Felt Dolls

Working in the Dollhouse and Where I Have Been

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It’s been a minute since I last posted. Thankfully all has been well and there is nothing major to report other than a bit of creative block.

The short of it is I was feeling like I had to create interesting content and I didn’t really want to and it just blocked the creative flow all together. So I just allowed myself to not make anything (although I grumbled and fought that for a bit) and then I started re-organizing my studio and that slowly lead me to start creating a bit more. My studio is still mid-re-org and I am planning some major de-cluttering but thankfully I was inspired to delve into the dollhouse again and try out painting.

I wasn’t sure how the cereal box I put up over the walls would paint and so I just tried some not expecting much and it covered! I was really happy with the results.

I didn’t use anything special just regular craft paint and I did 2 coats. Then I went ahead and added cardboard to the rest of the second floor. I have pretty much settled on finishing the interior walls and floors before I move forward decorating too much. I still need to work out how to mount the front door and what I am going to do for the upstairs floor. I really want wall to wall carpeting from the bedroom to the hallway so I might see what I can find for that. An online search didn’t really yield much so I might visit my localish dollhouse stores and see what they have.

I am taking part in another no-spend month. If you were around last year you know that I was in a 6 month no spend which honestly was pretty amazing. It really helped me creatively come up with ideas like the cereal box siding of the dollhouse. For now I am just planning it for the month of June so any supplies I use will need to be from my current stash of goodies. And to be honest-that’s pretty plentiful as I have been crafting and making art my entire adult life.

It’s also a good time to learn and I am buckling down on French and I took my flute in to be serviced. Years ago Scott and the kids bought me a second hand flute. I played when I was young but to be honest I don’t remember as much as I would like. I am planning on teaching myself again and so I brought the flute to be serviced. Hopefully it won’t be too expensive and I can start playing again. I have also been listening to a French class in the evening which has been great. I have a Skillshare Membership (affiliate link) too so there is always something fun to learn on there.

Well that is what I have been up to. Below is the video of my dollhouse update. I hope you have been well and your summer is off to a great start. I have been sharing some garden photos on my Instagram and I will try and post some here too.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Book Tube Newbie Tag: Part II

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Hello everyone! Welcome to another bookish blog post. Last week I shared my BookTube Newbie tag and one of my kind viewers pointed out that the video cut off. That seems to happen to me a bit. Not sure if I am uploading when tired or not but instead of re-uploading the whole video I thought I would just share the part that was cut off.

For all my lovely blog readers I wanted to also give you a bit of an update on my October reading goals. You may remember I am taking part in Victober and Spooktober and having a lot of fun while doing it. If I am being honest I am enjoying Spooktober more than Victober. I read 2 books off my Victober list which, if I am being honest feels a bit like school reading. I have enjoyed what I read though so that’s something even if I haven’t found a new love in Victorian literature.

I have only finished 1 of my Spooktober books so far but I really enjoyed it and I am listening to my second on audiobook. I also finished a book that carried over from September so all in all October is going well reading wise. How about you? How is your reading going?

I hope you are doing well and getting into the cozy fall feels.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Paper Craft Garage Sale Haul

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How is your fall going so far?

I have embraced my pumpkin spice lattes in the morning, the fall decor is up and even my cut flower garden has shifted over to reds, oranges and yellows. Another fun part of fall is the annual garage sale of a local paper craft store not to far from me. This year I went up and found a few items that I am just really happy with and I thought it might be fun to share them with you. If I am able to, I have shared a link should you wish to purchase the items for yourself.

The first item I’m sharing is a really cute box of K & Co. chipboard letters. (affiliate link) Interestingly enough I didn’t even notice until I was looking for a link to share with you that they are called alphabet and dollhouse! Pretty fitting considering my other hobby.

The next up was a box of alphabet stamps. I couldn’t find a match for these online but there are tons of them available. I mainly picked these up for the price and the fact that I am always looking for alpha stamps for journaling pages and other paper projects.

I then picked up a large wooden plaid design stamp from Stampin’ Up! I am not sure if they still make it or the polka dot stamp I picked up but I was really happy to see them for only $1 each because these large stamps make such great backgrounds in journals that I love to grab them when I can.

The next item was a kit to make jewelry charms and I am really excited to use this to make some journal charms that I think will look great on the spine of a journal or maybe dangling from the pages.

The last item I purchased was a 2 bag set. It reminded me of a planner bag I bought years ago, on sale at Michaels. I found it (affiliate link) on Amazon but to be honest it is really expensive and I know I didn’t pay that much for it. I am sharing the link here in case you wanted to get an idea of what the interior bag is like but I am sure you can much more reasonable priced options. The nice thing about the set I purchased is it has a very large bag with zippers to hold pens, stickers etc. and also a bag that you can organize items in. I couldn’t find any type of label inside the bags I purchased but the exterior bag is similar to this item which I also have and love! I use that one for my bible journaling supplies. I have a plan for this bag I’ll be sharing that with you next week.

I hope you enjoyed this little look at some garage sale goodies I found. I also hope that it inspires you to see what you can find in the second-hand market for your crafting supplies.

As always thank you for stopping by my little home on the web. I hope you are able to get some creative time in this week and would love to hear what you are working on.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

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Slow Moving Projects & Dollhouse Renovations

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Happy Thursday everyone!

 

 

If you listened to my podcast this week you know that I have been working out the content I want to share here on the blog. I love sharing my videos but I have been thinking how I really want to keep true to the blogging part of the blog and share the written stories with you.

Kym, at Dancing at the Edge has a series called “Museum of Me” where she shares bits each week about herself and her life. I reached out to join in the fun and I think it will be a really nice addition here on the blog. A way to share, in written form, a bit about myself and what’s going on behind the videos and creativity. So here goes!

February was a very slow moving month for me. We had a few colds run through the house so for about 2 weeks someone wasn’t feeling great. I also was feeling really tired so I decided to really and truly rest. I curled up in my favorite chair, usually with a kiddo in my lap and would doze a bit and delve into videos over on Patreon.

I have mentioned before how creativity helps me with anxiety. When I was watching videos I remembered how working on little detailed projects bring me a sense of calm and peace. Hand stitching, or slow stitching, is one activity that really restores my sense of peace and calm. One of my favorite content creators and artists is Julie Warren. She creates the most beautiful dollhouse pieces, from scratch. Right now on her Patreon she is building a 1940’s dolls house and it is just so much fun to watch!

I have been following Julie for years and I have been thinking recently how I would love to completely restore and furnish my childhood doll house. While curled up in my chair I decided to re-watch a series she did where she renovated an old dollhouse and turned it into a shop. I am brand new to the world of miniature making and really had no idea where to begin with my old doll house.

Julie has thoroughly inspired me and my mind has been running around with ways to renovate this little bit of my childhood. My husband was working in our attic doing some de-cluttering and brought the old dollhouse downstairs for me. It’s windows are broken, wood from the roof broke off years ago and my children, who also played with the dollhouse when it was at my mother’s house, have added their own additions in the form of stickers on the roof.

It definitely needs some love and restoration.

I normally tend to be a dig in and get messy whip the paint around type of creator. Often times, alright most times, I’m impatient when making something and I just can’t wait to see it all done. It’s the rush to get something done that leads to so much of the anxiousness that can swirl through me at times. Our world moves so quickly and we are all used to everything happening now, right now! Trying to keep up feels exhausting and even if I am not trying to keep up I still feel that energy of needing to move quickly. My mind feverishly trying to work out how it’s all going to work out. Small, handmade projects slow my brain down as I focus on the details that are right in front of me. One little stitch here, another there and eventually they work together to complete a projects. Slowly, gently without the need to rush through anything or know how it’s all going to come together. The beautiful part is that the more I practice this with my little slow projects, the more it starts to flow over into how I approach and perceive everything else in my life. It’s a practice, it’s work, but the peace and calm of living in the moments is worth it.

I am excited to begin my slow dollhouse project.

I started by staring at it quite a lot. I look at it this way and that way. I tilt my head in here and there. I peak over there and over here. I took lots of photos, some you see here, and I chatted with my husband about ideas. One of the things that always bothered me, even as a child, was my dollhouse had no stairs so I have decided to try to add and build a set of stairs. As this is a new skill-set for me I am going to be doing lots of research and my very handy husband offered some ideas on how to best achieve this.

I was also trying to come up with a theme and decided to just decorate it as my dream cottage. The place I would decorate if I didn’t share a home with another person who might object to everything being white and pink. So yes, the outside of the house is going to be a soft pink with white trim and the inside is going to be, I think, a shabby chic combinations of pinks, whites and lavender.

There will also be a craft room in the attic which needs stairs as well. I have decided to try and build a pull down type attic stair so that should be fun to figure out.

I am also going to be changing the facade of the house. It has a very Dutch feeling to it right now and I am going to revamp the dollhouse to look a bit more like a Cape Cod style house. I hope to add shingles to the roof and maybe windows that open out. All details that will come together.

I have mentioned in my podcast that I am just over 1 month into a 6-month “no spend” challenge. Beyond food and necessities I am personally not spending any money. I want to live more simply, slowly and I want to need less things, less stuff. We have been working to clean out our home and buying more things to manage and to fill up our space feels really counter-intuitive.

I can talk more about my no spend challenge in a future post but for now, I had to think about how I could start on a project without buying anything.

Turns out it was really fun to do!

I am going to start out by removing things. Taking off the pieces I don’t want to keep, removing carpeting and wallpaper. Taking out the broken plastic windows. We have primer already that I can use to prep the outside. I have some wood that might be enough to get me started on building stairs.

There is lots that I can do with what I have.

I am also planning on documenting the journey of my dollhouse. I do hope this is going to be the start of a lifelong love of miniature making but if not, it will be so much fun to have a record of all I have done.

I am planning on sharing the journey as well. I think I would give it it’s own home here on the blog, a page you can click over to if you are also interested in miniatures and dollhouses. It would definitely be a separate video channel so as not to confuse things. Let me know your thoughts I would love to hear.

So that is my share for the Museum of Me. It feels so nice to slow down and connect with you all in this slow, written format. Something you need to seek out to read, not just delivered to you by an algorithm. I hope you know how much it means to me that you have sought out my little blog to read along and I hope you have enjoyed your stay and come back to visit me again.

Until next time!

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante

Sharing this post as part of Kym’s Museum of Me Blog Series.
You can read Kym’s blog here.

 

 

Happy New Year 2023: My word of the year & art journaling

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Happy New Year!

I hope that the start of this year and the close of last has you doing just want you like to be doing.

Life makes it so easy to get caught up in things doesn’t it? Especially the things we don’t really care much for. I personally don’t like making resolutions or thinking that a simple tick of the clock hand means I’m going to be someone new-some idyllic version of myself.

Instead I like to think about intention.
”How do I want to feel?”
”How do I want to be?”

I like to move from one year to the next thinking about the things that have been working, the things that aren’t and making some gentle plans or rather, containers for the intentions I am setting for the year ahead.

Maybe that’s just a lot of words for resolutions but the energy of it is quite different I assure you! *smile*

Each year I choose a word for my year and this year I am also making an art journal to use just for that word.

I started by creating a workbook to help me choose my word (you can pick up your own digital copy in my shop here if you like) and I really wanted to make an effort to work with the energy of my word throughout the year and specifically to make time to work in my art journal.

I also thought it would be fun to make it a video series and share it with you.

If it sounds like fun you can follow along by choosing your own journal (or making one-I’ll have a video uploaded on January 7th where we will make a junky, brightly colored, textured journal together) and deciding on your word for 2023. I created a little video that goes into more detail about the year long series and you can watch it at the end of this blog post as well as on Dilettante TV.

In 2023 I really want to embody my creativity and to move forward with faith. That is why I chose “Faith Filled” as my 2023 word of the year. My husband asked why not “faithful” and I said that I wanted to be filled with faith and that really feels different to me.

I want to be filled with faith that I am here for a purpose.
I want to be filled with faith that I am being guided through all aspects of my life.
I want to be filled with faith that I am able to live the life I know I am being called to live.

It feels like a nice fit.

Do you choose a word? I would love to know and if you feel like sharing please comment below.

This time of year can be so many different things but it is my sincere wish for you that you are able to move through time in the way that feels truest for you. That the world that so easily distracts can be still enough for you to find your North and take the steps to living your fullest and most creative life.

Wishing you a beautiful 2023!

Much love,

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

 

Music by Julia Pauletti – Wild Ride – https://thmatc.co/?l=A4C2DBFE

Creating a Life You Love (That Loves You Back): And a Digital Detox

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I have been busy with the holiday season. Wrapping, making, wrapping. The studio is in chaos and this week, if I am honest, I am feeling a bit bah humbug.

I have decided to let some of my plans go. I had wanted to make lots of handmade gifts like I did last year but was quickly feeling overwhelmed and stressed as the days ticked by.  I reminded myself that while I love making the holidays special for the people I care about-it’s also my holiday and I need to give myself space to enjoy this time as well. To focus on what matters. To have the reflective time that is so important to me and mostly, to feel cozy and joyful.

I have been extremely intentional in creating a life that is not busy. I don’t want to be forever running to and fro or with an endlessly long to-do list. I prefer to have space in my days to allow for inspiration and the unexpected opportunity to arise. I have shared here on the blog before that I sometimes struggle with finding the balance between living consciously, leaving space for inspiration and at the same time moving forward with the projects that are important to me.

I have managed to launch my Etsy shop last month. I am still filling it but launching it felt like a big deal. I wanted to make the Digital Holiday & Christmas Card designs I had worked on available in time for the holidays. There are so many more ideas I have and I doubt they will all be done in time for the holidays and that’s ok. I could feel myself going from building a business I love to feeling stressed by all the things I thought I had to be doing.

Is it possible to create a thriving business that you love (creative or otherwise) without feeling stressful?  Can you earn the income you seek without having to work long hours and spending all your time and focus on aspects that do not fill your soul?

I believe you can.

I believe we are meant to do work we love and to receive the financial income that supports us. I don’t believe the way things have been done in the past are the way things are meant to be done and I believe there is a shift coming where we can enjoy what we do and be rewarded for it. I believe the world is thirsty for people who are living their authentic life and sharing that life without having to compromise on what is most valuable.

I am still working this all out but I have been thinking a lot about the digital detox I mentioned in the last podcast. I think that I am going to focus the month of January on the work I want to create in the way I want to create it. To let go of all the wonderful things I have seen my fellow artists creating and to instead focus on what it is I want to create and share. To really delve into who I am as an artist without thinking about who I should be to make a living as a an artist.

I will be sharing here with you of course as I go through this journey. I am going to spend the rest of December thinking about what this will look like and I will be giving you an update to let you know what you can expect here.

If you like, you can subscribe to my newsletter here and you will receive all the updates. Anything I update whether it’s a blog post, video or podcast goes out in the weekly newsletter. I really do keep it weekly (or less) so as not to bombard your inbox. If you would like to know about my digital greeting card and wall art shop you can sign up for that newsletter here.

So that’s all for today. I hope you are finding joy in the holiday season. Please comment below-I would love to hear your thoughts about what you are doing to take care of yourself this holiday season and also your thoughts on creating a life you love that loves you back.

Wishing you a beautiful week!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante