Parcels from America, Kat's hats and the meet the fabalous Ernest :0)

I have too start this post with Ernest, he is amazing. A while ago Joy of Adora Bella Minis made my wonderful shopkeeper for my little Woolembees store and I was so pleased with her when she arrived, that I asked Joy if, in a couple of months she would make me a hubby for Esme Hyacinth. Well, last week Joy started to make a Santa, but he had plans of his own and turned out to be Ernest!

A perfect hubby for Esme Hyacinth, he doesn't mind donning an apron, picking up a feather duster and helping out in the shop, now that he has finally retired :0) 

Isn't he amazing :0) I have to admit, as soon as I saw him, he reminded me of my lovely dad (apart from the bald head!) and when little Meg saw him she said 'Ooo he looks just like Gramps when he's helping Grama clean!' LOL

Thankyou Joy, I love him :0)

Well, as you can see, I am now running out of room in Woolembees. This is one of my favourite projects and I wish now that I had asked Hywel to make me a larger shop..., but then maybe it would lose it's charm if it were bigger! When I design a new cross stitch cushion or sampler, the original goes in here, the sofa and chair I upholstered and loved so much that I couldn't part with, are in here, there's also some of my little chennille bears too.

My wonderful La Petite Belle fom Julie of Bellabelle Art Dolls  is nestled amongst my cushions on my sofa and there are some lucky ornamental finds from Ebay on the dresser.

But, I did find a little room for some wonderful pink candles from Lorraine of Dfly Creations

Lorraine popped these wonderful candles in my parcel as a free gift. Thankyou so much Lorraine, they are perfect for my shelves in Woolembees :0)

My purchase from Lorraine was this wonderful wandbox containing a superb wand.  It is to go in one of the display counters in my Wizards and Wands Bookstore.

I couldn't decide which colour to buy as Lorraine had listed a few different coloured wands, but I'm glad I settled on the orange set, as it shows up brilliantly in the slightly gloomy bookstore. Which, I will start working on again, I hasten to add, it's been a bit neglected since the spring!

The postman also brought me another parcel from the lovely Kat of Kat the Hat Lady's Etsy Store 

I love Kat's hats and have many! Well, I bought a Pumpkin witch's hat last week and the Mad Hatter's Hat this week and between us Kat and I got all muddled up over hats lol, but it's all sorted now and the lovely Kat sent me the right hat and let me keep the wrong hat for free, thankyou so much Kat, it was lovely of you :0)

Another couple of great purchases which have been waiting a couple of weeks for a spot here are;

 

A sweet little Pumpkin Teapot for Gertie by Lory of Lory's tiny creations 

and a lovely little Sussex Gnome by Anne of  Elf World Creations 

Well, that's the end of my super long post, I hope you like my great buys and will click on the highlighted links and take a look at all these wonderful artisan's stores for yourselves.

I'm off for a well deserved cup of tea now :0)

Have a great day,

Julia xxx

May I Introduce the wonderful... the amazing....

Mrs Esme Hyacinth
or
Hyacinth for short! :0)

Last thursday, when browsing through my favourite blog haunts, I happened to linger a little longer on a certain blog and an idea was born :0) The blog was Adora Bella minis and I emailed Joy to ask if she would kindly put me on her waiting list for a little character to be the shopkeeper in Woolembees.

My brief for the shopkeeper was;

'The little story of Woolembees;
When planning it, I had in mind a little box of Highland Heather soaps, so I have centred my main colours around pale lilacs, blues, sage greens and heather pinks. I can imagine a shop like this tucked away down a little lane, away from the main hustle and bustle. The shopkeeper would be a kind, older lady with a 'lived in' look about her face and a tad rounded in figure!'

I said I was in no hurry, I knew Joy was busily working on another commission, so you can imagine my surprise and delight when I opened my emails Sunday and there she was, all ready, it seems I had fired an idea for Joy too:0)

Well.. Mrs Esme Hyacinth arrived in the post this morning and she is absolutely perfect for Woolembees. Thank you so much Joy :0)

So... without further ado, here is Mrs Esme Hyacinth, fondly known as Hyacinth for short :0)

 

Hyacinth keeps a tidy shop, woe betide anyone who rummages ;0) Here she is tidying her shawls.

I put the wall dresser together this afternoon, it is filled with jars of buttons, cottons, wool and sewing patterns.

Time for a cup of tea and a quick check over the tidiness of her darling little shop.

 

Thank you Joy, she is lovely and suits Woolembees completely :0)

Julia xx xx

The little shop

In amongst all the chaos of the snow, I have managed to do some work on my little shop ;0) Hywel has made a little arch to go over the top of the doorway and I have draped some greenery over it. He just has to make the planter for it now and I can glue it all in place! I also found some thin wood to make window panes ( I lost the originals), they are also just balanced there at the moment, but I think they work, so I will make some more for the sides, glue them in and glaze the window, I can start dressing the window display properly then.  The 'cobbles' worked out ok, I roughly painted them with a grey emulsion  mix and then immediately wiped them down with kitchen roll. Its gives an uneven coat, just perfect for cobbles. I have also grassed the sides and put little corners of heather coloured scatter materials, hopefully to look like weeds!!!

Inside is a showcase for my work. I can hold my hand to being the maker for the great majority of items in the shop, which was the original idea and now if I need inspiration for a new tapestry or cushion, I can just peep through the window and gather ideas :0)

Through the window at night, all lit up and cosy!













Now the shop has really taken shape, I am sure all will agree that it doesn't look very french!! So, I am going with the scottish look because it reminds of those old, little shops you stumble upon whilst on holiday, tucked away down side alleys and you delight at all the pretty things you find inside :0) My favourite kinda shop! So the shop now has a name.... Woolembees....  What do you think? Ok, I pinched it from the latest Harry Potter film, but it sounded perfect! :0)
Have a good day, last post of my houses tomorrow, you will have seen them all then, time for a new one!!!!
Julia xx

Artisans In miniature have a blog

A quick post to highlight a new blog.

http://artisansinminiature.blogspot.com/

Pop over for a peek at all the lovely work from various miniature artists.
They also have a fab, free downloadable magazine, packed with heaps of great articles and how-to's. Just click the AIM logo on the right of my blog to go stright to their main site.

And the winner is.......

Well I have survived my expedition up the loft to get the pumpkin bowl for all the competition entries to go into and I had a lovely lot of entries and the rhymes were brilliant. They are spread out over my last 3 blogs, sorry I couldn't put them all onto the one blog, but they are well worth a read :0)























Little Meg had great fun dressing up in her witches costume and pulling the winner's name out of the pumpkin and so the winner is .........


Olivia at http://liv-mydollshouse.blogspot.com/


Olivia is also a new follower, so welcome Olivia, I hope you will enjoy my blog and like the cushion. Please send me an email with your postal address and which halloween cushion you would like.

Thankyou to everybody who entered and welcome to all my new followers, I hope you will enjoy my blog and will enter my christmas competition coming in roughly late November /December.

Julia :0)x