How to make miniature flowers for the dollhouse

Flowers I made for decorating the family dollhouses this Spring: tulips, daffodils,
 poppies and pink potted anthurium

 

        I took apart a string of puka shells to make the tiniest miniature tulip displays. You will also need fine wire, white school glue and green tissue paper to make this craft. 
       The green tissue is layered over the wire for the stems and leaves on the tulips. The puka shells have tiny holes in the bottom and this is where I threaded the ends of the wire stems coated with glue. Let the tulips dry over night and then paint the shell 'tulip flowers' with acrylic colors.
       Then hot glue the tulips inside of bottle caps for display inside your dollhouse. The faux tulips look best displayed in a shallow cap. Sprinkle a little sawdust over the hot glue and paint this to look like soil or moss.

• looking for puka shells at the beach...
• See how we made a 'sailor's Valentine' using puka shells...

These miniature tulips are made using puka shells, wire and cotton batting.

 

Miniature vase of poppies. I made this vase after watching
the Kit & Caboodlers newspaper crafts here.

Puka tulip arrangement and dime.

        To craft cotton batting poppies inside a newspaper bud vase you will need the following supplies: two cotton balls, white school glue, thin wire, and newspaper.
       First, roll the newspaper into a simple long and narrow bead shape with smears of white glue brushed between the layers. Make sure to leave a hole in the center of this bead so that flowers may be wedged inside of it. 
       You will need to stand this newspaper bead on end to make it look like a 'vase' so as you work with it, keep pressing the bottom of the bead to a table top. This compresses it's foot so that the bead can be level enough to stand alone. I shaped one end of the sample bead shown here with a more complicated foot. However, if you are just beginning to learn how to craft miniatures, you may leave the extra foot off of the project to begin with.
       After the bead shaped vase it dry. decorate it with clippings from a magazine or paint it, if you prefer.
       The poppies are made by twisting cotton batting around and around the tip of a wire along with layers of white school glue until the flower petals are formed. Then these are hand-painted with water colors.

• See how factory made beads are turned into dollhouse vases here... - These mini bead vases hold ribbon roses.

Left, are pink potted anthurium before painting. Right, the finished plant.

Miniature of daffodils, forcing bulbs.

       To make the pink potted anthurium for your doll's house you will need: fine wire, a cotton ball, and masking tape. Double up the masking tape and cut the heart shaped leaves from it. Mount the leaves onto the wire stems and then tape these to the inside sides of the egg carton vase. Next, make the flowers on the plant in the same way accept poke the wire above the pink blossom for the stamen. I also added a bit of cotton batting to the top of this flower for texture. After shaping the plant inside of the planter, I painted it with acrylics. Seal all of the plant with Mod Podge.

       I displayed the miniature plant inside of a mini handmade planter. These small planters can be cut  from a paper egg carton and layered with newsprint and glue to strengthen their molded shapes.  

        To make the mini daffodils in bloom you will need: a bottle cap, masking tape, white school glue, paints,  and quilter's pins with large bead heads. 

       Inside each of these are miniature daffodils are quilter's pins! I wrapped tissue around the pin heads to look like daffodils both open and shut. Then each wrapped stem was wrapped up together with masking tape and glued inside of the bottle cap, Paint the stems, bulbs and rocks with acrylics. Wrap the daffodils with yellow tissue paper and glue. Then 'highlight' the petals with a little white color.

       These tiny bulb flowers are popular to 'force' during the season of Lent in our own home and now in our doll's house. Just arrange the bulbs in a shallow dish of pebbles and waters and watch them grow to bloom just in time for Easter!