More Work On Honeydukes.

Work is coming on slowly but surely!

The flooring and staircase are now permanently in place and the new counters painted .
I painted some coving green and then some skirting board to be used under the coving as name boards for some of the candies.




I got this idea from the Universal version of Honeydukes . In Hobbycraft I bought some transfer gold fancy script letters. I knew I wouldnt be able to get inside the room to do the lettering so as I had some spare skirting I had the idea of being able to place the lettering on this and then glue this into place.




It took all of an afternoon as I had to try and work out how to centralise the words and I was tearing my hair out as twice I made silly mistakes and had to sand it down and start again, ahhhhhh!!

But eventually I got it right and made 3 lengths with ' Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans' for the back wall, ' Exploding Bon Bons' and ' Squeaking Sugar Mice' for the side walls. I have also made 2 smaller lengths with ' Acid Drops' and 'Chocolate Frogs' for underneath the front windows inside the shop. In the pic you can see how it looks in the real life shop and in mine! Excuse the terrible pics, my camera does not want to play today!



It looks really effective and Im so happy with how such a small detail can make such a difference to the interior. an you believe ive never put up coving before and Emily and I spent an age working out how to get the right angle on the fancy coving using a mitre block. We kept messing up and the wood was getting shorter and shorter and by the time we figured out the angles JUST had enough to fit in phew!!

I ordered about 40 jars for one of the counters and have started to fill them so that it eventually looks like this picture, again a Universal version.



My lights arrived. I ordered a green oil style light for downstairs and 2 smaller oil lights for upstairs. I have painted the dark green into the matching green of the counter colours.



Now painted and looking like this!




Here are the lights to go in the upstairs room.



I also ordered 2 white wire pieces , a plant stand which will be painted pink and filled with jelly snakes, and a trolley which was to go inside the main room. However when it arrived it was too large and took up too much space so now Ill keep this as a seperate project and make it into the Honeydukes candy trolley used on the Hogwarts Express!





I have googled lots of Honeydukes candy labels and again this is going to take some time to make into the candies that will make this shop extra special! So a long ongoing project, not quite as quick as I thought it may be, but we are having fun filling it and will do for quite some time to come I think!

I have had a brainwave for my Bertie Botts display and must say that so far Im over the moon with excitment and delight at how its turning out. I copied the red and white display freehand and couldnt believe how it turned out perfectly straight away.....when does that ever happen!! I wasnt sure whether to show WIP pics of it or do a big reveal and have decided to go for the latter! So now we just have to wait on the sweets for the candy dispensers and Im all set to finish it off and show it to you.

In the mean time, as I have 2 corner units, the large low counter and a double display to complete I set to work on the first corner one. I am making this into a sherbert display and its almost completed.

On top are lots of HP candies, ice mice, pink coconut ice, acid pops, chocolate frogs, and little lollipop displays.

The different coloured sherberts dispense from some tall thin glass bottles into Honeydukes jars ready to sell. Ive used similar dispenser jars for my Bertie Botts display and am really happy with them! Cant wait to show you, Im so pleased with it , so I just have to get my chocolate frogs made and I can take pics!

Oh and ive made LOADS of sweets, so will take some pics of them too and show them to you. Lots to spare, even when I fill my candy trolley Ill have far too many as i got abit carried away with lollipop and rock making !!

Back next week with some different pictures, some beautiful new miniatures made for me for my haunted house, a giveaway prize just arrived , and fantastic Harry Potter miniatures that I just had to have for another Potter project ! Lots to see!

Ok so I admit it, Ive bought a few things!

I know I said Id been good, and really for me, I have! Ive bought some little things for various projects. I know alot of people only buy things for the project they are working on at that time, but if something comes up I see and love then I prefer to grab it while I can and keep it by for when I work on that house/ shop!

So when I saw Victorias wonderful house she is working on right now, Vultures roost and saw these lovely pillars in it, I knew I had to buy a couple for my dragon tower. Luckily Victoria sells these in her shop ! When the parcel arrived, as always Victoria had been too kind and included these darling little Alice bottles which ive put in the Roombox. And some little labels for me and Harry Potter and stickers for the children, thankyou Victoria!

Also for my dragon tower I saw these gorgeous dragonclaw sword holders made by the lovely
Nicky Cooper, another must have , love these too!






I have to say my other 2 purchases are hmmm..............somewhat larger shall I say.......BUT absolute bargains , that I was very lucky to see when I did! One Saturday morning I decided to just have a look at the dollshouse, just to see what was out there, no intention of buying of course!
When I saw these 2 Sid Cooke shops I couldnt believe the buy it now prices and after a quick , "Can I Pleeeeease???" to John ( If he said no, Id have got them anyway he he!) I got them there and then and the lovely lady agreed to box and send them for the cost of sending one shop!

In a few days they arrived and Im thrilled with them. I know alot of people prefer to buy the kits unmade as its easier to decorate then but Im happy to strip and redo them, I quite like that bit!

The larger shop is another double fronted Cooke shop, different from my Honeydukes, in that it is not as deep, has only the one door and no stairs.



This will be 'Glad Rags' the wizard and witch shop for all their clothing, hats, shoes, bags and accessories! Cant wait to do this one. It means I will loose my witches hat shop as I will be putting my massive Kats hats collection into this 2 storey shop now. I had run out of room in my single storey shop so this is great. I will be contacting the lovely Cher who made my Alice Mannequin for some witch and wizard mannequins!

Here is a picture of the Universal Glad Rags and this is the colouring Ill be doing, shabby pink and purples. I think it will compliment Honeydukes beautifully! I do love that double box frontage, but abit tricky to change the existing shop that much beacuase the windows are already in place , shame !



The single square fronted shop is an older shop, all wood, with wooden window frames. This will need alot more work as it seems to be stained in a deep redwood varnish , yuck!




Saying that, if you look at 'Zonkos' at Universal again, it is very similar in colour so I may not have to do that much with it as I thought, maybe take off all the posters, rub down and keep this sort of colour, just ageing it more. However I wont be doing the joke shop, boy that one would be tricky to fill!



I love several Potter shops, the Post office, Ollivanders, The Bookstore, Scrinvenshafts and Potages, so which would it be? SO I had a brain wave. As I dont relish making hundreds of wand boxes and books etc, how about I make my own wizards supplies shop, with all of these goodies in one store! Wands, books,quills and inks, brooms and cauldrons, this will be a fun one to fill!





So I have to admit these will take a while, but hey whats the rush! Lacey starts full time school in September so from then I will have all my days to fill with mini making, so although I have many projects to choose to work on, I couldnt let these babies go, and one day youll see the Potter street grow I promise!

Today in the post arrived my latest ebay find! Made by Dave Williams from Harvington Miniatures, http://harvingtonminiatures.blogspot.com/, this beautifully made table with benches is the perfect addition to the Potter inn I will be doing. Dont Jains wonderful dolls look at home in there already ! I was only browsing looking for things for Emily for her castle potion room but came across this set and had to bid!



And here is a closer picture to see the table, I love the aged look it has to it, everything about it is just right for this setting! I will be back to Dave for my pub signs, some beer pumps and more, just love his work thankyou Dave!




Now I just need some witches to be sitting on these wonderful benches........Jain can you hear me.....i NEED another!!!!

So, I may not have got to KDF this year but Ive made up for it with my ebay and internet bargains. Now the table is in, Im going to work on the pub counter I have this weekend to go in the downstairs room, a little something to do while I wait on Emily to finish my Honeydukes signs and then next week, time to make sweeties galore!!!

Wonderful Gifts from Ella Rose Miniatures!

Ive been meaning to show off my fabulous prize that I won in Kerry Fawcett's Mothers Day giveaway draw in April so today I finally got the camera out so I can do just that. Kerry's great blog showing all her tasty treats is here for you to see. http://ella-roseminis.blogspot.com/

Isnt this a darling little set with a breakfast fit for a Queen! Dont tell them but I wish my children bought me such finaries on Mothers Day, I seem to remember baking myself Chocolate Croissants with a cup of tea!




At the moment as you can see, Lola has aquired the set for her Mouse house, as she tells me I have no 'normal' house for it to go in until I get my French house on the go, and then, sorry Lola, Im nabbing it back! The gorgeous table and stools were made as a pressie by Victoria http://darksquirrelminiatures.blogspot.com/ for Lola and I shouldnt be showing them here as Lola demands we need to catch up her own blog and show off all her gifts but they looked so perfect on there, I had to show, thankyou Victoria!



Well, I recieved that parcel , early April, so today was quite bemused to find the postman bring me another box with EllaRose Miniatures label on the box? I couldnt remember ordering anything, Ive been good with my spending limits lately, honest!

So imagine my excitement to open it up and find 2 beautiful candy displays made in perfect pink and green candy stripe papers, full to the brim with sticks of rock and swirly lollipops!
They are gorgeous and will go beautifully on my counter display thankyou so so much Kerry for making them for me! Kerry thought they would fit right in with Honeydukes and they sure do! My pictures dont do them justice, even on macro!



I was instantly Inspired to get the fimo out, only to find I cant for the life of me find my giant floor tile that I use to bake everything on.....where on earth have I put it!! So until I scour the house in search of the safe place I obviously placed it, I have to just get out my notebook and sketch pictures of what I will eventually make!! How frustrating!

SO a huge thankyou and Hug to Kerry Fawcett for my fabulous new goodies!

Oh and that was the second surprise today, I awoke to find Id won the giveaway on Carol's blog http://true2scale.blogspot.com/with the amazing prize of $25 of goodies from her Etsy store! Imagine my delight at being able to choose from the beautiful array of miniatures, all perfect for Honeydukes in shades of green and pink! I have made my choice, hard as it was ( I do so love that delightful little halloween haunted house kit......another time Im sure!) and you will all see what ive chosen as soon as it arrives! Cant wait.

So 2 surprises in a day, shouldnt there be another, they say things come in 3's! Im off to check out if there is anything I can enter in case i'm on a lucky streak! If I win big time on the lottery Ill buy you all something of course!

A Candy Pink Staircase!

Honeydukes is painted, and my staircase is pink!

I decided the budget wouldnt allow for the spiral, so I painted the original stairs pastel pink , bought new spindles and newel posts and set to work putting it altogether. I havnt glued them in incase I decide I hate them!




All the walls were painted with Dulux eggshell. I had to get the paint made up as no tester pots had the colour I wanted which was a dusky mint green. The actual Honeydukes is a darker green but I love this mint colour, I didnt want it so dark, so went with that! So i mixed several together, painted up one unit and took it to Homebase who then scanned my cabinet and the machine cleverly tells you the closest colour which was 'Roulette' . I then bought a Clover green which I smudged into the windows, doors, edging etc to age it more. Dosnt really show up in the pics unfortunatly.

As I bought this shop already decorated in a dark buttermilk colour with the stonework already on, Im unsure as it what to do with this outside part.



Im leaving the stonework, but I have the creamy colour which surrounds the windows and double door and Im unsure as to whether to age it with washes to dirty the perfect paintwork up, or to mask up around my windows etc, and try my hand at some plasterwork, or to paint a dark dirty grey/ green colour......like I say, undecided as always!



Inside it is painted all green, cabinets to match. Im waiting on another single unit for the corner part on the right, and another single is going on the far left wall. I also have a wall mounted shelf unit to go at the bottom of the stairs. The flooring is a cream and black and I love it!



The perspex topped unit is a lovely shape but as soon as I took it out of the box the perspex fell apart so I had to glue it and then it goes cloudy, as it didnt like my glue, oops! Hence why some candies are already covering up those parts. You wont see them but I know its there and its annoying me so in place already are Kerry Fawcett's http://ella-roseminis.blogspot.com/
beautiful balloon displays and Kerry Alexander's http://cherryberryminiatures.blogspot.com/ meringue tower, he he couldnt wait!



Inside the perspex part will be boxes of candies, and on top, stacks of coconut ice, and chocolate and mint fudge. Bowls of jellied snakes, chocolate frogs , giant lollipops, ice creams and much more.


Inside the wall cabinets, lots of jars of candies, and in the back perspex unit, lots of toffees, fudges etc.

The very corner cabinet on the right will be Bertie Botts beans display. Working on that next!

I hanvt got room to put in window displays as I had wanted to do, but I will have a round table with a candy floss display, and upstairs will have a matching table with a giant chocolate fountain . Oh if only it was real!

So still loads to do. But Ive broken the back of the inside lower floor.

Upstairs id like a pinstripe pink and green wallpaper, with whitewashed floorboards, and beautiful laser cut display cabinets showing off all my 'Holiday' halloween and Christmas candies!

Speaking of Christmas Id really like my shops to have a winter theme and would like to snow top them so any advice on the best material for this is appreciated. I have seen Stan from http://greggsminiatureimaginations.blogspot.com/ uses paperclay for his snow, and I really like the thick look he uses on his winter house. But Id like it more sparkly so maybe I can add some shimmer somehow. Ill be adding it to the window and roof tops, and some on the pavement below , but this will Id like a more scattered look of snow so looks like its diminished with customers walking in and out.




The shop signs all have to be done, and again Im no Pro with the PC, but have chosen a pale pink paper and already managed to do the Honeydukes sign in a greeney grey font for the windows, but if I cut it out and it looks terrible ill look for an expert to do it for me !!! I also would like 'Honeydukes ' signs on the bottoms of the cabinets and I will be making little shop bags for customers to take away their goodies!

And so, back to work!

Have fun, all those going to KDF this weekend, either to sell or to buy. Wish I was going and look forward to seeing your show reports on your return!

Check out Emily's Castle , Advice needed please!

Hi all, well progress is slower than Id like it to be on Honeydukes, but I managed to get the perfect paint today and have painted the walls and some of the many counters at last!

I havnt got pics just yet as all the paintwork has to be aged and Honeydukes signs made to go on the furniture . Still loads to do.

Just wanted to let you know that my eldest daughter Emily is back into blogging so please support her blog whenever you get a chance!

A lot is fashion/ beauty/ Reviews etc but she is of course into miniatures.....well theres not much chance of her not being with me is there!

Her next project is the Merlin Castle and as always its only money holding us back on starting ,as she wants the walls done realistically with compound and stencils so we need to save for the materials. We already have collected quite a number of medieval items and furniture so please check in to see what shes up to! She'd appreciate any advice and suggestions on the castle, ideas for the exterior, tips on putting it together, makers of medieval style furniture, etc

http://emilyclairefashions.blogspot.com/

Back soon with pics of some new purchases this end too! I have been good and not spending too much but there have of course been certain things I just HAD to have !!!

Have a great week