don't call me baby

Been browsing for creative projects again...this time I'm making presents for family new arrivals. 

Pop on over to arty mama 

living doll

The 3G kept harping on about a doll's house, especially MiddleS. You know, one of those huge, pink things that you see cluttering the front window of charity shops these days. I had always thought I might. one day, splash out and get a massive, old stylee Victorian house, complete with scary little dolls.

Then I found Pinterest.

I binned off the Victorian monstrosity and rubbed my hands in glee as I saw a multitude of doll's houses made out of bookcases, mini wardrobes, in fact any old bit of wood thrown together with a slap of paint and the wondrous beauty that is decoupage. Yippee!

Thanks to a couple of (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) donations that were no longer required by good friends in educational places, I managed to  wangle the frame and roof for my doll's house. The rest was up to me....

The roof was a bit battered, so armed with two cans of terracotta coloured spray paint, I was off.   The house was given a coat of white inside to cover the MDF and the outside walls were sprayed with a spray cream that had a rough texture. The 'rooms' were created using an old bookcase and adding an extra shelf. By the way, because this was a secret pressie for the 3G, this all had to be done in our bedroom over a couple of weeks and hidden in the bathroom everytime we went to bed!!

Next, and this was the fun bit, I gave each room a different feel. Working from the top down:

The playroom was in the 'loft' painted sky with some cool cloud stickers. This is pretty neat as half of the room lifted up, and left a little area for the dollies to play in. The 'toys' have mainly come from other toys I found lying around the house.

Moving down to the children's bedroom,  I got to have a bit of fun here using some wallpaper samples, either collected free from DIY shops or for a small price from ebay. I love the handprints in the wall.

Now the bathroom. I think now I started to project my secret wishes onto this doll's house. I've always wanted a black and white checked floor in my bathroom. You'd think GeordieLad would be up for it too, wouldn't you? But no, so into the doll's house it goes.  Again using wallpaper samples and contact paper using the fabulous MODGE PODGE. This stuff is brilliant. i used gloss to give the walls a sheen look.  How funky is this?

Next door was the master bedroom, *holds little finger aloft*. This is probably my least favourite room because the wallpaper was really heavy and difficult to glue up. But I had been given stacks of it by BrillS-i-L so on it went. Then found a fluffy black piece of material for the carpet. Bit boudoiry but hey ho.

To the final floor and the living room.  Two lots of wallpaper samples here and just a painted floor, nice and easy.  GeordieLad came up with a great idea to lighten up the rooms with small battery powered lights, which had sticky pads making it easy to put up. Bit of a London feel, here.

The kitchen was the hardest, but the most fun. I sprayed it gold to start with, and used these coloured tarted curtain samples as the wallpaper and a rug.  

And that's it. I put some stickers of flowers on the outside of the house, as the garden. Added some black around the roof windows to make it stand out. And bought a stack of furniture from the toy shops. Plus some small people and animals to live in the house, including little One Direction and JLS!! But the girls didn't like them so they were evicted - it's a girl's only house.

 This was definitely on the cheap, and I felt proper proud once I'd finished it. And even though MiddleS did ask if she could still have a pink princess castle, this mummy-made doll's house is regularly played with.  And because it's four floors, they can all play with it together - bonus!


Right, what's next?

everything is awesome

Lego rocks, right? I'll be honest I wasn't much of a fan as a kid, myself.  But since BigL arrived on the scene  and was completely loved up with the Lego, it's been a permanent fixture in TWTowers. Courtesy of the BigFamily she's been drowning in Duplo from age 2, but couldn't wait to get started on the real stuff. Lego! Then with MiddleS being a bit girly all over the place, we were introduced to LegoFriends. Over the years it seems that the Lego have been breeding, because by the time LittleE was here we could have decorated the whole house in Lego.
So with the aid of Pinterest and more specifically IHeartOrganizing and Ikea I solved our storage problem!

It was pretty easy. I printed off the colour names and laminated the labels and stuck them on with glue dots. I have read some people have used Modge Podge but it seems the glue dots are doing okay. The storage is a godsend because it allows some display space, and even with the additions of more Lego every birthday and Christmas - there is still so much room left!

                    

The 3G loved this and it is perfect for quick tidy ups before bedtime.  And then we even got to do a bit of decoupage for the smaller colours and other Lego items, like minifigures and animals. Woop! Woop!
 If only I could make an improvement on the Lego instructions storage! This bag is fit to burst. Back to Pinterest it is then!



Any other fab ideas for toy storage?

Right, what's next?

mirror in the bathroom

I have unexpectedly found myself with some free time. Since, like, January! There were many plans made to you know, declutter the house, get fit, sort my iTunes out, and you know - write that book. But faced with the stretch of time when the 3G go to school I have submerged myself in my guilty pleasure.

Making stuff I've seen on PINTEREST! Getting my creative on! Driving GeordieLad crazy with scraps of shizzle all over the dining table. Whilst there are mornings, days, lunchtimes, evenings of miserableness because of my current situation, I am able to seek solace in the wonderful land of Pinterest. I've been on it for ages - promoting its preciousness like Golam to anyone with a hard drive - racking up boards of other people's creations in depicting my wishes and wants.  But now that I have time and ... decoupage, I'm gonna be pinning like a boss!

Watch 'dis.

Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself a bit - this was an easy one. But it kicked started some bathroom love.

Mainly used by the 3G I was looking to splash some colour and some fun...

                                       

 So I got this cheeky little fella from Japan

(as you do) andGeordieLad wiped out his

diamondcutter to pop it on the wall. 

Out came the spotty stickers and some canvas

 art courtesy of the 3G from their nursery days.

 Perfick!

 And for the final touches (and to save me sounding like a scratched record), a couple of polite reminders in art form on the bathroom windowsill and...

... in the loo!

What's in your bathroom?

Right, what's next?

Goodnight London, wherever you are.