"C" Is For "Ceiling." Or, Apparently, "Cookies."

So, what's a girl to do with the holes punched out of the foam board ceiling? Make cookies, of course!

A few weeks ago, when I made the Girl Scout Cookie boxes, I got them from an online printable that also had cookies to go with the boxes:

I had no plans to put cookies into the boxes as I fill the food boxes with wood pieces and glue/poly them shut for durability. But, my brain started working on how to utilize the cookie pieces. Hmmm ...

Last night, I decided they would look good stuck on to the foam circles from the ceiling 😁. Here's what I did:

After swiping and wiping the printable with the microglaze to set the ink, I cut all of those little suckers out. It sounds more tedious than it was. It helps to have something excellent on TV, too. Anyway, I cut out two per cookie, one for the top and one for the bottom.

So, here are my little pieces. As they are quite thick, I smushed all of them:

The smushed one is a little more cookie sized to me:

Okay, as it was late at night, and I was on a roll, I didn't take pictures of the in-between process. What I did was color the edges of the foam pieces with either alcohol ink marker or Sharpie, depending on what color I needed, just so they weren't white. I called my color matching system, "Close Enough."

Then, one by one, I swiped a foam piece with some Fast Grab glue and stuck on the top. I did all of one side of each cookie before going back and doing the other. This allowed the glue to dry completely so I could also trim cookie paper pieces that were a little too large. Believe that this was not a perfect process. I called this trimming system, "Good Enough."

After attaching both sides of the cookies, it was time to poly them. While I definitely wanted the sheen from the poly, I also wanted these to be durable. The process finally did become just a little tedious once the clock went past 11 p.m., so I had no interest in the paper cookie parts crumbling down the road!

They dried enough that I could poly both sides before going to bed. Hooray!

And, this morning?!

While certainly thicker and more sandwich cookie-like, when looking at them from the side, than a Girl Scout Cookie, I think they are just absolutely fabulous!

That baking island is really getting loaded with options in case those chocolate chip cookies fail!

Oh, my gosh, that was FUN! And, it's the perfect use for the little jar! I'm pretty sure I bought that at a Christmas shop in Michigan this summer (The lady there also had a small sections of miniatures over which I droooooooled ... Christmas AND miniatures in the SAME PLACE?! Ahhh ...).

And, next?! I really really think it's a Fall project seeing as we're running out of September! Stay tuned!

No More Cooking In the Dark

The following does not constitute a Fall project as I anticipated doing. But, my head is constantly full of so many different ideas that I should have known I'd diverge for at least a little bit into brand new territory! I have had lighting of this house on my mind since before the kit even arrived to build, so, today was the day to strike while the creative iron was hot!

I read the main idea of this project on a miniatures Facebook group I follow (I follow three and have NO idea from which I read this because I *think* it was in the comments of someone's photo). So, while I don't think I would have ever come up with this idea on my own, I am definitely proud of figuring out how to do it!

'Ready to see the kitchen lit up?!?! Here's the spoiler!

Oh, yes. That's some recessed lighting! Here's how it happened!

First, I obtained a new piece of foam board. While I have some older pieces stashed away, they are all warped. And, no one wants a warped ceiling. So, I sprung the less-than-$2 for a new piece. I measured the space where the ceiling would go in such a way that I could wedge the piece in and have it stay put. That way, when the lights burn out or I need to fix something, I can easily remove it.

After measuring the space, I simply cut the new ceiling piece with a metal edge and an X-acto:

From there, I removed the string of lights from the little girls' room because it's the only one I have with only 20 lights (don't worry, she'll get a new set!). For this space, 20 is more than enough. Then, I measured out where each would go:

My measurements are simply based on how many fit well on a side. Whatever was left over would just be run down the wall on the outside of the house and under the table to the on/off switch.

The holes are simply made with a regular-ol' hole puncher. If you do this project, experiment with punching the foam board to see where and how the punch will indent the board so the unsightly dents are on the side no one sees! In the picture below, I'm showing the side that is up against the existing ceiling (or, the unseen side). The side that can be seen is a little indented inward which works well for the recessing.

The next step was to paint the inside of the holes for the "can" look. It's kind of hard to see here, but it's there:

Then, I strung the lights to the holes one by one and taped the wire in place as I moved along. The tape will not only keep the lights in place, but I figured covering the wire was a good idea in case jamming the piece into its space scratched up the original ceiling:

I put some of the Elmer's putty on the corners just to keep it up against the ceiling:

It turned out that what I really needed to do was use a strip of putty all the way across the piece because, without it, there was just enough of a gap between the original and new ceiling pieces that light came through, and it looked really bad. So, I started wedging putty into the gap. I did it this way because I didn't want to unwedge the whole piece of ceiling if I didn't have to. I pushed the putty through the gap with the X-acto knife, cleaned up the edges and clamped it:

I have old gift cards between the clamp and the ceiling to prevent clamp dents!

This ceiling piece actually only goes to the end of the wall where you see the microwave (also adhered with the putty, by the way!). The tricky part of this ceiling design is the fact that I didn't wall off between the kitchen and the front entryway, so there's a lot of open ceiling space. My original vision here was that there would be a little ledge of new ceiling if looking at it from the front. And, I figured no one would care. While it did look reasonably good with the lights off, I had issues when the lights came on because, like the other side, you could see light peeking between the new and old ceiling pieces:

It actually looks better in the picture than it did in real life! But, I wasn't having it. Fortunately, I still had a piece of crown molding that I barely needed to cut to make fit and cover the gap!

That took care of that! (It's not perfect, so glance to ooo-and-ahh because if you stare, well, don't.)

Keeping in mind I did not want this project permanent in any way, I cut really thin strips of Velcro and attached them to the edge of the foam board. Then, I put really thin strips of Velcro on the back edge of the crown molding. Ta-Da! Up it goes, and it can easily come out AND go back in when necessary! I lined the top of the molding with the putty mostly to keep any little light from peeking through.

So, there you have it! I am SO happy with this! Here are two more views from the kitchen side:

Next? Well, I'd say what I plan, but it's not necessarily what I'll do! So, I'll let the next update be a surprise (even to myself!)!

Canines and Consumables

With Fall just around the corner, I've been working on putting some projects to a temporary halt while plotting and planning getting ready for seasonal projects! I needed to clear some space on the work table for the latest and greatest creations!

To that end, I found places for the food stuff! Some of the Girl Scout cookies are on the baking island (I suppose in case the homemade creations are a total fail!):

I'm loving the Sams'-sized box of Goldfish hanging out in the corner, too! Because, where else does one store such a behemoth?!

And, here, the kitty insists on some food ...

She's all, "It's RIGHT HERE, hoo-mons!"

... while the dumb dog begs for what's not his!

These pups have it goin' on in their corner of the kitchen. When no one is looking, they're going to tear into those boxes of treats, just sayin'.

The eat-in area is set up for a little snack time:

And, on the eat-in wall is one of my favorite places:

The donuts are way-up-high doing that out-of-sight-out-of-mind thing.

In the family room, more of the peeps have a stash of something tasty ...

That guy is going for it with the Girl Scout cookies while the pup is anxiously waiting for the inevitable crumb drops!

While not a food creation, the toothpaste and soap found their homes, too:

I love the little things already in the bathroom on the vanity. Perhaps I could make this family a shower curtain sometime ...

The other big notable is that the house could probably technically be called a kennel by now! I have a very difficult time resisting picking up the pups at garage sales and antique stores. So, I don't tend to resist! Because ... why.

There are three dogs in the house including this one ...

... that are actually from a family collection. They were a part of the Christmas "mountain" scenes we built under our Christmas tree as a kid. I'm pretty sure these are dogs my Dad used in his mountain scenes when he was a kid. It's a long story, but it's really fun bringing these to life on an everyday basis!

These, too, are recent adoptees:

The one in the chair was a must-have particularly because she's blue. And, no, that will not be her name. I'm still thinking on names for all of them because there are so many! Ah, but that won't stop them from getting named! ANYWAY, the collie up there and the one here ...

... came from an antique store in Michigan this summer. I had a hard time deciding between the two. So, you guessed it, I didn't. HOW COULD I CHOOSE?!

Also from Michigan came this dalmatian ...

... who is politely requesting to share with Grandma's Life Savers. (Barking up the right tree, there, pal.)

Across the front lawn is this little one whom I could not resist given her flower crown:

She reminds me of what My Girl would pick out, so I had to have her.

Oh, but, wait. There's more! Upstairs, we have the resident corgi:

I don't know how he got up on the bunk bed, but do we really ever know how little boys accomplish their daily antics?

And, in a room straight above, this sweet pup wants to get in on the cuddle-in-Grandpa's-lap action!

The cat is all, "Just try it."

You saw one of its siblings waiting for the Girl Scout cookie crumbs and its mama in the kitchen doorway. There's another sibling, though!

It would like to chew on a crayon or two, thank you. (You can see in the background over the girl's shoulder that there's a box of kitty litter, finally. Now if they only had a litter box ...)

This little family made an appearance this summer at the teddy bear picnic on the rooftop patio ...

 ... but, I didn't want them to be overlooked!

One of my favorite recent adoptees is this little one:

She's just kind of chill minding her own business in the fancy-schmancy room (which has also received a little attention with the additional buffet, flower vase and coffee/cake time!)!

My very most-favorite of all of them will remain this one, though ...

... because she looks the most like my very-favorite-dog-ever. 😊💛

Up next?! FALL. Ohhhhh, how I love Fall! I have lots of ideas just waiting to come to life! Stay tuned!

They're Going To Be THAT House

I had so much fun making the little candy bars recently that I decided to be proactive for getting ready for Halloween! While a couple of months away, I really want to be able to decorate and get this family ready! My focus this week: THE CANDY!

My inspiration on how much to make comes from a neighbor of ours. Years ago, she took one of those big, plastic cauldrons (the ones that are about a foot and a half or two feet deep and at least a foot and a half across) and FILLED it to the brim with candy for trick-or-treaters! And, she had the good stuff in there! It was a bonanza of chocolate that just made your mouth water upon stepping up to her front porch.

The amazing part of this situation is that this sweet lady would gush over the costumed kids and then SCOOP candy out of the cauldron and into their buckets! I mean, this was a two-handed, use-them-like-a-machine-scoop situation, and each kid received TWO such scoops! I remember being in shock watching this happen, and I still remember the kids just gasping and announcing through their squeals and not-put-together exclamations of joy! We actually had to go back home to deposit that candy before heading out to more houses because the buckets were immediately full! Yeah, for a few years, she was THAT house!

Well, that's what I want for Hal and company, and, to do that, I need to get to work! I've printed a mess of what I've already made (Hershey's, Reese's and KitKats), and I love putting those together because they're really quite easy. But, I wanted a variety which just a few minutes on Pintrest afforded me! Look!

Each wrapper is around a small scrap from the Woodpile stuff to give it some durability. I used different thicknesses depending on the candy. And, the M&Ms and Skittles are crimped on their ends with the pliers to give it the realistic-looking seal! Of course, everything was Tim Holz micro glazed and polyurethaned, too.

I LOVE THESE SO MUCH!

These KitKats are actually Halloween wrappers! I found Reese's Halloween
ones, too. I think I need to get to printing many more of these!

Hal is totally double-fisting the chocolate while
Polly enjoys some newly created Goldfish. 😊

That basket shall be full by the time Halloween rolls around if I have anything to do with it! I hope to find a cool cauldron or pumpkin container. If not, I might just paint this basket black and put fun, orange ribbon and decoration on it. The candy is the most important part, though, and I'm glad to have a jump on it!

I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about these candies!

I also made some Life Saver rolls! Originally, they were going to be for the trick-or-treaters you really kind of wish didn't come to your door, but, as I look at them, they are just as awesome! (No they're not as they're not chocolate, but that's a different debate!)

Anyway, here's how these happened. First, I found some printables on Pintrest. I cut 'em out and gave them the micro glaze treatment:

The directions written by these labels said to put glue on the back of them, then roll them up from the white end creating the product. My problem was not figuring out how to start to roll them tight enough to make the middle solid and maintain a nice, round shape. I also feared my fingers getting sticky and ruining more labels than I would roll. So, I used a toothpick as my solution:

This made rolling them super easy taking just enough care to keep it reasonable straight and tight (enough) on the toothpick.. You can see in the pic that there is a little straggle on the right side where my angle went awry. I take care of that in the next step! This is also when I polyurethaned them. Doing so while the toothpick was still in tact let me paint all the way around because I could lean the toothpick on something upright to dry. These are so small that covering most-but-not-all, letting them dry then flipping them like I do all of the other products would just be a pain. So, I fixed that.

After letting these dry completely, I cut the ends:

Using the saw was way better than using cutters because the sawing helped maintain the roundness of the roll. It is here that I cut into the little paper straggles, too. And, if needed, I sanded the ends with an emery board after cutting.

Now, I've not had a roll of Life Savers for ... I have NO idea how long! But, I remember them having silver wrapping on the ends. So, these needed that, too!

After stirring the paint with a stick, I realized it was probably easier to just swirl the ends of the rolls around on the stick than to be super-accurate with a paint brush. I had a little more control over not using too much paint this way, too. And, if a little paint spilled on to the label, it was easy to wipe off thanks to my best friend polyurethane. Whee!

These are just entirely too cute!

Grandma Laura is enjoying a fruity roll with a Pep O Mint roll on reserve in case her sweetie comes out to stargaze with her!

The only thing that would make this stash better would be to have Wild Cherry rolls in there. Remember those? Oh holy moly, those were the BEST!

From here! I have some Fall and Halloween fabric pulled from my stash to make sure the porch pillows are appropriately festive! I also have a mess of food things I printed and have already primed with the micro glaze to make! And, that doesn't even begin to cover the INSIDE ideas I keep having!

SO. MANY. GOOD. THINGS! I'll check back in with the next installment soon!

It's the Little Things

It's no surprise that I figured out another project to begin before getting the one in progress to "completion." (Like they're ever really complete? Yeah, that's not the point of the house!) That being said, this past week, I: still gathered some new supplies for the garden spaces which I will "plant" soon; imagined a few, new garden areas, and made a couple of more pillows to don the porch chairs:

Hey, I'm getting pretty good at this!

I love these little lightening bugs! Ahhh ...

Oh, but that's not all!! While imagining new garden spaces, I decided to dive into the project of making foods for the family because they must be starving by now.

From flower gardens to grocery items. 'Makes sense, right ? (Um, no ... I just got distracted and excited!)

With the garden project still strewn all over my work space, I cleared enough room, via the scooting-it-over method, to get the family some grub!

I started out on the Jennifer's Printables site where I gathered a number of items. Here's how the process went down if you are so inclined although I wouldn't be surprised if there's an easier way to do this:

1. I copied the image I wanted as a picture (and, yes, it's free and encouraged to do so!)
2. The image was then dropped into a PowerPoint slide where I took a stab at sizing the item. This was a little tricky because the measurements provided for the image on PowerPoint include the tabs of the image. So, honestly, I did some good, close guessing.
3. After fitting a bunch of items on a page, I printed them on both card stock and regular paper (you'll see why).
4. This is the step where I resized and reprinted as needed. *sigh*
5. I usually got the desired size on the second try, and, then, it was time to cut the patterns! Learn from me: one of these images is correctly cut, and one is not. Can you figure it out?

Yeah, the one on the right wins! I originally "saw" the white boxes as white space to be removed. But, when that happens, there are no tabs to use for gluing sides together. Whoopsie.

6. While leaving the white spaces in place, cut on their lines to allow for folding but not removing.
7. The easiest way to fold these little suckers - use the card stock print - is to use a straight edge on the line, and fold over it.
8. Dry-run the folding to make sure everything fits as needed.
9. Glue as best as possible. 😊

On occasion, I did cut the little white tab away when the folding and gluing just made it clear that the tab was not needed or otherwise in the way. But, don't do that until you know.

One step I took but I've not seen on other sites is to use the Tim Holz micro glaze over the image. This keeps the ink from smearing if it gets wet. And, with the intention to use a coat of polyurethane on these, this step matters.

This was my first run of products. Ta-Da!!

This is where the printed image on regular paper came in. You can see the vegetable thins looks a little tattered and worn, and that, for me and my amateur status, seems to come from over-working the paper while folding and getting it together. But, I could fix it by cutting out just the parts of the pattern I needed from the regular paper (also micro glazed) and gluing it over the product. Poly the whole thing, and the product is ready!

But, wait, there's more!

So, my friend Cindy checked out my creations and noted that she thought they'd be even more awesome with a little weight in them rather than being light, empty boxes. While I heard her, I'm certain my mind in that moment pushed her idea away because not only had I already sealed what you see above, but I also wasn't loving the idea of another step in the process. However, I couldn't push away the fact that I thought it was a great idea. So, the next day, I took my friend vegetable thins and decided to slice open the top to see how easy it would be to get little pieces of wood in these boxes while also resealing it to still look good.

Wouldn't you know that it worked really well! I have a whole box of wood scraps that I bought at Hobby Lobby in their Woodpile collection, which I have used for books and picture frames, so those pieces made it easier as they can be cut with regular scissors. I so badly wanted to cuss at Cindy in my head while reworking these, but the idea really helps in both stability and durability. Who wants these smashed after taking time to make them? Not I ... So, Cindy and I remain friends while I went for it to create some more goodies!

I'm super-proud of the Domino sugar bag because it's a box printable that I made into a bag. This, along with the brown sugar and chip bags, are just created with regular computer paper to more resemble the real things. The Fritos bag actually holds these wood scraps ...

... so, if you shake the bag, you hear the chips. The other potato chip bags, as well as the sugar bags, are stuffed with paper napkin to create shape. I like the stuffed chip bags more than the Fritos, but they all work.

In the picture, you can also see the animal cracker box. I made two of those and love the little string handles!

In the picture's foreground is a cake box that I really had to fight to get to stand up. I tried twice to create this box, and it did not want to stand. I *think* I finally got it where it will, but if it becomes a problem, My Girl said to consider it from the bargain shelf of beat-up or otherwise old products. Should that become the case, I'm going to create a "clearance" sticker for it and call it good.

Another note from the picture is that, if you look at the baking soda box, it looks like it's coming open on one end. That was accidental as something went awry in the process. But, as I looked at it, it could only remind me of my own baking soda box where the cardboard spout always looks wonky, and I was endeared to its realism. 😌

A couple of my other favorite products are the candy bars! They, too, are only printed on regular paper so they are more "wrapper"-like. I took really small pieces, much like those used for the Fritos bag, for their centers. They are crazy-easy to make as I just smear the non-printed side with glue, stick the wood piece in the proper place, and roll the wrapper around it. I hold the ends tight to not only seal them but to also give the overall piece some shape, and, voila !! Oh, and, yes, they get a coat of poly which really makes them realistic!

Polly and Hal are enjoying their snacks amidst the beauty of their garden space:

She likes savory; he likes sweet.

And, up on the sunroof, the girls get to add to their tea party treats:

Veggie thins and animal crackers are on
their way!

I think I'll be sticking with the garden and the foods for a little while because I can then avoid the trim work I have waiting there's just so much to do! I also want to build a little shelf for some of the foods because it seems some of the products come from Sams in their family and bulk sizes 😅 More updates after a little more progress!