Scene: Absinthe cellar

I love making scenes!  You can fill up a random room with any idea, and you don't need to spend a lot of time or a lot of money to make it, since scenes are usually much smaller than a room in a dollhouse; you can put them anywhere (book nooks), or you can gift them to people, since sometimes you can house them in a regular decoration object (like a lantern).

I have seen many scenes inside roomboxes, and I always wanted to make my own.  Unfortunately, I cannot find deep roomboxes in my country, so I searched for an alternative.  I found it in the shape of a coin bank, and housed it there (same coin bank as the nursery scene I did for my coworker) - actually, I made this one first, but I just realized I never posted about it.

The idea was to make a cellar (of which I have also seen many), but I wanted to make a cellar dedicated to absinthe, instead of wine.  My coin bank did not have much space, so finally I came up with this:

You can see on the table a lot of things:  the absinthe fountain is the same model I used to sell in my Etsy shop (and my own design!), of which I am very proud of, filled up with water and ice cubes;  the goblet is a little out of scale, but I bought it because it has a reservoir bubble like a Pontarlier glass, to measure the absinthe you serve; the bottle is a Clandestine, a Swiss blanche that I very much enjoy; in front of them, an empty sugar dish, mimicking the old French ones, an absinthe spoon, work of Nalladris, and a regular bottle opener.  Under the table, two books that any absintheur should have: The Absinthe Encyclopedia and the Absinthe Antiques, by Scott MacDonald.

On the floor you can see a collection of absinthe bottles (some I have tried, others I have not); an absinthe crate, with the label from the makers Deniset; over it, a set of antique postcards with absinthe imagery; and finally, a barrel (empty of course, but let's pretend is absinthe in the process of aging) holding a magazine called Imbibe, with the cover dedicated to absinthe.  The little carpet covers the coin slot. 

 

And naturally, a picture of the famous painting made by Pernod Fills as publicity, and that they gifted to cafés so they would advertise their brand:

I currently have this scene hanging in my absinthe corner, underneath a vintage add of Gempp-Pernod:

I am currently working on another scene, that is almost finished - an apothecary!  More info on that coming soon!

A lovely gift for Kassandra's library

Yesterday I visited Kassandra.  I had something very special that I made for her, and I wanted to see how she liked it, being as she is a creature so fond of luxurious things.

"Good day, Kassandra!  I come bearing gifts!"

"Hello, dear.  Oh, how exciting!  What did you bring? Let me see, let me see!"

"Here, this is for you.  I hope you have enough room to accomodate it."

"Oh my stars, it is gorgeous!  And it is for me?  Thank you so much, dear!  Of course there is room to place it!  I will put it in the libray.  One needs drinks when one is busy perusing books!  But first, let's fill it up"

Some wine goblets and a nice bottle of red wine

 

And said and done, she placed it in the library:

"It is absolutely superb, dear!  Thank you again.  I will treasure it for years to come."

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Fantasy apart, this globe is a fantastic kit, creation of Sandra Quigley; you can buy your own kit from her HERE, or ready made HERE.  It is challenging, but doable if you are careful and do not rush things.  Also, if you have trouble with written instructions, like me, Sandra uploaded a tutorial on YouTube that you can follow along as you are crafting.  It helps inmensely.  

If you try it out, I hope you enjoy it.  I really did!

Revamping Kassandra's old house

As it could not be any different, this week that I am on vacation, Kassandra has asked help to decorate the ceilings of her old house - the one that has the Magic Shoppe.  When we moved, I did the walls, but ceilings were not on our mind them.  Mainly because there were no download-and-print papers for ceilings.  But now that that little problem has been solved, she was very excited to have pretty ceilings in her, as she calls it, "my "single lady" house".

We started with the parlor, which seemed the easiest one, has it has a lot of room to maneuver.  All of our ceiling papers come from Pixel Market, so if you need one (or many) go take a look to see of they will suit you.  We started as always clearing out the space, and printing some sheets to mount.  In this case, two were more than enough:

Work is starting...

It was easy enough to stick them, as there are no beams or corners that can difficult the work:

... and everything back to its place.

Next, the study.  The study is so small it was possible to use a single sheet, printed to fit the space, with borders already included in the design:

It looks wonderful in the wood-covered study!

We couldn't unglue the magnet that holds the chandelier, so now it is hidden by the paper!

Next step, the shop.

We took out the magnet that keeps the door closed, to work without issues

This one took a lot more time, between clearing out the space and printing everything we needed.  We thought it would be the same size (give or take) than the parlor, but we were mistaken.  We had to use two complete sheets, plus another one with extra ceiling, and borders, because part of the space was left uncovered:

We made a mistake, and had to reprint: see that the colors don't match?  The paper was backwards!

And after reprinting, we made another mistake and mounted the papers the wrong side; they had to be together by the long side, and we put them by the short one.  Silly us!  Print again, and watch your steps while mounting them again!

Finally, we attached the borders and glue them to the ceiling up the shop - we spent most of the afternoon doing this, and there wasn't almost any light for pictures when we finished; plus, it had been raining all day:

Magnet is back in its place

The magnet that holds the chandelier is hidden here as well

We left the work for the day, and today we finished the last room: the hall.  So, we emptied it and took measures to make a pattern:

We removed the magnet here as well

When the pattern was finished, I wanted to use another ceiling design, but Kassandra said that she wanted the same as in the shop, as we had the wrong matched papers from yesterday.  That way they would not go to waste.  A very sensible thing, I believe.  So we cut carefully the papers, and attached the borders so the ceiling would match the design of the shop.  Then we glued it, and it was a success:

Gorgeous!

Magnet attached, and everything back in its place

It has been a rewarding effort.  Kassandra is very happy that both her houses are now completely decorated.  I am embarking today in crafting a gift for her, hopefully for the library of the big house.  Let's see how that goes!

A project for two afternoons: makeup chest!

 Today I found Kassandra very happy, opening a gift that someone had given her.

"Hello! What is that you are opening?"

"Hello dear!  Oh, I am overjoyed!  The principal dancer of a ballet company with which I work from time to time has given this to me."

"Oh, how cute!  Is it a makeup chest?"

"Yes!  Oh, Erika is such a dear!  I love her so much.  I have seen her progress from a novice dancer to a great ballerina.  She deserves all the success in the world."

"I am sure she does.  And I hope you enjoy your makeup box!"

"I am ready to fill it up!"

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Fantasy apart, I saw a similar box in Facebook, and very much wanted to make my own.   I am in a phase now that I love what I call the "dancer pink" color, so I wanted the box to place it in the ballet studio.  I started with an ordinary box made of plain, untreated wood, and painted it pink:

 

Then I decided to cover the inside with a textured paper.  I was going to use a tan suede paper, but my husband said that looked too dark, and suggested something in ivory.  So I used the same fabric paper that I used in the natural history cabinet:

 

Trying on the patterns

Bottom side...

... and lid

Since it was a makeup chest, I wanted to include a mirror.  At first I thought of using a spare mirror I had in 1:144 scale, but it was very small, and I didn't like it.  So instead, I cut a piece of an acrylic mirror (the same type I used to hang in the ballet studio):

Dry fit to check the size

Wonderful!

 

I did not want to paint the bottom, so instead I covered it with a black suede paper, so it wouln't slide on the surfaces:

 

Then, embellishments!  So naturally, gold brass corners and a functional hinge (I love it!):

It looks perfect!

Next step, to craft some tiny makeup!  It was easier than I thought, with some help from YouTube videos made by talented crafters:

 

The lashes box comes from Zenas Miniatures; the two nail polishes I made following this video; the eye shadow pallete I got from here, and simply glued it to a piece of black Eva foam.  The gold nail file I made with gold textured cardboard, and the mascara bottle is just a piece of black paper glued around a toothpick that was painted with gold paint.  I covered the paper with a piece of clear adhesive tape.

It looks lovely in the ballet studio!

New furnishings for the living room

I found Kassandra today very busy, hanging up some pictures in her newly finished living room.

"What are you up to today?"

"Good morning, dear.  As you can see, I am dressing up my walls.  Since we are so fond of cinema, I have chosen to decorate with some movie posters."

"What have you got for display?"

"Well, in the first place, some classics that we adore.  Dracula, as it could not be any other way.  I absolutely love Coppola's movie!  It may not be completely faithful to the book, but I so enjoy the cinematography, the costumes, and the absinthe scene... Oh, that is one of the best I have seen in any film!  And Blade Runner, another of out favorite classics.  But of course, something more modern:  The Justice League.  The actor that plays Superman is one of my favorites.  He looks so handsome in that picture, don't you think?"

"Why, yes, of course.  I assume you have seen "The Witcher" as well?"

"But of course!  I cannot wait for December to start the second season!"

"And this other painting over here?"

"That is the lovely Nadja, from "What we do in the Shadows".  She is a riot; if she was real I am sure we would be great friends.  That picture is featured in the opening credits of the show."

"That is so fun!  This place looks really neat to have a movie marathon afternoon."

 "Why, thank you, dear!"

Free printable! Christmas coloring books

Christmas is approaching - it comes earlier each year... So here is a fun little free printable for you to make and enjoy: Christmas coloring books both for children and adults!

As always, please feel free to print as many times as you like, gift them to friends and pass the file along to anyone (links back are nice too!).  Just please do not sell the file or your creations.  Thank you and enjoy! ♥