Thursday, November 28, 2013

Thanksgiving in Mini!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday with family and friends!  Here are some pictures of the dollhouse all ready for the holiday.  So, lets imagine ourselves in miniature and head on into the dollhouse…

Outside the door we have some fall decorations. A pumpkin, rustic crate, birdhouse, leaves, and a basket of grapes made by me.  The silver bucket was “borrowed” from my daughters toys, because I liked how it looked!

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As you enter the front door we have a beautiful fall welcome mat, pumpkin, and bowl of candy for those guests who might be hungry! (And I just noticed as I looked at this picture that some little hands left a key hanging out of the door lock, lol!)

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Here’s a close up shot of the bowl of candy bars.  I made all those candy bars for Halloween, thinking I would do a post with Halloween decorating, but never got that far.  All those itty bitty bars took forever to make!

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On the other side of the cabinet next to the door we have a lovely, comfortable seat for guests to rest while waiting for Thanksgiving dinner!  I made that chair this summer, and again, it took FOREVER to finish!

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In the living room we have games set up for guests and family to enjoy playing while our turkey cooks!  Good times!  Right now they have monopoly out, that might be the only game they have time for if it’s anything like real life, Smile.  My dollhouse family started a nice, cozy fire in the fireplace too!

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Some other shots of the living room fall decorating.  Made by me: Pumpkin on the mantel, pictures on the mantel, books on the side table.  I bought the itty bitty pumpkin on the side table at our local dollhouse store and the glass jar is from the dollar store!

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Moving into the kitchen we find things are not in quite as good order.  Apparently my dollhouse Mom is running a bit behind schedule.  The stove is covered in pots and pans, food cooking away.  She meant to get a cup of tea but never got that far, and the teakettle is sitting forlornly to the side, waiting for someone to use it! 

I bought this set of pots and pans this summer for $3!  Good deal.  I painted the top of the teakettle handles black but haven’t done that with the other pots yet.

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On the kitchen island we have pies cooling (apple and pumpkin, yum!), recipe cards scattered about, spices, teaspoons and other baking supplies waiting for use.  Maybe my dollhouse mom is getting ready to make another pie?  She has a coffee mug sitting on the counter from her errands yesterday.  Cold now… not good to drink but she hasn’t had time to take care of it yet!

I made everything is this picture except the measuring spoons!

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Over on the counter we have a pan of fresh rolls cooling.  Don’t those look yummy!  The silverware drawer is open because my Dollhouse Family is in the midst of setting the table.  Smile

I made the rolls but the pan is from a dollhouse store, and the silverware is store bought too.

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My only “official” resident of the dollhouse (since I don’t have an actual family to live here yet) is hanging out in the kitchen, hoping for a few scraps to fall his way!

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The table is getting set for the Holiday with a lovely fall colored tablecloth and runner.  Several chairs have been brought in from other parts of the house for extra seating, just like in real life.  Smile

Mark just installed this light for me this month.  I’m loving it!  The “tablecloth” is a piece of fabric, as ell as the runner.  The plates are from hobby lobby and cups were made by me.

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Finally, the music room is decorated and ready for any enterprising musicians to come in and start playing! 

Made by me: Birdhouse, basket of grapes, about 80% of the books on the shelves, pumpkin, and sheet music.  I also painted the bookcase, it started it’s life as a pie safe from hobby lobby before being transformed into this gorgeous shabby chic shelf.

The piano was a gift from my parents, I bought the guitar, the chair was from a friend, and the books were gifts from friends.

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Happy Thanksgiving!!!

And now, a few shots of the other dollhouse rooms so you can get a feel for how everything is progressing.  Here we have the second story.  Library, Boy’s bedroom, and Girls bedroom.  Most of the furnishings, wallpaper, etc that you see is not what I want permanently but is what I have for now.

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The third story.  Bathroom, hall, and master bedroom.

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A few more shots of the master bedroom. This is the wallpaper I want in this room but it is not installed because we will need to run channels for the wiring first.

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Finally, a whole house shot.  I love how everything is coming along!

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Thanks for reading my blog!

Betsy Smile

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Roller Skate Birthday!

Emmaline turned eight this month!  To celebrate we had a small party for her.  She really wanted to have a party at our local roller skating rink but we couldn’t afford that, so we told her she could invite up to 8 friends to go skating with her, then we would bring them all back to the house for cake, ice cream and gifts.  She thought that was a great idea!  We ended up with only 4 other kids, several people couldn’t come and one girl just didn’t show up.  Sad smile  Even though it was a small group it was still a great time!  Here are the pictures from her big day.

The cake: chocolate cake made and decorated by me!

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The gifts: lego friends set from all her brothers, and a book about felt crafting from us.

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And her main gift from us, getting her ears pierced!

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The cake table and decorations:

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And one final shot of the Birthday girl.  I can’t believe my baby girl is 8!

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Betsy Smile

Saturday, November 16, 2013

End of Summer, Fall is here!

Hi everyone!  Sorry I haven’t posted in so long!  Life has been CRAZY around here!  Between home school, running the business, and everyday life I haven’t had a moment to stop!  I feel bad that I haven’t posted anything…  So, today I’m posting a few pictures from our summer.  Enjoy!

Malachi, swinging

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The kids (oldest 5) went to my parents house for a week and while they were gone I painted my bedroom.  It took me the full week to do, I painted 3 coats on the ceiling, 2 coats on the walls, and 2 coats on all the trim.  I love how it turned out!

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The kids did the library reading program.  One of the prizes was a free frosty from Wendy’s.  So fun!

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Malachi and Josiah, hanging out together.

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We hosted 2 Chinese students for 3 weeks in July and August.  It was such a special experience for us, we love our “Chinese boys!”  They choose the American names James, and Edward.  Here they are making dinner for us. Edward is on the left and James is on the right. 

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Another picture of our Chinese boys, eating dinner with our family.  They didn’t really like most American food (except chicken nuggets!) but they were good sports and tried everything.

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Elijah, Emmy, and Joe are going to a Charter School one day a week this year.  Here is their first day of school picture.

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Malachi had his first birthday!  Rather than have a party we celebrated with just our family.  I made cupcakes for him and hung up a few balloons.  He had a blast!

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We celebrated our anniversary by eating out at Red Robin, YUM!  Winking smile

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Well, that’s about it for our summer pictures.  Next time I post I will try to do some pictures of our fall.  Thanks for your patience!  Have a blessed day!

Betsy Smile