A New Fabulous Blog on the Block!

Just had to share with you, this new blog that deserves lots of attention!

The Blog link is http://greggsminiatureimaginations.blogspot.com/

We all love a bit of fantasy and this new blog dosnt dissapoint! Stan makes the most fabulous miniature houses, gnome/fairy style houses.




My favourite so far is his truly gorgeous Hagrids hut that was Stan's first paperclay project, though you wouldnt believe it as its totally brilliant and I love it inside and out!



Please go and check it out and say hi! Stan is in the middle of his latest creation, a new Gnome house, so I think we will all enjoy watching it grow and following his progress!
Lola and I cant wait!

My Wizard Light Up Table

I was checking through my blogs I follow and found Dales wonderful new fortune telling table complete with light up crystal ball, and it reminded me of my own Wizard light up table and I couldnt remember if Id shown it off before.
This table used to be in my haunted house but as this now has a different story behind it, this is residing in my new Wizard tower in the top floor.
It has got dragon heads as the base, with a wonderful stone in the centre. The table top is glass, and has a cut out for the LED lights to shine through. The small LED box is a 3 colour one, shines red, blue and green which is quite wonderful at night! It works off a simple switch to turn it on and off, on a tiny battery to power it. The glass marble acts as the crystal ball on top and the colours bounce off it around the room!

I love the table, I think Ive had it for about 5 years or so now, its a favourite piece!

So hope you like it Dale and everyone else! You will see it again in situ in my wizard tower once its all redecorated

A break from Alice to show gifts from Wonderful friends!

Firstly , can I say thankyou so much for all your lovely comments on my blog yesterday about the new Alice roombox, I really appreciate you all finding the time to leave your feelings on it, it spurs me on, and makes me want to do more projects to show off! I know everyone leads busy lives so its so lovely to see friends find some time to leave a little comment on what they think of what youve done, its very heartwarming!

I took lots of night time shots of the shop last night, but wanted to give you a break from it for a bit so what better way than to show off some parcels recieved in the last few days from incredible friends!


A while ago I made a comment on the wonderful blog by Sabiha, on her beautiful new dollshouse! Sabiha had made some darling little pegs for a washing line out of ornate toothpicks and I left a comment to ask how they were made so I could follow suit for some for Lolas mouse house.

And then in the post arrives this pretty parcel , wrapped in these gorgeous little boxes, with pressies for lola and I, and some sets of the toothpicks for us to use too! How kind, thankyou Sabiha. Lola is very behind on showing off a multitude of lovely gifts and minis , so Im leaving her gifts to show herself, and she will do it soon I promise!

But in the mean time, look at these stunning little Alice themed perfume bottles from Sabiha, she made herself! So, so perfect! And lots of beads, and some fabric hearts too that I already have plans for and think Sabiha will like what i have in mind when its made! They will all be a wonderful addition to the Alice room i think you will agree!




And one of the parcels was wrapped with the sweetest Cameo, which I have a special love of, so this will go on a ribbon around my neck Sabiha, its so adorable thankyou for all your kindness all the way from Holland!

And good minds think alike as Dear Janice also saw my blog comment on Sabihas blog and she saw these detailed toothpicks and sent them to me to use, and also previously had sent some sheets and cut outs of card as samples for future brickwork and roofing work. Janice always sends me something if she sees it and thinks of me, its so very thoughtful thankyou too Janice! I have already used some of the brick card slips and will certainly be going for some cards in the future, nice and easy to cut out and use!




Lola and I will be trying out the toothpicks and Im also thinking of using them to make some orante scrolls for the wizard house! Will let you all know how they turn out!

As I said before dear Kat and Nicky C sent my Emily lots of material and bits and bobs for her Uni project, which I cant get pics of as shes already delved into the stash and used lots and put away the rest for future work, but we both apprciated it so much, it was a great help to her!

But as well as sending the material Kat kindly sent me some bits and bobs for various projects and as always i love my Kat parcels, always full of fun and different things to use thankyou Kat!




So sending huge hugs to my friends, what a wonderful group of thoughtful ladies you all are!

Alice Shop Pictures Galore!

Ok, so here it is!

Not everything is in yet, all the left side of the shop will totally change, the mirror is a temporary fixture and the shelves will probably go on the right side of the room as the dressing table and another unit are going on the left!

Its so strange as looking at the pics it all looks muddly and like a complete muddle as there are so many pieces and so many colours but in real life I am thrilled to bits with it! These are alll taken in daylight, Im hoping to fathom out how to take shots through the windows later with the shop front on so you can see how it looks in the dark.....if my camera allows me!

Here is the left side of the room

The right

Close ups of displays

The shelves
As you can see Ive had to put up some of Victoria's beautiful perfume bottles, i couldnt wait any longer, but they will eventually go on the dressing table. Look lovely here though!

The Table

The Sewing machine

The whole work area

Susans fabulous piece, Kats hat etc

Still will be fiddling, moving things about, nothings fastened down ! The pictures are also temporary, ive ordered more ornate frames than these oval frames but had to put something up, the area looked too bare!


I have to say thankyou to Lori who has given me a great idea for a name for the roombox and how to do the logo. Im pretty useless on the PC with any photoshopping etc but I may try tracing some lettering and a hat logo somehow onot the black space and painting with gold lettering .

Interior Shop Frontage of Hatter Shop Finished

This morning work! Here is the interior stripped



And now fully painted up, papered, peel off on and spray glossed to seal....all finished!






Just have to decide on a name and how to do the shop sign and Id really like to have a Top Hat on the front somehow, but Im no artiste so not sure how to go about that one!



This will go on its original bracket and save the dust getting in!

Ive bought 2 lovely wall display shelves, thanks to Michelle letting me know about them on Ebay thankyou Michelle! They are perfect for putting up with hats or perfume bottles.




Im still scouting for the perfect dressing table but hoping that will be soon, but I will post pics of the interior and what I have in there so far really soon, when the picture frames come Ive ordered and are up!

By Royal Decree, New Hats and Dress or Off with my Head!!!

Ok so the Queen has been making demands that her hats and dress must be shown off to you all so here they are.



The red mouldings are in, albeit abit wonky but to be fair these wernt cut by me, it was a second hand roombox so I just took them off and painted them, they dont but up perfectly, but hey, just dont click on the close ups, you wont notice!



Here are some more close ups of Kats hats in the lit arches. Im putting some little perfume bottles and other accessories in here too.



Now advice please? Do you think the black display panel needs more detailing, maybe more gold on it, in the form of more peel off stripes or fancy bits like Ive put on the corners? What do you think? Or maybe 2 more smaller pictures hanging on the wall?




Last year Janice put some beautiful dresses on her blog by a very talented lady called Cher. ( Click on her name to go to her ebay shop) I contacted her directly to ask if she fancied making me a Red Queen dress on a mannequin.
Cher was excited to help out and I was totally delighted with this stunning dress, as Id only sent an idea from pictures of what Id like it to be like, the rest was all Cher's imagination and design!



I love it, it fits in a treat in the roombox and Cher has kindly agreed to making me other things for the roombox in the future , maybe a red wig, or another corset ? There are so many things I want to fit in, I keep teasing Emily and saying Im going to steal her castle kit shes bought and use it for a whole red Queen castle so I can fit in all my ideas!!! Somehow I dont think she will let me !

And lastly here is another Of Tara's fantastic creations, an 'Eat Me' cake complete with its glass display box. Adorable and so detailed and beautifully made! This is going at the foot of the sofa, but Tara's pics are better than mine so here it is!



I have moved the roombox to its new home, though even John says it may have to come into the lounge to be shown off if i get dolls!!!

Its had all the furniture I have so far put in, but I still have pictures and other fancy bits to put up, and maybe some more hats need to be made!

Tomorrow Im off to Hobbycraft to look for some hearts and gems and see what peel offs they have that may go over the archways?
On my return Ill be busy decorating the interior of the shop front, maybe putting some things on the interior ledges .

Once its nearly there Ill do a big reveal, still not quite there yet!! But hey this is a major accomplishment for me, as I am known as 'Mrs I dont ever finish anything'!!

Lots more done today and some teaser Pictures!

I've done lots today!

Firstly this morning I decided to upholster the sofa.




This is the original in a cream satin which I stripped and used the old material as the template to use this gorgeous deep red velvet, courtesy of the wonderful Kat! Kat sent me some material for my eldest daughter Emily as Emily is currently doing lots of sketchbook work for her Fashion design BA and needs lots of fabric samples which she is having real problems finding. Id like to thanks both dear Kat and also the wonderful Nicky Cooper who were both very kind this week and sent Emily loads of samples and strips of fabrics that she can use, and I havnt seen her all day as shes been so busy using them all, thankyou both of you!



But I had a quick peek first to see if there was anything I could use and sure enough there was the perfect red for the sofa! So I stuck this all on, trimmed in a gold to match the chair I dressed some time ago, and detailed the furniture with the gold trusty pen!



Here are some pics of it, hope you like it. Kat's fab Hatters hat is already on it and looks perfect!



Next I made a small hat box and put some playing cards and hat pin stands on it.



Still eager to get on, I spent time sourcing some good pictures and printed them on gloss card and framed them.

Here is the red Queen in all her glory. This is the perfect space for the painting but once the chandelier is permanently stuck in you will only see it from the sides of course!



Ive also made up framed pics of the Bandersnatch and the Knave for other walls. I may detail these frames in black and red.


I couldnt resist taking some pics with some hats on stands in the archways. Most are Kats work, but can you also see my beautiful Hatter hat on the stand of books made by the lovely Sherry, Tara's mother in law. I have a few pieces of Sherrys work, and many of Tara's and I just love it all, they are such talented and creative, imaginative artistes! Sherry made a hat for Tara and I loved it so much she made one for me, and I think for another friend also! Im very proud to display it in the room box thankyou Sherry!!





So , what next? Well dopey here fell asleep last night and forgot to bid on the much wanted dressing table, ahhhhh!! But good news was, I contacted the seller who is getting more in, so end of the month fingers crossed that piece can be done and put in the room. In the mean time I have to take it all out, to move onto the landing and take some more pics for you. Then the table, sewing machine and hats can all go in, as well as another secret special piece Ive been saving to show you.

Just need my precious dolls now! If John says 'I told you so' one more time when he tells me I should have jumped in quicker when Julie was selling her Mad Hatter doll, Ill throttle him. He was, and is an incredible doll, and I think to have the Hatter hard at work at the sewing table plus another couple of special miniature pieces I long for in here, will just make this roombox truly perfect for me!

A new Display for Susans Fabulous Creation plus more!

When I received Susan's incredible ribbon spool display some months ago, I was undecided on the best way to display it to show it off at its best! I tried various tables but nothing looked right.

Looking through my boxes of furniture I found 2 little wooden displays I bought some time ago from someones bridal shop which were just unused. Once again too eager to get going, I forgot to take before pics but they were just plain wooden half circles with horrid carpeted tops! So I stripped them, painted over them in a red wash to give a redwood finish, then detailed them in gold and added the same black and white harlequin gloss paper thats in the archways, onto the front of them. Finished with some black peel offs for more detailing its a great unusual addition to the room. Photo is bad as I was dying to show it off but its dark in the conservatory so Ill retake tomorrow, check in for a better pic!

I added the spool display, a tea cup and tiny heart cupcake also made by Dear Susan, and voila, the perfect display for it!

I had 2 of these units so painted the other one to match and have added a little head and one of Kats beautiful hats to it, and will make something else to go on it too.



I did have a lovely dressing table all ready and painted up but once it went in the roombox, it was strange, but it looked completly wrong, far too big and bulky. So I have my eye on one on ebay and hoping I get it so i can dress it with Victorias gorgeous bottles she made for me.

Another find in my boxes was this haberdashery display. Once again I repainted it, added some reams of material ( I still have more to add on the other side) and put some of my homemade ribbon and lace samples, cotton reels, an iron, and some perfume bottles onto it, to give it the 'Alice' look! There is also a fantastic little tiny Alice 'Drink Me' potion bottle and the cutest darling little sleeping rose plant made for me by the oh so talented Tara.



The material display was a really battered and old piece of furniture so Im thrilled to find use for it!

Next week I have the ornate sofa I bought to reupholster, and if lucky with my dressing table, that to fill too.

I am leaving a couple of gaps for future purchases but have already put everything in I have so far to see what it looks like, and am thrilled with it! The red skirting and cornicing is in and you'll see that when I take another pic once I put the roombox in its new home on the landing table where it can be lit at night! Im really pleased with it so far, let me know what you think!

Oh and for those who have asked after her , heres a pic of beautiful Bella, alot bigger now already at nearly 5 months, but still a darling and cheeky pup!