way it came together, and the girls have really enjoyed playing with it thus far. Because we moved Christmas up a week (it was kind of a last minute decision) I didn't have time to finish the front of the house, so the porch and front wall are yet to be finished, but someday it'll all be done. Besides, this way=no pinched fingers, right?

Want a tour?  Ok.  We'll start at the top, in the attic (it's around on the back side).

Yes, that is a sewing machine.  And a vacuum.  I kind of fell in love with this pack of dollhouse furniture when I saw the sewing machine.  Couldn't resist it.  

Other side of the room, with the laundry, mop and bucket and ironing board.  I love these pieces.  The floor is corduroy (actually the same stuff I used for my diaper bag waaaay back here).  

Then there's the bathroom.  The pieces that came with the dollhouse for the bathroom were really lame.  Super squarish pieces, with drawn on faucets, and no toilet.  So I found this little set to replace it, after searching for nearly a month.  I'm glad the greens match well enough to pull it all together.  The floor is a sheet of 1 inch tiles from Home Depot I found on clearance.  It's my personal favorite part of the room.

This is the bedroom.  Couldn't resist the pinks (the floral on the walls is even sparkly...), and the floor is a furry white fabric.  The bed is not complete, still needs a mattress, pillow, and a finished edges blanket, but it's coming.  And yes, that's a light on the ceiling... you just click it on by pushing it.  It is adhered to the ceiling, but twists off to replace the batteries.  There's also one in the attic, and one in the family room.  The girls love them.  Let's be honest, so do I.  :)

The kitchen.  It came with a fridge, and the table and chairs weren't that scratched before, but... well... children.  And a few days.  You know the rest.  My favorite part of this room is a tie between the flooring, and the faux paneling on the walls.  It's the small things, sometimes.

And the front/family room.  Complete with Christmas tree and lights.  I am a sucker for the details.  I have plans to upholster the couch, but haven't had time yet.  I love the cabinet, though, and the furry carpet. You can tell that I bought this set a few years ago, though, by the tv.  I'm sure the tv's in newer sets are flat screens.  The girls asked me what it was.  :)

So there you have it.  I really love me a good project.  Yes, still plenty to do on this one, but I love it so far. And more importantly... so do the girls.  :)

We're Thankful For...

I've been seeing "gratitude trees" all over the internet, and after seeing my friend Holly's yesterday, I finally decided to make one for us.  The girls and I spent this afternoon during Cailin's nap cutting, cutting, cutting, and then taping, taping, taping, and finally writing and taping some more.  :)

And thus was born, our Thankful Tree:

Yeah, a whole wall of gratitude tree... this house has huge walls, I never feel like I can do anything on a small scale.

Perhaps a little shy on leaves so far, but we have a whole bunch more to fill out over the next couple weeks.

Yep, I'm thankful for my sewing machine and serger.  And clean laundry.  Janey prefers flowers and school.

Breanne was certain to add an owl in a hole in the tree.

And then she wanted me to take a picture of her by the tree.  :)

She's thankful for red, mom, Hazel, dad, Janey...

And squirrels.  Still working on getting the s to face the right way.  :)

 Have I mentioned how much I love this wall in our house?  It's one of my favorite things about this house.  In case you don't remember (or I didn't tell you?), it also housed Cory's birthday wall,

and our colony of bats.

No, really, that's what a group of bats is called.  Also, I know some children who would be disappointed if I didn't ask if you see the sole upside-down bat.  He's a rebel.  :)

  I'm picturing snowflakes, hearts, birthday banners... I love it.  

Advent Calendar Day 14

Today we made sequin trees. I saw the basic idea on my friend Amelia's blog a couple years ago, and have just been waiting for Breanne to be old enough to make one. Amelia makes her trees with buttons, which are adorable, but I didn't want to pay for a million pretty buttons, and the girls tend to like shiny things anyway, so we went with the sequins. I love how they turned out!

Advent Calendar Day 7

Today we made snowflakes. I did most of the cutting, though Breanne made a few herself, too. Janey decorated using her favorite medium, markers. Of course. :)

My Christmas masterpiece... Ha. I love cutting out snowflakes.

Finished!

The felt playhouse is complete! Well, actually, I still need to sew one piece of velcro onto a piece of spinach, and make some birds for the birdhouse, but other than that, it is done. Yes, I know it is 2:00 am, but I had to post the pics for you, because I'm just so excited it's done!

The front:


The door and mailbox both open:


Side one (the birdhouse is a pocket thing, so birds can sit inside, and you can use the watering can to water the flowers, then pick them--and they have pipe cleaner in the stems to give them a little more stability (though I should've used more, probably). Also, you can open and close the curtains from inside):


The back/garden (you can pick all the veggies, or just water them with the watering can from the other side):


Side 2 (the bone comes off, and the door is a flap you can crawl through to get into the house, also you can pick the apples):


I think in all it took me just over 20 hours from first cut to complete, but I think it will have been worth it--I'm hoping the girls love it.