A Pop Up Doll House Book To Fall In Love With

Oh to be a child again with a book as magical as this one! I have always loved pop up books and Madelon has found one that I could move right into. As a child I would have loved this and imagined for hours living in a house such as this!

Ornate rooms and lavish dining room, claw foot tub!

I think the staircase is amazing! I always wanted stairs growing up, I still live in a one story home today!

The table is set for tea!
Thank you Madelon for sending us photos of this beautiful book! I would purchase it in a heart beat!
I did manage to find a listing for it on Amazon if anyone would like to bring this book home click here for more info.
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

Build & Imagine Malia's Beach House Review

I was so very lucky to receive Build & Imagine's Malia's Beach House to review and oh my gosh this is an amazing and fun set!

I love the sturdy and reusable box that this magnetic building set comes with and all the pieces that work together. Joining me for the review are my nieces Thea aged 5 and Laura age 7. These girls and I had a blast with all of the different rooms and pieces.

I love the attention to detail in this set and the fact that the little door opens is very cool.

The pieces are magnetic and easily go together to form a really cool house. You can chance your house each time and you can make up to three stories with this play set.  The girls had a blast flipping the pieces to reveal more "rooms"

I love that you can change Malia's and her friend's outfits. The little magnetic clothing not only attaches to the wooden dolls but you can hang it in the dolls closet too!

My nieces and I had a great time playing with Malia's Beach House and we think it is a wonderful play set. My niece even said "maybe I can get this for Christmas!" 

I know this set is going to be very popular and that it will see lots of play time at our future tea parties!

 Learn more about Malia's Beach House and all the great Build & Imagine Playsets by visiting their website by clicking here.

You can order yours on Amazon By Clicking Here

Thank you to Build & Imagine for creating such a wonderful play set!

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Get Those Tools Out & Ready To Create The Most Wonderful Doll House For The Doll Lover In Your Life!

I have long been a fan of Ana White's Work and this link was sent to me by my friend Skippy's Mom. If I had the space and the talent I would love to make this. As I don't but many of you do I am sharing the link so you may get started on this epic dream house. The Christmas Holidays will be fast upon us and I am a big fan of hand made holidays so this would be at the top of my to do list and if you can make it, it should be on yours.
Click here for Ana White's link and more info on how you can get started on making your own. I love that it is on wheels.
As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

A Beginners' Guide To The Doll's House Hobby

Jean Nisbett has a wonderful book out for those of you who may be considering getting into the Doll House Miniature World. A Beginners' Guide to the Dolls' House Hobby is a very inspiring read! I live near a wonderful mini doll house shop called Ross' Treasure House and I love going in there to look around. The thought of building my own Doll House is one I have had for many years and this book will help you plan and dream about a doll house of your own. Great tips for how to save money and get started in this wonderful mini world. Click here to learn more about A Beginners' Guide to the Dolls' House Hobby.
I would love to see your doll houses so please email me photos of your work to karenmowen@gmail.com with Doll House in the subject line.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

The Queen's Dolls House

I very much love Royal History and I was thrilled to find this book called the Queen's Dolls House on The Book Depository. This book shares with readers the behind the scenes look at this Royal Doll house which was commissioned in the 1920's For Queen Mary. This doll house has electricity, running water and two elevators. The Doll House even has a fully stocked wine cellar and a library.  "Its library boasts original works by the likes of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Thomas Hardy, and Edith Wharton."
Find out more about this amazing Doll House and this book by clicking here. 
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Got A Hammer And A Saw? Get This Book!

One of the talents I wish I had more time to pursue is Woodworking. I have been an admirer of this book for many years now and would really like to make every item in this book! Making Wooden Furniture for American Girl and Other 18 inch dolls is now in it's third addition. I love the house in the back ground don't you? This book is offered on The Book Depository for $16.67 US ($20.61 CND)
 If you have a desire like me to explore wood working this is a great step by step book that will help you achive your goals and make beautiful items that your doll lover can enjoy for many more years to come. Click here to learn more about this book Making Wooden Furniture
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Reader's Holiday Doll House Photos To Share!

 

 Today I wanted to share with you some of the fun photos my readers have sent in of their doll houses. Jean Sent me the most amazing photos from her doll house last year and I have been waiting to share them with you!

Jean makes each room so special. I am so in awe of her attention to detail!

Her bonus room is a dog salon that is all ready for the holidays too!

Jean knows how to make me smile! Loved her doll house don't you?

 

 

 

Reader Judith sent these photos  to me in May. "When I bought the doll house, it was blank wooden doll house, so I had to polish it slightly up before I could paint it."

 

 

"For the floors I took some clear coating, to make it look like shiny parquet. I've painted them twice.

I've painted the ceilings and walls with white paint for walls (we use to call it latex in The Netherlands). I choose nice wallpapers in bright colours and used wallpaper-glue to put it on the walls. More simple is it to use double-sided tape. To measure it, I took small pieces of paper to easily spread them on the walls (as the doll house laid down on the back, so the walls were horizontal instead of vertical). I used simple tape to put the pieces together and used that piece of paper to draw it on the real wallpaper. Don't forget to draw it on the white side of the wallpaper and do it in mirrored signs.

I've painted some of the furniture twice with clear coating, the rest twice with white primer (some pieces in pink). I did exact the same with the stairs and the kitchen and the complete exterior. After that I used enamel/gloss paint. I bought some small pieces of artificial grass with flowers for the balcony and the terrace. For the bathroom and the kitchen I bought table cover (oil cloth) with cubes pattern, because linoleum would have been to thick."

 

 Fran and Carolyn sent in their dolls Christmas scene! Look at all the dolly stockings!

Such a labor of love! I love it thank you all for sending it in!

 Send me your dolly holiday photos and they may just make it into a post holiday post!

As with all our posts we would love to hear from you so please leave us a comment here or email us at karenmowen@gmail.com

My Girls Doll House Has Arrived, Now Assembled Thanks To My Brother In Law!

So you may remember in early September I posted about My Girls Doll House and well my house finally arrived more then a month late but was worth the wait. The company has been so successful at selling the houses they are now sold out until spring.

To say that the Doll House by My Girl's Doll House is large is an understatement. I stand all of about 5 feet tall and this house is so big I need a step stool to reach the top!
When the box arrived it was very very heavy! My wonderful nieces were thrilled to get this house in time for Christmas. My Husband and Brother in Law carried it out to their van for the journey to their house, sadly we have to move this spring and did not have space for it at this time. My sister agreed to enjoy the house at their place and my wonderful brother in law assembled the house for them with out complaint and is a saint for doing so!

This Doll House is incredible. It takes up an entire wall in my sisters Kitchen. The girls are thrilled!

It is now time to move in to the Doll House! More photos to come. I hope you enjoyed the update as much as we are enjoying the doll house! My Girl's Doll Houses will be available again in the Spring of 2014, Click here to find out more and subscribe to their news letter to be one of the first to find out when these amazing Doll Houses are ready for shipping again!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Check Out Jean's Amazing Doll House! I Am Ready To Move In!

One of my dear readers Jean has sent in photos of her dolls new home! Jean has been working on her dolls house for the last few months and has kindly shared her photos with me to inspire those of you at home thinking of putting together a doll home of your own.

Her Doll house is in a "6ft closet,the larger rooms are 3ft,the smaller are2ft. The are 2ft deep & 2ft high."

 I am so impressed with how this homemade doll house turned out.

The blending of doll items from all over the dolly on line shopping world as well as wonderful dollar store finds make this doll house so special!

The Our Generation Kitchen Works perfectly in this room! Look at her overhead lighting! Can you guess what she used?

Every house should have a mudroom! Look at this wonderful mud room on the left...

Jean even had room for a Hospital Themed room in her doll house!
I am so truly inspired by Jean's Doll house which has been a true labor of love! I would love to see and share your doll house photos so do send them in!
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com 

Doll Houses For The Holidays...

I have been asked many times what type of doll house people should get, make or buy for their doll collections. Today I am going to share some of my favorites with you.

A personal favorite of mine is the American Doll Room. Their system is wonderful for the space conscious doll lover. The options for wall color, carpets and outdoor play scenes makes these one of my top choices.

click here to see how to make your own wooden doll cake

I have three of these flip, fold and play American Doll Rooms and I absolutely love them. I use them regularly in my photos and work around the dolly "online world". They are one of the most played with and requested items my nieces use when they come over. They are a joy to bring out, play with and store.

click here for how to make your own Harvest Sale Stand

What stands out most to me about the American Doll Room System is that they have really thought about everything the space starved doll lover needs. The two sided rooms, that fold flat and come with a carrying bag for play and storage slide easily under a bed or behind a sofa when not in use and encourage independent creative doll play, girls can easily assemble and change their rooms as they see fit. These rooms are offered starting at $89 for one, Two for $160 and Three rooms for $249. These rooms and systems can be viewed by clicking here American Doll Room.com  you can also find them on Facebook by clicking here.

I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of My Girl's Doll House. Shipping later this month I am really excited to receive this 5 room doll house that is larger then myself! Honestly I can not wait to show you photos when it arrives.   My Girl's Doll House is currently offered at under $300. You can visit the website by clicking here or you can find them on Facebook by clicking here.

Many of you know how much I love DIY and I am beside myself with excitement to show you an Etsy shop with downloadable patterns on how to build doll houses to scale for your doll lover this holiday season. Addielillian's Etsy Shop has some truly wonderful plans that make me want to get out my tools right now!

Check out their 4 room doll house plans by clicking here

Or build and stack your one room modules. Check out the plans for the one bedroom by clicking here.

Plans can be found in Addielillian's Etsy Shop by clicking here

Now last but not least I want to share the doll room I created and shared way back in February 2011. One of my very first posts was how to make a doll room out of recycled cardboard. You can find out how I did it by clicking here . Now back then I did not write my tutorials step by step but it is a fairly easy to follow and you can always email me questions at karenmowen@gmail.com

As we get closer to the holiday season I will be sharing my favorites, ideas and places to source items that may be on your own holiday wish list. If you have any questions on where to find something on your list, be sure to send me an email or leave a comment below.
As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com

Clearing Up Some Questions On My Girls Doll House!

 

As you can imagine there has been quite a buzz started about the wonderful new MY GIRLS DOLL HOUSE that has just come on the market. I have received some questions from some of you my wonderful readers both via email and on Facebook and I have contacted the company for clarification.

Some of you wanted to know about the Website and Kickstarter and the program. Below is the answers I received from the company directly.

  "Basically, we put our web store on hold to allow everyone to get the same deal through our Kickstarter campaign. If you go through Kickstarter you will actually get an even better deal. You can back us with a $250 pledge which is $50 more off and still free shipping. There is no risk whatsoever. If we don't meet our fundraising goals, those who pledged will still be honored with the price from Kickstarter after our campaign is over. The time frame of getting a house is also the exact same, so there is no reason to worry there either."

"Prior to the busy holiday season, we've elected to take a 20-day Kickstarter.  As you may know, Kickstarter is a crowd-funding site.  By achieving early funding, we will simply have more money to drive promotional activity in October (on your site!).   Kickstarter is an amazing tool, and it's name says everything.  They really do Kickstart future sales.

• 9/12 – 10/2:  Kickstarter - discounted prices" 
  

 One of my readers was worried about if there would be enough doll houses available for the holiday season.

"Most importantly, we are re-opening our website on October 2nd with the Affiliate program in place.  At that time, together we will drive awareness and significant sales, and share in that success.  Secondly, we have committed to the factory to bring thousands of units of the dollhouse to our warehouse.  We will absolutely have inventory to satisfy a strong October–December Affiliate push."

Another reader wanted to know what happens if the Kickstarter program is not funded? Would they loose there investment?

In case you are not familiar with Kickstarter- whatever you pledge you will receive, as long as we reach our goal!  For instance, if you pledge $250.00, you will receive a dollhouse and free shipping. There are other levels as well, and a great opportunity for a retailer - so please share the Kickstarter Program with your valued viewers!

Kickstarter will refund any pledges in the unlikely situation of not making our goal, and Wicked Cool Toys further commits to refunding the pledges themselves for that matter!  

This is the only time they will get the house for the massively discounted kickstarter price, but they would be able to buy it on one of the online retailers if the Kickstarter doesn't fund.

Finally, thank you so much.  We need your valuable expertise in establishing this 20-day Kickstarter program!  We believe strongly that a successful Kickstarter program will result in far more sales during our 10/2– 12/15 period.

I am so excited about this doll house and I know many of you are thrilled to see this on the market. I am so happy that so many of you took the time to write me and inquire. I hope that the answers provided by the company help to explain. 

As with all my posts I would love to hear from you so please leave me a comment here or email me at karenmowen@gmail.com