Scene: Beach hut

This is a scene of which I have talked a lot about in previous posts, but, as it occurred with the beach kiosk, I never uploaded pictures once it was finished.  So here they are!

General view.  I added a floor to hold everything together

The animal toys were a gift from a coworker

The kids have their own play area, with a play tent, a pail with a shovel, and some water proof animals.  

A big floatie waiting to be used, and a seagull stealing some French fries

The barbecue is lit, and some good things are being cooked.  We have ligher fluid, matches and a bag of charcoal (it sounds when you shake it, I don't remember if I did that or if it came like this).

We also have a tray of uncooked meat, ketchup and mustard bottles, and some skewers being cooked on the grill.  A tray with pretzels is already prepared.

 

Let's go inside...

How cosy! We even have a lamp!

Lamp removed so you can see the clock

 

My main purpose to put a floor was so the doors to the hut could swivel.  Otherwise I would have had to glue them in position.  Let's peek inside (for your comfort viewing, I will remove the roof):  

A nice straw carpet allow us to leave the shoes outside and feel like at home.  A long table with director chairs to sit comfortably while eating.  Some coastal pictures are a must as well.

On the left side you can see an organizing cube shelf.  Boxes with extra shoes (just in case ours get wet), and some more stuff to eat and drink.

Aerial view of the organization

We have another bag with groceries (all handmade by me, except the milk bottles).  We have Oreo cookies, and several bags of chips.  On the shelf we have bags of Gummy bears, a couple of pizza boxes, a bucket of KFC pieces, some wine and spirit bottles, a box of cookies and a couple of Twinings tea tins.  We are not going hungry!

 

You can see the table all set up with placemats, cutlery, napkins, coasters, glasses and a bottle of wine.  The decorated plates I made hold some burgers.  On the beach bag we have a can of Pringles, a bag of chips and a bottle of water, in case we take a walk. We have some clean towels on the rack, waiting to be used, and an extra pillow (it's there because it didn't came out very well after sewing it, but still looks pretty enough).  

We have cupboards holding tupperwares, bowls, glasses, plates and mugs.  Under the sink we have some cleaning supplies, and some preserves and a cereal box.  The little drawers hold more napkins and more cutlery.  Over the counter we have a roll of kitchen towels with Angel fishes, a bowl with fresh lemons, more cutlery, a jar of instant coffee and my beloved tuna cans and pinapple cans.  There's also a sponge, dishwasher and a tea towel.

I absolutely loved making this.  I had so many ideas for it, and it was fun making them reality.  As of today, it is finished, although I may end up adding some extra cans of food, you never know...

 

Scene: Beach Kiosk

Remember when, a long time ago now, I talked about doing a newsstand or magazine kiosk?  Well, finally it got turned into a beach kiosk.  These kind of shops are very popular near Spanish beaches, and you can find many of them alongside a promenade if you take a walk.

It's been many months (dare I even say years?) since it was finished, but yesterday I realized I haven't post pictures, so here they are:

I have placed it in one of the shelves in my study

A vintage gum ball machine, and fridge with cold sodas

Plenty of magazines to choose from

I spent weeks making the magazines, but I had a blast.  I designed all of them myself with Photoshop, and all of them have an ad in the back of the same theme the magazine is about.  For example, the dollhouses magazines have an ad for miniatures; the bridal magazines for wedding gowns.  And so on and so forth.  Each magazine has 5 double pages inside and they are glued shut to keep them realistic-looking.  There are lot of them: about 55 magazines of various subjects (bridal, nature, cinema, miniatures, decoration...); there is also some comic-books (both DC and Marvel, featuring my favorite characters), some Sudokus and puzzles, and child and adult coloring books - the children ones include a box of crayons!

There are also snacks: chips, chocolate bars, the gum ball machine, and of course, water and sodas.

I'm sure you will find something to your liking!

Get a snack while you are at it!

And since we are near the beach there are also beach bags, mats,  beach chairs, fishing nets, ping-pong sets, flip-flops, sunscreens and some souvenirs: lighthouses, glass buoys and some beach shells for your mini collection.

There's also some beach balls, pinwheels and pails. 

It was so much fun making this!  I bought stuff from a lot of different talented vendors, some things I made myself, and some were some bits and bobs I had lying about.  Sometimes I catch myself thinking what more I can include, and if I find something that I like I will buy it for sure.  Until then, this is it.

Ladureé cart update

The work in the cart continues.  

Picking up where I left, I painted the cart legs, and while they were drying, I also painted the posts of the cart in gold, and added a fine line of gold to the trim.  I cheated and did this with a gold Edding pen:

Now glueing the wheels:

Then I attached the legs:

After this, I finally set up the "table" for the counter:

As the counter table is made of foamboard, I did not like the look of the edges, so in an attempt to cover them, I cut a paper trim of 6 mm, painted it green, and applied it to the edges:

It's starting to look good!

Next step was preparing the roof.  I took the covers I made the previous day and added more layers of green paint.  After that, it was very easy to attach them to the structure:

I love them, but I will cover all the edges with papers, just as I did with the "table".  

I was ready to call it a day after this, but then I noticed that one side of the cart looked higher than the other, so I used a lever to check, and OMG, what a disaster!

Oh noes!!

The bubble is supposed to be centered, so I have no other recourse than to remove the legs, sand them to measure and glue them again.  But that will come the next day.

More soon! 

Working on the Ladureé cart

I have had a whole year to plan this, but the motivation to start working on the cart has been elusive.  Today I took a plunge and simply started working.  

I have been compiling pictures from different Ladureé carts around the world, and using them for inspiration.  My cart was like this to start with:

Stock photo of the assembled cart

Comparing it with others that I had seen, there were several things I did not like:  the handles, for starters, and the fact that the body has the bottom way down, so anything you want to feature gets hidden, and you have to peek in.

So I decided to slightly alter it, to make it look more like this one:

 

So, I would be removing the handles and adding a "roof" and some legs.  I would also add kind of like a "table" to make the cart flush to show the merchandise.

Since I already had some painted parts, I decided to start making a pattern for the table in 1mm cardboard.  It was easy, and it served my purpose very well:

1mm cardboard did not seem very sturdy, so I used 5 mm foamboard to craft something that would not bend:

Just draw the pattern...

...and cut it to shape

Paint it mint green...

...and dry fit inside the cart

It's not perfect, but I am happy with the results!

Next, to craft the roof.  I used the same foamboard to cut two pieces, and painted them green (they need more coats, but that will be done tomorrow):

Next, to try to craft the legs:  I bought some stairs pillars from Tienda de Casitas.  I assembled the wheels, tried the pillars with them to check the size, and cut them to measure with the help of my husband:

 

They look wonderful!

I am so happy with them, because they look very similar to the ones in this picture:

 

So tomorrow I will be painting them green.  And I realized that I need to paint the columns that hold the roof in gold, so I will be doing that as well.

More tomorrow!

Scene: Ballet shop

This had been some time almost finished but a couple of days ago it finally was.  Since yesterday we were so busy with the Alien screen, I did not have time to take pictures.  But now is here!

A new scene that I absolutely love: the Ballet shop!

The logo is from an actual ballet shop in Murcia

I just love crafting these little shops!  A lovely scene so well contained, but with a lot of details and that I can actually hang in my wall, so it won't take up any shelf space.

The actual shop comes from Tienda de Casitas.  I find it so pretty, so affordable, and you can actually start decorating the same day you get it because, it just doesn't need anything else!  It opens on the back and it has a "glass" covering the window so nothing gets dusty.

Some things hidden behind the door

 

The tutu comes from Tienda de Casitas.  The hat boxes and the little pink boxes are from Zena Miniatures.

The ballet art posters on the wall come from Etsy.  The pointe shoes in the boxes and the ones in the dome are from Art of Mini.  In fact, they have a lovely section full of ballet items!  The converitble tights come also from Zena Miniatures.

The magazine holder I made myself, and you can find HERE the free printie to make ballet magazines.  The three nutcrackers are also from Art of Mini.  The mugs and the notepad I made myself.  Blue boxes from Zena Miniatures.

The nutcraker pillow came from La Belle Cuisine By Me; the rocking nutcraker was a gift from Nalladris; the suitcases are again from Art of Miniatures, available in the Ballet section; I made the DVDs myself with actual ballet DVD covers, as well as the ballet book (a gift from my husband); and you can get the ballet coloring books HERE.

I love how it came out!