Trip to Breitenbush Hot Springs

Last week my husband and I took a retreat in the middle of the week at Breitenbush Hot Springs. Breitenbush is a rustic hotsprings resort near Detroit, Oregon. We splurged and spent the night in a quaint cabin with indoor plumbing--yay! :-) Here is our little cabin: B1 or "Beautiful One" as the woman who checked us in said:

Here are a couple more shots of the nearby cabins. Maybe they'll provide inspiration for your next miniature project: a rustic cabin! ;-)

I love this picture of the cabin nestled in the woods:

We had such a good time. The food was delicious! The people were so friendly! The hotsprings were wonderful! My favorites were the ones located at the edge of a meadow, including one with a view of the nearby river. We got some cute pictures of the two of us in the hotsprings, but some things are best kept private. ;-) Instead, here's a link to official photos of the hotsprings on Breitenbush Hot Springs' web site. Aren't they beautiful?

Another highlight of our visit was a hike through old growth forest. We did a 4.7-mile loop, with some of it going straight up, but it was worth any suffering involved, as the views were magnificent and the sense of peace was palpable.

Thanks for taking this little journey with me! Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

New Dollhouses: My Shabby Chic Cottage

Remember when I said that I'd found two dollhouses recently? I told you about the 1970s dollhouse that I'm planning to refurbish and possibly sell. Now here's the dollhouse that I plan to turn into a shabby chic cottage-like house:

My husband and I were heading out of our neighborhood a few weeks ago, when I saw an "estate sale" sign. When we got there, my husband headed to the lower level of the house, while I stayed in the first room I walked into, on the upper level.

Within a couple of minutes, my husband came back upstairs and waved to me to follow him. He said that he had something to show me. I followed, and when I got to the bottom of the stairs, there was this dollhouse and a box of furniture, all included, for $50. I was thrilled and mouthed the words "Thank you!" to my husband. In the end, my husband negotiated the price down to $43, so it was really a bargain! Here's the lowdown on this house:

Minuses:

1) It was filthy dirty inside and out. Insects, mice, and something bigger had all lived in it. Yikes! (I have cleaned it thoroughly, by the way. :-))
2) It is covered with wallpaper that will need to be removed.
3) I'll need to wallpaper it and finish it with moldings.

Pluses:

1) It is made from wood, not particle board.
2) It is 1/12 scale.
3) It has a front door (not currently attached), windows, a stairway, and hardwood floors!
4) The outside is covered with siding and a shake roof.
5) Lots of nice furniture and accessories were included.
6) The price was very reasonable! Yay!

I plan to turn it into a shabby chic cottage-like house. It will be fun to "distress" the floors and some of the furniture. Right now it kind of looks like a haunted house, with the torn wallpaper, but that's not really my style, so shabby chic it is!

Downstairs, in what would be the livingroom, I will turn it into a shop, either a book shop or a ladies' hat shop--I haven't decided. Tea will be served in the shop as well, so the kitchen next door will have the accoutrements for serving tea and pastries to the customers. The upstairs I plan on being living quarters for the shopkeeper--fun! All in shabby chic--yay!

Look at all that furniture, including a brass bed--woohoo! Check out the groovy 1970s family I got with this house too! The father is wearing bellbottom pants and a nylon shirt. The mom is wearing an Indian skirt. I love it!

So that's my second "new-to-me" dollhouse. I am really looking forward to finishing the 1970s house so that I can get to work on this shabby chic house. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer

First Attempts with Polymer Clay

On Sunday, my hubby and I ran off bright and early, coupons in hand, to our local craft store to buy some polymer clay (Sculpey) and clay tools. Once home, after breakfast, we jumped in and made our first miniatures using polymer clay.

Hubby asked what I wanted for my dollhouse--he would make it for me--yay! I said a loaf of brown bread for my Victorian dollhouse's country kitchen. He went to work on his project, and I went to work on mine--a new toilet seat for my miniature Victorian toilet!

Yeah, as far as I was concerned, the toilet seat was sub-par on the mini toilet I've had since the late 1970s or early 1980s. The toilet is ceramic, but the toilet seat was made of rubber and was starting to deteriorate a little bit. Here's what it looked like before:

The back side of the seat is yellowing, and the rubber is starting to crack. And here's the new toilet seat (made from ploymer clay that I baked in the oven) on the toilet (with the old seat next to it):

Then I got another good idea. Instead of the standard white painted wood "pipe" on the toilet, I wanted a gold "metal" pipe on it. I didn't think the wood, even when painted in gold, would ever look smooth like metal, so I cut a plastic drinking straw the length of the wooden toilet pipe, painted it gold, and then slipped the existing pipe into the straw. Voila! See what you think:

It looks more like the real thing. Instead of a wooden pipe going down to the floor, now the "metal" pipe goes between the water box above to the toilet below. Not perfect, but better! You can see it here in the dollhouse:

Here's hubby with his loaf of bread. It turned out cute:

And you saw his tiny loaf of bread in the top picture, at rest on the cutting board in the Victorian country kitchen of Dad's dollhouse. That picture is my favorite! By the way, my husband made the spaghetti that was in the previous post with Bella and Bert. Nice job, Brandon!

As they say, "practice makes perfect," and I need a lot more practice using the polymer clay and making miniatures in general. However, it really was a lot of fun doing our projects together, and I look forward to trying it again soon. Until next time.... xoxo Jennifer