adajohn010

       You will probably need to fill your doll's bookcase with a few books and there are many ways to craft small volumes. I will demonstrate with photos below just one way to make miniature doll books for now...

Glue additional titles and decorations to the outside of the doll book.

Supply List for Miniature Books:

• corrugated cardboard
• scrap magazine pages
• glue stick
• scissors

       Barbie's little boy loves cars and trucks, so I decided to replace a missing trailer from a small replica of a John Deere big rig with a toy chest. Now our doll can pretend to haul the toys away after an exhausting fun filled day!

       In order to make this playscale toy box, you will need to first acquire the front end of a semi-trailer truck. If you have small children this will not be difficult. If not, take a trip to your local Goodwill or resale and you will surely find one of these in no time at all.

       Next, you will need to recycle a bit of plastic trash or a small box for the back end of the big rig toy chest. Choose something that looks in the correct proportion to your truck parts.

       Fortunately my semi-trailer truck has a hole between it's wheels where I can easily fit a small wire to attach the toy chest. You can see this hole through the plastic recycled box above.

        After covering my toy chest with masking tape, I simply poked a small, stiff wire through the bottom of the box and bent it into place so that the chest would attach to the back end of the truck. The bent end of the wire is held in place with glue and tape. 

       Then I lined the inside of the toy box with scrap fabric and white school glue. The out side of the truck trailer is wrapped with blue foam attached with hot glue and the bottom with black tape.

       I made a set of back wheels for the trailer by hot gluing two buttons to the ends of a wooden skewer through a small cardboard tube. Then I hot glued a metal snap to the white buttons to mimic tiny hubcaps.

       Broken jewelry boxes make excellent doll furnishings when they have been upcycled with a bit of sandpaper, fabric and glue. I purchased this one from a local Goodwill for $3.00. Then I took a trip to a sewing shop down the street to select a fabric to use for both decoupage and sewing our doll's bedding. Repeating the prints and colors of the same items within your doll house rooms will help these spaces look professionally designed.

This feisty llama is a "watchdog" for a Missouri farmer. My great grandfather actually had a few of these on his farm back in 1910!  He also had an ostrich and prize winning burros that he took to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Visit the website celebrating St. Louis past and present surrounding the World's Fair history and people.

• How to Line a Box With Fabric 
• Refinishing An Old Silverware Box

       Here is an easy way to decorate the walls of a car themed bedroom inside a doll's house.    
       Our small boy doll just loves cars and old hot rods! So I decided to make his bedroom shelves by gluing cardboard to the backside of the packaging our tiny cars came with. Then I attached a tiny hook to the doll house walls and a small wire to the backside of the shelving unit. Now Barbie's toddler can display his tiny car collection on the walls of the doll house.

       I recycled an old VCR rewinder shaped like a sports car for this next project. Although it was missing a few parts, I thought it would be a very nice car bed for a small doll. All it needed was a bit of cleaning, bedding and a place inside a doll's bedroom in order to serve a new purpose.

       Do not over stuff the mattress in this case, the heads bump up the padding and make sure that the cording is safely removed. 

       I sewed a simple blanket using a car novelty print for this little bed. Now the finished bed looks as though it were made for a child's room in a doll house. Little car beds are not as popular as they once were during the 1980s but the children still love to play pretend with miniature versions of these.

       Here is a doll sized version of a popular no-sew fleece throw blanket.

       The primary difference between the two crafts is the material used and way in which the two materials are tied together.

       Felt is substituted for the fleece because it is easier for a young person to tie it, when it is cut so small, and the tying method used is the same overhand knot children practice while learning to tie their shoes.

Here is an alternative fleece version
of the same craft method.

How to decorate using a color wheel.

       I glued together two modern looking night stands using two bottle caps, two spools and two empty tin cans that once held bee's wax. You could use a hot glue gun to stick these items together. I used a sticky wood glue. 

       In order for this glue to work on plastic and metal surfaces, it must be adhered to masking tape. So between each surface, I applied the tape. 

       Then I cleaned the tin cans thoroughly before masking them completely and spray painting the bottom halves of my night stands with blue paint.

       Remove the tape from the masked areas to reveal clean, crisp metal finishes and evenly painted surfaces on bottom!