Dollhouse Renovation: Season 1 Episode #2: Exterior Demo

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Welcome to another installment of the Dilettante’s Dollhouse.

Today I am working on the exterior of the dollhouse and removing the extra trim. Some of it was a bit stubborn but all in all it went much easier than I expected.

I was able to use a flat head screw driver to remove the facade and the balcony. There is some damage from the removal that will need to be filled in but I think that will be an easy repair.

One thing I missed was taking photos as I went along. I will try and do that going forward. I know some of you prefer to read and see the photos rather than watching the video so I will keep that in mind.

My routine has been off the past few weeks and I haven’t had as much time in the studio as I would have liked. With Mother’s Day over the weekend I am getting this post to you a day later than I planned but you can expect them to arrive on Sunday’s going forward.

I also want to thank all of you that have watched, subscribed and commented on my first video. It was so much fun to see how many people are enjoying this hobby. I am excited for this section of my work to grow and expand over time and I am so grateful to have you all to share it with.

That’s all I have for today. Wishing you a lovely day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante

As I am not a professional I would encourage you to use your own common sense and do your own research on the proper use of all tools.

Video: Making a Spring Bucket List Journal

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The weather has been gorgeous!

I have been digging in the dirt, planting seedlings and plotting out the vegetable & flower garden. I am so excited to be back outside and I really can see how much better I feel with the longer days and warmer weather.

I have a fun new project to share with you. Today I am making a spring bucket list journal. I thought it would be fun to have a place to document the things I would like to do this spring along with mementos. A photo of a picnic, a receipt from the garden center or some pressed flowers. I don’t plant to have anything stressful on my list, just a reminder of all the lovely things spring has to offer and a way to document one of my favorite season.

I began by following this tutorial from Treasure Books. It shows how to make pockets for your journals and I just thought it would be fun to make a few and turn them into a journal. You have lots of fun places to tuck tags, notes and more.

Once I had the folds done and before I glued anything down I decorated the pages. I used my Lollipop Box Club Kits to decorate the pages.  Then I took a strip of paper the height of my pages by 3/4″ wide and used that to attach two pages together. Then I stitched 2 groups of pages together using a basic pamphlet stitch and you have have a journal!

It was so much fun and a nice way to make a quick book for a present. I hope you had fun! Let me know if you have any spring bucket list plans.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dielttante

Video: Journal Play Time (Plus a New DigiKit!)

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I am playing in my journal with a brand new digi kit today!

This post contains affiliate links-if you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but you don’t pay anymore.

I am having so much fun making these kits and I am really excited to share my latest one with you. If you aren’t in the market for a digikit-don’t worry you can absolutely play along with me using your favorite supplies!

I am working with Kit 2 (I know really creative 🙂 today and playing in my warm-up journal. I started with some illegible writing while I was waiting for my Instagram live to start (I was a bit nervous). I used some oil pastels to make marks and then added the writing. Later I came back to the page with paint. I am loving the muted pastels right now and so I used some sea glass and gray to paint over top.

I played with the circles in the kit cutting them in half and using them to back up other elements. I added lots of fun marks using Posca Paint Pens (affiliate link) and my Pentel Dual Metallic Brush (affiliate link).  Suzanne Early and I were talking about the Stabilo-All Pencil  (affiliate link) in our video and she’s inspired me to try and get my pencil down to the size of a mini golf pencil so I am going for it in this video and play session.

Once I added the Stabilo I used a baby wipe to smear it. Then there was some Dollar Tree glitter-I love these little shaker bottles and found them so easy to use without them getting everywhere like glitter can. I cut out a sentiment from a page sent to me by a fellow creative and added some lace as well.

I found this page to be one I couldn’t have just kept adding to. I was in the flow, enjoying the process and not really worried about the final result which is always my favorite way to play in my journals. I hope you found some inspiration here. Please let me know what you end up creating and some of your supply goals. Are you hoping to finish that tub of gesso? Maybe you want to empty your pans of watercolors? Let’s find find ways to use what we have and make some art time in the process!

Wishing you a lovely day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Some of the Products I used are listed with affiliate links below. If you make a purchase using these links I earn a small commission but you don’t pay anymore.

Music by Kayla Kru – Bee Sting – https://thmatc.co/?l=282A2BED
Music by LOVELOVELOVE – ULTRAVIOLET – https://thmatc.co/?l=FC96E660

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Dollhouse: Season 1 Episode #1-An Introduction to My Childhood Dollhouse

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I am so excited to be sharing with you the first blog post solely about my latest project-renovating my childhood dollhouse!

I shared a bit about this project when I first mentioned it and have been working on it slowly for a bit now and filming the whole process. It has been so much fun and I truly enjoying the process. If you love doll houses and miniatures an would like to subscribe to this series alone you can do that by clicking “subscribe me” on the right hand side of the blog and clicking “categories.” From there you will see “dollhouse” as a choice and if you only check that box you will only receive an email when I post new content to that category. I have also set up a new YouTube channel focusing just on the dollhouse project and you can find that here. I will of course be including the updates in my newsletter so if you are subscribed to that you will know when I post new content.

My plan is to share weekly updates on the project so I do hope you enjoy them!

In this week’s post I am introducing you to my dollhouse. Below is a video you can watch that shows the dollhouse and where I chat a bit about my plans.

The history of this dollhouse is that it was made for me by a friend of the family when I was young. I don’t remember receiving it actually but I know I have had it since I was around 6 or 7 years old. The dollhouse was well loved and used.

When I was about 12 I decided that I wanted to spruce it up and make it a more “adult” dollhouse. I saved my money and purchased furniture, added some wallpaper to make another bedroom and even put together my first piece of furniture that I made from a furniture kit. The kit was something my mother had been given (I believe) but never put together. When I embarked on my decorating journey she gave it to me to put together. The kit was this one here and I still have the finished piece. I am planning on updating it to fit the look of the house but including it in some way.

Once I finished my spruce up the dollhouse sat for many years until my children started playing with it. The shoe boxes that held all the furniture came out and they were played with once more.  My son added stickers to the roof and quite a few pieces were broken but the dollhouse was still loved and played with.

When my mother passed away the dollhouse came home with us and initially my son had it in his room until he decided to make way for other things. It sat in the attic while I enjoyed hours of miniature artists videos on YouTube and Patreon.

Finally, I was inspired to bring the dollhouse down and give it a complete renovations. New roof, door, windows, flooring, wallpaper-the entire house is going to be made brand new. I knew I wanted to share the journey-maybe to inspire others to delve into this beautiful hobby-but also to document the journey for myself. Even if you don’t have a dollhouse you may, like I do, enjoy watching others make theirs.

The dollhouse needs a lot of work but I am seeing this as a slow project, a hobby that will give me space to create, to think and most importantly to image the goings on of this tiny little world I am building.  I hope you enjoy the journey.

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming (Dollhouse) Dilettante

Video: Let’s Make a Junk Journal

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Happy Monday!

Today I am digging through my collection of this and that and making a fun “junk journal.” Maybe you would like to make one too?

If you aren’t familiar with the term-junk journal is simply something you make with-junk! Items you would be throwing away or recycling that you repurpose and give new life to. Almost anything works. Postcards, envelopes, magazines, catalogs, junk mail-and more! Really the only limit is your imagination so why not have a dig through the recycling bin and see what you can find.

I was cleaning off the shelf in my studio that I use to hold my cardboard and such. It was beyond overflowing and I went through and did a clean out, a little organize and pulled aside some items I thought would be fun to make a journal with.

Initially I was going to use some smaller envelopes but decided that they didn’t quite go so I left them out. I used a large USPS mailer I received some stamps in as the cover and some brown paper bags for the pages. I cut the brown paper to size and used a 3-hole pamphlet stitch to attach them to the cover. I glued down half the flap of the envelope and left the side with the window open so I could add a focal image later.

Once everything was sewed into place I painted the cover a soft perwinkle/light purple color. I let it dry and then used one of the sheets from my latest digikit to sketch out a face on. I colored it in with some kids watercolor paint and cut it out. I attached the sketch to a gelli print page I made with some collage added to it and slid it inside the envelope. Lastly I added some more collage elements to the cover to tie everything together.

I am really happy with the journal and particularly how my sketch came out. I plan to fill this journal up soon so be sure to keep an eye out for more journal with me videos and photos. I will also be sharing my gelli print process in Wednesday’s video so be sure to keep an eye out.

I would love to hear if you make your own junk journal and what materials you ended up using. Do you have a specific plan for your journal? I have an idea for mine but we will have to see how everything unfolds.

Wishing you a wonderful day!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante

Music by Eli Lev – Dancin’ on the Lawn – https://thmatc.co/?l=9EA04504
Music by Little Boots – Silver Balloons – https://thmatc.co/?l=54B37541

Staying on Path

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A beautiful desk-but not mine 🙂

I am sitting in the studio, in my cozy chair with a cup of decaf french vanilla. Dinner was delicious-albeit a bit decadent with all it’s cheesy yumminess-and I am taking time to just sit and visit with you all a bit.

The ideas have been swirling and for what feels like the first time I am able to keep up with them. In the past I have had ideas flood in that often took me in various different directions. Lately however, I feel more grounded, my plans and ideas have a direction and I am able to move along at what feels like a grounded steady pace. Sometimes I just don’t have the energy or if I am being honest, the inclination or dedication to stick to the plans I set out. If I were to offer a guess, it’s because in the past I let anything that peaked my interest take center stage rather than vetting it for cohesiveness and longevity.

So often I was lead off of my path to be taken down one that, while interesting, isn’t for me.  My husband and I will joke that we get distracted by “something shiny” and off we go. I am working very diligently at appreciating the shiny but letting it float on its merry way to it’s real home.

My focus lately has been on my first in-person art journaling class. Launching my new digikits as well as my dollhouse channel. I want creativity to be my focus and I want to focus on sharing it in an inspiring way to others but I also want to be spending time each day living my creativity not just creating content. I was guided today to take a good look at my creative corner at home. If you aren’t familiar it’s a little corner in our bedroom where I have a desk and lots of creative goodies to play with. The desk was covered with laundry and bags and various things that needed putting away. Most days if I am working at home I am at the kitchen table with my laptop but it was being suggested that maybe, I need to clear off my creative space so I can practice what I preach a bit more.

It’s hard to do little bits of creativity through the day when you need to dig through laundry to find your journal. And while I love creating content my creative practice is first and foremost what sustains me through the day to day of life. It’s what supports me when I am feeling frazzled-giving me an outlet for the struggles-and it’s also what grounds me in the good days-helping to savor the little moments.

So today I cleared the desk, I uncovered the 10 journals I have started prepping and made a plan to sit there each day-if only for 5 minutes-and have a play.

Our world makes distractions so easy and focus-especially on the truth of what matters to us-hard to come by. I want to be deliberate with my time and how I spend my energy and paint covered hands and collage pages always bring me joy.

Thursdays are also the days where I give my book club update. This week I am still working on the same 3 books I mentioned last week. I have been listening to the audiobook during studio time and have been trying to read my Scottish Bookshop book during the day but haven’t been very successful. With any luck come next Thursday I will have completed these 3 books and have some new ones to share with you.

I hope this post finds you well. Are you reading anything good? I would love to hear!

Until next time…

-Michele, aka The Dreaming Dilettante