St Benets parish Church!

Yesterday was a horrible rainy day so I managed to spend a whole day doing my church scene! Just wanted to look at it with fresh eyes this morning make sure I hadn't missed anything and the only thing I think it needed was a bit more grass scatter as it looked a bit thin on the ground! I have taken the photos on my kitchen table as its quite difficult to get into the corner where it will sit upstairs so hopefully you can see it a bit better this way.

As you know I made the churchyard from scratch and  I am pleased at how that has turned out it actually looks like it did in my head lol Yesterday I added the path and the grass and finished of the painting. I made lots of other little things and then the best bit putting it all together! I couldn't stop smiling I was so pleased!

I just love it I cant have asked for anything better Julie has made an amazing job of the church so I named it after her lol! (spelled different but I looked it up and that's how its spelt :-)

The vicar waits patiently for the wedding party so he can get the service started!

 The graves of villagers past!

I also made the name board and that just has a temporary sign til the signwriter come back from her hols!!

I added the little table I had made on Friday and made a gate to the vicarage on the side just to close up the gap.

I then made the hymns board and the donation box, the fund is for a new church bell as it doesn't have one at the mo!! I added the coach lamp to add some light when its in the corner.

 The vicar looks very proud in his new parish!

Daphne (new name!) has been busy doing all the flowers in the church and is now just watching the wedding.

 Amelia and Grace are waiting by the arbour, theres still no sign of that groom!! :-D

Hmmmm where is he?????????

It looks fab in the corner its really hard to show in the photos but it looks even better than I imagined it could I cant thank Julie enough she made a perfect job of it!

All it needs now are a bell and some stained glass windows. I have ordered some glass painting felt tips from Ebay so hopefully I will be able to do that next week!

Church has arrived and a churchyard update

My fabulous church arrived yesterday and the excitement is always slightly mixed with the fear of hoping it arrived safely! Unpacking the box is always a little scary but I needn't have worried it was perfect not so much as a scratch!

It really is just wonderful I am chuffed to bits with it!! Going to tease you a little and not post any pics just yet as I want to get it in place with the churchyard first and I need it downstairs at the mo so I can measure where the paths etc will go and there's not much point putting it upstairs only to bring it down again that's when I am likely to drop it or something equally stupid!!

So just to show you something I will let you see the little graves I have now finished off. Yesterday I bought a sample pot of grey paint in a sale bin for 50p and I didn't notice at the time but it was a suede effect and it looks perfect painted on the graves as it has tiny little grainy bits in it which really give it a stone like appearance! I love how they turned out and hopefully they aren't too spooky as this is a happy churchyard not a scary one!!! Bill is a more recently departed resident so his grave will have fresh flowers and not so many weeds!

I have been trying to think of little details I can add as I have 2 lovely big areas either side of the porch. I came up with the idea of a little plants for sale table which I think will add a bit of interest. I picked up the table for £1.50 in the DH shop ages ago thinking it would come in handy somewhere and it did lol!! And of course there is an honesty box after all who would steal from a church!

Maybe we can have a jumble sale or even the Christmas fete could be held here this year with a nice nativity scene there are so many different things that I can change with the seasons its a great little corner of Quayside!

Churchyards and patios!

I decided to make a start on my churchyard yesterday I was supposed to be waiting for it to arrive 1st but as impatient as ever I wanted to get on with it!!

I had a couple of bits of wood my OH have bought home from work even he has began to pick up that things that might be useful for me lol!! I think there were doors of some kind but were exactly the right width for the church corner. He took one back and got a technician to cut one to fill the gap which is 7 inches which just just so happens to the size of the church! It will sit on that piece and the rest will become the churchyard.

I began by making a corner path so it matches in with the other houses. Made from air-drying clay the same, and as soon its dry I will paint it to match. Really pleased how that turned out for a first attempt!

Next I made a couple of headstones also from airdrying clay and will paint them too look like stone. I decided just to go with one name and not too much detail as it would of been so small you couldn't of read them and its just a bit of fun!

I then made the graves with some small wood strips and some vinyl flooring for the bases filled with a little gravel. I need the wood covering which I will to today prob with a bit more of the clay. They will be finished of with some flowers and a bit of foliage around them. My OH loves these lol I think he has a bit of a dark side!!!

Next was the fencing. I couldn't decide whether to go with wall, fence or railing for the perimeter of the church yard! In the end I liked the look of the railings, they felt a little bit Gothic, so I have glued them onto some wood bases. I will cover the wood and glued area with polyfilla so it will be a wall base with the railing in top. Now I just need to rememeber where the polyfilla is!!!!

Here is is in the corner so you will start to see how it will look when finished.

I need to wait for the church to arrive so I can see where the porch will sit and I will then make a gravel path coming from that to the entrance with grassed areas either side. I just need a church bell and a couple of DHE stone benches for either side of the porch.

I can't wait to see how it will look when the church arrives which hopefully will be tomorrow :-)

When I was sorting out my bits of wood I found  a piece that was the exact width of The Porthole so I decided to make a little patio area at the front where guests can sit in the seaside air! It was perfect as the B & B is just a bit smaller than Seashell so it fills the gap and ties the 2 in together. there is a little gate on the left hand side where Maddie can get through to her cottage and I have left the right side open so they can get down to the church.

I made the fence around the outside and then covered the floorspace with some gravel that I have bought for the churchyard path. There is loads of it so thought I might make use of it. Ideally I think I would have liked a lighter colour but there really isn't much point buying a whole other bag for such a small area so I will live with it! you can see the white glue drying underneath lol that will dry clear so you won't see it!!

Churches, cushions and Ebay love it and loathe it lol!

I recently asked Quaysides premier property developer the wonderfully talented JULIE BENNETT if she could provide the village with a new church so there was somehwere to hold a wedding. We exchanged a couple of ideas and today she sent me photos of the finished church and it is just gorgeous!! She has such a clever way of taking a few ideas and turning them into something quite magical!

Its only a front as it will sit in the corner of between The B & B and Lavender cottage and it will look just amazing when is in place. Made the same as the cottages so its the right height etc but with a different colour finish and it really does look like something right out of a little Cornish village.  She even managed to add a little bell tower which I know was not easy lol!! But oh it was worth it the whole effect is just wonderful!"

I just love the porch and  I am already imagining it full of flowers and the all important collection box!

Now all it needs is a name. After googling church names I came across St Benet's and thought it might be nice to immortalise its maker in the village what do you think???

Also today I received some little cushions and samplers from a lady called JUNE who makes the most gorgeous little crosstitch things. I have loads of her cushions dotted around all of my houses and I recently bought a couple more from her on Ebay the home sweet home and the little house.

I asked her if she could make me some seaside themed ones for the B & B. She made me 4 perfect little cushions and 2 samplers and I love them. They are just so lovely I am chuffed to bits with them. She even added a little gift the Porthole one which is so sweet so a big thank you for that June! She makes them all free hand and can make anything so please drop her an email if you would like something!

The little samplers are just perfect for the B & B!
 

I sometimes do wonder what I would do without Ebay as its a great way to make funds from unwanted items for funding dolls house purchases and I have found many little treasures on there over the years. I have also found some wonderful sellers like June and Wendy who makes my gorgeous wicker things and even Julie as my very first cottage I found on Ebay. But sometimes it drives me mad! Like the grubby little doll I got last week and the non payers who bid and then just don't pay!! You get all excited when you sell something and to then not receive the payment is worse than not selling it all lol!  Its very frustrating but sadly life wouldn't be quite the same without it!!

On the plus side you do get some nice little bargains and unusual things quite often from China! This week I had a lovely little parcel of toys I won for £2.51 to fill up the Christmas shop.

The little teddy bears are just so sweet!

I also got another little water cooler as I loved mine it was such a good item here it is with the light on and a little phone which is really detailed and cost under £2 it will go on the desk in the B & B they were both very cheap and its nice to get things that are just that little bit different!

Sylvanian cottage madeover!

I was bored yesterday afternoon so decided to give the cottage I picked up at the bootsale a mini makeover, it was a nice way to spend a couple of hours!! as you can see my little helper is ever present! :-)

I have loads of odd bits of Sylvanian including for some reason tons of babies lol A lot are Bethanys from when she was little and  the rest picked up at bootsales or charity shops. I decided to make a little nursery school. Some babies are sleeping, some are playing, some are having a bottle and some sitting outside.

The little pram on the left was 20p from the bootsale yesterday also.   It would make a cute little house but I know my niece will love it set up as the nursery its prob much more fun to play with than if it was just a house!

  I didn't really like the red roof so added some tile paper which I think looks much better.

I also added some wallpaper on a couple of walls and the upstairs ceiling as it was really dark. I added some flooring using up some scraps left over from my Fairbanks.

The Mums are doing what Mums do best having some cake!!

I got the little name sign from the DH shop on my last visit for 45p and thought it suited it nicely. I knew it would come in handy somewhere!

Our caravan, Bootsale bargains and Blogger never works properly for me!

Had a busy weekend so far Bethany has gone to her Dads for a few weeks so she was needing dropped of at the airport yesterday. Also the caravan is rented this week so it had to be cleaned to within an in inch of its life lol The people renting were late arriving so its all been a bit hectic! They are very happy though and said it was a lovely van and was immaculate so it makes it all worth while!!

Here are a coupe of pics of our van its our home from home we just love it and are there as often as we can!!

The old tv has now gone lol we got that from a boot sale for £2 on our 1st weekend so we had something to watch! Believe me when I say its only ever this tidy the minute we arrive or the second we leave ha h!!

 Our cosy bedroom in the van.

Today we decided to go to the bootsale for a look round as we haven't been for ages. Its started out dry but poured down just as we were leaving and I always feel bad when everything gets soaked for all the poor people selling!

Anyway I got a few nice little bargains so it was worth getting out of bed! The little bear is for Bethany and I got a few little things too!

The little Sylvanian pram, the Bratz bags and skirt were for £1 for the lot........

I got a the Sylvanian cottage for £3 which was perfect as I have lots of little bits and pieces and have been on the lookout for a little house for them and this was ideal.

I couldn't resist the Holly Hobbie board as I already have quite a collection but it has been used so will just use it for my DH projects and will save my work surface! a bargain for just 20p!

I also got a couple of nice books. I am a really sucker for pretty books and these caught my eye. Funny thing was looking at the one on the right when I heard a 'Hi Paula' and looked up and saw it was my friend Scarlett who was there selling. It was nice to see her we haven't caught up for ages and she let me have the book as a gift which was sweet of her! I also saw my good friend Lynda who I haven't seen in ages so it was worth going just for seeing my fiends :-)

On the way back we also popped into Pets at Home for some gravel to do my church yard pathway. Huge bag for not much more than a little bad of DH or model stuff would be!

I was also wondering if it is just me that is finding blogger doesn't always work properly. I can never say hello to my new followers as it doesn't show the list of the names just the number of followers so apologies if I don't return the courtesy and  follow your blog! I would if I knew who you were lol I have also found a few blogs I would like to follow but the follow this blog button never seems to be there! Maybe its just me but I have tried in Opera and Firefox and neither of them seem to show everything!!!