Merry to you all

The rascally puppy turned out to be an expert gift unwrapper once we encouraged her. She politely refrained from opening anything other than her own gifts. She loves all her squeaky toys, her new frisbee, her new balls, and a chewy bone. She had to open them all, which kept her out of our way as we opened our own presents! I dog-proofed the lowest part of the tree. There's nothing that can be broken when she cruises through the living room forest making branches sway and ornaments clang together. I tried to put up ornaments that would not be appealing to chew. I could have saved myself the trouble. The tree didn't get decorated until Christmas eve so she wasn't around them long enough to investigate and see if anything would have that appealing crunch. Now she has all her new toys to play with, so the tree seems to be safe even when we leave her downstairs while we go up to check email, blog or read.

It's not over yet. I may not be singing a Christmas carol or wearing red/green/Santa themed clothing, but my heart is still merry and light.

It's the third day of Christmas and the turtle doves are cooing. My backyard has had frequent visits from the mourning doves due to the fact that I dumped thistle from the goldfinch bag all over the back step(I took the bag out upside down). Doves are doves and it doesn't matter if there are three or five. Even better, the finches have discovered the bag and we had six of the little rascals hanging from it this afternoon.

All is calm here on the homefront.

Last Licks

I couldn't leave well enough alone. I found two little frames at the scrapbook store when we were in SLC and I knew at once that they belonged in the dollhouse. (Hey, girl dolls need mirrors.) When the elves were here to load the dollhouse on the sleigh for SoCal, I found a minute to glue on the shiny mirror paper so the new owner can decide where to place her new mirrors. I personally would put the white one in the pink bedroom and the ivory one in the family room, but it's out of my hands now.

And the elves probably wished they had a sleigh and some flying reindeer on their way home...a mild front came through and instead of clear roads with a few flurries, it took hours and hours and hours just to get to Sac.

The Princess is worth it.

The Attic Playroom

This was the last room that got finished. Fully exposed without the roof, it didn't even look like a room. It was huge and white and I had no idea what it was going to be.

Then my two little neighbors came over and with their help it became a playroom. They suggested so many of the features that eventually found their way into this attic that they deserve the lion's share of the credit.

This is the only room that was painted because it was the only accessible one with the roof off and plenty of room to wield a brush. I think this is my favorite room. I like the others, but this one has personality plus.

It has little ducks swimming in the pond, a very happy sun shining down, little puffy clouds, myriad flowers, even a white picket fence. It's not for those who don't love color--the grassy green floor alone could be overload for those who crave beige.

So...seven rooms in all that were incredibly fun to put together. I hope the Princess has as much fun playing with it as I did creating the backdrop for her.

Now it's time to move on to other projects!

Family Room

The family room actually looks much better than this pic. The blue walls are a nice combination of country blue and retro dots. I never did find a paper like wood flooring strips so I made my own. I acquired wood-like paper, cut it into 1/2 inch strips and inked the sides with a medium brown (yes, that may be the actual definition of OCD), and glued the individual strips down.

However, I knew I should have painted the floor brown before I glued them on. I was in an enthusiastic rush to see how the strips looked and sort of skipped that step. Big mistake. In fixing up the dollhouse I discovered that there are two kinds of scrapbook paper--the kind that glues beautifully and the kind whose genetics dictate extreme wrinkliness when exposed to any moisture. Guess which kind the woodlike paper was? So far, no amount of glueing down of individual prune-y strips has solved the problem. So there is indeed white showing up between floor boards. I suspect at some point I will figure out a way to minimize the white (paint, brown Sharpie marker, other) so it doesn't drive me crazy. I mean, most of the house looks really sweet and this floor just doesn't make the cut.

On the other hand, it sure does look better than the all white house I inherited! And maybe it just needs a rug and some furniture...

Just Ducky

The bathroom.

The first paper I picked out--the little ducks with bubbles. Then I found I needed more, couldn't find the same paper, found some other duck paper without the bubbles that I didn't like as well but decided I had to use, then magically ran across the original duck paper.

This is an early picture before it was finished on all the walls. And it also has a mirror on the wall now. It still gives you the idea of the finished product.

The house

It's sitting in a corner. And I have photos of the other rooms. I just need blogger to allow me to upload them to the site. Alas.

I'll try again tomorrow!

Second Bedroom

I found this green "carpet" early on and lucked into the flower wallpaper just this weekend. So this is the second bedroom (or the master bedroom). So fun!

The Wee Hours

Maybe I shouldn't have had that cup of hot chocolate last night. Or maybe it was the perfect snack.

Yesterday, I found several nicely patterned papers at Treasured Memories Too for the remaining rooms in the dollhouse. I began fitting them on the walls, cutting out doorways and windows, and one thing just led to another. I had plenty of energy and felt inspired by the new paper and motivated to get the whole thing finished with Christmas breathing down my neck. I turned out the light about 2 a.m. and still enthusiastically bounded out of bed at 8, ready to put the final touches on it. So I did a little gluing and painting today amidst Christmas decorating and dogwalking and now my mind will have to find another creative avenue (not hard at this time for year) because...

It's done, finished, completed!

Two bedrooms, a bathroom, family room, kitchen and formal dining room as well as a bonus room in the attic that became the playroom. It's been a labor of love, a delight, and I feel like I've really accomplished something. I'm jazzed about the way it looks! Each room is completely different. Each one has its own personality and style. The whole project just seemed to evolve naturally. I didn't overthink it (for once) and just took advantage of the colors and patterns I ran across. I wish all my projects were this smooth.

What have I learned from this experience? That I really love my friends. That enthusiasm is even better than a deadline to get me going. That I should go-with-the-flow more often. That jumping before I look and volunteering before I think is sometimes a good thing because it comes from the heart.

Fine Dining

Okay, batteries charged and camera back in action.

Today's presentation: the dining room. A lovely dark wood floor, roses sweetly rambling on the walls and a high, old-fashioned chair rail. It, like the rest of the house, is a blank slate awaiting a little girl (and her mom and grandmom and probably her great-grandmom) who furnish it with rugs and furniture and a family of dollies.