New grocery shop and ice cream parlour

I have had a little empty blue shop for ages and had numerous ideas that never seemed quite right for it. I really wanted to move the grocery shop as it was hidden away in the bottom of Barnacle cottage. I have never moved it to Upper Quayside as the ice cream counter was too deep so wouldn't fit. After a good bit of thinking tonight I had an idea to move the ice cream counter somewhere else that way the grocery shop would fit! I was wandering where on earth it would go and then had an idea!! I had the conservatory which was just a spare seating are for the café. I could move the counter in there and make a little ice cream shop. Its not uncommon in Cornwall to have a little café with an takeaway ice shop at the side so it would work perfectly!

The counter fitted just right. I had to take the back off which meant taking the light off and regluing it but that was fine. I do have lots of nice little scratches up my arm from squeezing my hand through the door to get everything placed right though. I have to confess at the air being a very slight shade of blue every time I knocked a sundae off! In the end they all came right out and got glued on the tray, they wont be going anywhere now!! There are 2 little chairs and some posters on the wall just to finish it off.

Really pleased with it as the counter is one of my very first miniature items that Lindsay bought for me many years ago, so its nice to show it off a bit better. I love the Oreo cookie sundae I could so eat that right now!!

Now I could move the grocery store, Quayside all you need, into Ocean Cottage! Its a bit of a squeeze but it all fitted! Navid and Meena (my Scots friends will know who they are!) are busy in the shop! A customer has filled their shopping basket but have just nipped out the cash machine!

There are some fab things in here. The little teacakes and Campbells soups my good friend Karen bought me and I love the little trays of chops in the fridge

Of course there had to be a nice brightly coloured door curtain!

Moving the shop out meant Barnacle cottage's ground floor was now empty! This was my cunning plan all along lol. The fisherman has now moved out of Anchor Cottage and into his new ground floor flat! All his things fitted perfect. I even found space for the little Miele cooker I have been dying to find a home for!

I also made use of a nice Glenowen shelf unit that's been looking for the right home!

He has a pan of beans and a cooked breakfast on the go. You can just about see the lights on the top and it makes a noise its very cool lol!

All this moving around means I now have a little empty cottage! This is perfect as when my new Nan and Grandad dolls arrive this will be their new home. I will fill it with things I remember from their real home. It wont be an exact copy just lots of things I remember like the candlewick style bedspread and floral sofa they had. It will be a real trip down memory lane and it will be so much fun looking for the perfect items to fill it!

My last bit of news is an idea for another project which is not connected to the village! I have seen the film UP a few times and can't get the idea of it making a fab Doll house out of my mind Julie, Quaysides premier property developer says she can make me a house which would be so much better than my other option of a Greenleaf kit! Just the thought of all those pieces is enough to make me shudder with fear!! I just need to sell the Manor house now lol so I have the funds for all these ideas I keep having!! I really need to sleep at night instead of keep thinking about new ideas for dolls houses!!!!

All move again and getting ready for a wedding!!

Last week when my new little cottage arrived I changed my mind where I was going to put it! I had a thought that now I had the space I should move the beach huts down and have them on the beach rather than on the shelf! That was easy but when I moved them they were now next to the big cottage which didn't look right. I must have moved them all around 10 times yesterday! Lindsay literally dragged me out at 11pm last night and switched all the lights off lol!

I eventually settled on the B & B next to the beach scene (after I tried the pub, the village hall and Barnacle cottage!! )

Next job is to get a nice piece of wood for a base and add the sand! I have a bit in the shed so that will be tomorrows job!

It makes much more sense to have the beach huts with the beach!

I also emptied out the beach huts and added some wood effect flooring. I will add some built in furniture made with strip wood. They will be great fun as I can do each one different.

Of course the downside of moving all the houses around, apart from the dreaded lights, is that everything falls over and has to be put back! While I was tidying up the village hall I made a start on a wedding party scene I have been meaning to do. I have just got some wonderful food from a lady on Facebook and its done a great job of filling the table. She made the ham, pasties. flan, platter and pasties all for under £5 and they are brilliant!

Theres a children's area with a clown to keep them amused. The table and chairs is courtesy of my friend Carol who is def one of Quaysides biggest fans!

The cake is ready and theres a small table to put all the gifts on.

I need to add lots of details like tablecloths, bunting and presents etc but at least I made a start!

The food looks good enough to eat! The pork pie was part of the job lot of meat I got for the butchers stall and was perfect I have been after some for ages!

I decided poor old Maddie could take a break from the B & B and enjoy some on the lovely weather. Here she is sitting in her little porch with Beans her best friend!

A couple of new items in the pub! A new stove to warm the place up on cold stormy nights and a resident dog to enjoy it! I have also moved Marylin behind the bar.(she kept falling over!)

Alfie the dog toasting by the fire.

And last but not least I moved Charlie and Reg to upper Quayside as they kept getting knocked off by the Bistro! Lots of shop windows to keep them busy up here!

A beautiful fairy, a dilemma and a decision!

To free up space in Dollyland I moved the 2 witches houses to a new spot in the front room I had a desk there which they fit perfectly on! Its actually really nice to see them in their own little setting its shows them off much better.

Browsing Ebay (as you do but really shouldn't when you don't have any money) I spotted this gorgeous fairy doll. She was being sold by Lisa Tabbanor who makes gorgeous dolls usually very much out of my price range. She had a few for sale at reduced prices and I just fell in love with the fairy.

I had an idea that should could be part of the witches scene and she fits perfectly!

She is fixed in her postition and too me looked like she was whistling and reaching out to a bird!

It was this detail that made me think she should be with the witches! A tiny leather anklet with delicate gold chain. Although my witches are good witches and don't treat her bad she is still a prisoner!

 Her wings are amazing! so is the detail on her hands and feet its really quite stunning!!

I don't think my photography does her justice she really is much prettier in the flesh!

I am so pleased I hit the buy it now button as I ummed and arhed for bout half an hour as I really couldn't afford her bargain or not! But in the end I thought how I would feel if someone else won her and I panicked and hit the button lol! Very glad I did now I dont think I will even find another doll like her she is quite unique and she really adds something special to my witchy scene!

Today was a good postie day! I also received a little cottage Lindsay bought for my Birthday. Its not for another week or so but I couldn't resist opening it...I had to make sure it was ok and he was at work anyway!!

I had wanted it to go somewhere completely different to where you can see it now!! I had planned for it to go on the table in front of the big French style house. I unpacked it and put it there and it was just right. All of a sudden I had an idea to bring the beach huts down and move the beach scene over and make a proper scene from them both! This means a big space in Upper Quayside rather than in the main village! I couldn't have got that brainwave last week could I....oh no!!!

The new building just about suits n the shelf luckily but I am not 100% sure its a bit big I have moved all the little shops around and put the basic front of the cinema in the corner to see if that balanced it out a bit which I think it does. Lindsay and Bethany both like that its a different size as it makes it look more interesting. I just need to get over my need to have it all matching! Not sure I can live with it being bigger but its so nice and has a lovely big space inside to fill I am hoping I can!

Its a really pretty pale green colour the camera doesn't seem to like it and is making it look grey which it isn't at all!

Its lovely and big inside and the roof lifts off . I think its crying out for a mezzazine level!

Looking at the pictures it really doesn't stand out as being much bigger as the actual building is the same height its just the depth and the roof really. Its already growing on me!!

And now my decision! I have decided to sell my big Victorian house. Will be sad to see it go but I really need the pennies running a village is not a cheap job! The lady who bought the Xmas house (Audrey) said in an email what would my Nan say as it was her money I used at the start to buy the house and 1st job lot of furniture. Funnily enough my Nan worked in service and hated big houses lol she never liked National Trust properties and didn't get the fascination with them she just saw work! so she would prob hate the Manor house lol. We used to go to Cornwall on family holidays and she loved it down there so would prob love my village and that made me think about it! I have ordered a couple of dolls to be made to look like my Nan and Grandad and they can sit on the bench in the village! I think my Nan would much prefer that to a big Victorian Manor house. I will be really sad to see it go though as it was my first and vowed I would never sell it! Still not 100% sure I am doing the right thing but I don't love it like I love my village and never spend anything on it so itstime it went to someone who will love it more will appreciate it better!

Filling up the gallery and a lovely prize!

My friend Karen has been here for the weekend so not much Dollying as I was having fun doing real life things (shopping!) Saturday was Eurovison night and we just love it! Armed with our nibbles and drinks we are hardcore fans and watch the whole thing lol!! Well done Denmark! A bit of an obvious winner but a good song although we liked Finland and Norway!

Anyway I did have a bit of spare time yesterday so I decided to add a few things to the gallery. Firstly I added a little outside light as there seems to be a lack of sunshine at the moment and it brightens it up nicely.

Here you can see the outside in relation to the inside.

I do love a peeking through the door shot it always seems like you are being a bit nosy!

I have added a few items for sale in the gallery so its not quite as empty!

The counter at the back was a barewood one left over from the set I bought for the sweet shop. I painted it white and then distressed it. Its a seaside gallery so I wanted it to have a whitewashed wood look to it. I fixed all the acrylic panels which is such a pain in the backside of a job! Trying not to get glue everywhere is almost impossible. However I did it the front one just did not look clear enough to me so I have left it out!

As it has a nice mirrored back and I thought adding a little light at the top would reflect through it nicely. It really does look pretty all lit up!

I had in mind getting some tiny little glass animals for display. I already have a couple of fish but they were really too big. I spotted a set of 3 on Ebay which were all under an inch tall and thought they would be perfect. I won the set for 99p and asked the seller if she had anymore. She had another 3 and let me have those for 99p also. They came the next day and were so tiny and just perfect for the display. I also had a cute little turtle my good friend Scarlett gave me that fitted in perfectly. There were still a couple of gaps so I just added some bits of seaglass that looked like paper weights for now till I can find some more little animals.

It was so hard to get a photo without the camera showing in the glass lol but here is one with the flash so you can see all the different colours!

I also thought I would splash a bit of paint on the canvas so it at least looked something like a panting. Its called 'Choppy seas'! I am pleased with it but I don't think Picasso has anything to worry about ha ha!!

I have a plan to fill the shelves with some hand painted plates similar to those in Poole Pottery as thats where I am from. I know I have a nice pile of large white plates somewhere but can I find them?....nope!! So for now to fill it up a bit I have just put all the Cornish china that will eventually go in the gift shop in there.

I had an email from a nice company called DEAN DESIGNS the other saying they had 5 items hidden in their listings with a value of zero. All you had to do was find one and add it to your basket and all you would have to pay was the postage. I was just lucky to be here when the email arrived so had a good look and found the star item a romantic display worth £35. I was chuffed to bits! Here it is in the bridal shop!

The colours match the wallpaper really nicely and its lovely to have something a bit special. It was great fun looking through all the lovely things trying to find it! I will def be back another time!