A's Dreamy Bejeweled Dollhouse

Okay.  So for  now, I'm going to repost this project from a previous blog that I did, as a way to start things off (and see how it looks when it's posted).

This project is something I did for my A, a couple of years ago.  After several months of wanting a home for her little Lalaloopsy dolls, I came across this puzzle one from Creatology (found through Michaels Craft Store), for a mere $8.

Items needed:

• Creatology 'Dollhouse With A Veranda' ($8)
• A bag of sparkly jewels, buttons, etc. (about $3)
• Tubes of acrylic paint (in your choices of colors) (about $3)
• One can of Minwax Polycrylic Spray ($10) 
• Fabric biased tape (to cover corners and rough edges) (about $2)
• Paint brushes (about $3) 
• Superglue (about $2)
• Ribbons, miniature roses, buttons, scrapbooking paper, etc. to dress it up
• Tools to have on hand:  exacto knife, paint brushes, superglue-- and the nail polish remover, in the event you start gluing your fingers together at 2am like I did!

Begin, by painting the pieces of each sheet with 2 (or 3) coats of acrylic paint.  (Making sure you do the backs of the railings and trims, as those will be in view, once the house is completed.)  After the paint dries, spray 3-4 coats of polycrylic over the pieces.  (This will prevent the chalky feel of acrylic paint reminiscent of those childhood art projects from school.)  This part will probably take 3-4 hours-- especially if the directions to the puzzle is looking a bit Greek by now!

(By the way, it's a good thing to note that acrylic paint is totally washable from hard surfaces-- like my wood table, I found out.  But since I have carpet underneath it, this project ended up more as a Mommy one!)

When everything is dry, start measuring, cutting out, and gluing your scrapbook paper to the walls and ceilings of your house-- TRIPLE CHECKING that you are not gluing floorpieces to ceilings, etc.

When that part is completed, look over the directions, as they might be hard to interpret.  (All it shows is a layout of the pieces, where tabs and notches are numbered.)  After piecing the walls and floors together already though, the process will become more self-explanatory.  (As you can see above, there are gaps where the walls join.  This can be corrected by gluing something as simple as bias tape over them, as it's already folded and ready to go.  The tape can also be placed over the rough edges as well.)

What I found out, is that by finishing the pieces before assembly does, is that the paint layers provide a tighter fit, so the whole thing doesn't end up falling apart, once you pick it up.  When you put the little locks into place, you can then start decorating the house to suit your taste.  With the big spread of jewels covering my dining room table, I didn't end up finishing this until 3am!  (Suffice it to say, I was having dreams-- or rather kaleidoscopic nightmares for the next few nights after finishing this project!)

But this is how it ended up.  Hopefully, you can find something similar and give it a try as well.  We've had this house for a couple of years now, and my daughter still loves it!