I got a dollhouse for Christmas!

A good friend found this house at a flea market over the summer and gave it to me this week for  Christmas. It obviously belonged to a little girl before me and was well loved. Because of that, the house needs some repair work done. I love the style, though.

 It looks like this room had the same zebra carpet as the room beside it. Um, that is gonna have to go. :-)

 The area under the stairs has been closed in and a door added.

 My friend include a bag of things she's collected that may have mini potential.

The attic room is L shaped.

And what are my plans for this house, you ask? Well, I am leaning towards an elf dormitory/house. The rooms are very large so it would be easy to fit in several beds in the second story rooms and a long table in the dining area. I will let this idea percolate in my brain for awhile so I can finish the French Country house. I will need to find a place to display Santa's house, the workshop, and the elf house all together. I think this will be a fun project!

Meet Santa's Mail Carrier

Santa's mail keeps Rudy the mailman busy this time of year. Between the letters from children and the Christmas cards from all the elves, Rudy's bag gets pretty heavy.

His bag and hat say "NP Mail" (North Pole). His bag is made of fake leather with real leather trim and he's got a handful of mail for Santa's mailbox.

One of Santa's helpers

This is Alfred Eloysus Elf. His parents wanted to give him a distinguished name. Little did they know he'd end up being called Alf Elf. Alf is also for sale in my etsy shop. He was really fun to make. Adding all the little details was the best part - fancy elf shoes with curled up toes, bright red buttons holding the plaid suspenders in place and the jinglebell on the tip of his stocking cap.

It's been a wonderful day so far. We started the morning with really thick fog. The drive to church was a little scary so I'm glad we don't live far from the church. When we came out, the sun was shining and it was unseasonably warm. Then my hubby took me out for Chinese for lunch. Now I'm comfy in my sweats and watching football. Life just doesn't get much better than that. :0)

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Sunday, too!

Christmas is just around the corner....

...so I've been upgrading some things in the Claus's house. I originally had a handpainted round table and two chairs in the kitchen at the open end.That just didn't give Mrs. Claus enough room to work and move in her kitchen so I made the island with a butcher block top and two stools to replace the table and chairs. It's much more efficient now.

Santa has been through several surgeries, lol. I first made him nearly 20 years ago and he had a bead head, with blue mittens and black boots made from polymer clay. Last year I gave him a new polymer clay head and new green mittens. Those mittens were bugging me since he's actually working inside so I made him some hands. You can see him here discussing the Christmas Eve delivery plans with his head elf, Pete.

And, finally, here's a better photo of Dasher after his reincarnation from gold glitter to furry reindeer.That's Red behind him. Red is the elf in charge of the reindeer.

Christmas is my favorite holiday so I have several Christmas themed projects. Besides Santa's house, I have the house I live in now as it was when my children were very little. It's always decorated for Christmas. I also have a small roombox. Next month I will show more photos of Santa's house and the other Christmas projects, too.

I miss my camera!

I had to use my cell phone to take this picture but this is the "reindeer" I refinished. He started out covered completely in gold glitter and he cost $1 at the dollar store. I painted and flocked him and he turned out fairly well. Red, the elf, is taking care of him. They are outside Santa's house. There will be more photos of that next month.