Joann's Oriental Poppy Instructions: Having a color picture of this flower in front of you while creating it will make the Instructions clearer and the construction easier. From bright orange tissue paper punch nine 1/4" rounds for petals. With India ink or black permanent marker pen, feather black color on approx. 1/3 of each petal, from a bottom edge up. Painted part of petal will be on inside, center, of flower. Lay petals, painted side up, on palm of hand. Using a needle tool or pointed end of a round toothpick, draw tool from bottom of petal to top and then from bottom to side (on each side of center) and then a line between center and side lines, for a total of 5 lines for each petal. This process will cause the petal to crinkle and curl up. Set aside. Cut lengths of thin green floral wire. Dip a tip of each in yellow acrylic paint.. Let dry. Dip again. Let dry. Cut a 3/32" wide strip of black tissue paper. Cut into this a fine fringe, 1/16" deep. This is easier done if the strip is cut into fourths or so. Run a FINE line of Tacky glue on unfringed 1/32" of strip. Wrap around wire three times just below the yellow tip. With tweezers, pick up the petals by their tops, dip tip of bottom into glue, and push onto the 1/32" black tissue paper on wire stem. Use just the tiniest dab of glue. NOTE: For a glue palette, try using the nail of the thumb that is hold the stem, as you work.......this way your eyes will not have to leave your work as you add petals and the glue will have less tendency to set before it is on the stem. The glued tip of the petal should be placed at a right angle to the stem, letting the natural curve of the petal flow up. Add the petals in threes: the first three spaced evenly around center, the second three in-between these and just below them, and the third trio in the same space as the first but just under the second group. When glue has set, gently pull fringe back until it almost rests on petals. Punch a 1/4" round from light green tissue paper. Make 8 clips, spaced evenly around this piece, almost to center. Punch hole in center and slip up stem, holding with a tiny dab of glue to back of flower. Five of these flowers with their natural foliage in an asymmetrical arrangement works nicely...keep it simple.

Judy K

Finishing Basics: Several folks have asked for a suggested list of steps to follow when building their first dollhouse. Here is one:

l. DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, USE A GLUE GUN!
2. Instead, get a bottle of good yellow wood glue. (My personal favorite is Franklin's TiteBond, available at Ace Hardware Stores, but Elmer's or other yellow glue will work well, too.)
3. Find the directions and read them first.
4. Somewhere in the directions is a list of parts and it usually has sketches to show what they look like. Use a pencil (not a pen as the ink will run when you paint) and mark the part names or numbers on all the pieces. Don't punch out parts until you are ready to use them.
5. Check the parts to see if they need to be sanded or filled with wood filler. Some of the cheaper dollhouses (and some not so cheap) are made of flimsy, splintery, bad plywood.
6. Paint the trim pieces before you assemble them. That makes sense when you realize that it will be very hard, for example, to paint a corner piece or window trim after attaching it to the house-you will get paint from the main walls on the trim and when you paint the trim, you'll get paint from that
on the main walls.
7. Again, DON'T PUNCH OUT PARTS UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO USE THEM.
8. Do not worry about painting the inside-that's later.
9. You can do the first floor flooring after assembling the foundation and floor or after the basic house is built.
10. Follow the directions to build each part of the house. Get the basic part built without the trim. Paint the main exterior walls.
11. Do the flooring on the first floor now if you didn't do it at step 9, unless you're using carpet and I would wait to do that until you do the flooring
for the second and third floors as mentioned in Step 17.
12. Don't attach the windows now.
13. Now is the time to wire if you're going to. You will need to decide which room is which and where you want lights. For example, decide where the bathroom vanity/sink will be because if you want lights on each side of a mirror, you need to know where to put them. When doing wall sconces, shorten the wire, attach the lamp, but don't fasten it to the wall until you paper. Cut an X in the paper where you want them to go, slide the fixture through and then attach the paper and lamp to the wall.
14. Once the wiring is done, attach the main lamp fixtures. I like to drill holes in the ceiling for the ceiling lights and run the wires through the holes to fasten to the tape that I have put on the floor above. Attach all your lamps except the table lamps now. After papering, you can attach the outlets for the table lamps.
15. Wallpaper your rooms. Use a wallpaper paste designed to glue paper to wood. (My favorite is Grandmother Stover's Yes glue) Just paper right over the door and window openings. When it's dry, you can cut out these openings with your craft or X-Acto knife.
16. Now attach your windows, doors, stairs, and interior trim. Aren't you glad you painted it earlier?
17. If you haven't already done so, finish the exterior at this time.
18. Put down your second and third floor flooring.
19. Put in baseboards, interior cornices, and other incidental trim.
20. Now comes the fun of furnishing.

Dottie in Tucson

Tacky Outside Tourist Junk: How about a full body of a Bull Moose chain-sawed from pine logs? We've got one down on 302 in Bridgeton. Oversized chain-saw carvings of Native American busts. "Twig" lawn furniture. A sign that says "Antiques for Sale", with a fellow inside, making them.

Brian

Tacky Outside Tourist Junk: On the edge of our town is a bar/eatery that has an airplane sticking out of the roof and a row boat sticking out of the side. Really kind of tacky, but what an IDEA for a hobby shop??

Roberta, Wisconsin

Cow Habitat: About 8-10 years ago I bought some cow figurines. They are roughly 1/2 inch (1/24th) scale. There are about 10 of them and they are all dressed in farm attire. I am building a habitat in 3 sections. One will have a barn; I have the old Nutshell News article and some other ideas for it. My problem right now is the countryside.

I have decided that these cows must be English. (What other cows would dress so properly?) I have situated their farm in the Peak District, in a lovely dale. So far they have walls dividing fields, a carrot patch under cultivation, a clothes line being hung, and various rocks and hills. I am uncertain how to best make gorse (a thorny bush with yellow flowers), bracken ( fern), and heather. Also, I'm not certain about the blooming seasons. If I make it early enough in the Spring for bluebells or dandelions, is the gorse blooming and the bracken green? Perhaps I should make it summer, but I do love the bluebells. Also, somehow in the construction, a cave appeared in the hillside and I have left it. Now it demands a creature inside. What would live in a cave in the Peak District? A badger? A hedgehog? A fox?

Tess, in Louisville, KY, USA

Cow habitat: What an evocative description you gave of how your scene is developing. Your questions made me think of Beatrix Potter's books, mostly set in the Lake District rather than the Peak District, but beautifully illustrated with anthropomorphic creatures. Perhaps they could give you some inspiration too.

"The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle" is about a washerwoman hedgehog, whose home is in the hillside (behind a door set into the hill, illustrated twice). Mr Brock the badger is a somewhat unsavoury character, as is Mr Tod the fox (both mostly appear in "The Tale of Mr Tod"). There are no stories directly about cows; the largest creatures featured are the pigs in "The Tale of Pigling Bland" and "The Tale of Little Pig Robinson". There are so many books, with such lovely illustrations, that now I am picturing lots of potential scenes for someone to do.

Wendy in Clinton, NJ

Toy shop Displays: I have done several different type shops including a toy shop. I used both wood shelves and a glass and wood shelf unit that sits up against a mirrored wall for display. If shop has a bay window try toys displayed in the window.......by adding plexi or glass shelves to the window or just put them on floor of bay. Small tables work fine also. In other words think about going in an exclusive type store such as FAO Schwartz rather than Toys 'R' Us where they use industrial shelving.

Patricia / Redwood City,CA

Toy shop Displays: I've used two found objects for toy shop shelving. In Pam's antique toy shop, I used a wooden thimble hutch found at a flea market, which had a small drawer and counter at the bottom below rows of little cubby holes. May still be available from catalogs like Harriet Carter. In my shop, used a clear plastic bobbin case about 6 x 4 inches from WalMart; pried off the lid, cut off the hinge, and set the hinged side on the floor to hide the cut marks. Again, lots of cubbies, sized just right for repainted, wigged, and dressed plastic favor baby dolls, chunky bead cars, trains, and planes, etc.

Loretta Sniarowski

Toy shop Displays: I found a few old smaller alphabet blocks, and I use those in my toy shop to set bears and dolls on. Also put in a small table for some things. Still use a lot of shelving, but tried to use a variety of shelf styles. The best thing about my shop is that it has an acrylic roof so one can see into the shop all the time. Took the original roof to an acrylic place, and they made it for me. It is just great, and I have had lots of compliments on it. The wood roof closed it up and confined all my work too much.

carol dale dyson

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