Sunday, 15 December 2013

Two finished shops

Well, it's been a pretty long time, hasn't it? I went into a kind of funk this year and stopped doing anything really crafty. Not sure why. Maybe the horrible events at the beginning of the year had something to do with it. Not entirely sure, to be honest. I pretty much stopped doing anything creative for a long time, including taking pictures, crafting and reading.

Anyway I decided to finish up some of the shops that I had started work on before the hiatus. The Beauty Boutique was almost complete before I stopped, so all I really had to do was furnish it and take photos. Nearly the same with the toy shop, all that was needed were furniture, wallpaper and a custom built shelf. All the painting had been done nearly a year ago.

Here are some pics. I really need to work on my photography skills.

This is Madeline's Beauty Boutique. It was originally meant to be a sewing and craft shop, but after I wallpapered it, it looked more suited to be a classy perfume type shop. I had also originally intended Madeline's to be more of an upscale clothes boutique, but it seemed a bit redundant when I already had the TOMY Village Boutique.

You can't see it in this picture, but the 'tiles' on the roof are black, like the awning. I used sandpaper to tile my roof and awning.                            
Madeline's Beauty Boutique

Furnished with random bits and bobs--those of you familiar with Sylvanian Families furniture may recognise where the shelves have come from. I was too lazy to pain the shelf on the upper left, so it's retained its normal creamy colour. It's not really much different anyway.                                 Beauty shop interior

I blu-tacked all the accessories down. The accessories are wonderful and tiny and all, but they fall off so easily.
Make up table

Blu-tacked just about everything else down too. Makes arranging things much easier. Most of this shelf is Re-Ment, but there are a few SF items, like the rose perfume bottles. I love the little hair clip. It's from an old Re-Ment pharmacy set.
  Make up counter and perfume

I think I need a section for hats and handbags, instead of shoes. I'm not all that fond of the shoes, but they were the only things I could fit into that shelf. I may eventually shift this area to the SF department store and take out some of the baby toys from there (TOO MANY BABY TOYS). Department store needs a jewelry and shoes section!
Shoes and jewelry

In this upscale store, ladies dress in their best before coming. No shirt, no service. Shoes optional. And thanks Hayley, for letting me have the opportunity to buy the Soyokaze cat sister. It was definitely an impulse purchase; I don't tend to spend that much on a single figure. I don't regret it in the least--she's so pretty in person.
  Madeline and customer

I would have bought the new SF toy shop if I hadn't already been working on this. I wanted a more vintagey feel to some of my stores, and the newest toy shop is a lot more modern. The building originally came no shop sign. I made another sign out of balsa wood and toothpicks. The roof is tiled with sandpaper that I spray painted grey.
  Mulberry's Toy Shop

More random bits and bobs from all over the place. There was a time (a very short time) where I was a bit more of a purist and felt that SF should only be mixed with SF. Not anymore.
  Toy store interior

The toymaker set is one of the more interesting SF sets, I feel. The building also came with only one window shutter. I got rid of the other window shutter, so we just have this open window here where the wind can come in and blow all your nice delicate work off the work table. At least you'll never be stuffy.
  Toy Shop Workbench

Toy shelf is made of balsa wood and filled with a combination of Re-Ment and SF toys. Some of the Re-Ment toys on this shelf belong to sets that are a bit pricey on ebay now. I was lucky and got them fairly cheap. I love the little 'care bear' in the back. I also really like the more detailed little cars. SF toy vehicles leave a lot to be desired. The gumball machine really works. And really spills everywhere when you drop it.
  Toy shelf

"Let me just wrap that up for you."
  Toy shop customer

Mr. Owner Man
  Mr Mulberry

Friday, 10 May 2013

Mini SF sets

I saw some of the mini SF sets on BeHappy and decided to pick up a couple of sets just for fun. I'm amazed by how much I absolutely freaking love them! Now I'm kicking myself for not getting the older mini sets when BeHappy had them ages ago. And also the Willow Hall mini I saw on ebay recently for a good price. The minis up there now are too expensive for me to justify, even if I do love them.

I've been disliking the pictures I've taken lately, but since I haven't uploaded anything for such a long time, I just thought 'screw it' and uploaded them all anyway.

Size comparison of a regular SF sister bunny figure and the mini Sylvanian choco bunnies.

Choco bunny playtime

I love her fuzzy paws! I like how cute they look, gripping the chair. While I do like the JP flat hands better, the cupped UK hands come in handy when I have stuff for them to hold.

Fuzzy paws

The mini Copper Beech Cottage. These kits come unassembled, so you have to put them together and apply the stickers yourself. I like doing that sort of thing. : ) I wish the cottage had a door.

Mini cottage

The inside has stickers for the kitchen and a few bits of furniture. Looks just like its full sized counterpart minus the stove. I like the look of the full size cottage but I don't think I have enough space for it. Not with all my other stuff...

Mini cottage inside

Miniature juice bar! One of the pictures I took had some flowers that were included in the set in it. The picture looked really weird, so I ended up removing them. The little basket that holds the jam jars in the original is too small in this set to actually do anything.

Mini juice stand


Not my favourite piece, but still cute. The mother rabbit has a lot of scratches on it, unfortunately. Came like that out of the package.

Mini ice cream stand

Couldn't resist a full frontal shot.

Mini ice cream stand 2


This bakery! I had so much fun assembling this bakery. It's so detailed and I think that the father Chocolate rabbit figure is the best one of the lot. He looks like he's standing instead of sitting. The wheel actually turns too.

Mini Watermill Bakery

This set comes with a number of loose bread items including three individual animal face breads, a croissant, a baguette, a loaf and a melon (I think) bread. There are so many pieces in this set, and the stickers are so detailed too. The inside window stickers actually depicts hills and grass.

Mini Watermill Bakery inside


One of the walls is actually different from the life-size version. Instead of having the water powered mixer, they have a number of shelves full of ingredients.

Mini Watermill Bakery inside 2

Ultimately, these sets give me much squee.

Sunday, 14 April 2013

Death, it fucking sucks

Caps

I haven't blogged for a while. Part of the reason is that my brother-in-law died recently, and I haven't been in the best frame of mind for the past few months. It's only now that I've become calm enough to write something about this on the blog.

He was just a few weeks short of turning 30. I wasn't close to my BIL, but he lived in the same house as me, and I considered him my bother. He suffered from diabetes, and went to sleep one day and never woke up. My husband and I drove him to the hospital when we realised that his sleep was not natural, and when we couldn't wake him up. Everything that followed was horrible and traumatic. I never want to sit in that little room where the man comes and talks you through the process of organ donation again. Fuck that.

He was a gamer, and a people person. He loved Magic the Gathering and had an enormous collection of cards (like a chest and several boxes full), loved games like Skyrim and Fallout, loved fantasy stories and movies. And Spongebob. My husband and I had been getting him Spongebob paraphernalia for the past few Christmases--it had become a kind of ongoing joke. He was also a devoted Christian who loved God and tried to do his best to be a good person.

We made nuka cola caps and bought chocolate gold coins for people to toss into his grave in addition to the usual flowers.

Anyway, sometimes shit things happen to good people. See ya, William.