Hobbies: Making Your Own Dollhouse Miniatures

If your hobby is doll houses you are in for a treat with the many wonderful products that are on the market today for the doll house hobby enthusiast. Many doll houses can be dressed up to look like actual homes, either from the present or the past.

Doll houses and miniatures are a thriving business. Many go so far as to attend conventions across North America, buying and selling doll house items. It can be an expensive hobby, or it can be an inexpensive, fun pastime. Doll houses can be as elegant as a 3 story Victorian, custom made house, or it can be as simple as dressing up a shoe box or anything in between. You can get extra enjoyment, adding personal touches by making many of your own, inexpensive miniatures from things found around the home.

By making your own doll house items, it can add fun and pleasure to the younger hobbyist, who might not be able to afford the more custom, luxury items.

Just a few suggestions are as follows:

** Small buttons can be used as plates. If you have enough of the same, they will stack very nicely together. You may want to hide the button holes. This can be done by either gluing on pieces of construction paper, selecting a color that matches the button, or you could decorate your plate with food fashioned from colored play dough.

** Empty thread spools can become your night table or living room end tables. Cut pieces of thin cardboard and glue them to the tops of the spool. This will give you a sturdy surface in case you want to place small items on your table. Then cut round pieces of scrap material to drape over the spool, and you have an instant side table.

** If you would like to have lamps for your end/night tables, use larger beads. Sometimes you can find the perfect sized beads on the ends of draw strings on jackets. Bunch up a few toothpicks for the stem of the lamp and glue them into the center of the bead. A small bottle cap glued onto the top to use as the lamp shade finishes it off nicely. You might want to paint the bottle cap or paste on some scrap material to give it a more authentic, decorative look.

** Small bottle caps can also be used as pots for plants to help decorate each room of your doll house. You can snip off small pieces of leaves from an artificial pant and glue them into your pot to complete the effect.

** Decorate your walls with lots of photos. Pictures can be cut from any magazine or catalogue or even personal photos. Paste the picture onto a thin piece of cardboard and place a piece of plastic over it so that it looks like glass (clear plastic can be found in the packaging of many items that you buy). Frames for your photo or picture can be made from a number of items, such as left over scrap wool, construction paper, or even Popsicle sticks cut to fit. Certain buttons can also make very lovely picture frames.

** Popsicle sticks are very handy to have around when you're doing any kind of craft. For doll houses, they make excellent shutters, to decorate the exterior of your house, or you can cut them to size for such things as shelving units or even shingles. By gluing a few together, you can even make a quick and easy bed or futon. Glue on beads for the legs, cut a piece of foam or sponge to fit as the mattress and cover with a piece of scrap material (or if you're good at sewing make a pretty bedspread or quilt).

** Sponges are perfect for also making throw cushions. They're easy to cut to size and when covered with decorative fabrics, they can make any room look true to life.

** Sand paper makes great shingles, preferably the finest grain you can find. Cut a sheet into long thin strips, then snip the strips about every inch, so that they resemble real asphalt shingles and then glue them on to the roof of your house.

** Throw rugs or carpets can be made from scrap pieces of material, preferably a heavier type of fabric. Just cut the size that you need and fray the threads at each end of your rug. If you're good at crocheting, you can also make lovely crocheted rugs (be sure to use smaller guage wool).

** Glue together a number of toothpicks for an elegant and modern bamboo-look window covering.

** Birthday candles can be cut down to look like designer doll house candles.

The possibilities are endless with things you find around the house. Keep a box or container for just your doll house items. Every time you come across a small item that might be perfect for a miniature project, toss it into the container. Never throw those little things away. They might just be your next doll house necessity. Once you get started making your own miniatures, the creativity is sure to continue flowing.