Google's Forgotten Stepchild

Google owns so many properties these days, it's hard to find web content that is not in some way affiliated with Google. Blogger - an oldie but a goodie - is one of those web properties. However, it sometimes feels like Google has forgotten about us.

While fewer people may be hanging out here on Blogger than they did in the olden days, that may be in part because Google has virtually abandoned us. Google hasn't made any noticeable updates to this platform in forever. And it's such a shame, really, because I like the Blogger interface so much better than Wordpress. But Wordpress has all the templates and skins and plugins or whatever. Blogger doesn't even have a real iPhone app any more.

So, most of the "Cardboard Crafter" activity happens over on our Facebook page, if anyone is interested. There have definitely been times when I wanted to write a short, micro-blog post here on Blogger - but without an iPhone app, I don't have an interface I can use while I'm on-the-go or between projects. It's rare that I have time to sit down at my computer, login to Blogger, transfer photo or video files from my phone to my PC, upload those files, and put together a new post. The old app wasn't perfect, but at least I could upload photos from my phone directly to Blogger. I can't even do that any more.

Google, I hope you're listening, because this post is definitely aimed at you. Can we get a new Blogger app and maybe a little attention from one of your junior developers to jazz up the platform a bit? No? Please??!

Not all of us have YouTube charisma, but even so, we end up there because at least on YouTube, Google remembers you exist.

Technology Waits for No Man (or Woman)

I've been cleaning up the blog a bit today, removing broken photo links and defunct gadgets, and generally marvelling at how much things have changed since I started this blog. When I took on the mantle of "The Cardboard Crafter," I was a stay-at-home-mom with a five-year-old just starting school and two-year-old twin babies trying to preserve my sanity through Any Means Necessary. Now my oldest is in middle school and the little ones have been known to steal my clothes... I'm back in school full-time myself pursuing a new career, but also about to start a job at the bottom of the totem pole earning half of what I did in my last position.

Not only has my life changed significantly (I'm like 3 jobs later), but so has technology and design. Everything is white and bright with clean lines, a little green here or there, and large, beautiful photos. And here I am in my little corner with my dingy brown cardboard and my granny doilies.

I have never been on the cutting edge of things (unless you count the fact that I started gaming on a Commodore 64 computer back in the 80's playing "Little Computer People," the precursor to Sims). I feel like I'm always playing catch-up, learning new things just behind the curve. I was not the first person to start a blog, join Facebook, get a smart phone, or send a Tweet. But, I do know how to do all of those things, thank you very much. And although I don't enter the Twitterverse very often, I have been paid admin to six different FB pages, plus the two I maintain for myself.

Old people think I'm amazing, young people think I'm awkward... I think with Google and girl power, I can do anything. It just might take me a bit longer to get the job done -- the first time. After that, I'm golden. 

Everything But (and including) the Kitchen Sink

I have been obsessed with miniatures for as long as I can remember, and a big part of that obsession has related to functional miniatures. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I was inspired early on by books like "The Indian in the Cupboard" and Beatrix Potter's children's books, both of which feature tiny creatures living in tiny, functional houses. And while Beatrix Potter's forest creatures find humans to be a nuisance at best and generally hazardous to one's health, in "The Indian in the Cupboard" the little boy works diligently to help his tiny compatriot build a functional longhouse, feed himself, etc.

I've often imagined what it would be like if one of my dolls came to life or if I found a little mouse that could talk and wished to live as people do, how I would renovate my dollhouses to accommodate, what tiny food I would give them to eat, etc. Finding the tiny kitchen videos that other people have made online resonated with that part of me that still dreams of these things. And finding a toy stove that ACTUALLY WORKS has been a lot of fun.

So, of course, I want more. I have scoured the internet for a tiny refrigerator, but the smallest that I've found are still much too big for the scale of my Little Chef stove. So I decided I would make an icebox out of a small styrofoam cooler. This project is still in progress (waiting on materials), but I have completed it seven different ways in my head :)

I feel like I have made decent progress on the ice box. So, of course, I have started another project. Because of course you can't have a working kitchen without a sink.

In my head I designed a sink made from a repurposed fish tank pump and a Wolverine tin toy sink with tiny metal plumbing fixtures. However, I don't have any of those items, and the cheapest Wolverine toy sink I can find on eBay is $20, and it's very hard for me to spend money on myself.... so, I filed that away in the back of my head for later.

Then I found a tiny desk fountain.

For $5.

And I bought it.

So, in my head I used the tiny pump inside this fountain to turn a Wolverine tin sink into a functional sink for my kitchen.....

And then I got impatient. And I opened the box. And I took a hammer to this fountain to get rid of the extraneous pieces and get to the guts of it.

And then I thought, okay. I will wait until I can order a Wolverine tin toy sink and put this in the bottom of it, and re-plumb it so the water can circulate....

And then I looked at the box this came in. And thought, "That's about the right size that a kitchen cabinet should be..."

And I did some things.

I cut out the back of the fountain box so that I could have an access panel for the plumbing. Then I found a little bowl that I thought might make a decent sink basin.

Not just for salsa.

Once I measured and cut the hole for the drop-in basin, I of course used hot-glue to reinforce the box.

The only gun I'll ever need.

Then I got the bright idea that I would drill a hole in the plastic to fit the plumbing parts. Plumbing parts being pieces of a super silly adjustable straw that had rubber joints and plastic straw pieces that you could customize in all sorts of ways. Which I just happened to have lying around. Which also happened to fit the little fountain pump perfectly.

Seemed like a great idea.

However, the plastic shattered...

So, Plan B. I still used the little traitorous plastic salsa bowl for the sink basin, but I decided I would cover it, and the top of the sink, over with plaster. Even though the shape is wrong, I thought I might try to simulate one of those farmhouse sinks that has a white ceramic edge that comes down over the side of the cabinet.

Waiting for it to dry....

I used a layer of aluminum foil between the cardboard and the plaster in an effort to keep the cardboard dry and preserve it's structural integrity. I will have to cover over the plaster with another layer of something to smooth it out and make it waterproof (possibly the bondo I will use on the fridge?)

I'm hoping the drain hold I put in the plaster will be more successful than the one I tried to drill in the plastic. Cross your fingers! I'm totally improvising here. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated - I promise, I read all the comments, even i I don't always have a chance to respond. :)

See you next time in Cardboard Craftland!

Tiny Kitchen Renovation

Tiny Kitchen has been out of sight - but not out of mind. I had to take it apart and relocate it, and it's been a couple weeks since it was operational. I've missed it! We took a few minutes to put it together today. This may not be the final configuration, but it's starting to feel more like a finished kitchen :) See below:

The green desk and cupboard were a gift from my mom :) She's had them for
years and thought they would be perfect for our tiny kitchen.

We haven't figured out the lighting yet, and I'm not sure that I like the
white walls or the faux marble floor - but it at least looks like a kitchen
in need of a renovation - and not just a random collection of kitchen
equipment. Still no sink or refrigerator... a girl can dream.

We also bought some tiny food! These were the three
smallest potatoes we could find. (27 cents)

Here's the smallest pumpkin grown in our garden.
One of the girlies painted a face on it.

Some other small food items we've found. Tiny
pumpernickel bread, tiny garlic bagel slices, and
the smallest apple at the store. (apple - 21 cents)

The prettiest darn pumpkin we could find! (65 cents)

Stay tuned! We've got some tiny food - time for more tiny cooking!

Chicken Soup - For the Wee Folk

Video 4 is up on the new YouTube channel. I think we learn something new every time. Maybe (at about video number 20 or so) we will have these polished and professional-looking. We'll see.

What I learned this go-round:

-Captions! I can now add them.
-"Tiny Kitchen" name has already been taken. Need to come up with something new!
-If you speed up sequences to 4X instead of 8X, they look better, but you get squeaky audio from all the kid chatter.
-We definitely need a new camera (or to find the charger for my actual camera) so we can film the entire video without having to stop and dump footage on the computer to make room for the rest.
-We need to get our kitchen set up in a more permanent location so you don't see all my house mess in the background when the kids want to change camera angles.

What I need to know:

-Are the videos better with or without the chatter? Should I try to be entertaining??
-Is 8:00 minutes an okay length?
-Do I need a little mascot in the kitchen - like a stuffy, or a doll, or a gnome? (The kids suggested the cat, but the idea of cat hair in the food gives me the shivers.)
-Can I adjust the sound levels so music is louder/softer in comparison to ambient audio? (I will just need to google this or play around some more.)

I'm sure there's a lot more - I just need to think for a bit. No time now, though.
Until next time!

Tiny Kitchen - Video 3: Kebabs and Dogs

Video number three - we thought we'd try something different. I told the kids, "Sure you can talk in this one. And you can help by handing me the things I need." I did not give them permission to fart, but they took liberties. (I may have edited the flatulence out...)

So, review of our tiny grill. It sure was cute! Looked great on camera. Was terrible at cooking. I'm not sure if it was an issue with the candles, or the grill itself. It was made out of that manufactured metal stuff that seems like it's compressed powder or whatever. So, in order to ensure the chicken was indeed edible, we cooked the kebabs in the skillet on the stove top, and for good measure, I zapped it in the microwave for 30 seconds. The hot dogs, as one of the kids mentions on the video, (unless I edited that part out), would have been fine to eat cold as they were pre-cooked when purchased.

My ten-year-old was cameraman for the first part of the video, but lost interest when I had to dump the video on my computer and delete from the phone to make more room, so the girls switched off at the end. They kept trying to get me in the video ("No, kids, mommy doesn't need to be on camera!"), and most of that I was able to edit out as well. We had 28 minutes of footage, shrunk down to 8 by selective editing and zooming through repetitive parts.

Did I mention I found a free video editor that actually does the editing of the video? Windows Live Movie Maker. This was my first time playing with this program, so I didn't try all the features, and I did kind of pick a random "movie" theme. Expect things to get a bit cleaner and sharper as we learn and grow. (Both in the production and editing of the video).

I can't wait to cook the next thing! I have set aside a small bit of a pork chop from today's dinner. Time to do some thinking and try new things!

Stay tuned! <3

Tiny Cooking Video - Second Attempt

This is our second attempt at cooking in the tiny kitchen. The recipe uses a lot of the same ingredients as our first video (Beef Stir Fry), with added complexity.

My cameraman was the other 7-year-old daughter. 1st daughter - who filmed last week's video - was the DJ. For some reason, she decided she wanted to listen to country music.

We are still working out the kinks. Our kitchen is in a temporary location and we still don't have a full set of dishes. Some of my ingredients (like the taco seasoning and cilantro) didn't yet have a tiny container to serve them out of, so I tried to keep the large packaging off camera.

This video is also somewhat long, and I tried to edit it down some, but I am using a very glitchy program and am just learning this stuff, so it's kinda rough.

All that said, I hope you enjoy!

Tiny Cooking Videos - A Meditation

So I've recently become obsessed with these tiny cooking videos on YouTube. As you know, I have a thing for miniatures. I have always been fascinated with the idea of functional miniatures - ever since reading such things as Beatrix Potter, "The Indian In the Cupboard," "Thumbelina," etc. It's a thing I am definitely into. So when I discovered that there are people out there cooking real food using dollhouse miniature pots and pans and tiny ovens I became enamored with the idea. Watching these videos is so calming and peaceful, it was almost a meditation. I watched every miniature cooking video I could find on YouTube - and was so disappointed to learn that there is a finite amount of them.

So then, of course, I spent some time on eBay. First I tried to find a little oven that I could place a candle in, like in many of the tiny cooking videos already on YouTube. There were a lot of tiny iron stoves on eBay. But not very many that I was sure I could cook with. And I really didn't want to end up spending $20-$40 on a non-functional item when functionality is the whole point. I already have several different kitchens worth of non-functional dollhouse furniture. I wanted something I could actually cook tiny food with. And then I discovered the Little Chef oven.

There are several variations on the Little Chef, including the Wolverine brand and the Susie Homemaker Brand, but basically it's a tin oven with a built-in FUNCTIONAL hot plate. Made for children. In the 1950's. This, of course, was another eBay purchase. While I was trying to decide if it was really okay for me to spend this much money on myself, my sweet husband found one that was still functional and in really good shape and bought it for me, only telling me afterward that it was on its way. Not knowing so much about scale, he also bought me some 1/12 size metal pots and pans and cooking utensils... the Little Chef oven is about 14" wide. So, not quite to scale, but love his heart, he tried.

I didn't tell him "I told you so;" I just sent him this picture. #truelove

So, since my Little Chef arrived, we have spent the last week scouring dollar stores, Goodwill, and every else we've been looking for other items for our kitchen. It's kind of an odd scale - a bit larger than Barbie/Joe (1/6), a bit smaller than American Girl (1/4). We've had to improvise, and compromise a bit.

Pots made from potted meat and Vienna sausage tins, tiny tupperware from various dollar
stores, little shelf and mugs were a Goodwill find.

And then... I looked through my stash of doll items and had a few lucky finds. Also, I came across a perfectly functional, if a tad large, frying pan in the kids' room. And I've been dying to try it out for more than just boiling water or melting American cheese - but my refrigerator was bare after spending most of the summer away from home. But today - TODAY! We went to the grocery store and bought some groceries! I still would not call our mini kitchen well-stocked, but... I daresay it's FUNCTIONAL, in a bare-bones/bachelor pad kinda way.

We still haven't worked out any aspects of our videographer game yet, really, but we did manage to cobble together our first video! My seven-year-old daughter was the camera man. I was the chef. Both girls were our official taste testers, and enthusiastically enjoyed the cuisine as it was finished.

Some things I learned: 

--Need to clear phone memory before we start videotaping.

--Need more counter space.

--Need tiny pot-holder.

--Need to have cameraman on my right, as I am left-handed and block the food.

--Should probably remove rings when cooking.
--Best to hold the camera the other direction (so the video is wide and not tall). 

I hope you enjoy our initial attempt at our own tiny cooking video! And hopefully, there will be more to come!

Care Bear Cradle

I recently finished a fun little sewing project for my cousin and her new baby, a sweet little girl. She wanted to do a Care Bears nursery with lots of rainbows. My sister-in-law and I went in together on this cradle for the baby - she bought the cradle, we both brainstormed ideas, and I made the bed skirt and bedding. 

I had to change it to a 5-color rainbow so that it would fit the cradle. I was
low on funds, so I had to raid my fabric stash and get a few pieces of clearance
fabric, but I managed to pull it off.

Once the rainbow bed skirt was done, I got to work on a Care Bear quilt, inspired by their tummies. 

Grumpy Bear

Take Care Bear

Lucky Bear

Funshine Bear

I simplified the graphics a bit as I'm still a novice quilter. This is my first attempt at anything other than squares, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Ta-da!

There are several more babies in my life, recently born and soon-to-be-born, so I have an excuse to make a few more attempts in the next few months. Wish me luck!

Bits and Pieces

As artistically unproductive as I've been lately (for like the last year), I still daydream about projects left undone and things I would like to do. Just walking through the store, running errands with my kids, my eye is drawn to the things that I could use to furnish my dollhouse. Below are some items that sparked my imagination.

Do you see a pencil cup or a wire trash basket? Dollar Tree.

A little wood stain and this would make a lovely blanket chest for
Barbie. Dollar Tree.

These are the greatest - desk lamps for Barbie. Dollar Tree.

This tiny speaker plugged into an MP3 player would make the best
80's boom box for Ken. Dollar Tree.

I love contact paper for linoleum flooring, wallpaper, or hardwood.
Family Dollar.

This tiny dish would look great on Barbie's Thanksgiving table,
filled with green bean casserole. Goodwill.

This porcelain pram likely used to hold a floral arrangement. if
you add a little mattress, Barbie could let her baby sleep here.
Goodwill.

I couldn't decide whether this would make a better bathtub for Barbie
or a coffee table - all it would need is a bit of paint or a nice piece of
wood or thin plexiglass top. Goodwill.

In comparison to everything else, the furniture actually designed for
Barbie looks so cheap and flimsy. No, thank you. Goodwill.

I would take them all home if I could! Goodwill.

I think these were meant for paper clips and pushpins, but I can see
Barbie filling them with pantry items or shoes. Big Lots.

For all those Thanksgiving leftovers... Big Lots.

Some New Acquisitions

Although I have a much larger collection of 1/12 scale dollhouse items, my first love has always been 1/6 scale - which means Barbie, GI Joe, and their compatriots. Because all of Barbie's actual furniture and home accessories all come in various shades of pink, and likewise Joe's stuff comes in various shades of camouflage, putting together a suitable house for them can depend as much on luck as ingenuity. You may recall a previous post about how I converted a neat little picture frame into a fireplace for Barbie (below).

Good thing the fire is lit, otherwise Barbie would freeze in that little dress!

I have a few new things to add to this collection - my collection - for Barbie's home (the stuff I don't let the kids play with). My sweet grandmother, knowing my unnatural love of all things miniature, saved a few pieces for me to help furnish Barbie's next home.

Barbie is really excited about this butcher block! Now if only Ken and Joe
would get back to work remodeling her kitchen so she could install it...

I have discovered that potholders can potentially make a wonderful throw rug for Barbie. This green one provided by my grandmother has an extra thick weave - great for easing back and knee pain while Barbie stands at the sink washing dishes. (Snorts... I don't recall seeing "Housewife Barbie" or "SAHM Barbie" on the shelf anytime recently...)

My other big, new acquisition (or rather small, new acquisition) is this set of lamps. These look very similar to something I saw in IKEA last week, only much MUCH smaller. I suppose that the Dollar Tree is an IKEA for Barbie, of sorts. I am always finding something useful there, and usually it doesn't fall apart the first time I use it.

My husband saw these on the shelf and knew I would love them...

Barbie really likes them too.

Maybe an unconventional use for a butcher block, but until the kitchen is
built, Barbie might as well use it as a table.

And my favorite thing about these little lights - they are LED booklights, so they ACTUALLY LIGHT UP! With no awkward cords. Amazing, right? Even after the batteries die, they will still be really cute lights. Are you as excited about this as I am?

I tried to find a link on dollartree.com so you could order your own awesome little desk lamps, but it's not currently listed, so I guess you'll have to just keep visiting your local Dollar Tree and be opportunistic like I was ;)

What's the coolest accessory you have found for your dollhouse? Post a pic on my FB page! 

Belated Fall Wreath

Every time I enter my house I am reminded of all the things I need to do. All I have to do is look around, and the mental chore list grows. It's not exactly that I neglect my house, but lets just say we've grown comfortable together. But every time I am able to complete one of these projects that have been nagging at me, instead of the pang of guilt I feel at seeing a job undone, I let out a mental huzzah! 

I have been huzzah-ing for a couple days now, ever since I removed my Christmas wreath from the door (hanging since last year -- possibly even the year before) and hung up my brand-spanking-new fall wreath. Did I buy this fall wreath? Of course not. I cobbled that baby together with bubble gum and dreams... Well, almost.

Does brown packing paper count as bubble gum or dreams?

Actually, I used a coat hanger, some brown packing paper, ribbon (which became totally obscured by the time I was finished), silk leaves, and scrap fabric.

You could use actual leaves, but they are more brittle and\
less colorful. Or you could make leaves out of construction
paper.

I started by shaping my wire coat hanger into a circle and wrapping it with a long strip of brown paper to give it some bulk. If you don't want to use paper, you could always cut a doughnut shape out of a pizza box and work with a real crafter's material: cardboard. But I used a wire coat hanger and brown packing paper - the next best thing to cardboard. Note: a lighter weight hanger is easier to shape than the real sturdy ones.

Ain't she purdy?

And of course, as with any project, one must use the correct adhesive. For a project like this, I prefer hot glue, even though my glue gun has definitely seen better days. A crappy glue gun is better than no glue gun... but hey, if you are looking to get me something nice for Christmas, perhaps you could splurge on the $5 glue gun? 

My hanger was even a festive red color.

Once I had the paper wrapped around the wreath to my satisfaction, I wrapped it in fall colored ribbon. This turned out to be a waste of ribbon, because I promptly covered every inch of my wreath in colorful silk leaves, but hey, I know it's there. To tie it all together (pun intended), I wrapped the leaf-covered wreath with a leaf-print fabric scrap and tied a bit around the top like a ribbon. This was after a few failed attempts to turn my fabric into a pretty bow.

The lap makes a great craft table... until one burns oneself
with hot glue.

Have I seen prettier fall wreaths? Definitely. Have I seen worse? Yeah, probably. Do I like mine anyhow? You bet! And it pops really well against the white curtain I recently stitched together for my door -- and no, I didn't blog about it. Every once in a while I do something crafty that I don't brag about online, lol.

In three and a half years, maybe I will take this down and
make an Easter wreath...

Let There Be Light!

When my husband and I bought our house four years ago, we were incredibly lucky that the nice, elderly couple who sold it to us gave us a great price on a house that was just the right size for our little family. Our house had many good selling points, such as the brand-new doors and windows and recent additions to the insulation. It also had floral wallpaper in almost every room dating from the early nineties and some very dated light fixtures, including the non-working ceiling fan in my kitchen.

Also floral.

We have been intending to update the light fixtures since we moved in, but thus far have succeeded in updating only one... well, make that two, now. A week or so ago I did some shopping in my attic (you never know what you will find in the attic), and came across another dated light fixture:

This is what it looked like, on its best day.

Even though I am far from there, I have been attempting to do a Mediterranean thing in my kitchen. I have a (dollar store) painting of a Tuscan villa on the wall, a faux wrought iron clock and mirror, and bright happy colors. So I thought maybe I could alter the above pictured plain Jane light to look like it was also sporting some wrought iron.

Ta-da!

I took the metal fixtures off and spray painted them with both a chocolate brown and a black spray paint, attempting to give the look some depth. For the globe, I turned it upside down (like a bowl) and Mod Podged pieces of colored tissue paper to the inside. I layered some white paper in on top of the orange and green, but you can't really see the white when the light is turned on.

Hanging in my kitchen.

My ever-so-crafty father-in-law agreed to do the wiring for me. It only took about half an hour, and would have been quicker had my wiring not been a bit of a mess. 

During the course of this project, we discovered that the duct tape which had always been stuck to my kitchen ceiling was covering a bit of a hole. So my next project? I'm going to make a cardboard medallion to go around the base of the light, camouflaging the poor condition of my kitchen ceiling. I haven't completely figured out HOW I'm going to do it yet, so your suggestions are welcome :)

Keep crafting!

Triumphant! The Wall is Papered!

Free wallpaper - found in the garage after we bought our house.

I don't know about you, but I have always found the idea of hanging wallpaper to be daunting. I've seen it done many times on TV, even assisted hanging it once, but still, it always felt like one of those things that a petite person like me just couldn't do on my own. Tearing it down, however, I've historically been pretty good at. I stripped walls in my dad's house as a teenager with great success, and again after we got our house a few years ago, as the previous owners had a thing for ugly wallpaper.

The "accent wall" in our living room - formerly covered in a beige striped
floral. Does it make anyone else gag?

The wallpaper in my living room, however, did not cooperate. I scored and soaked and scraped it for hours, and it just would not come off. I was able to get the vinyl off of about half the wall, but the backing was absolutely glued to the wood paneling, and no amount of scraping or cursing would remove it. So my wall has looked like this for months now. Gross.

I've had re-papering this wall on my "To-Do" list for a while, but it had always been contingent on getting the hubs to lend a hand. He works a crazy schedule which often has him out of the house for 70 hours a week, so time was a problem. Also, he had some projects of his own that were higher on his priority list, so it really didn't look like this project would ever happen.

But it needed to happen, oh how it really needed to happen. So I gathered up my materials: pre-pasted paper, water tray, scissors, X-acto knife, sponge, straight edge, ladder, table... everything I could think of that I could possibly need. Then, of course, I Googled it - and THIS is the video that came up at the top of the list. I watched the video - this lady gives clear, step-by-step directions. I took a deep breath. And I jumped in. 

There is something about doing a repetitious task that's soothing - that is,
until the kids come in the room and start asking questions. Then I have to
double- and triple-check that I've put the paper down in the right direction, etc.

I was amazed at how the wallpaper behaved exactly as described in the video - I could fold it together, let it sit for a while, and it would still be perfectly wet and sticky, ready to go. Also, it didn't stick really well to the vinyl paper I had been unable to scrape off the wall - a fact that made me very nervous as I worked. It's hard to line up edges accurately when they are curling. But I kept going, cursing every time I tried to cut the paper and it tore instead (don't worry - the kids had long since been shooed out of the room). 

Even when it was all done, I had stressed over the job so much that it was
difficult to feel relief.

I was amazed at how well I matched the pattern - even though it was a really simple pattern to match, I had been sure I would screw it up. But, miracle of miracles, I managed to hang it all straight and properly match the pattern! I do, however, cringe every time I look at the little tears round the edges where I had to cut the paper. It really didn't take long for my razor blades to get dull (I used 3 different knives, 2 with reversible blades, so 5 blades in all). My kids, however, keep telling me how great the wall looks and how happy they are that we have a new wall in the living room. I have not pointed out the imperfections to them as Mommy's ego needs a little boost ;)

Please ignore the dog box and the poor lighting... I obviously didn't stage this
photo properly (lazy blogger). Just wanted to show off my $20 dollar store
mirror and the little shadow box shelf my sister and brother-in-law gave me.
And if you look closely...

You'll see in this expertly cropped and
edited photo that I've filled all the tiny
spaces with my dollhouse furniture!

I have collected some really great things over the years for my dollhouses, but I don't really have any way to display them - at least one that doesn't make me look like a creepy lady who plays with dolls, lol. But for the first time I have somewhere I can share my lovely pieces, and it looks like a collection of "miniatures" instead of "toys". All it needs is some lighting and it's done :)

So glad this project is done. I feel almost as great as the day I crawled under the house and fixed a water leak (a story for another day). Even though I had to take scrapbook glue to my wallpaper edges, and there are little imperfections everywhere, it is a million percent better than it was before. And the kids haven't stopped praising me. So I'm good, lol.