Cottontail Confectionary

Decades ago, some jazz dog statues (yes, jazz dog statues) sparked an idea for a "Sit-and-Stay Dog Cafe" scene in my brain. But before any work was done for the Sit-and-Stay Dog Cafe, other animal themed projects sprung to life (Knitty Kitty and Mother Cluckers) and others were formulated in my imagination (Cottontail Confectionary, Fish Bowl Restaurant, and The Smoking Sloth).

I purchased this Real Good Toys Front Opening Shoppe from another miniaturist who had already finished the exterior in pastel colors and painted the interior all creamy pale yellow with black walnut flooring installed on the first floor.

Pastel green and pale yellow with pink accents and lace curtains!

Move in ready

The colors reminded me of spring and rabbits. And the "Cottontail Confectionery Sweets and Treats" was under way. I've spent the last 5 or 6 years collecting cakes, chocolates, and candies for the shop. Some I even made myself (Chocolate Goodies & candy)! Downstairs would have cakes, cupcakes, and more gourmet treats for adults and the upstairs would be more manufactured candies for kids.

But first, it needed light downstairs. Being a front/top opening structure meant that the top floor was fairly bright enough, but the shelves down below were very dark. So I installed some chandeliers.

And so I also needed to add matching black walnut wood flooring to the upstairs (helps hide the electrical wires) and then I installed some wallpapers (had to make a template for the wall with the stairs):

All electrified, papered, and flooring installed

I had white Bespaq displays for downstairs. I needed some white furniture upstairs that was narrow and shorter than average since the upstairs is not as tall. Found a cute little bookshelf that I could paint:

Unfinished narrow bookshelf

Painted them white, added green/pink painted details, and glued a FIMO pink rabbit I had made in a Ruth Stewart mold to the sides

Up close pic of shelf in place (before flooring was installed)

Front of the bookshelf has green/pink detailed painting

For the back wall I had purchased a laundry room set from Hobby Lobby; I just wanted the upper cabinets and if it worked out in the space I'd go back and get another set or two (and use the other pieces in my other projects). But by the time I tested the fit, Hobby Lobby no longer carried the set! So, my solution was to kit-bash the 3 furniture pieces that came in the set to create a new back wall display counter.

Photo taken from someone on Facebook when they found the set they were looking for in the clearance section of Hobby Lobby; sadly, my Hobby Lobby was sold out.

Sink cabinet on left would need to be cut down to same height as upper cabinets

Removed sink so cabinet is same height as other cabinet, covered hole with wood that I would paint white to match countertops

Turned other cabinet on its side. It too would need to be cut down to a lower countertop height.

All finished and in place

Then it was time to decorate with all my furniture and sweets (many chocolate pieces and cakes came from Elizabeth Murta or Ruth Stewart).

Shelves are still a little bare. I thought I had collected plenty in the last few years but there's so much space!

But the upstairs looks too dark now that the downstairs is all lit up. So I added a strip of warm white LEDs behind a piece of trim and wired that in to the electrical plan.

All lit up, although now downstairs doesn't look as bright - might need to change those bulbs to be warm white like the upstairs. LOL

The pieces for my rabbit lollipop stand (from Alma, who sadly doesn't make miniatures anymore); green tier stand was a kit assembled by my friend Julie for me

My finished rabbit lollipop stand with rabbit lollipops

Upstairs

Cotton Candy Corner

The Pez dispensers, also made by Alma, on the right are my favorite miniature in the upstairs scene

Tulips are on order from an Etsy lady but they won't arrive for another 2 weeks but eventually the flower boxes will be filled with tulips on either side of the rabbit cabbage planters

Now I will either create some plexiglass covers for a customer (and maybe one for myself) or I will pull out the Fimo and make some candies for the shop (and some String of Turtles or String of Pearls plants for the Peruvian scene I was just working on. And some cigars for my next animal themed shop: The Smoking Sloth). We shall see if plexiglass or Fimo wins...or maybe I'll start work on The Sit-n-Stay Dog Cafe or the Irish Cottage.

Luck of the Irish (Part 1, the Beginning)

Been wanting to create an Irish cottage for decades. I tried to make this into my Irish "Cottage":

I had seen some photos of quaint, colorful, little seaside Irish villages and I thought I could make this work into an Irish home. But I then decided to design my own, something a bit more fairy tale/cottage themed. I designed, redesigned, and redesigned again. Finally ended up with a prototype I loved:

So there are a few other projects I am still working on so it will be a few months (years?) before I return to this one, but who knows? maybe after a few Guiness I'll put this project back at the front of the line again!

Hanging on the Vine

The large "to do" item still remaining on my Birithmas Peruvian scene is to make the flowers that will be on the tree and lattice work on the restaurant side. My friend's patio scene got wisteria, but I wanted something red.

Friend's blue wisteria hanging on the patio side

So I researched red Peruvian flowers (because the street side of my roombox is based on Arequipa in Peru) and found the Cantuta flower:

Flowers seem more pink than red but close enough!

So I painted my oriental rice paper in shades of red and pink. Thought I was being clever and made swirls and variations of the colors on the paper. However, once these tiny things are cut, rolled, punched, and glued, you can hardly tell each one had streaky hues of reds. Since real flowers are about 6" long, my flowers had to be 1/2" long max. Took a few hours but I rolled some cones and punched out flowers...and then glued them together to get my tubular flowers:

Step by step to get each flower

My tubular army

I started out trying to make the flowers about 1/2" long but my fingers were feeling arthritic so I began to make the tube parts longer and cut them down after the glue was dried just so I would have something to hold on to while trying to glue the flowers onto the cones.

While those were drying, I also replaced a very plastic fake looking plant in my crocheted plant holder. The plant holder came with this plastic plant but I wanted something more authentic. I liked the pot so I ripped out the green plastic and replaced with an agave leave plant kit I had purchased from Dioramapresepe on Etsy. 

Plastic plant needed to go

My agave leaves in place

Then I glued my tubes to my vines in my patio restaurant.

My little plant back in its holder and on the wall.

I still want to attempt a String of Pearls or a String of Turtles plant to go in a planter on the wall, but that's another day's project. For now, this patio restaurant is open for business!

Lighthouse demolition

 Remember this dollhouse (Prior blog post about this project)?

Real Good Toys Lighthouse

Customer decided the Currituck brick look wasn't going to work for her: she wanted it displayed on the balcony at her beach house (or on her living room table when she wasn't at the beach house to monitor the weather on her balcony). Even though I put 4 coats of UV protective sealant spray on the paper bricking, after 3+ years it began to fade in the direct sunlight and salt air, and some of the brick papers were loose.

So she's hired me to remove the bricking, sand it down, and she wants it painted all white (similar to the Okracoke lighthouse).

Sanded down to the raw wood

Paper has been removed. Glue residue, brown primer paint, and most of the siding has been sanded off with my Dremel oscillating sanding tool. 

Gave it 2 coats of primer:

And contacted customer to see if dark brown roof and trims should be painted black or not. But customer has been told she needs surgery at the end of the month so she's asked that I put the project aside until she's recovered and can research how she wants it to look.  So customer's house has been put aside and I'm back at my mansion again!

Constructing the Dream

Finishing my friend's Birithmas gift and having a few quiet days to myself has created a vortex of creativity and motivation I haven't had in years. I pulled out my mini dream house (The Mansion; aka Fantasy Victorian Mansion, because it's not time period authentic). I have very few photos of the house all together (both bases, with the Main House on one base and the Addition House on the other base) during construction. But the rooftop has never been fully assembled or even roughly put in place for very long...

Feb 2018 photo House in Progress (missing the top roof)

Feb 2018 photo showing "stone" being attached

Late 2018 photo doesn't have addition side in full view

I realized I was hitting 2 major stumbling blocks with this project. First issue was minor in theory but massive in reality: the bases were built to my specifications, with wheels, to make it easier for me to roll the main house and addition house together and apart so that all rooms could be seen. HOWEVER, the wheels vibrate the house so much that things would fall over inside and finicky delicate electrical connections, like sconces and fireplace embers, would frequently need repair/reconnections. Every time I would roll the house out to play, I knew I would have to spend an hour or so putting things back, regluing anything that had broken when it fell over, and reestablishing the electrical connections (which involved removing a wall or two).

Have to remove this wall to reconnect the sconce and fireplace embers that are in the adjoining room

Wall fits snuggly back in place once I'm done, but still a pain to have to do every time

So I knew the wheels needed to come off the bases. But with no solutions for moving the project easily and the looming task of removing everything out of the house and off the base so I could flip the base to get the wheels off, I had postponed working on the project for the last 5 years. But that ends now:

Took Main House off its base and made the base rooms' openings larger since it was already tipped on its side for removing the wheels.

Was pleased to get wheels off, and decided to keep going...

Finished construction! Addition rooftop rooms are assembled and roof pieces are assembled and glued.

Stained the roof panels the same stain as the shingles that will be glued on.

Second issue is that the house is overwhelming. There are 29 or 30 rooms (depending on if you count the Luggage Storage Room and Laundry Room as separate rooms), and that's not including the hallways and outdoor spaces. And I easily get distracted. I should methodically work on it, room by room, but I get excited about one aspect in one room and start that room (Hi, Ballroom Ceiling) and then bounce back to another room (gotta finish the trim molding in the Lady's Sitting Room), until I find the perfect pieces to kit-bash to make the cabinets for the Butler's Pantry! And then I wonder, why did I leave this cut out in the molding of the Ballroom Ceiling? Why aren't these 2 pieces of door trim glued in the Lady's room? Did I just get distracted and not finish it or was there a very particular, very important reason I didn't finish it?  And I get stuck in stalemate, scared to work on the house, because I don't remember what I was doing.

So I am spending this week getting the exterior fixed up. I know I won't complete it. But I can make a lot of progress on it. And then I need to focus on just one room. Either the Conservatory, or the Foyer, or the Lady's Bathroom. I can do this. Stay focused...in the meantime, here are some pictures of the pretty floors in the Mansion:

Library's flooring

Guest Room's floor

Lady's Bedroom floor