DOLLHOUSE - THE VAN BUREN - A Spooky Ole House

Many things went thru my head when

I first saw this dollhouse.
My daughter

and her mother-in-law Linda saw it first

and suggested that I buy it.
It cost only

$20.00.
That's right - this large monstrosity

was begging to go home with someone.
And that someone was me.
Of course they wanted it to be a Witch's
house right away.
But I don't know. 
Anyway they had to

talk me into buying it.
I don't know -  it looks like an

awful lot of work if you ask me!
But how can you go wrong with a house like

that - for only $20.00.
You cannot.
So I took off the tag

and marched up front and paid for it.

By the way this house was bought at the thrift store.
This is the front of the house.
As you can see the
front stoop and rails are missing.
That has to be replaced.
However, the house was put together really well.
Love went into putting this house together for someone.
This house is solid.
Whoever put it together, did a great job!
 

 

 The photo's here shows the house as being blue in color.
But actually the house is grey with a deep grey/black
roof.
Needless to say there is probably some blue in
the grey paint.
Gee - It is a big house!
I do not like the front doors.
The house needs to come alive.

 

There is a widow's walk on top which I am not fond of.

The reason will be obvious enough once you see the

inside.

 

 

Neither am I fond of the red chimneys.
After
looking at the inside - the fireplaces might be a
tight squeeze.
The roof could use some shingles.

 

The windows are not bad - I guess.
Maybe the house needs clapboard siding.

 

This is the other side of the house.

 

I know that I am talking negative
and at this point you are probably
wondering why I bought it.
However,
the house does have some amenities.
It is wired already.
Although I do not know the extent yet.
A close-up
reveals an outside lantern missing.
Needs replacing regardless if I
keep it lit.
I would like to see new front doors.
Hopefully they are
easy to replace - if not they will have
to stay.
And something has to be done
with that awful door knob!

 

Here is the inside view of the Van Buren

dollhouse.

It is and has been retired for

a long time.

It used to be an expensive dollhouse.

It must have been well-loved as there is hardly

any damage inside or outside.

Top floor definitely

has a small bathroom.

None of the floors sag.

This dollhouse must have been in a garage, or

a basement for quite some time.

 

 

Once you enter thru the double front doors you

enter into a little space and then into a

long foyer.

And where does it go -

why - it goes nowhere but towards

the back of the house.

This is an empty waste of space.

The last tenants moved out in a hurry.

They tried to take the lamp from the wall

but hastily decided to leave it. 

It must

have been a pain in the neck to remove.

The floor is paper.

Virgin walls - no paper - no paint.

Those walls are going to be mighty thirsty!

 

 

I do not understand why this door is here.
The tenants cannot use it.
Why does it
face this way - why not face the foyer??
Anyway what is its use?
Is it a coat closet or a pantry - what?

 

This was the kitchen and the breakfast area.
Of course that lamp is so low that it
might hit your head.
It must be raised.
Yes - see one of the amenities - some
lights were left here in this house.
Again there is paper down on the floor.
It is not in scale.
Oh! that thing on the
floor has something to do with the
lights.

 

This is the living area.
Look!
Another
lantern was left hanging on the wall.
Flowered paper on the floor to resemble
carpet or linoleum?
Look at all of that electrical tape.
I sure
do hope that the lights work!

 

This is the area under the first floor
stairs.
The coat closet or pantry area?
Striped paper on the floor here.
Maybe the lawn mower goes in here?
Hehehehe

 

Look down from the stairs at the front
doors.
Kind of steep and bare.
Notice
how the stairs at the bottom kind of
curve.
Kind of nice!
Nice detail.
Sorry for the blur.

 

This is one of the 2nd floor bedrooms.
Apparently it was a child's room.
Notice the paper on the floor.
It is sweet.

 

This bedroom is located on top of the
child's bedroom.
I love the vaulted
ceiling and the round window.
I do like
the floor paper but I will not keep it.
I wonder what the previous
tenant used this room for?

 

Can you see it.
This was the clue to show
that this dollhouse was a kit with big rooms!

 

This is supposed to be the master bedroom.

Its of a nice size.

Cute floor paper.

This room has lots of potential.

 

 

 This is the reason why I do not like the
widows walk.
The stairs block the view of the
window and it also breaks up the room.
These have to be removed.
Again more floor paper.
And there is a light hiding in the corner.
Who wants to look at the backside of stairs?

 

 These stairs look down from the widows walk.
I would like to close up this area.

 

 Oops! no glass panes.
I had better start collecting plastic.

 

 Isn't this an interesting angle.
It looks like there
is a step going down into this room.

 

 This is what the stairs look like going
up to the widows walk.
You have to stick
your head into the dollhouse to see them.
Messy with the glue.
And that's okay because
the stairs were not made to be seen.

 

 This photo is of the child's room.
It looks
towards the balcony doors.
There appears
to be a bunch of wires to the side??

 

 

I have not put all of the photo's of the dollhouse
up here. I forgot to take pics of the 2cd floor stairs.
And behind those stairs is a closet.
You can only
see that closet thru the balcony doors.
My only hope is that I can do the dollhouse justice.
Only time can tell!

 

 This pic is of the living area.
Wires are showing thru.
Another sign on the walls shows this to be a kit.

I hope you have enjoyed a visit thru this dollhouse
and keep checking back to see what I do with it.
Mini hugs and kisses sent to all of you,
Conny



TUTORIAL - Make 2-layer Cake From Stamps!

Come on over for some CAKE!

I do not know why the middle of my cake

sank in like that.

Maybe I pierced it too hard with

a toothpick!
Hopefully by the end of this

posting I will have figured it out.
LOL's
 

These are tiny RUBBER STAMPS.

Why do they call them rubber?

It is only because of the little piece on top, I guess.

The bottom half is foam.

The orange smiley face is not a stamp too??
Actually, I do not know what orange smiley face is.

But every once in a while

I come across these and I throw them away.
Now, that I have found a use for them - I
cannot find them anymore.
Go figure.

 

I do not know anything about rubber stamps.

I do not do that craft.

 

 Anyway, the tops of these stamps fell right off.

Maybe these stamps are old.

However, it made me 2 very nice round cakes!
They are perfectly round!

And they are just the right size!!

 

My intentions is cut out a slice of cake.

1st -  I drew a large X on the top of one of the stamps.
Cut out one of the pie shapes.

 

Then I placed the stamp with the X on it,

on top of the other one and drew
a slice.
Again, cut out the pie shape from the bottom
stamp.
You should now have 2 pie shapes cut out.

 

 2nd -  I took the trusty toothpick and made holes

in each cake where I sliced off the pieces.
I saw that trick where they were
doing it to clay cakes. So thought I would try it.
This is to give it some texture.
Paint one stamp any color you like.

 

 3rd - For Icing.
PUT A LOT OF WHITE GLUE on a small
piece of cardboard.

I know it doesn't look like it - but there is

a lot of glue here!
Mix in a little bit of white paint,
stir it really good with a toothpick.

You must let the glue set a little,
so it is not so runny.

Keep checking it and stirring it
with the toothpick.
The glue has to harden some
so it does not run off of the cake.

Once it has set - then frost your cake!

 

I painted one stamp chocolate and.

painted the pink stamp a deeper pink.

There is a lot of frosting between my cake layers.

 

The pecans on top are tiny pieces of cork.

 

The little stamps fit perfectly in the

little glass cake dish.

 Here is what the back of the cake looks like

in a mirror.
Not too bad!
I even put my leftover

glue frosting into a bowl with a spatula in it.
Oh, and do not forget to paint and frost the pie shapes
that you cut out.
Be sure to remember to put some
pecans on top!

Time to clean up the mess after Daisy licks

the spoon.

Yum-yum!!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hopblogger

GIVEAWAY

Hello everyone! I thought that it

is time that I have my first giveaway.

I removed the mini's out of Elizabeth's apartment

to show you how beautiful this set is. Recently I have been

going through my miniatures and decided that I

could not use this set. My apartments are too small and

there are not any patio's in which to put this wicker set.

Permelia's patio is very small and this set is not

suitable for a witch.

I own 2 resin sets and I am still

contemplating about the other set. Both miniature sets are

beautiful.But here on this giveaway I am only

offering this one set, at least for now.

As I have stated the wicker set is made of resin. And it is highly

detailed as you can see from these pics. Also this set

is over 15 years old and was brand new when I bought

it. I have searched the internet and have not found it.

If you think that this is pretty in the pics (double click) - then you will

not believe how lovely it is in person. This set is in

mint condition. The colors are a pale peach with a

matching blue.

This giveaway starts now but only will be given away

when I have 150 followers.

 Lots of nice detail with the food.

 Yum-yum!

My rules are simple.

1. You must be a followerer

2. You must leave a comment just to let me know

that you are interested in the item.

3. It is up to you if you post a link on your blog - it

is not required.

Good Luck!



Apartment Daisy - Daisy's Barbie Doll

When I was a young, and ever since I can remember
my Mother has always bought

me one or two Barbie's with some
new clothes every Christmas.

That was something that I always looked forward

to. They were beautiful dolls.

By the time I got married I had amassed over 20

of those dolls with so many clothes that Barbie could have opened

up her own Department store.
Only a few of these clothes were ever played with.

Of course I had my favorites.

Sure I would dress them - occasionally.
But most of

all I did not want to damage them.
I loved them dearly.
All of their clothes were in mint condition.

Well, needless to say that when

I did marry I gave everyone of them away.
Do not know

what ever possessed me to do such a thing - to give away

the dolls that I cherished. 
 Perhaps it was the moment. Perhaps I thought
that I was grown up enough that I
did not need them any longer. Who knows!

 I had a very rare set

of Barbie and Ken Majorette dolls.
Given to me by my sister when she did not
want them anymore.
She never played with hers either.
Still in the wide flat
box holding Ken and Barbie in that box.
The entire set in mint condition!

Majorette Barbie had beautiful

almost white colored long hair pulled up into a pony

tail. With hair around the pony tail
to hide the rubber band.
She had her complete costume along with her

Pom-poms and Baton.
Ken had his complete outfit.

Their outfits were red and white and I
also kept them in

their mint condition box, the same
as my sister did.
I never played with them either.
I looked at it as a prize!
Never thought about what their value would be
later on in regards of sentimentality
or monetary value.

I will never forget what they looked like.

Never again have I ever seen that particular set
or sat eyes upon it in its original box.
Perhaps it does not exist anymore.
Like all kids raised in my era with these
lovely dolls - they played with them!
They were bought for that reason.

Yet, here I am today, at an age that we will not talk about,
playing with miniature dolls!
I never thought that after I married that I would

ever play with dolls again.
Maybe boredom has something to do with it?
Or maybe I miss that piece of my childhood.

Yet, as I have gotten older, I can say
that it does not matter.
Whether it be a love for Barbie dolls
or miniature dollhouse dolls - it
all boils down to one thing.
'A love for all things small'!

One of my Barbie dolls had a black gown with tulle

at the bottom with a little red rose attached.
She had long black gloves, black heels
with her microphone set.
I loved that set!

However today, I sure do wish that I had kept all of

my Barbie dolls and their accessories.
Why?
Because they were a part of me growing up
and also just to look back at the memories.

I have never thought about collecting any of the
Barbie dolls. It would not be

the same.
If I were to purchase any one of those dolls

I would not be able to attach any memories to that

Barbie.
That stage of my life is gone forever.

So now at this stage of my life - I am into Miniatures.
Really obsessed is the word.

And have been collecting mini's probably for over

30 years.
A little thing here and a little thing there.

However, last year I had gone to the thrift

store and purchased a small bag of toys.
Hoping that my doll would have some
miniature toys in that bag.
There were so many toys in the little bag
that you couldn't see everything that
it held.

The great thing about it is the little bag only
cost a dollar!

When I returned home and went thru the bag,
BOY was I ever surprised to

see what I pulled out of that bag.
Just months before I had been telling
my daughter Pep about that black gown that my

Barbie had as well as the rest of her beautiful
things.

Daisy loves dolls!
She collects them only when she can.

While at work one day she ordered this doll.

The postman brought it to her today.
I hope you

enjoy looking at what was waiting outside of
her door when she got home!

You guessed it - a Barbie doll!!

 I made the box for this doll.
I went on the internet

and amazingly enough, I found this picture.
So, I made this box and glued this
photo to the front of the box.

The photo looks so

real that it looks like you are looking at the doll

up close. But you aren't.

 Daisy has been opened her box.
I put lovely pink tissue paper as
you see here.

 Isn't it amazing how good she looks.
I think that

this little Barbie doll was given away by McDonalds.

And that she was not played with at all.
I believe that she was new.
Her hair is in very good condition and in

the same position as the photo on the box.
Never touched.
Even the same color!

 I tried to stand her up better for you to see her.
I sure was surprised to see her in the
little bag of toys!!
You never know what will strike a memory!

Even though this is just a Barbie from a

sales pitch of McDonalds - (I guess) - I feel

like I have been given a second chance - in

MINIATURE!

As always Many hugs & kisses to you all,

Conny

Apartment Samantha - Mardi Gras is finally over!

Mardi Gras is finally over and things

can get back to normal.

Mardi Gras

is a tradition in New Orleans. Wouldn't

it be fun to be able to attend this parade.

Its one big happy celebration for everyone

to enjoy!

Samantha is so glad that it is all over. Her feet are

killing her. She has been partying every day and night.

What else is there for a single girl to do.

 Well she is finally got inside of her apartment.

Time to kick those heels off.
This was the last outfit she put on.

 Just a little rest before she gets up to change

her clothes.

Tomorrow it is back to work as ususal for her. Did

I forget to mention that Samanttha is an airline stewardess.

Yea - she is a hard working girl that goes all over

the country.

Hey does anybody out there know how I can make

the luggage that the Airline company uses for

Stewardess's.

I sure would appreciate any directions. I keep

googling info and cannot find any directions.

Thank you for stopping by!

Many hugs & kisses to you all,

Conny