Babs has had an extreme makeover!

Not much to do in Dollland today so I decided to give Babs a makeover! As you know she runs the vintage clothing shop and she wasnt entirely dressed tyhe part so I gave her some pampering.

Shes got some nice new long red air I thought seemed much more hippie like and shes got some new clothes and a fancy new hat! I think she looks more like a fashion shop owner should now!

Put my arbour in the corner of the village where the church will be going to see how it will fit. Its just right and will add some real interest to that little corner. Had a sneaky peek of the new church in progress yesterday and its just fab I can't wait to see it all finished! Oh and the groom has done a disappearing act he just wasn't right for the job so the wedding party is patiently waiting for the right man to come along!!

Flower covered arbour for the new church

I have been looking for an arbour like they have at the entrance to a church and the ones I found were quite small prob more for a garden and I wanted something big enough the wedding party could fit under. Couldn't find one I liked so decided to make one! Cost me nothing as I already had everything to hand and have to say I am really chuffed with it!!! :D

Used some of my bits of B & Q wood which was about 58p I think.

 Stained it with some oak stain...............

The ivy came with my witches house and the flowers were some I picked up from Hobbycraft for 50p so it was a really cheap project too!

I  think the wedding party look right at home! :) (still not convinced about the groom though!)

New residents for Quayside!

A few new residents arrived in Quayside today and I am so pleased with them! I have made a few myself but decided the main villagers needed to all be the same so they are similar. I have Joseph the new Vicar and Agnes who does the flowers in the church. (she was going to be Margery but it didn't suit her!) I love them they have such great faces I'm sure they will be very much welcomed into Quayside.

 I also got a little girl to be a bridesmaid to the wedding party who wasn't as good as I'd hoped! She was really quite dirty and tatty which funnily enough was not mentioned in the Ebay listing!  I'm sure shes just been well loved but why not just say that! They offered me a refund of the £2.70 I paid but not the postage and it would cos me that again to send it back so not much point being the same amount out of pocket and no doll at all! Better to cut my losses.

Anyway moan over lol I think she looks ok after a good wash and a bit of tlc so not a total disaster! I have painted her mouth back on as it had worn off added some trims to jazz up the dress a bit and I think she looks ok now.

Welcoming reception area and dining table for Fairbanks

Not done too much mining as we have been at the caravan all weekend. We almost didn't go as the forecast was so awful but apart from Sunday it was not too bad at all and its so nice to get out and about at the weekend as we can get a bit cabin bound living in the middle of nowhere!

Did all my housework before we went so I had a free day today without much going on so had a little play in Dollyland! I painted and dressed the unit to make the Portholes reception desk. It turned out just right which I am really pleased about .

I was hoping the unit I picked would be the right style as a normal desk wouldn't have worked as all the detail would be hidden. I think it looks just perfect!

I added some shelves and office items and with the keys board I made the other day I really think it does have the feel of a reception area.

Maddie and Beans have popped in to check on this months bookings.

I love the little flower fairy monthly planner which was from Ebay from a lovely lady who made the chandelier in the shabby chic shop.

I bought a nice black unit for the bathroom and added some fresh white fluffy towels ( a chopped up facecloth from Asda 50p!)

I set up the dining room with the yummy breakfasts just waiting for a door curtain to lead off to the kitchen.

I couldn't find a rug I liked so I found a picture of one online and printed it onto canvas and really like the soft colours it matches really well.

 The super cute little house tea cosy was made by a Facebook DH friend.

Its really looking like a real B & B now hopefully there will be lots of bookings for the summer if we ever get one!!

I have not been happy with the dining room in Fairbanks since the start! I have tried about 3 different dining sets in there and none seemed to work. Every set I found only had 4 chairs and as its such a big room I really felt like it needed 6. I found the chairs I liked on the DHE website and they were for sale singly which meant I could get 6 to match but they had no table and I have searched high and low to find one the right size and found nothing. Today I decided it was easier to make my own that way I could make the size I wanted exactly.

I made a nice cream tablecloth and laid it up, I just need to get some cutlery. It looks just right and has filled the space in the room much better.

Here comes the bride!

I got an idea in my head to do a wedding scene and now it won't go away! I really enjoyed doing the honeymoon suite in the B & B and I love my bridal shop so it seemed inevitable I would end up creating a whole wedding! Got an idea for the church which I hope (fingers crossed!) will work out. If it goes to plan I will lose the garden next to Porthole as its not very exciting anyway. I will make a pretty church yard with and arbour covered in roses and a lovely Quayside wedding.

I had a man doll I quite liked so he will be the groom and after far too long searching for the internet for a bride doll and not really finding any I liked I decided to make my own! The doll is Amelia who has lived in Quayside for a while and thought she was my prettiest lady so she would make the best bride! The dress was stolen from the bridal shop (made by my friend Sylvia!) It originally had a long matching train which was too big for displaying in the shop so I had taken that off and put it in my fabric box. Lucky I kept it as I needed to add sleeves to the dress as the Amelia has padded arms. I made a net skirt to go underneath to fill it out a bit. I used the veil and headdress I had made for the honeymoon suite to loosely pin back her hair and added a bouquet to complete her look. I think she looks lovely and very much the blushing bride! All she needs now is a bridesmaid!! and the vicar? well hes on his way!!!!

Filling up the bakery

I was looking at my bakery yesterday and thinking it looked a bit bare so raided my scraps of wood box and made a little shelf unit for all my cakes and a shelf for the bread! Quite pleased with how it turned out and it has filled it up nicely!

The shelf unit started out as literally some scraps of ply I had...........

Painted and decorated it to make it fit into the shop..........

 Filled with lots of lovely cakes!

I realised I had a bakery that had no bread for sale so I made a little shelf and raided the fresh baked ones from Luigis bakers shelves in his kitchen, he will have to get busy making some more now!

My breakfasts for the B & B finally came and they are just fab! the fruit and yoghurt looks much better than its photo and was only 99p! The wedding cake it so delicate it looks like paper flowers but its actually all made from fimo a bargain for £1.67! I do love a bargain lol

Receptions and prom nights!

As you know my Daughter Bethany who makes all my dolls house signs turned 18 this year and is growing up super fast!! On Saturday she had her prom and just wanted to show you a couple of pics as she looked so lovely!! I think she has def inherited my bargain ways though lol as she was adamant it was only one night and refused to get sucked in to spending a fortune for it!

When I saw her all dressed up she just looked like a princess!!!

Her dress was from Ebay which just needed a bit of altering. My Mum shortened it by hand! (all 4 layers!) and I added the straps

 The bag was one of mine!

The sparkly silver Dorothy shoes were £1 from a carboot sale! Believe me we searched everywhere for the right shoes as she didn't want any that were so high she wouldn't wear them half the night and these were just perfect!

 She already had the headband I just added some crystals (after some persuasion!)

I did her hair and make-up as she really didn't want anything too fancy (shes much happier in her Ugg boots and joggies lol!!)

 She did her own nails with a set from Asda 

This is the real Bethany in her slippers til she got out of the car cos she can't be doing with high heels and a biker jacket cos she was cold and didn't care what it looked lol ha ha!!
 

Her entire look from head to toe cost us under £40! and she couldn't of looked any better if we had spent 5 times that amount! I have to admit I did have a little blub in the car after dropping her off as I was just so proud of her and she looked just beautiful! :-)

I was so tired yesterday after our 1am prom pick up it was 2am before we got to bed so decided I would just relax in Dollyland for a few hours while everyone snoozed in front of the tv! The weather was so miserable it doesn't exactly make you want to go out. We even had a fire on Saturday night which is mad at this time of year!!

Anyway I thought I would do the hallstand after I finally found the wood filler!

Painted it blue as I wanted it to feel nice and bright and seasidey. Just needs the other metal bar put in and can I find it...nope!! lol

Distressed it a little and added some nice paper.

 I love the little water cooler which is also a battery light!

 I  made a little keys board there's only 2 rooms but it adds a bit of interest to the reception area.

Also made a few pics for the bedroom form some I had already printed off as it was looking a bit bare!

Hopefully my desk will come this week so I can start on that and I found some lovely rug images to print but my ink has run out so that will get done as soon as the new ink arrives!