I've always loved miniatures.
As children, my sister and I would scavenge discarded cardboard boxes from the small corner grocery store. We`d carry them home and cut out doors and windows to make houses for our Barbie dolls. We even rigged up a flashlight inside just so we could sit back and see a light shining through the windows. We`d raid my Dad`s scrap wood pile for small pieces of wood to glue together to make furniture. We played with our creations for hours on end!
Making do with what we could scavenge sure sparked the imagination and kept us pretty busy.
Now days, it seems I find myself trying to make real life old things look new while trying to make miniature items look more real by making them look old.
There`s probably some sort of psychological thing to that in there some where but who cares?!
It`s fun.
 | The Duracraft Sweetheart Dollhouse Kit Or, The Dollhouse That Nobody Wanted
This little dollhouse has a bit of a history. Originally, I assembled it and gave it to my niece. Some months later, she grew tired of it and gave it to my daughter. About a year after that, my daughter gave it back to me. So now it has come full circle.
What to do with it?
Looking over it`s basic design lines, I thought it might make a nice little woodland sort of cottage. Recently I saw some photos where someone used Paperclay to create stonework on their dollhouse and it was just fabulous! So I thought since this was such a cheap house, it would be great for Paperclay experimenting.
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 | Pam`s Modified Duracraft Sweetheart Dollhouse
I cut the window openings to accommodate Timberbrook windows and used Paperclay for the stone work.
This was my first time using Paperclay on a dollhouse.
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 | Debating on whether to paperclay the rest of the wall on this side or maybe part of the way up or leave it as is. I hate not being able to make up my mind! This stalls my progress a lot. I also haven`t made up my mind about how to finish the roof. Thatch or shingles...
I don`t even know where to put it when (if)I get done. (limited space here) I won`t think about that now. I`ll think about that tomorrow. (That line of reasoning worked for Scarlett O`Hara, didn`t it?)
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 | I used one half of a Timberbrook window for this small window.
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 | Here he is, all done.
Well, he could use a few touch ups here and there maybe...
Also, I`ve been thinking about coloring the light bulb with glass paint.
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 | Mini Reaper Stone Project
This is my mini version of Merlins Reaper Stone found here
http://www.hauntershangout.com/home/reaperstone.asp
I would love to do a life-size one like his but unfortunately, I just don`t have room to store him so I decided to try one in miniature.
A chicken wire form just wouldn't work for my mini version and I thought Monster Mud would've been too heavy so I had to make a couple of adjustments in the materials used.
The plastic skeleton came from Halloween garland. Also used was a small, wooden block, a dowel and some paper clay to form the light bowl, plaster cloth and a mini light.
The light bowl was painted with a gold leafing pen and then dry brushed with black paint.
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 | A hole was drilled into the block of wood and a dowel was glued into that. Then the skeleton was stuck on the pole and his legs and arms were twisty-tied into place. (Yes, I admit it - I hoard twisty-ties!)
Then I started draping the arms with plaster cloth.
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 | Waiting for the plaster cloth to dry.
The hardest part!
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 | This is a plastic model of the house from the movie Psycho
I think it`s roughly quarter scale sized.
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 | This is my version of a how-to project by Joann Swanson in Dollhouse Miniatures magazine a while back.I think it needs more stuff on the shelves and a pumpkin patch. Ah someday...
The wood was easily weathered using Age It Easy available from Micro Mark.
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 | The candied apples are balls made from red Fimo and dipped in red glass paint.
The jack-o-lantern is made from Fimo.
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 | I absolutely LOVE the Peanuts Gang!
This little scene was made to fit inside of a plastic 4x4 container I found at a craft store.
The figures are from a toy store, the pumpkins came from flower picks.
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