Ceiling roses and tin ceiling tiles

On one of my mini forums today there was a discussion about ceiling roses for dollhouses. This photo is a picture of my real size kitchen ceiling. It's finished with a textured wallpaper that I painted to resemble tin tiles. The leftovers have been very useful for minis.
I cut out lots of the little square motifs and painted them to make a tin ceiling for my Petite Dreams Victorian kitchen. I've also cut around the larger border of the square and left them white for my other Victorian kitchen.
I kept the design simple for the bedrooms. This one has just the floral motif left white.
The parlor and dining rooms call for more extravagent ceilings. Here in the parlor I cut out the entire floral motif, including the border. I added corner pieces to the ceiling corners and added gold "leafing" to the central rose.
In the dining room I cut around the first border of the large floral motif and added corners and smaller flowers to the ceiling corners. I again added the gold leaf effect to the central rose.

I've still got lots of this wallpaper leftover. I've used the paper intact to make cove plaster ceilings in some roomboxes, too. I think the investment of one roll would be well worth it if you like more elaborate ceiling detail in your dollhouses.

A lucky garage sale find

I have my mom's childhood tin lithograph dollhouse. For the past 4 years I've been working on repairing or replacing the furniture I remember from when she let us play with it. I've been looking for this Ideal bedroom set with the blue bedspread for all 4 years. Today I found it at a garage sale just down the road from my house. I probably paid more than I should have but I was so excited to find it that I didn't really care. :) My mom's dresser had drawers that really open and this one doesn't but it is in excellent condition with the original cardboard backing. The bed is missing the top pieces of the posts on the headboard but that's a fairly common problem. I'm so happy to have finally found these!

I also purchased a couple of cardboard cigar boxes to use for future rooms. For a quarter each I couldn't pass them up - even if I do prefer the wooden ones.

And a table to finish the scene

Today's mini project was this little bedside table. The table was made from a piece of paper towel tube cut down to size with a foamcore table top. I made all of the items on top of the table. The mini magazine is a printie but the cup of tea was made from polymer clay with glass paint tea. The candle is a pencil eraser with a black thread wick. I sealed the eraser with satin varnish and used tacky glue to add melted "wax" to the top of the candle. The candle stand was made from a couple of jewelry findings.

This has been a crazy week with doctor's appointments and various other errands. We leave for Walt Disney World with the kids and a nephew one week from tomorrow. I am so ready for this vacation. It will be fun to go with teens and young adults this time.

Hope you all are having a great week!

And now for a little shabby chic

A miniaturist friend of mine is dealing with some health issues. I made these as a gift to cheer her up.
The shelves are lined with a little lace paper.
The comforter was all hand quilted.
I'm very happy with how the painting turned out. The roses were painted with a very simple technique. Dab on a dot of the darker paint, pick up a drop of a lighter shade on a toothpick and swirl the colors together. Very easy and quite effective.

The armoire is a Michael's hutch. The bed was made from a kit that came with one of my dollhouses. I had originally stained it so I sanded it down before painting it roughly with cream paint. After painting the floral design (and letting it dry thoroughly) I lightly brushed on an antiquing gel. I finished with a satin varnish. I left the inside of the armoire/hutch the pure cream color.

Some days I could kiss the mailman!

Today is one of those days because he brought me Ingrid's wonderful giveaway prize. It's even more beautiful in person. Thank you so much, Ingrid! Visit her blog and say hello.

Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Just a quick post tonight. I'm very excited because I threw a successful surprise 50th birthday party for my husband tonight. We had a houseful of friends and family and had a wonderful evening. Just had to share. :) I'll try to post some pics tomorrow.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

The nursery is finished and listed

I had a lot of fun making tiny baby toys and supplies. There's also a plant on the shelf over the window. I'll put the personal photos of the buyer on that shelf, too. I can also put photos in the photo album on the top shelf of the hutch.
The little baby girl was hard to photograph. She has a scrunche up little face like she's crying.

You can see more photos on etsy at MiniDe's Miniature Dolls and More.