Doll Size Serving Tray

Watch the video here.

This week I decided to make a serving tray for the dolls. Going into the project I had a very vague idea of what I wanted the finished tray to look like. I knew I wanted to do the “tiles” for the top and I wanted the rest of the tray to look like wood. I knew the size I wanted- 4” by 7” to translate roughly to a 12” by 18” real size. And I knew I wanted to add handles to the ends. That was as far as my thought process had gotten when I started filming. As the project progressed I came up with the rest and I am very happy with the finished result.

I wanted to use, for the most part things that most of us have easy access to and many of us probably would have the majority on hand. The only thing not from my stash was the wood grain paper, the rest of the items are things I already had.

I love to use cereal boxes and foam core for doll projects. Both are either inexpensive or free and they are easy to work with. Both can be easily cut with a craft knife and/or scissors and they take glue well. Paper is another of my go to craft items.

I cut the parts for the tray base at 4” by 7” and the strips (foam core and paper board) at ½” by longer than I would need them to be. I wanted to be able to cut the strips to fit the project once I got ready to use them so as long as they were at least as long as the tray parts they are fine.

This project is really easy, it just takes some patience to wait for things to dry in between steps. I hope you give this a try.

And be sure to send along some photos of you project I want to see what you make too. 

Contemporary Garden Set

Watch the video here.

I was looking through one of the drawers in my desk the other day looking for a disc that contained something I needed when I came across the disc for the Contemporary Garden Set from Paper Minis. I had purchased this kit when it first came out and for some reason never got around to making it.

Since it is spring now and the weather where I like even looks very much like spring right now I decided it was time I make up this kit. Since I was making it I thought I might as well show you all how fun this kit is.

Some of the items are more fall themed- like the packages of flower bulbs but the rest of it is perfect for a spring project.

Like all of Ann's kits this one is a pleasure to put together and there are a lot of pieces so you really do get your money's worth on this one.

I do think he doll's are going to have a huge garden if they do indeed plant all of the seeds that I made packets of.

Since I was working in my dining room and didn't have all my supplies I used the items I had on hand. Partly because I really didn't want to be running back and forth a million times and partly because I wanted to show you that you can make do with the tools and supplies you have on hand.

Allison decided to take a bread and read the seed catalog this afternoon. 

Here is a link to the Paper Minis site, I encourage you to go over there and have a look around. If nothing else be sure to sign up for the free newsletter so you can have access to the free projects. Ann has lots of kits available in multiple scales so I bet you can find something your dolls need.

If you do purchase from Ann let her know you saw my video, we are bot enjoying seeing how many people are finding both of us through the other.

If you make this project or any of my projects be sure to send me a photo I love to see what you are working on. Also if you have projects you would like to see me do let me know so I can add them to my list.

Doll Size Strawberries

Watch the video here.

This week we are going to make some nice fresh strawberries for the dolls.

This project was a request via Facebook a while back. I was hoping to get it done prior to Valentine's Day but I just couldn't find any decent strawberries in my local store to use as models. I finally got some, and as a side note they were delicious (didn't last until I had time to film). I like to always have the real food item on hand whenever I make polymer clay food. I find that my foods turn out so much better that way than trying to work from a photo. Probably the worst thing you can do is try to make foods from memory, no matter how well you think you know what something looks like it is really hard to remember every detail. By having the real thing on hand you can look at all angles and compare everything about your model to the real thing. That part of the process was off camera this time because I did my prototypes up early in the week while we still had the berries on hand.

This time I am using Premo clay in Pomegranate it provides a nice ripe berry color. For the stems and leaves I used Premo Spanish Olive. For the unripe berry I used Fimo translucent with a small touch of a yellow clay. I used a bit too much yellow in mine, and mine was a bit too bright. A more dull yellow color would have been better. The unripe berries need to brushed with a good coat of red chalk before baking.

Be sure to use a liquid clay like TLS when bonding baked clay with raw clay line when we added the leaves and stems.

If you don't have a cutter like I used for the leaves this would be a fairly simple shape to cut with a clay knife.

For the chocolate coated berry I am using my stand by for chocolate coating the Scribbles 3-D paint in Hot Chocolate. I love how this stuff looks like a real chocolate coating.