My Latest Project...

Dear Friends,
Here in The World of The Tearoom, one can almost always find oneself tripping over the makings of an art project or two on the floor!  I am never happier than when I am on the floor, surrounded by my latest creative endeavor!   I love challenging myself artistically and I find that one of the most interesting challenges can come from limiting yourself in some way.

A few weeks ago, I happened upon a wooden box that my mother had built to store something she did not want to get damaged.   I found myself being very inspired by this simple wooden box and began to take cardboard, glue and brown paper bags and convert this box into floors and walls to make a dollhouse!  I realized there were many things around this house I could use to make not just the house, but also the furnishings and even a garden!  And so, I challenged myself to do this project using only things I found around the house!  I will admit to you that I cheated only twice.  First, I used quite a bit  of glue and had to buy more twice ($1.29 per bottle X 2) and I bought two electric candles and I will reveal their purpose soon ($1.00 for two candles).

Once upon a time, when Mr. V and I lived in Washington, DC, my job there was at Paper Source in Georgetown.  If you have never been in one, there are many kinds of paper sold there, much of it used for crafting projects, card making, scrapbooking, etc.  I knew when I moved to this microscopic spot on the map in Maine, there would be no place to buy such things, so I bought as many art supplies as I could before moving.  It was another challenge to myself to use some of my stash to make this project.  Sometimes, one must use what one has in order to make room for more in one's life!

The dolls and animals that live there are all vintage items that I had or that I found here that once belonged to my mother or other relatives.  I have furnished the house with items I found around the house or made myself.

And so, today, here is the first of several posts, introducing you to the dolls and animals that now live in this little world.  Please keep checking back to see the rooms in detail and take a tour of their beautiful garden!

In this picture, some of the rooms of the house were finished and decorated.  I had made floors and walls from corrugated card board and then covered them with old book pages and then the decorative papers as walls and flooring.

Welcome to The Little House of Sometimes

Here is a closer view of the facade.

(I made the facade from a re-purposed curtain of

sheer dotted swiss and then I printed the

windows and door on printable organza fabric

and hand-sewed them on with transparent nylon

thread for a see-through effect!)

May I introduce to you the tenants of this elegant house:

This is Charlotte Framboise

and Evelyn Rose.

(Here they are in the garden.)

They have quite a few pets.

This is Velvet and her kittens Silly and Sooty

This is Blackie the Scotty Dog

(hiding in the shadows), 

and Chloe and her puppy Charlie, the Boston Terriers

Nutkin the Squirrel (with Evelyn Rose)

Peanutbutter the Baby Elephant and

Mr. Pinchy the Turtle,

sunning himself on his rock in the pool.

Dandelion the Duckling

and Forget-Me-Not the Bluebird

are trading birdie secrets with one of the statues

in the garden.

Won't you come back very soon so I can continue

to take you on a tour of the house?