Studio 27 - By Jennifer Adams: 2025

Friday, October 17, 2025

Cleaning Vintage Toys

Whether it be yard sales or thrift stores, I LOVE thrifting and adding to my collections. Some of my favorite things to collect are vintage toys; Barbie, Fisher Price, Cabbage Patch, Magic Nursery... Because these items are used, and because toys get a lot of love from their previous owners, they can be pretty grungy. The first thing that I do when I get a new item is to clean it up. This post shows you how I cleaned a set of Fisher Price food toys:

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Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links. If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission. You can read more about affiliate links here

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You may remember from this post that I won an eBay lot of vintage Fisher Price. Overall everything was in great condition, but of course it needed cleaning to remove the dust and dirt that accumulates over the years.

I like to separate my items into groups based on durability; items with stickers, items with holes or openings, and items that are solid.

Anything without a sticker or a hole gets tossed into a sink full of soapy water and then rinsed. Usually dish soap is enough, but if you feel that something needs to be fully sanitized then a tiny bit of bleach will do. Just be careful not to damage your finds.

Some items aren't solid and have tiny holes. I don't want those to fill up with water and then get all moldy, so I give them a light scrub without submersing them.

For the items with stickers I just wipe them down with a damp cloth. Again, a mixture of water and dish soap is usually enough but you could use a disinfectant spray or wipe if needed.

Once I feel like everything is fully cleaned then I stack it all in a dishrack or on towels to dry. If you use towels then make sure to turn your items every so often so that they completely dry.

And that's how I clean my vintage toys.

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I hope you enjoyed this cleaning post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

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This post was added to the following link parties:

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Do you like the convenience of crafting or organizing with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

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Laundry Room Print Collection Gold

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Laundry Room SVG Bundle

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Are you thinking of starting a blog or a seasoned author who wants to get organized? This 115 page printable bundle is for you! I created these pages for my own use and found them so helpful I thought I should make them available for other bloggers as well. Click the link below the image to read the full item description.

Blog Planner Worksheets

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Wednesdays in the Studio - Link Party 39

Welcome to Wednesdays in the Studio, a weekly link party focusing on designing everyday life.

Thank you to everyone who joined last week! This week's features include:

Oven roasted squash and onions from Scratch Made Food

A vegetable garden harvest from Amy's Creative Pursuits

A doily ghost from The Apple Street Cottage

A honey bottle turned vase from Crazy Little Lovebirds

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Were you featured? Grab this photo and add it to your blog!

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Want to join this week? Here are the rules for participation:

*Add up to 3 posts related to designing everyday life. Examples include crafting, sewing, cooking, baking, home decor, holidays, party planning, blogging, thrifting, gardening, DIY projects, organization and so on.

*Please link to a specific post and not your homepage.

*Link only your own posts, not someone else's.

*Etsy shops, giveaways and other link parties are ok as long as they are design related.

*Party runs from Wednesday until Monday each week, Central Standard Time.

*A link back to this party isn't required but is appreciated!

*Linking up gives you the opportunity to be featured in next week's party.

*By Linking up you give Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams permission to use your posts and photos in social media and as features. If used, a link back to your material will be given.

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If you don't already, please consider following me on:

* Facebook * Pinterest * Instagram * Etsy *

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Now let's party:

-Jennifer

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Do you like the convenience of crafting or organizing with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

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Fall Autumn Thanksgiving Fake Bake Tiered Tray Kitchen Pantry Dining Room Home Decor

Fall Pie Print Collection

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Fall Autumn Halloween Falloween Home Decor

Fall Pumpkin Print Collection

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Blog Planner Worksheets

Friday, October 10, 2025

Collectable Ghost

After seeing a similar idea on social media, I wanted to make a collectable ghost friend that I could keep on the table with my Halloween potion display, here is how I did it:

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I started with a small glass bottle that I found at Dollar Tree...

...and added a bit of dried moss to the bottom.

This is going to make a nice little home for your ghost friend.

Using a piece of fishing line and a bit of hot glue, I laid the fishing line on the table and then applied glue into a ghost shape. It's hard to see the fishing line in this photo, but you want the line to be coming out from what will be the top of your shape (the ghost's head).

After the glue has dried you can pick the shape off of the table top. I was working in my craft room, so it was no big deal to glue directly on top of my surface, but you can use parchment paper or a silicone mat if you want to avoid damage.

In this picture I have flipped the ghost over so that you can see one side will be flat. If you look at the blades of the scissors, you will notice the fishing line. I added a bit more glue to round out the flat side and make sure that the fishing line was nice secure.

Turning the little ghost to the front, I used a Sharpie to make a simple eyes and mouth.

Next I inserted the ghost into the bottle with the length of fishing line coming out of the top. I pulled the line out far enough so that the ghost was suspended within the bottle, then added a bit more glue to the lid and put in place. It doesn't really matter what kind of lid your bottle has, as long as the fishing line gets secured at the top with some glue.

Isn't he cute? If you look carefully you can see the fishing line hanging from the top. You can also see how the moss helps to anchor the ghost in place. If the ghost able to move freely, it will spin around and sometimes have the back facing front.

And that's how I made my collectable ghost!

Here are links to more of my Halloween projects:

Halloween Sweet Shop

DIY Framed Skeletons

Customize a Thrifted Painting for Halloween

Make Your Own Dragon's Egg

Halloween Fake Bakes

Halloween House Baking Pan Makeover

DIY Witches Robes

Halloween Home Decor Tour

Halloween Oddities Jar Display

Easter Decor Turned Halloween Tree

Halloween Village From Christmas Decor

Spider 'Salad'

Halloween Specimen Decor

Dollhouse Turned Halloween

Spooky Blackbird Pie

Snow White's Poison Apple

Halloween Eyeball Plant

DIY Spell Books

Dollar Store Halloween Cloche

Halloween Jeweled Skulls

DIY Skeleton Fairies

DIY Crystal Ball

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

BFF Open House

Create, Bake, Grow & Gather

Home Matters Linky Party

Thursday Favorite Things

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Do you like the convenience of crafting or organizing with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

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Fall Pumpkin Print Collection

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Fall Pie Fake Bake Tiered Tray Kitchen Pantry Dining Room Home Decor

Fall Pie Print Collection

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Blog Planner Worksheets

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Wednesdays in the Studio - Link Party 38

Welcome to Wednesdays in the Studio, a weekly link party focusing on designing everyday life.

Thank you to everyone who joined last week! This week's features include:

Recycled bottle Halloween ghosts from Creatively Beth

Monster eye meatballs from Two Chicks and a Mom

August Blooms from Amy's Creative Pursuits

A fall activity list from An Artful Mom

**********

Were you featured? Grab this photo and add it to your blog!

**********

Want to join this week? Here are the rules for participation:

*Please link to a specific post and not your homepage.

*Link only your own posts, not someone else's.

*Etsy shops, giveaways and other link parties are ok as long as they are design related.

*Party runs from Wednesday until Monday each week, Central Standard Time.

*A link back to this party isn't required but is appreciated!

*Linking up gives you the opportunity to be featured in next week's party.

*By Linking up you give Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams permission to use your posts and photos in social media and as features. If used, a link back to your material will be given.

**********

If you don't already, please consider following me on:

* Facebook * Pinterest * Instagram * Etsy *

**********

Now let's party:

-Jennifer

**********

Do you like the convenience of crafting or organizing with instantly available digital downloads?

Check out this week's features from my Etsy shop:

**********

Fake Bake Tiered Tray Kitchen Dining Pantry Home Decor

Pie Menu Print Collection

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Playroom Toy Storage Labels SVG Bundle

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Blog Planner Worksheets

Friday, October 3, 2025

DIY Crystal Ball

As part of my Halloween decor I have what I call my "communication center", you know, a Ouija board, magic mirror and so forth. But what good is a communication center without a crystal ball?! Nothing, I tell you, nothing! So I decided to remedy the problem by making my own, check it out:

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I started with this dollar store glass bowl and a couple bottles of acrylic paint in a shimmery gold and sparkly glitter.

Starting with the glitter, I poured in a heavy amount and dabbed it around with a sponge brush. I wanted the glitter to be on the outside so that the crystal ball would look sparkly. You can see that it worked for the iridescent sparkle, but was still pretty see through. I wanted the globe to be transparent enough to allow light through, but not so clear that the light box that I was going to add would be visible.

To make the ball a bit more cloudy, I came in with the metallic paint and dabbed it on top of the glitter.

At that point I felt that the ball needed more color. A bit of glitter in blue, purple and gold tossed in with the wet paint did the trick!

For the last detail I added foam star stickers. Once all of the paint is dry, simply stick them to the inside of the globe. My foam stars were yellow on both sides, so the side that showed through the globe was yellow. If you run into a set where the sticky side is a color that you don't like, just add a tiny bit of glue to the side with the color that you like and put them in.

Here is how the bowl looked at that point, really pretty but a crystal ball needs lighting!

To solve my lighting problem I picked up a set of LED Halloween skeleton lights and pulled off the heads. That left me with a small strand of white lights that could fit into my bowl.