Barbie Malibu A-Frame McMansion Dreamhouse conversion to Hollister Beach Surf House.  I was able to score this house the 80's pink version last year from a shop that was closing its brick location but maintaing an online store so I got for $75 with my Christmas cash from my sister;   I had wanted the original one from the year I was born, but waited too long.  I also scored the Star Traveller camper which was only missing the ladder, roof and accessories, this vehicle is also going under remodel (birthday present) along with a VW Van that will become a Surfer Camper, SUV picnic car that will redone to look like a Surf Woody, trying to get my hands on a cheap PT cruiser as well as come VW bugs, I will be uploading info later on these projects.

Exterior and Interior 
My plan is to paint the entire house white then add accent colors, but doing it where it can easily been changed since I might change my mind 6 months later.  That and I would like to purchase either a whole house, pieces or another center section to finish off my vision.  I will be using contact paper and acrylic paint for further painting after spraying the house white with Plastic Spray Paint.

Also trying to figure out how to add more architecture features for the 2nd store railings.  First one so far is just using foam board and Plastic Canvas, I only had white, plan on looking at other colors to see what it looks like the down side is the interior wall will be solid no railings.

2nd option cutting foam board to fit in between the railings, since I had no colored Plastic Canvas I painted the board blue then cut the plastic canvas to cover it.  On the interior side I used some crafting paper 70's style to see what it would look like. 

After taking a trip to browse at Michaels a new idea hit me instead of painting then gluing plastic canvas, I can use thin craft foam then glue plastic canvas, or thick colored foam. 

Exterior Walls/Ends

I am still trying to find the right material to use to close the sides of the bottom floor up and how to decorate the walls, #1 Paint it, #2 Stucco #3 Diagonal, horizontal or vertical Balsa Wood #4 Texture Architecture Plastic.  I had tried using a placemat that I found fit perfect but architecturally it didn't fit with the rest of the features of the home. Below are pictures of the place mats, even thought about using placemat as interior wall design and using foam board as the exterior. 

I will also be adding details like AC Unit, power box, water socket and hose, exterior house lights, and maybe some gutters.  This is a prototype but I recently found a fan from my old laptop so I may be redesigning shortly.

Roof
 I will be using neon green contact paper, using tooth pick to insure the shape of the shingles are shown and ensure there are no air bubbles.  Option 1#  Making Shingles look like real life shingles, I will be using acrylic paint, the process will be painting a layer then use shaker filled with sand, let dry then paint another layer. Option 2# Painting a weather look roof to make it look like spainsh tile.

Flooring
I will be using poster board cut to shape of floor and then stick or glue the flooring for the rooms, this way I can easily change the flooring.

Walls
I will be using a wood channels from http://www.miniatures.com/12-Pcs-of-Channel-Moulding-by-Houseworks-P18227.aspx

 

as a track for sliding walls the wood floor, I will use this to hold the upper part of the wall as the house already has a channel on the floor. .

Doors, Closets, Flower Boxes, Column Covers
Currently I am missing the left front door, the back doors, closet and planters.  I found some plastic gutter guard in the shed and cut two pieces one installed on the exterior and one on interior with the holes lining up to give some architecture flare.

I like the front door so hopefully i will be able to find one on ebay along with the other missing doors.  I believe I can build flower boxes but if I can find them on line for cheap I will purchase.

I will also either by online or create Column Covers for the house currently I have 2 broken ones on the front upper level of the house.

Solar Panels
The house has openings on the roof to access the house to play, but it is also seen as a jungle gym for my half Bengal Cat, if they held Cat gymnastics competition my kitty would be all over it.  My plan is to make a cover that looks solar panels for the two slanted roofs, and Plexiglas window inserts for the very top.  I will also be installing Plexiglas in all windows that will be remove-able for appearance and to close up house so my ninja kitty will not climb in and knock everything around.  I will be visiting the fish section of my local pet stores and Walmart to find replacements for the upstairs

Note:  Kitty will be getting a walk way and swinging bridges on the ceiling and upper walls and her very own house way up high,  But she is a very nosy cat and must inspect and sniff any thing that comes into  her territory.

Furniture

I am currently looking at different interior pictures of beach homes and surf shacks as well as decor from the 1960's, 70's, and 80's to make a final decision on what the interior will look like.

I am currently making pallets that will be used as bed frames

as well as making movable sofa components out of wood boxes from AC Moore with legos as legs.  This will serve as a seat, bed and extra storage.

    I will also be using these candle holders as seats by adding cushions.

These smaller surf boards will be used as wall decor/shelving and as possible coffee tables.

Landscaping
I will be getting some indoor/outdoor astro turf for grass, I will also be making smaller diorama sections such as outdoor shower, barbecue section, bicycle storage, outdoor hammocks, pool house.   When playing or taking pictures all the pieces would fit together showing the entire lot that the house sits on.  I will also have a pool not the smaller scaled down Mattel sells one that is the right scale which happens to be made by several companies aka toddler pool (pic).  The pool playset will be easily set up and can break down for storage, I will be building a deck for the above ground pool.  I am looking to possible build an outdoor barbie public Pool in my yard, also got other crazy ideas like an Ewok Village in our woods.

Picture Day

It has been a long winter weather changing from Sunny with Shorts, to snow and winter coats.   I was hoping to already have my Doll Studio set up but due to the weather and the aliments it isn't quite ready yet.   I have been able to find some new yard sale finds dolls, furniture and accessories.

The last two days I was able to take a short walk to take pictures with two of my dolls, it just happens that one Aunt has a 1:6 windmill in her front yard, so I was able to take a couple of pics.  Apparently one was pretty good my cousin at first thought it was an Old Navy Ad.  Next I walked to the Pond, which in my stories will be Wolf Lake, there is lighthouse beacon, I hope to get a night picture with that.

To the left is a pic of my favorite 2 dolls hanging out on the windmill.  I plan to display most of my dolls on the shelves flanking my TV in my Studio Apartment.  In my Doll Studio in the back yard I plan to have my diorama's set up both on the inside and outside.  Also plan to build some exterior buildings that I can take over to the lake and place for pictures and stop-motion video.

Hopefully my cousin and I will soon be able to make some stop-motion movies which I haven't been able to due with my Sjogren's flaring constantly.  It has been very frustrating finding days when I have enough energy to start let alone finish a project.  Frustrating when you have always been creative working with your hands and now you have to take rest every five minutes.  But at last it is an escape from the world of medicine.

Fixing Beach Bicycle

Got several fashion doll barbie bikes over the summer, one of them was missing a seat what to do?

Then I was thinking really, really, really hard if this was a cartoon steam would be shooting out my ears. First I though using clay or fimo so I started to play around with the fimo and quickly decided way to much work and I would never like it because I would want it to be perfect.  Then I decided to look at the seat on the other bike what did it look like then BAMMMMM, it hit me like a ton of blocks, lotion tops.  Problem is we had no lotions with the top to finally I found a hidden bottle underneath the sink.

 Yes, not the right color and was a little bigger than the one on the blue bike, but I know these style bikes and girls bike in general usually have a wider seat.   Had to use an exacto knife to cut a piece off then use my battery operated hobby drill to open the hole a little bigger so it would easy fit on top of the bike.

 and bingo was his name O.  Success the seat is a perfect fit, next step sand bike down and paint it Agua blue, I am keeping the tires white, going to paint the seat white and then using a silver paint for all the gray spots to give it a less plastic look.

 While I was sanding I noticed the flat surface on the bike and another idea hit, oh boy this bike can hold a surf board, creativity strikes once more.

Why am I so excited you have no idea, since my battle with cancer and sjogren's led to lack of sleep, increase in pain and a vail of fog over the brain.  I still have to deal with cognitive issues, lack of concentration, forgetting simply words, among other things, so when I have periods of lucid and creative moments I get excited.

I remember walking around the neighborhood thru the woods, the car graveyard and the sand hole, finding random items and turning them in to art.  I actually sold one of my junk creations during an art show put on by our Art teacher at school.  

Though the very frustrating thing is simply projects like this that I should have down in 2 hours will take me a week, due to the swelling and pain in my hands.  While I was trying to sand it hit me do the make like pencil sand paper sticks?  Something small so I can get all the tight spots on the bike due to the fact I have limited dexterity.  If not I will have to figure out how to make one already have the general idea.

Ghostbusters

Happened to stumble upon these, I have to give to Mattel for the detail put into these guys all the way down to the ghost trap opening and the guns/packs lighting up. Hopefully I will be able to complete the set with the other two guys.

The Beginnings

Over 10 years in Raleigh and never thought to go to the Kids Exchange, to get gently used toys, I have been going to the Flea Market for years.  Right before I was told you have cancer oh by the way its Stage 4, was when the California line had come out, my plan was to use the spare room as my toy room.  My mom wasn't too happy about me spending my free money on toys, the only reason I had the spare room because she was tired of sleeping on a blow up in my livining room of my 1 bed room apartment.  She was paying part of the rent while she got treatment for cancer, so I hid my fines in the closet hoping to display them at some point.  When she was back home I would pull them out and start painting them and adding things.

Funny thing is she is the one that started the whole barbie doll collecting thing so I could buy a barbie as an investment, but I couldn't buy the furniture.  It wasn't till I was about 12 the whole barbie collecting thing started, my mom was more into it me I liked playing with them.  We barely had any dolls I remember we got the Sindy and Craig doll from the either the Sears or JcPenny catalog.  We had little money so really birthday and Christmas was the only time we got toys and not that many.  I remember visiting everyone else with the barbie mansion and toys upon toys.  Me and my sister didn't get much I think the biggest haul was when I was like 5 or 6 and my sister 12 all our stuff filled the dinning room, bikes, kitchen set, baby dolls, high chair, crib, and the Cindy and Craig doll.  I think my mom was hoping for at least one girl girl and not another Tom Boy. 

Sadly just like my sister the dresses, purses, went out the door that summer my mom comes home to find her 6 year on the roof hammering shingles.  And no I am not talking about a fake hammer imitating daddy, I am talking about my own tool belt with real nails in them and actually putting shingles on the roof.  Lets just say that mom wasn't happy, unlike my sister I spent more time with my dad.  In the day time mom worked so I was with dad, at night dad worked and I was with mom.  I still hung out in the kitchen learning how to cook and learned more then my mom realized.  But I did love dolls and deep down my mom did too, so if she couldn't go dress shopping, doing my hair for dances and prom we could have the dolls.

My first doll that I bought with my birthday money was the heart family, I dreamed looking at the flyer in there of all the other items I wanted.  I used the cabinet on my dresser as an apartment, when it was raining and we played in doors we didn't have a barbie house.  My sister decided we could use the books in the closet particularly the one's of the state's that had desert or beach scenes, perfect wall paper as my sister would say.  So we built massive homes that covered the entire floor.   My mom continued to buy barbies adding them to my bed room, while I was off to college, it wasn't till after her death, did I see all the dolls, half of them I had never seen.  She was redoing are bedrooms and had packed everything up, she knew while she was packing that it wasn't going to be her putting the items back in the room.  She wrote on slips of paper and put them on items that had been given as gifts.   It would be my sister and I going thru the boxes, discovering and learning family history as we went thru all the boxes, she literally keep everything from birthday/mother day cards to random notes we wrote, both of us still have those slips of paper with her writing on it.  We also have all the pictures, when I went thru it I found pictures I took with my first camera, a barbie camera my mom picked up at a yard sale.  You see my mom loved to take pictures so naturally I did too.  Unlike most kids today I had no problem getting things from yard sales, salvation army etc why buy new when you can get more with less money.  I remember in high school, my mom happened to be at the Salvation Army when a shipment of Nike size 9 shoes came in from JcPenny, the displays and shoes that are returned are never resold but donated, my mom got me 20 Nike's that retailed over a hundred for $30.  Lets just say I didn't need shoes for several years, I would match my shoes to my outfit, and people at School thought my parents were loaded...nope far from the truth cause at that time the company my dad worked at for 20+ years had closed meaning we had one income.  My mother who was now having to work 3 jobs morning and after noon she drove a school bus, in between she was a department manager at Walmart and at night and weekends she worked at a day care. 

We got are creativeness from our mom, artistic and hardworking from both our parents and construction from our dad.  When I was little I would build boats and houses from wood, I could find random things like my sister and see a use for them. Back to the Barbies, once my mom passed I packed away the dolls, and all my other art, bought a play station 2 and started to work out and spend all my time at work.  Then a year later I get nailed with cancer, once again I throw my self into work.  Then one day I stumbled across diorama's from  a collector in Australia, then photo stories using the dolls from England.  It was then I decided to break them out, my new apartment had 3 rooms, why? because my sister moved in after my dx so she got an apartment with a play room for me...lol

I then found several online groups, started my flick r account, got me some shelves to display them, set some "entertainment money" as  I call if for dolls, movies or computer games.  I know look for cheap furniture at flea markets and re do them or keep them the same.  I have found that working with Playscale has allowed me an escape but also to express my creativity.  My plan is to make some comic style books for my family, dolls and displays that when the time comes will be given to family and friends which cross the fingers want be till at least 20 years, but time will tale my Cancer is NED at this time meaning its too small to show up on scans, but I also have Sjogren's, Fibromaylgia, Raynard's Phenomon, and Rheumatoid Arthritis, which is why my sister has to help with some of my modeling becasue I am losing my dexterity.   I even have my aunt who has assumed more of a mother role looking at yard sales for cheap furniture she is the one that found the talking house I got for my birthday.

Well below is my latest finds, I have wiped everything down, also got a couple dolls I will post them once I have cleaned them up.  I am going to have my sister tatoo two of the dolls.