Hogwarts robe for Penny and crafting together (August)

When Jolinda, Connie and I had our monthly crafting afternoon in August, I started on a Hogwarts school robe for Penny.
When I'd done a Griffinfor robe a few years back I'd saved the pattern and even had cut the part for future robes.

I had somehow forgotten that Penny is smaller than a grown up wizard so she nearly drowned in my first attempt ;)

So, I addapted the pattern and started again.

Penny kept an eye on the whole process and couldn't wait.

The lining confirms the fact that Penny is a little Hufflepuf ;)

It still needs a crest and a fastener but we were both happy with how the robe has turned out.

Hogsmeade cottage - the bedroom part 2 & Crafting together (May)

After I had made the candle wall sconces and finished the walls, floor and ceiling it was time to make the curtains.
This time I wanted the curtain rod to slip through eye hooks on the wall. I embellished the hooks with wooden beads to get a little more clearance between the wall and the finials on the rod.
The rod is a wooden screwer I sanded until it would fit the smaller eye hooks and then I painted it with gold acrylic paint.

It should have been easy to twist the eye hooks in the wall and slide the rod (with only one finial) through the eyehooks. Then add the curtain in the middle and then put a finial on the other side.
Unfortunately the chimney-piece prevented that so I started by marking where the eye hooks would go, twisted only one in the wall and then finished everything else.

Two weeks ago Jolinda, Connie and I spend an afternoon crafting together. It was the first time in a while due to corona that it was the three of us and it very enjoyable :)
Connie worked on the sidewalk for the front of her shops and Jolinda made beautiful peonies.
I started making the curtains untill I got frustrated with them (a) and then got the oak stain out for the rocking chair and the dressing table with the mirror :)

Later that week I finished the curtains. I like the look ...

... but despite measuring more than once they still turned out to short, so I'll make new ones later :')
Penny doesn't care, she's happy with the new rocking chair :)

I also made time to give the shiny new door handles (on the left) a more aged bronze look.

And while I was at it, I also did the (Alladin) oil lamp and Bianca's high heels. Kept the inside and the soles of the shoes black.

Because I find it very difficult to take good photos from the back of the room, I made a little video :)

You can see the wash jug and bowl set (bought in England), the shawl (I made a few years ago) and the corset (gift from Kim) I've found back last week when I was organising my craftroom ^^. 

Furthermore the high heels near the bed, the chalk bord I want to fix for Penny and the door handles. Very happy with the progress ^^

I've also finally connected all the lights in the bedroom. The ledstrips behind the beams appear brighter in the video than they are though. 

Credits:
Inspiration for the eye hook with bead combination came from TinyFixation.
And the idea of the sewn on rings curtains (which I also used for the living room) is from Kendra's Minis.

Penny's pinboard

When I came across this tutorial by Julie Warren for a pinboard, it seemed like a great addition for Penny's side of the bedroom.
She was born in 1988 in a Muggle town and grew up there. Which is why there are posters and pictures of movies she's seen, of the Spice Girls (she likes Mel 'Sporty Spice' C the best) and Take That (secretly she had a crush on Mark Owen).

Now, at ten years old, she and her mum have moved to the cottage in Hogsmeade and she finally gets to discover the Wizarding World. Now the Weird Sisters, the Holyhead Harpies and dragons are all she can talk about and she saves every magical candy wrapper, a Hogwarts Express ticket, as well as one from the Knight Bus. 

I didn't have a sheet of thin cork, so I used a few of these stickers.

I used Balsa 3 mm strips for the frame and only varnished it. 

Penny has pinned all her favourite pictures and
is now deciding where to hang the posters.

Early birthday preparations for Penny

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated my blog. Haven’t visited FB either. 

I’ve been have some health problems and then I got totally side-tracked by a new Harry Potter fanfiction I’m working on ;)

The only thing that has kept me in touch with the miniature world was meeting the other ladies from our little club on a monthly basis.

I’m slowly getting inspired again though so I thought I start with showing you some of the things I hadn’t before.

After I'd made the bookends I found another tutorial Dolls House Nederland reposted from their magazine on Facebook; garlands and party hats for a birthday :)

I tried making some balloons as well. It workied well enough.

But while I was distracted and working on the rocking hippogriff, this happened 😕
I have no idea why or how, but Penny will have a birthday party without balloons. Ah well, better for the environment anyway :')

Maybe I can use these weird things to make candy floss/ cotton candy? ^^

Bookends for a little Quidditch fan

Working on the cottage involves a level of decision-making I'm not up to atm during these difficult times.
Fortunately Dolls House Nederland is reposting old tutorials from their magazine on Facebook. One of them caught my eye and inspired me to make this cute bookends pair.  :)

Ten year old Quidditch fan Penny will love these
bookends decorated with Golden Snitches
on a bookshelf above her bed.

I made the Snitches from Fimo polymer clay and beads.

Painted the bookends and the
Snitches twice gave it a finish with
gloss paint. I used metallic gold
acryl paint for the wings.

Perfect fit for the room, right? ;)

A dolls' house for Penny

In the previous blog I promised to show you an update on the bedroom next, but I just finished a little something today that I want to show you first.

It was actually meant for the bedroom but it turned out a bit bigger than I thought it would for an 1:144 scale miniature.

Yes, that's right, 1:144 scale! A dolls' house for a dolls' house ;) I've always wanted to make one, just for the challenge, and because it would be great for the little girl living in the cottage. I just forgot she needs to share the only bedroom with her mum, so there might not be enough room with two beds and the other furniture (a)

There are a lot of amazing tutorials on Youtube for 1:144 scale dolls' houses. The one I followed is this one from The Square to Spare, so I'll just show you some of the (many :P) photo's I took.

Instead of popsicle sticks and coffee stirrers I used
Balsa wood.

And I cut out all the windows and
doors before I glued the walls together.

Once I'd finished the porch, the railings
  and the dormer I let Penny have a look.
She was very pleased ;) 

After I'd painted the front and interior with white
acrylic paint I made the clapboard sinding.

The floor were painted as well, with a
watered down brown acrylic.

I was so happily working on all the little details that I totally forgot to take photo's untill it was done :')

I've chosen a vanilla yellow colour.

Penny is admiring her dolls' house.

It's certainly bigger than I expected
from a 1:144 scale house :')

The teddybear was made by Monique, and the Weasley-
style rug was made for a swap by Nine.

Cottage living room update

I knew I was behind with things but I hadn't realized how much :')
Apperently I'd started writing an update on the cottage in January but never finished that.
So without further ado, this is the progress on the cottage living room from January, mainly pictures ^^

I'd started making a comfy wing back chair back in December before we started working on Christmas miniatures. Once of these days I'll finish it (a)

I made new curtains because the first set I made was 1 cm too short.

I've put the glass stained deer from 'Glaskunst in Miniaturen' and the cute snapdragon Kim (Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo) made me, on display. Doesn't it look cosy? :)

The rod of the wall hanger Jolinda had made me, was made a bit darker to match the living room.

I made a bellows with this tutorial, using cartboard, thin leather and a metal bit I cut from jewelry.

I used the veneer slats from Bibian Angelique Miltkau for skirting boards.

I still had planned to do more furniture for the living room, but I had started to wonder if it wouldn't be too crammeded with more cabinets, a desk and chairs. So I decorated the room with the things I already had and quite liked it already :)

So, I've decided to keep it this way and only add the little decorative and personal items later on. I really like how it has turned out so far! Even though it's not as Weasley boho chic as I imagined at the start. But then, Bianca isn't Molly Weasley, is she? ;)

Next, an update on the bedroom, which I've started working on in February (a)