Construction progress

April Cottage construction has begun!

Yesterday I began the construction of April Cottage using the PVA glue. I have the stairs just sitting there at the moment, I will be painting them first before I glue them into place.  I'm having a hard time trying to figure out the style for this house, at first I thought rustic farmhouse, then shabby chic, or maybe a blend of both?

  

Mini Print

I came up with this idea to do a mini print of one of my original artworks, turned out quite well!  This size will be suitable for my dollhouse.  For those who are interested in how to print this small, I opened the photo into a Word document and from there you can resize the picture to however small you want :)

Boy Mouse

Today I finished the child of the mouse family, he stands at 3.25 inches.  He still needs clothes.  I've made a start on Mr Mouse too, he's going to be more of a golden brown colour.  I also plan on doing a little baby mouse.

Dry build

As per the instructions I am doing a "dry build" of the dollhouse first.  Putting all the pieces together with masking tape just to get a feel for how it all fits together.

Mrs Mouse finished

I decided pink fabric looked the best on Mrs Mouse, so I've made this little dress plus a white apron.  I have also needlefelted a tail, so she is now complete, onto Mr Mouse next!

Fabric

Trying to decide what fabric to use for Mrs Mouse's dress or apron, I'm liking these at the moment but I'll keep thinking.....

Kitchen items

Just a couple of things I ordered from DHE to start off the kitchen!

April Cottage kit has arrived!

April Cottage kit from Dolls House Emporium arrived this afternoon!  The box was so heavy the courier had to carry it inside for me.  Wow, looking at the pieces I can get an idea of just how big this dollhouse is going to be.  There is one piece of wood that has a small split in the corner but I don't think it will be a big deal.  Very happy that it has arrived safe and sound and while I was at home, there would be no way I could pick this up from the post office myself.

Mouse nearly finished

I worked hard yesterday and made the body, arms and legs.  She stands at 5.5 inches tall.  The mouse is 5-way cotterpin jointed and also has bendable arms and legs, something I've never attempted before, but it has worked out quite well (with the help of some pipecleaners!).  The overall design has turned out a bit different to what I envisaged but I'm still happy with it.  She still needs a tail but I haven't figured out how to do that yet.... then to work on her clothes which will be a real challenge for me.

Dollhouse mouse in progress

Dollhouse hasn't arrived yet but in the meantime I've started on my mouse design, so far just the head.  This will eventually be the mother mouse of the house and will be in the kitchen wearing an apron or a dress.  I hope I'm making the mouse in the correct size.  I believe dollhouse dolls for 1:12 scale houses are around 5 inches tall or so...

April Cottage ordered!

I have set up this blog to document my journey of building my very first dollhouse!  I have always wanted to set up a dollhouse for as long as I can remember.  My youngest son will be starting kindergarten next year so I will have more time up my sleeve to devote to this new hobby.  Very excited with all the possibilities.  I plan on doing quite a lot of handmade items for the house and also making the inhabitants (mice!)  I used to make miniature teddy bears (for 9 years), so I'm hoping I will have the skills to come up with a good mouse design.

I have ordered the "April Cottage" kit from The Dolls House Emporium.  It has everything I wanted, 6 rooms, internal doors, two staircases.  I will be constructing the kit from scratch and decorating everything myself.  As I've never done anything like this before I'm expecting a few bumps in the road but I'm looking forward to the challenge.  My DHE order should arrive in the next few days!