made some stockings for my kids. there are too many to hang fro the fireplace, so we are going with the older tradition of hanging them on the end of the bed on christmas eve. the biggest ones are for my msd sized dolls, the littler ones for my pukifee/latiyellow/tinydelfs etc. the real tiny dolls are still waiting for appropriate sized ones.
i made a bunch of extras to list on my etsy store next year for christmas… if i remember in time 😉
i have been varnishing the fireplace and gluing the sides flat whenever i got a moment this week, not really something that showed up in pictures. now i finally got to apply the grout and find out if all those coats of varnish sealed my tiles/bricks well enough. in a couple of hours the grout will be dry enough to try and wash the haze off. if not i guess my tiles just got more subdued, which isn’t a bad look really… and i just added grouting to my list of new things i’ve tried!
i like how much more finished the brick look now. i think if i was doing this again i would try to leave a bit more spacing between all the bricks to allow for the grouting. my bottom ones fit together a bit too closely.
edit: i went back to wipe off the haze and found i actually liked it better with some of the haze there. so ended up reapply a bit of the grout and wiping it off again to get the white back in the hollows. it has to dry overnight and then i’ll revarnish with my blend of matte and satin varnish to give a very subtle sheen.
while i’m waiting its time to start painting the hearth and mantel. for the hearth i wanted a stone look that coordinated with but didn’t match the stone in the fireplace, so i gathered up most of the same colors and added them to a paint palette made of a saran covered paper plate. i’ll be applying them with a cheap kitchen sponge to a piece of white painted mdf board.
and.. the painted hearth and mantel.
i kept dipping the sponge in the paint and applying till i got the look i wanted. i’ve done marbling on full sized walls before so this time i had an idea of what i wanted to do :)) when it dries i’ll paint it with a blend of matte and satin varnish to get a really subtle sheen since the satin is too shiny and the matte too dull.
it’s hard to see on the mantel but i painted it with white chalk paint and then when it was dry sanded it smooth and it matches the wood front almost perfectly :yay! i’ll be coating that with my ulta matte varnish to keep the worn look.
now onto the pillow. a necessity for a comfy sleep. cut a rectangle of cotton and one of batting, make sure you add seam allowance on all the sides. fold in half and stitch together leaving a small opening to turn.
turn right side out and fill with “pellets”. i used glass sand blasting pellets just cause that’s what i have on hand. i bought a huge bag years ago, when i was still making bears and i still have tons left! but you can also use seed beads, play sand (clean please) or some miniature sites also say to use salt but you would have to be sure it would never get wet!
because my pellets are so fine and i don’t want any leakage at the seam i put a fine line of fabric glue on the inner seam. it is flexible and doesn’t show especially under the batting. after gluing it together i close the seam with a ladder stitch as usual.
now take a nap on your comfy new pillow.
liya approves and demonstrates just how soft and squishy her new pillow is.
coming back to this one for a bit, while once again waiting for paint to dry on another project. (it is taking a very long time) this time i am working starting on the bedding. first the mattresses. to begin i cut out the filler. the rectangular bed got 1″ thick memory foam. that was too thick for the other two and hid too much of the head board so instead they got three layers each of warm and natural quilt batting.
the covers are simple, pillow cover like. i cut a rectangle a little bigger than the filling, stitched it 1/4″ wider on each side for the smaller mattresses. 1/2″ bigger for the larger then “boxed” each corner, turned it right side out and stuffed. the small opening is closed with a ladder stitch. i had originally planned to make tufted and piped mattresses – even got one mostly done, but then realized that would mean i’d have to make bottom sheets for these tiny beds 🙁 so i tossed it and made these simple ones instead!
the rock front is painted and drying so i can varnish it. it may take quite a while to dry since my first try ended up looking way too colorful and didn’t go with whitewashed wood of the picture frame. i covered over all each brick with a combo of blue-gray and white so only hints of the colors show through and i like the effect much better. i didn’t have time to take a picture of the first try since i had to keep working while the paint was wet so all the colors would blend.
note to self, next time paint the rock before cutting it out. it would be much easier to get the variability in each rock!
i dug through my supply box for possible legs and came up with these. they were the ones i had enough of that looked like they might fit. after trying each set out, the spools ended up being the best for both scale and size.
so i glued one to each corner
flip it over and the bed is ready to go. or at east ready for bedding…
Continue reading bed for a 15cm prince(ss) number 2 part 2 »
using the oval ornament from the previous post, i chose this time to cut it in half since it wouldn’t stand alone. i made the base the same way as the first bed, except i cut the dowels the full width of the 4 craft sticks.
glue the head and foot boards to the base lining up the bottom edges and clamp till dry. the clothespins would make funky legs but they are just temporary 😉
once the glue has set, line up the base with one set of curls to make sure it is straight and glue it on. clamp in place till glue dries. proper clamps would be ideal but clothes pins work in a pinch ;0)
you can leave the bed like that or paint it as desired.
verdict:
not very springy, it needs a mattress!
but it’s just the right size. 🙂
while we were waiting for paint to dry on the previous project, liya started hauling out wood and asking me to build her a princess bed that was just her size. feeling bad that every one thinks the poor girl is a boy since she is still bald i complied since it would be a fairly quick build anyway.
we gathered up a bunch of odds and ends to see what would work. the “frilly” ones are christmas ornaments i got on sale at michaels. we have jumbo craft sticks, odds and ends of square dowels left over from other projects, a bag of balsa scraps, my miter box, saws, pencil and glue. after some testing we decided to start with the rectangular ornaments for the head/footboard, the dowels for supports and 4 craft sticks for slats as the balsa wood was just a smidge too short and narrow.
next we figured out how high the bed should be and marked the dowel supports against the end boards at that point
and marked the ends of the craft sticks so they would be square not curved
i wrapped some scotch tape around the craft sticks so that i could cut them all at once. then laid the bundle flat in my miter box and zipped off the ends. it is turned this way just to show how even it came out. (the miter box is really handy for people like me who don’t really know how to do wood work, and if you use your 40% off coupon at michaels it is less than $10… even in canada!. go on a separate day and use the coupon to get the matching saw that cheap as well ;))
center the trimmed supports across the very ends of the slats making sure everything is square and even, and glue down using weld bond, or wood glue.
and placed a heavy weight on top and wait for the glue to dry
i painted the whole dresser with 2 coats of ultra matte varnish to maintain the lovely chalky/worn look no pics of that since it really doesn’t look any different. then glued down the knobs on the drawers measuring as carefully as possible to line them up
i’m really happy with the look and scale of them. once the glue sets i’ll be done, though it will take 24 hours for it to reach full strength.
and the finished dresser
looks much better i think than when it started, the glue still has to cure for another 23 hours or so before i can safely open the drawers, but i am very pleased with how it turned out.
bonus pic with the matching desk and my mline minifee meg for scale i haven’t decided if she will use it as a file cabinet or an end table yet. maybe both depending on the photo shoot.
Continue reading dollar store dresser upcycle part 4 finale »