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!

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!

Candy Galore!

Hi again. Sorry about the confusion on the picture I had heading my post yesterday. It was meant to be lower down on the post only, to show the Universal Honeydukes that Im trying to emulate but afew of you thought that was my own version so far.......I wish!! Mine dosnt have the spiral staircase, but does have the same units, lettering, flooring and soon, lots of candy, so Im trying, and flattered you think It will be that good lol!!

Anyways as promised heres a few pics of some of the candy made so far. If you click on the pics you'll see them close up for all the colour variations! I had a night of rock and lollipop making. Some are large long sticks of rock which are going in tall jars and standing on each step of the pink staircase. So all the candy will be going up the stairs. I want it to look stacked with sweets!




The smaller stacks will go in a tall cabinet, and the little jars are having ribbon around the tops and acetate tops as they just fit inside the small glass fronted unit I have that takes 40 jars. as you can just see they have tiny honeydukes labels on them. In these jars will be things such as marshmallow flumps, bonbons, strawberry lips, jellied eggs, gumdrops etc.

I have made loads of lollipops. in various style and colours.They will again go in jars, and Ill make some displays out of fimo too. Some will be kept for my Honeydukes Hogwarts candy cart to be completed later. But there are spares so those with candy stores , as promised some will be coming your way!



Hoping my frogs will be done by Tuesday so I can complete the sherbert display counter for you to see.

A lovely glorious day today, we have already taken the children down to the riverside, and now back to watch the Wimbledon tennis final before I carry on with some more jar filling sessions!

Have a fun Sunday

Bertie Botts Bean Display

At last its finished!

Here is my version of Bertie Botts Bean Display for Honeydukes!



It was a bit of a nightmare to complete. Not only did I spend 2 days making all the different coloured jelly beans, which was extremely tedious, but then I had the fun and games of getting the tiny dispensers filled, stuck together and put into the cabinet evenly, which was a feat in itself!

The red and white display part is all drawn and painted freehand by myself, and that part, strangley enough was the easy bit and all went swimmingly!

The beans go in bands of colour , then with a twist of the lever, fall into smaller dispensers for mixing and then into the jars for customers to buy!






The Bean Flavour guide shows the customers what beans they can expect in their jars.

Here is the Universal and original Bean Display cabinets for you to see what I was trying to get close to!

The Version in the Movie

The Universal Version

This display fits neatly next to the last unit I showed you and next to these will be a double unit filled with themost amazing square glass jars I was lucky to find on ebay! They just need new labels and the lollipop displays on top and one side of the shop will be complete!






SO here it is, hope you like it. I'm very happy with it, even though it was a pig to finish! No more bean making for me, I think Im all beaned out!

The Honeydukes Sherbert Display at last!

Side View! My frogs are done so I have added the finishing touches and here it is, the first complete display, for sherbert and candies! This is the corner display for the right hand side of the shop, it fits against my large double unit and the single Bertie Botts will fit in next to its left side. The sherberts are all in tiny gold topped glass dispensers with little gold levers that when turned to the left dispense the colour you want into the Honeyduked labelled jars below. Lets just say it took some fiddly work to get this completed, and Im hoping it all stays glued in place as it took me an age to get it to hang this way! On top of the cabinet are several Harry Potter themed candies. There is a shelf lined with paper of the Honeydukes logo . Candies include, 'Ice Mice' 'Pink Coconut Ice', 'Acid Pops', ' Fizzing Whizbees Bars' little shop display boards for Chocolate , and a Bertie Botts Bean flavour chart. A Fudge Flies and Peppermint Toad display board, and further jars of liquorice wands, rhubarb and custard sweets and more fizzy sherberts . There are some tiny chocolate frogs and little Hermione and Dumbeldore candy boxes. On top of the cabinet I made little lollipop displays with pink candy canes, and a cellaphane wrapped candy in the middle. Lots more superglueing fingers together for that bit! All the tall cabinets will have this lollipop display on top of them so they will go around the room! Again, an idea 'borrowed' from the Universal cabinets but in my own colours and style I am really pleased with this first display, and even more excited about the next, the Bertie Botts bean Display which Im hoping to complete soon. It came together just as I imagined it should look, hope you like it just as much! Now, the front is no where finished, the paint needs ageing, the windows need more work, Ive lost the acetate for one of the windows and the front doors need putting on, but just had to show you my daughter Emily's fantastic work on the front signs! Im useless on the PC so she measured with me, and came up with this sign that runs the length of the shop front! I love it, its the perfect green on a soft pink and the lettering stands out beautifully! We need a gutter maybe above the centre sign, and the top wooden part is going to be dripping with snow that just slightly overhangs the sign! Im eager to get it finished but Ive also promised Emily that if she helped me out Id help her make a start on her Castle walls, so thats the plan for next week. I cant get on just yet with the Bertie display as Im waiting on things for it, so onto a different project as a break for a few days. Once we have some progress with that Ill be back with a vengeance to completing more of the exterior and the cabinets inside!! Thanks to Emily too for taking these brill pics as my camera is so rubbish!