Woodland Elf House Completed

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Ding, dong the house is done!

More on the outside of the house, I create twig window trim and elements of the yard on the exterior of my Woodland Elf House (1:24 scale) built from recycled household materials and glue.

Installing twig trim; creating a log in the yard, mushrooms, critters, and mossy touches on and around the house.

By the time this build was nearly completed, I was so, very ready for it to be done…or rather I felt done with working on it. I will clear my mind of the little house for now and work on something else to move on past this. I love this little woodland elf house, so I don’t want to linger in the feelings of ready to be done with it. I will cherish it. When I’m done displaying it on my coffee table, I’ll move it to the display case in my studio. Of course, the elf is still to come but that will wait for a couple weeks at least. Maybe the elf is foraging or visiting friends elsewhere in the woods. Yeah, that’s what I believe is happening!

Woodland Elf House Pt 4

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I compiled video clips and added some voiceover here and there for the latest installations on the house. I completed more of the inside the house, created more furniture and moved on to the features on the exterior of this Woodland Elf House (1:24 scale) which is built from recycled household materials and glue.

Installing lights; creating toadstool table and “woodcut” stools, boot bench, water table (with cups, ladle and bucket); finishing the base; making bark siding and painting finishing touches on the eaves and rooftop.

This one went a little long and I found myself needing to cut it off just before 45 minutes. I sincerely hope people actually find interest and watch it all the way through to the end. I’m trying to get part five finished very quickly on the heels of this one.

I’ve found that I’m beyond ready to move on to a new project so I’m trying to derive a lot of fun from the editing process and instill the reverence I felt while creating the house, its elements and any things or creatures that live around it. Trusting the process…

Woodland Elf House Part 4

Woodland Elf House Pt 3

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Excitedly adding roofing and moving inside to work on the house further by doing things like adding windowpanes and painting the inside surfaces.

After installing the loft space I needed a ladder to access it and of course wanted to add the bed and little nightstand up there but they needed painting and bedding first.

The pot belly stove needed a stove pipe and chimney. Then there was the pebble flooring and nifty shelves added beneath the windows. I also added simple hinges so the front door could be installed.

Everything is just a little wonky but it’s adorable and coming right along.

If you’d like to watch the step-by-step video then here it is. Remember to like the video and leave a comment.

Pot Belly Stoves!

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In the process of work on the Woodland Elf House, I built TWO pot belly stoves alongside each other! The main one is done in 1:12 scale and will be installed into the kitchen of my cardboard cottage while the small one is 1:24 scale and will be installed into the Woodland Elf House, which is nearly finished. These stoves are built from recycled household materials and glue. The large one is made of paper, cardboard, packaging plastic and a sewing pin. The small one is made primarily of a thread spool, paper, cardboard and the tip of a toothpick. They were painted with craft paint and then dry-brushed with more craft paint to bring out the details.

Once construction began on the main stove, I realized I wanted to make a small shovel to remove ash from the stove. I instantly imagined a shovel I remember being used in the fireplace growing up. It was stamped from one piece of metal and then crimped and bent into shape. I basically recreated that shovel (using recycled cereal box chip board) which was a wonder to me as a child.

Later, having the stoves and the shovel led me to realize I would be making a small bucket where the manager of the pot belly stove would put the ashes. Using simple scrapbook card stock and a length of thread I was able to make a handy bucket. As a point of interest, I place the contents from a couple of “do not eat” silica packets which include both black and clear pieces and look mysteriously like ash in the bucket, but this detail was not included in the video as I did it much later.

If you’re merely interested or if you endeavor to build pot belly stoves for your dollhouse, then please take a look at my video posted on my YouTube channel. Drop me a like and make a comment if you’re so inclined.

Mini Soap Pump

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This was a quickly satisfying miniature to create! Here are the steps I took:

  • Took a plastic zipper head off a plastic bag (that housed something I’d ordered from Amazon)
  • Sanded the back and bottom a bit to allow the plastic to accept glue
  • Added craft glue to the back and set on cereal box chip board and set aside to dry
  • Trimmed away excess chip board material with scissors
  • Added craft glue to the bottom and set on cereal box chip board and set aside to dry
  • Trimmed away excess chip board material with scissors
  • Cut a 1/2″ length of toothpick
  • Used precision tip hot glue gun to make a small bead of hot glue onto a metal surface, drawing the tip away to cause a teardrop shape with a flat bottom.
  • Filled the zipper head with hot glue (held head with tweezers to avoid burn)
  • Placed toothpick length into top of zipper head
  • Scraped teardrop shape from metal surface and used small dab of hot glue to adhere to top of toothpick
  • Trimmed any excess glue away using scissors

Miniature Clocks

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I made these little clocks out of paper! I was inspired after watching a video tutorial on making clocks of this nature. I just had to share them!

I am enamored by the work done by Laura on the Tinyview YouTube channel (@lauras-tinyview). Her channel has some wonderfully explanatory videos for anyone looking to get into this art form. She definitely makes it looks easy. See her video here: https://youtu.be/ucXQ1o9P73A?si=1pMwMUCz6fzRqgbN+

Woodland Elf House Pt 2

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As I mentioned in the post on part 1 of this house, editing video footage proved to reveal that more than one video would be required. I now know at least a part 3 will also be required. I’m going into detail and showing how I built it from the tabletop up (ha!). Then, of course, there are the things that go inside. I’ve worked on cutting into the roof and making a dormer window on the exterior, while on the interior I made the loft, railing for the loft, small bed 1 and small bed 2, and a nightstand. Of course, I have lots of ideas but when it comes to making them into reality things change. So, we’ll see how the remainder of this build goes.

The next steps will move this project right along and I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’ve also planned to make a bucket for water, table for bucket and maybe a “cushy” chair. I was thinking about installing the first bed I made on the bottom floor but it really is just too big I believe….final decision is yet to be made.

Take a look-see and comment to let me know if you have ideas.

Mini Colored Pencils in Cups!

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Making these tiny colored pencils, their little cups and a tray to house them was a fun project. As a bonus, it helped provide focus for the office area in the 1:12 scale cardboard house I’m making…stay tuned for that as I will be working on it much more after I finish the elf house. This was a relatively easy thing to make with some basic tools and some patience.

I started with toothpicks and cut them all the same length (mine are 7/8″) with the uber-handy miter shears, then sanded the cut sides flat and smooth. I decided how many of each color to create then painted the pencils and their tips accordingly craft acrylic paint straight from the bottles. Next, lengths of drinking straw were used as cups. I sealed the bottom sides by pressing them into a pool of hot glue I’d placed on a metal surface to get the flat bottom, then, once it was cooled, I trimmed excess pooled glue away with scissors. The tray is made from card stock which began with a thin strip of card stock which I fashioned into a circle and attached the ends (attached end to end and then secured with printer paper pieces glued on either side across the join). I glued (tacky glue) the circle to a flat piece of card stock and set about waiting for the glue to dry again. Once the glue was dried, I trimmed excess away with scissors.

My recommendations:

  • use tacky wax or glue the cups onto the tray (and possibly the pencils into their cups) because it is difficult to move the tray around maintaining upright ups and placement on the tray.
  • resist the urge to dip the wooden picks as it adds too much paint and loses the realism. I used a small brush to paint on the paint.
  • paint two coats of the paint to get coverage sufficient to look like a real life-sized colored pencil
  • avoid using markers to create the pencils as the marker ink tends to wick in the wood. I did have luck darkening a pale pink paint with a marker carefully applied atop the paint as I wanted a brighter pink.
  • since all the materials out, I went ahead and created a couple of writing pencils with yellow paint, dark grey sharpened tips and pink nubs to simulate erasers. I used a gel pen to draw a line between the pink and the yellow paint simulating the metal ring. I have not pictured those here but they’ll make their debut when I create the office space mentioned above.

Woodland Elf House

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I’ve been making a small (1:24 scale) house for a woodland elf creature to reside within. It’s been easy to get away from the house build itself because it’s so easy to give in to the temptation to make itty bitty things for the inside of the house. So far, I’ve made a detailed door (with hinges), pot-belly stove, rock floor, loft area, small bed, nightstand, candle in its candlestick, mushrooms that’ll live around the outside, and I’ve begun sculpting the resident elf.

It’s inviting and would be easy to continue making cute, tiny things, but I want to finish this project and work on others. So, I decided to finish this project (including video footage being uploaded) so that I can focus more clearly and improve in organizing a build along with decorations. I finally took the time to edit the footage of this house build and during said editing, it became evident that I would need to create more than one video just to cover the build. I’ve already uploaded part 1, happily!

Take a look and please comment and drop a like on the video.

Merry Christmas Block Lettering

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This might sound familiar but it’s worth repeating if I do say so myself. If you’ve ever made Christmas cards, then you know it’s very helpful to have all the bits and pieces together before you start glueing anything down. It’s akin to cooking a gourmet dish because things can get out of control pretty quickly with glue drying while you look for something still stashed away. I have found that I really like to create words where all the letters are attached or welded together. That just turns them into another embellishment and I don’t have to glue each individual letter down. I try to attach little dots or punctuation marks so they don’t become tiny, individual pieces that seem to immediately jump off my desk and get lost forever.

I used royalty free fonts to create these images and I hope you find them as charming and useful as I did.

Download Steps:

Hover over “The Vault” across the top of this page to reveal the pull-down menu.

Select the file you want to download and click on it. The file will automatically download to your computer.

Typically, you can find the files in the “Downloads” folder on your computer. It will be compressed or “zipped” if there is more than one file for the item you selected.

Double click to access the files or right-click and choose to extract the files to a folder you designate on your computer for immediate and future use.

If you have any questions, then please let me know and I’ll be happy to assist.

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