Trick or Treat!

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Making Trees

A few years ago I wanted to change my landscape for the fall so I came up with this very cheap idea for making them.  I just so happened to find miniature wire leaf garland at Dollar Tree and it came in green, red, and orange in an oak, maple, and a regular oblong leaf pattern. (Of course, I bought them all.)  I got some sticks from my yard to use for the tree trunks and hot glued them to some plywood squares I had in my scrap wood drawer.  Added a little moss, then twisted the wire around the branches.  Voila!  A green tree for summer and a red tree for fall.  For winter,  I put a little batting on the base and leave the tree bare.

Here's how they look in the dollhouse landscape. 

Rapunzel, Rapunzel...

All I need now is a prince!  I am considering hair extensions!

Rapunzel's Bedroom

Work resumed on Rapunzel's tower recently when I put the finishing touches on the bedroom.  I wanted to make a canopy of some kind, but really did not have the right kind of fabric that would drape correctly.  I found this Goldfinch sock feeder in my stash and decided it looked enough like mosquito netting to give it a go. Many trials and failures ensued, but behold!  A canopy.  I had these neat gold buttons with lions on them which made sort of a crest that I hung above the bed.  She is a princess after all.  Many books, a hairbrush, mirror, and a rug complete the scene.

Progress on Rapunzel's Tower

Slowly but surely, Rapunzel's Tower is coming along.  Last fall I got inspired to work on the downstairs of the tower which was either going to be a dungeon or a witch's kitchen.  Being very near Halloween, there was a lot of information on the internet about creepy dollhouse things, so I put together this witch's kitchen which is true to the story of Rapunzel anyway.  Everything was stuff I had on hand except for the skull and bones which came from a Dollar General miniature skeleton I purchased in their after Halloween clearance.

The fireplace is made entirely of scrap wood and caulk.  The fireplace surround came from some wooden valances that I tore out of the Williamsburg dollhouse during that remodel.  I just shoved it against the round wall and glued it in, covered it with caulk and topped with a piece of stained balsa wood for the mantle. I had to cut it rounded on one side, of course.  The kettle came from my daughter's Playmobile Nativity set.

The Michael's hutch was a lot of fun to decorate.  It was rubbed with some midnight blue paint and sanded to look old and yucky.  There are various dried herbs, bottles of potions made from beads, a scroll, a book of magic spells, a crystal ball made from a button and a clear marble, the infamous skull, a basket of poison apples, a mortar and pestle made with a suction cup and a bone from the skelton, and a specimen jar that is marked "Abnormal Brain-Do not use!" (A little nod to "Young Frankenstein"--thanks for the giggle, Mel Brooks.)  Inside is a brain I made from pink Sculpey clay.

The chair was a leftover from the furniture kit that came with the Williamsburg house.  #1 Rule in dollhouses:  NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY!  The broom  (for flying or just cleaning up the kitchen) was easily made from some raffia, thread, and a wooden dowel.