Playhouse

Here is the first pic of Emma's playhouse. There is only one room completely done and in my opinion it's not done. I would've liked to added a vase, some items on the counter, but the 6 year old has a rather short attention span and has moved on to more important things in her life-- like playing with her cousins that she doesn't get to see often enough. when her cousins are here, Emma only has one thing on her mind and that's PLAYTIME. Pretty normal don't you think? So, the shopping trips have come to an end as well as the house. We planned out the bedroom, walk-in closet, bathroom with the boxes and accessories right down to the curtains and the fabric she wants to hang in front of the closet! I suppose I could do all that in my spare time after she goes home on Sunday and give it all to her when I see her next. OR maybe her Mom will help her do it all---NOT. I will have great joy in finishing the house for my first grand daughter!

We took a NB shoe box and converted it into the kitchen. First, em and I painted part of the box yellow. We left the flap on to be the 'fashionable' floor that will show the table and stools that Em wanted. Em is so fashion minded for a six year old. Are they all like that? She stamped the back splash all by herself with the 'Pattern' background stamp from SU in black on some generic yellow paper. She did a fantastic job of positioning the stamp several times on each piece of paper, I had left the room for her to do the job all by herself. She fashioned a microwave using a pre-cut window from a part of a Wii game box that was turquoise and covered it with pink passion paper. She took a magazine and cut out some of her favorite foods and drinks and will place them in the microwave when she is entertaining. Oh, excuse me, when Barbie is entertaining. And get this, Emma's Mom says she doesn't even play with her dolls. Why did she ask for a Barbie doll house? I need to get to the bottom of this story book! You know what? Maybe I had more fun than Emma did building this set. Back to the task at hand-there was a piece of styrofoam from one of the boxes and Emma painted it yellow for the sink and appliances. I cut some shimmery paper and added knobs and some handles using a hole punch and an oval punch. the refrigerator, again a Wii box covered in paper, doesn't open. Emma did not want it to open-go figure! The window was when I lost her, Emma, to her playtime. So it was all my design, sorry to say, but it was fun to do. There are vines on the left as well as a butterfly and flower to hide a few flaws. The window trim is Natural Ivory from SU and applied with dimensionals of different thicknesses to look even, I did not miter the corners, as I said to myself -this is for a six year old that obviously has lost interest! The floor is black paper with yellow punched out flowers and butterflies then covered in Modge Podge for a shiny look. Last but not least the table and stools were made from a cereal box and black and yellow paper coated with MP. Another pic with the set done and the microwave forgotten.

P. S. One person guessed what Em and I were making-Big Mamma in Arizona left a comment December 29 asking if that was what we were making.

Gotta go --  big birthday party for Emma's brother Tommy. He turned four on Dec 29th and the party is here today. Chili, a pirate ice cream cake, and my leftover black eyed peas so those that did not have a chance to partake in the New Year ritual of eating black-eyed peas for good luck in the new year. My Dad, when he got older started the ritual of black eyed peas. Not that he started the idea, but he started the ritual in our family. I never did get the recipe from him-I guess I thought he would live forever and then the end of 2009 I realized what I had forgotten to get from him-that recipe. So now we have our own recipe, the kids like mine better, but we still have the ritual. What ritual does your family have on New Year's Day? Not football!

Thanks for coming by!

I made a card during all the hubbub here the past few days just did not have time to post it -- tomorrow--see ya then.