I am Learning Crochet!

Hi there!

I hope you’re all doing well!

Monday comes way too early now that I work at my practicum site on Saturdays. I love having the opportunity to help out though. I worry about the teens being bored on the weekends without school or access to their friends or cell phones.

Besides work, I learned to crochet! I’m so proud of myself! At first, I tried it, and I honestly thought it was too hard for me. I just couldn’t seem to make my hands do what I needed them to do. But I gave it a couple of days, and when I tried again, I was able to make it work! The first thing I crocheted was Harry Potter from a kit my sister gifted me at Christmas.

He’s decent enough for a first try. I’m not sure how, but I ran out of the yarn for his pants, so I had to switch colors. I guess the kit didn’t have enough? Or maybe I messed up somewhere else. Who knows. His feet are terrible too. One of them is backwards. I was going to throw him away, but my husband insisted on keeping him for himself. Michael has named him “Scary Potter.”

“Scary Potter”

Since making Scary Potter, I’ve also learned to make clothing for my Calico Critters! First, I made a new outfit for Tulip LaPoodle:

Tulip LaPoodle in her new outfit

I also made this tiny crochet coffee mug for the babies to sit in:

Coffee mug

I really like the mug pattern. I see myself using it a lot in the future. I might not always add a face, but I can imagine some cute Christmas decorations and maybe a silly chair in a play room for the Calico Critters using this pattern.

I made this cute yellow dress for Cecelia Reindeer:

Her giant popsicle is from TinySugar on Etsy. I love buying from that shop. She has great molds, and her foods are cute and reasonably priced.

My favorite creation so far has been the tiny mushroom shirt I made for Ivy Red Panda:

Mushroom Shirt on Ivy

Oh, and this past weekend, I made some fruit dresses for the babies!

Fruit dresses

I love these fruit dresses so much. I didn’t find a free pattern for baby Calico Critters, so I had to make one up, and they both turned out really cute! I’m so happy with them!

I think I will write down the patterns I made up and post them for y’all since the internet seems to need free dress patterns for the babies!

Thank you for reading!

Mushroom Café and the Chiffon Apartment

Hi there!

Happy Friday!

I’m closing out my second week of officially being a practicum counseling student. I’ve picked up an extra day at my practicum site to ensure that I meet my required hours. I also now conduct psychosocial assessments there. Not much else has changed though. I was exhausted last weekend, but I think getting my booster was a big part of that.

Anyway, on to the post! The apartment above Mushroom Café is where the Chiffon family lives. I found the dollhouse on Facebook Marketplace, and I love it so much. It’s gorgeous, and it was in wonderful shape. Here is the front:

Mushroom Café and Chiffon Apartment

I love cafés. Before I had to give up caffeine, my favorite weekend activity was finding a new café for Michael and I to try. So, of course, Mushroom Meadow has a café. Mushroom Café is owned by the Chiffons, and for the most part, they handle all their business on their own. It can get pretty crowded though, so sometimes Mr. Alpaca or Mr. Polar Bear will help out behind the counter.

Here’s the inside of Mushroom Café from Christmas 2020:

Mushroom Café Christmas 2020

Recently, I added a bookcase for all my miniature mugs.

Mug Collection

Here are some more details of the cafe:

Better pictures of the counter:

The upstairs apartment has two rooms. On one side, the Chiffon parents live, and the children live on the other. I wanted their apartment to look cozy.

Mrs. Chiffon next to the parents’ bed

She has a soft throw currently, but now that I can crochet, I’d like to crochet a throw for their bed.

The kitchen area

More pictures of the parents’ side of the apartment:

The children’s room is Kiki’s Delivery Service-themed. I love Studio Ghibli movies. They’re so gorgeous.

I tried to include as many little Kiki details as I could. I’d like to make a Kiki dress for the Chiffon Daughter now.

Thank you for reading!

Olivia Maple’s Carriage Bed

Hi there!

This will be a short post.

I made Olivia Maple a carriage bed for her bedroom! I used foam core, paint, fabric, and carriage-shaped wood cutouts.

Olivia’s bed

Here are some more pictures of it from other angles:

Olivia Maple is the one wearing a pink dress. I think she was wearing a different outfit when I bought her, but she’s royalty, so she gets a dress.

Her bedroom is unicorn-themed. I’ll have to take more pictures of it soon!

Thank you for reading!

Snow White Castle

Hi there!

It’s a new week, and I’m tired. School started again for me last week, and I’ve been so busy purchasing textbooks and figuring out my assignments. I’m officially in practicum though! That’s exciting!

Anyway, over winter break, I bought the wooden castle from Michaels that I had been eyeing for months, and I started painting it. I bought the Calico Critter fairytale babies, and I put my Blackberry Rabbit in a dress that looks similar to Snow White’s dress too.

Blackberry Rabbit as Snow White

The castle was decorated for Christmas back when I took pictures of it, so there are Christmas lights in the picture above, and some of the other pictures have stockings and other Christmas-y things in them.

Below is an overview of the interior of the castle. I wanted it to be whimsical and worn-down.

My husband made all the beds for me because I am honestly too scared to use any kind of saw. This is a secret, but I use scissors to cut small pieces of wood all the time when I’m working in my study. My husband cringes when he sees me doing this, so yeah, it’s a secret. Don’t tell him, y’all.

Little beds:

Little beds

Here are the rest of the seven babies rooms:

I’ve decided that the red one will be Doc. Pink will be Bashful, and purple will be Happy. Orange will be Grumpy, and green will be Sneezy. Yellow will be Sleepy, and the blue one will be Dopey. I really want to make little name plaques for each of them. I think that would be really cute and a nice finishing touch.

Finally, here is Snow White’s room:

Oh, also, here is one of the staircases to give an idea of how I decorated those:

Staircase

This castle was a fun little project, and it made me really happy to complete, so I hope you guys liked it too!

Thank you for reading!

Mrs. Polar Bear’s Hot Cocoa Stand

Hi there!

Happy Friday! I hope you’re doing well today!

For years I’ve wanted to build a miniature hot cocoa stand for Mushroom Meadow, and I finally had the time to put it together this year. I love how it turned out!

Here is the whole thing:

Hot Cocoa Stand

More pictures of Mrs. Polar Bear’s Hot Cocoa stand:

I had so much fun putting it together, and I can’t believe how cute it is! On the day Mrs. Polar Bear debuted her stand, lots of friends in Mushroom Meadow showed up to try some cocoa.

Even my Strawberry Shortcake ornament made an appearance!

Strawberry Shortcake ornament

I really loved creating this little scene this year, and I almost don’t want to put the stand away when winter ends. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it though.

Thank you so much for reading!

Christmas in Mushroom Meadow Part 3

Hi there!

Welcome to the third and final post of Christmas in Mushroom Meadow!

The Chiffon Dog Mushroom Café and apartment is always very lively at holidays, so I have a ton of pictures of it. Mushroom Café also has a new shelf for all its coffee mugs! I collect coffee mugs in miniature and in real life, so if you’re ever wondering what to get me as a gift, a mug will always make me happy!

Mug shelf in Mushroom Café

I always put out holiday-themed treats and coffee drinks in the café, and I love deciding which Calico Critters will be at the café. The café was selling gingerbread men, Christmas donuts, peppermint lattes, and reindeer cookies this year.

I embroidered the Christmas tree hanging on the café door. Upstairs, in the apartment, the Chiffon dog siblings made gingerbread men together.

Mrs. Chiffon loves decorating for holidays, so she did all the decorating for the apartment.

Mrs. Chiffon decorating the apartment

The Chiffon dog brother and sister also have cute Pokémon Christmas bedding in their room from CatzillasMinis on Etsy.

That’s all I have for the Mushroom Café and apartment. As you can see, the Chiffons work very hard, and their café is one of the best places to go in Mushroom Meadow.

Another exciting place to go in Mushroom Meadow is Mrs. Bear’s Bakery. Mrs. Bear and her wife, Mrs. Collie, and their three children live on the second floor of the bakery. Mrs. Bear bakes everything, and Mrs. Collie helps serve customers and watches the babies. Mrs. Bear made many Christmas treats this year.

Everything expect for the macarons were made out of polymer clay by me. Mrs. Collie read The Night Before Christmas to the babies on Christmas Eve.

Mrs. Collie and the babies

The upstairs was also decorated for Christmas. They really need a third stocking.

The Hedgehog family had a lovely Christmas buffet that featured a cake I made out of polymer clay. Mrs. Collie stopped by to show off a dress made for us by a lovely Instagram friend.

Last, but not least, the Winter house is always fun to decorate. I’ve been talking with Michael about fixing it up because when I first built it, I didn’t know a lot, and the house is unstable, and it’s splitting in places. I also made some ugly design choices in certain parts. We’re probably going to remodel it together in the next year or so. Here are pictures of their living room.

This is their dining room. I made the little advent calendar myself, and I’m really proud of it! I thought it would be much harder than it was.

The gingerbread house is from Amazon, but the Snowman mugs and cakes were made by me using polymer clay.

I hope you enjoyed seeing Mushroom Meadow decorated for Christmas!

Thank you for reading!

Christmas in Mushroom Meadow Part 2

Hi there!

Thank you for coming back for part 2 of Christmas in Mushroom Meadow!

Christmas at the Otter House was delightful with their new toaster from Hallmark.

The hot cocoa and teapot were made by me out of polymer clay. I loved how well everything matched in the Otter kitchen.

The Otter living room had stockings and a Christmas tree. I’m better at sewing and working with felt now, so I want to remake the stockings, especially my mermaid stocking. I’m sure I can make a nicer one now.

The Strawberry Cottage is where Ivy Red Panda and her parents live, and I’m always very excited to decorate their house. Check out my Strawberry Cottage post to learn more about why it’s so important to me. The Red Pandas have the best tree in all of Mushroom Meadow. It was also the most expensive.

Red Panda Christmas Tree

I sewed the little tree rug myself. The Red Pandas also have cute stockings that I made using felt stickers and ribbon.

In their dining room, they have a Yule log cake with little mushrooms that I made out of polymer clay.

Here’s one more picture of the Red Panda living room, featuring a Christmas wood cutout gifted to me from a dear friend.

Red Panda living room

I also embroidered that little Christmas tree pillow.

Dr. Midnight and Dr. Oreo also got into the Christmas spirit in their laboratory. They experimented on some candy canes.

The Alpaca house got kind of neglected this year because there’s a table blocking it right now, but I did my best.

Their stockings really need to be redone, but I have been having such a hard time “finishing” cross stitch stockings. Tips are very welcome!

Mini Santa Suit

I usually decorate their tree with little beads and ribbon, but I just shoved it in there this year. I also struggled with the lighting in my pictures because of the table getting in my way. I’ll have to move their house or something.

Christmas Tree in the Alpaca house

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed seeing Mushroom Meadow!

Christmas In Mushroom Meadow Part 1

Hi there!

I know it’s a little late, but I wanted to share all the Christmas decorations in Mushroom Meadow.

This will be split up into three posts because Mushroom Meadow had a lot going on this year!

First, I want to introduce the Maple Cat family’s new butler, Mr. Cheshire! I’ve loved the butler set for years, and I’m so happy to have it! And, of course, the Maple Cats are very glad to have their very own butler.

Mr. Cheshire, the Maple Cats’ new butler

Mr. Cheshire worked very hard on his Christmas baking for the Maple Cats.

The Maple Cat house was so much fun to decorate for Christmas too. Here’s the front:

King Maple in front of the Maple Cat house

I also decorated the stairs on the side of the Maple Cat house:

Stairs

Finally, the living room had a golden Christmas tree!

The Polar Bear family also got their house decorated for Christmas for the first time. Their igloo was built in time for Christmas last year, but I hadn’t finished the interior, so I didn’t decorate it.

Polar Bear upstairs

The bedding, bear, and stocking are all from CatzillasMinis on Etsy. I love her shop so much!

They were in the midst of wrapping presents when I photographed their downstairs decorations. The TV is a Christmas ornament from Target that I just love. It’s the perfect size, and it’s so cute!

Next is the Lavender house, where Emma Deer and her siblings and parents live. I have ended up with far too many deer babies, and I do not know where to put them all!

I made the cross stitch reindeer. I wish its red, sparkly nose showed up better in this picture!

They also have snowman cookies!

Baby deer mailing their letters to Santa!

Mailbox from Bunn1Toys on Etsy

This is a cute winter bear from CatzillasMinis:

Baby deer with bear wearing a scarf

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to decorate the Panda house, so all they got was this little tree.

Panda Christmas

I have high hopes for next year though because I do not plan to be recovering from surgery!

I hope you liked this post!

Thank you for reading!

Snowman Party!

On December 4th, I hosted a Snowman themed party on Instagram! Since that was the day after my surgery, I took all the pictures for it a couple weeks in advance. Around 40 Instagram accounts participated, and it was so fun to see everyone’s snowcreatures!

For my post, I made this cute snowman costume out of felt:

Snowman Costume

I also made some more snowmen and snowwomen out of polymer clay for the occasion, and even Santa Lion made an appearance!

Santa with polymer clay snowcreatures

This party was easy to set up and host while I was recovering from surgery, and I loved seeing all my friend’s posts! They were so creative and adorable!

I was delighted to discover that I have so many little sleighs! I also made the tiny snowman cupcake and polymer clay Christmas tree for the occasion:

Baby giraffe with cupcake and tree

It was such a fun day, and I felt so blessed to have so many lovely friends.

Baby in a tiny sleigh

Thank you all for reading! There’s going to be a cookie party hosted by LifeinBoston on Instagram, and if you’d like, I hope you’ll participate!

Have a happy Wednesday!

Mushroom Meadow’s Halloween Fun!

Hi there!

Happy Friday! I hope you’re doing well and feeling ready for the weekend.

Halloween is this Sunday, and I’m so excited!

Mushroom Meadow has a table entirely dedicated to their Halloween party.

Halloween Party

I gathered almost all of the pumpkins I’ve made, along with the ones from CatzillasMinis on Etsy, and I put them all around the giant pumpkin.

Those little balloons on the pumpkin cart are from a dear friend, and two of the three brooms are from CatzillasMinis. The big table in the middle was made by me, and the bridge, hay bales, baskets, white chairs and table, unicorn, black tree, and autumn leaves are all from Michaels craft store.

Little Witch

I made the witch’s hat and tutu in the picture above.

Plates from Elizabitzies

The amazing and adorable Halloween plates are from Elizabitzies on Etsy.

I love decorating tables. I don’t know why. I just find it so fun. The Jack Skellington cake and cauldrons are polymer clay, and I made them. I also made the pumpkins and the green candles.

Candy shop

I really should have made more face pumpkins this year.

Pumpkin with Lights

I put lights in my pumpkin too!

Yay spooky season!

Have a happy Halloween everyone!

Thank you for reading.