CD Shelf Dollhouse Tutorial

* I just started a flickr group for any projects made using my tutorials.  Please feel free to stop by and post your finished or WIP! 

If you want to make your own here is how you do it.
You will need the following things.

1. Dollhouse CD case sold at Michaels Crafts.$5.99! Comes with the chimney, windows, rooms. All you need to do is paint!
2. Go HERE and download the template that I made for the floor. You can print onto the paper directly on the back or print and cut it out and then trace. Up to you! (Please measure you floor and make sure the template will be a good fit.  Now that I have made a few of these, there have been a few that have not been the same size!)

3. Various wooden pieces to construct furniture. I bought all of mine at Michaels in the aisle with all the wooden spools and other unfinished wood things but I am sure that most craft shops would have something you could use! I bought flat rectangles for the bed and small rounded edge rectangles for the headboards. I used little knobs found in the same section for the legs on the beds. For the table I used 1″ blocks and a round flat disc sold at Michaels. I also used a disc for the wall art and rectangle as well. For the fridge and the stove I used more 1″ blocks.

4. Little wooden dolls. I found boys at Michaels and girls at Joann’s. There is also a store online that I found with great prices called Craft Parts
Another good place to find them is this Etsy seller Gemmie Lou.

5. Scrapbook paper for the floors, tablecloth, drawers and wall art. I used Amy Butler and Anna Griffin but you can find tons of options!  You could also use fabric!  Fabric for dresses. Get creative 🙂

6. Water based sealant, water based varnish, sandpaper, wood glue, various sized paint brushes, non toxic craft acrylic paints, modge podge, etc. I was able to find all of these things at Michaels and was able to get them all non toxic.

7. Paintbrushes and foam brushes.

8. Scissors to cut out paper and fabric.

9. Sewing machine or needle and thread for bedding and pillows.

10. Heavy duty glue like E-6000 for gluing the buttons on the bed side table.  Look for non toxic glue if possible.

Directions

• Seal everything. Twice. Paint everything as desired. Add paper with Modge Podge. Put wall art on the walls with wood glue.  Glue buttons onto the bed side table.  Go over everything with sealant again. Twice. Go over everything with varnish. Add layers until you are satisfied. That’s it! It is super easy, just time consuming waiting for the stuff to dry and painting. I just did it in little bits throughout the day. A coat here, a coat there. Not bad at all. In fact so much fun!!

• For the details on the stove and the fridge I used an Elmer’s paint pen.  First I sketched out what I wanted in pencil with a ruler and then went over the top with the paint pen using the ruler again to keep the lines really straight.
  

• Little details on the headboards of the beds and the wall art are scrapping supplies like stickers and rub ons.  Apply those to the dried painted wood and then seal and varnish over the top of the rub ons and stickers.

• For the dolls hair I drew it on with a pencil first and then used a very fine, thin paintbrush to outline and then filled it in once the outline was dried.  For the eyes and cheeks, I used the wooden end of the paint brush and just dabbed it on.

• I put the dresses on very last.  I cut a rectangle of fabric with pinking shears with the long part of the rectangle along the stretch of the fabric.  This way the fabric can mold around the doll’s body.  Trim the back of the dress at a upward angle so when the dress is glued on it looks like an upside down v. Use Modge Podge to adhere the dress to the doll and then go over the whole doll with varnish sealing the fabric as well.  This creates a great barrier from messy fingers on the fabric 🙂

That’s it! 🙂  Please let me know if you have any questions.