DIY Barbie House

Anyone who's known me for long enough, knows that I love me some Barbie! And yippee, I have a daughter to share it with. When she was old enough, I busted out the old Barbie bag. After seeing how much fun she was having, I thought it would be great if we could find a doll house for her new friends. Most of the projects I do are started because of one simple thing...I'm cheap! Have you seen how much those things cost?

 My husband and I did this project together, he built the house and I did the interior. I've seen people use old book shelves for this, but I didn't have anything like that laying around, so we had to build something ourselves. He didn't follow any kind of plans for the structure, mostly eyeballed it and just used wood we found in the discount scrap bin at Home Depot. Talented man huh? We ended up with a really sturdy house that will last longer than anything we could have bought.

The interior was a little more fun, this is where you need to use your imagination. No way I was buying furnishings...time to get out the glue gun!

 Here's a list of supplies I used:
Wall Coverings*- Wrapping paper(top) and scrapbook paper(bottom)
Flooring*- large sheets of felt
Windows*- white paper, blue paper, white  paper strips on top to make it look like window panes

   *These were all attached to walls with spray adhesive(use only in very well ventilated area!)

Chairs and sofa- foam blocks, cardboard, batting, fabric, glue gun. Cover base, sides, and back separately then attach together with glue gun.
Vanity and dresser- small boxes(I think they were from granola bars) covered in black duct tape. Drawers are cut out paper glued on
Bed- cardboard box(Capri Sun perfect size!), batting, fabric attached with glue gun
Wall art- magazine cut outs, cardboard, black duct tape, attached to wall with glue gun
Framed art- magazine cut outs, paper cut with fancy scissors Tutorial from My Froggy Stuff
Curtains- fabric scraps attached with glue gun
Fireplace- scrap wood, paper squares for tiles, fire painted on
Sink/counter- scrap of wood cut to fit, colored paper for sink, hook off a plastic hanger for faucet, clear beads for hot and cold, plant is chap-stick lid with fake foliage glued inside.
Coffee table- toilet paper rolls, cardboard, duct tape
Kitchen table and chairs-another tutorial from My Froggy Stuff on YouTube, this lady has some really great ideas!
Refrigerator is the only "bought" item but could easily be made with another cardboard box.

 **Remember this is to be played with, so don't be shy with the glue,  you don't want it falling apart!**

I soon realized their 70's and 80's hand-me-down apparel wasn't gonna match the new digs...new project! I have basic/moderate sewing skills, so after looking online I found a couple dress ideas I thought I could pull off posted by Craftiness Is Not An Option.

 After that worked out and I had some more confidence  Ken got some clothes too! It's amazing the things you can accomplish if you just give it a try.    

   

See more

 DIY projects from Over The Apple Tree

Thrift Store Princess Mirror

Follow me here:

Pinterest / Facebook / Bloglovin'

GIMP Tutorial, Black and White Image With Pop of Color

This is a tutorial showing you how to get a black and white image with pops of color in it. I use GIMP, which is a free photo editing program similar to Photoshop. Download here. This is a great way to highlight parts of the photo that you want to stand out.

1. Open the GIMP program and select the image you want to work with. In the top menu bar click:
FILE → OPEN then find image in your files

2. After your image opens up, in top menu bar click: LAYER → DUPLICATE LAYER

3. In your layer dialog box you want to make sure that your top(copy) is highlighted, that is the layer we will be working with. We need to make the top layer black and white, leaving the bottom layer color. In the top menu bar click COLORS → HUE-SATURATION Turn the saturation slide bar all the way down, your image should now be black and white.

4. Now, in top menu bar LAYER → TRANSPARENCY → ADD ALPHA CHANNEL

5. You are going to erase the part of the photo that you want to be color. When you erase the black and white, the color layer under will be shown. Select the pink eraser from the toolbox and select the solid circle brush. You can adjust the size of your brush depending on the size of the area you want to erase. If you make a mistake, click EDIT→UNDO

6. The last step is to export your new image to your computer FILE → EXPORT. Name your new image and select the type of file you want it to be saved as(.JPEG)

Click HERE to see Halloween pictures with fun backgrounds. Follow the same steps here except open your background first, then resize image to the same size of your photo. After that, all you have to do is drag and drop your photo on top. Now just pick up at step #4 and you will be erasing the background of your photo to reveal the background beneath. 

Follow me here:

Pinterest / Facebook / Bloglovin'