Unfortunately I do not have the space in my apartment to have my Sylvanians out on display. I have seen many peoples Sylvanian Families displays, and I must admit, I am jealous. Not only do I not have a place to display my Sylvanian Families collection, I don't even have a place to set them up when I want to play with them or photograph them. This makes me very unhappy. So the other day I was cleaning out my children's toy room, when tucked away behind a toy cabinet, I found a plain board (which used to be one of the shelves for the cabinet, but was unused). an idea popped into my head that I could use that board to set up my figures. Only problem, it was plain white and boring. I decided that since I have at least some artistic ability, so I could do something about it.
First, I got out my supplies. I have tons of paints, brushes, and other craft supplies because I often like to do arts and crafts. choosing a color for the base was easy as I only had one green in my art box. it is a Citris Lime, and I thought it would make a nice bright color for the grass. The paint I used was regular Acrylic paint.
After several coats of the Lime green, I painted pathways. this was only the first coat of paint for the pathways, so thats why it looks crappy and unfinished.
After many more coats of the brown, I put in some detail. Living in Philadelphia, I have always admired the cobble stone of the streets here downtown. It has such a old timey, vintage vibe to it, and I love that; so I decided that I wanted my Sylvanians to have the same. I also decided to put in some flowers. I did many colors of purple, raspberry, blue, pink and yellow. I painted them all different, and no two bushels of flowers are the same.
After allowing to dry for several hours, I used Mod Podge to seal it and give it a matte finish that would keep the paint from rubbing off on my figures. this was the most important step. I waited 3 hours between each coat, and applied 3 coats. The finished project I thought came out great. I now have a place to set up my Sylvanians when I want to take them out. It's not huge, but it's an okay size, and better than what I had before, which was nothing. And I had so much fun doing it :)
I've always wanted the Sylvanian Cake Shop, but I absolutely do not have the money to buy it. Last night I was brain storming, and I started to look up "shoe box dollhouses" on Google. Some of them looked really nice, and since I am artistic, I knew I could make one just as good, if not better. So this morning when I woke up, I pulled out this box from under my bed. I've had it for a few years. I used to store cards in it, but at some point I threw away all of the cards. I kept the box because I was sure I'd use it again at some point or another. This is not a regular shoe box. It is a very heavy cardboard box. It's one of those boxes you buy at a Crafts store. I think they're usually used for scrapbooking. I knew this would be the perfect box to use since it is so thick and sturdy. First I used a box cutter and cut out the window and
door. It was a little tough to get it just perfect, but it turned out really good. Now, I knew I wanted some type of covering over the window, to make it look more realistic; so I used clear flimsy plastic. The kind thatcomes on the front boxes of Sylvanians when you buy a complete family. that worked perfect. I cut it a little bit bigger than the window, and then glued iton. Next, I chose some wallpaper. I didn't use dollhouse wallpaper, just some pretty scrapbooking paper that I had in my art supplies I was careful to make the openings for the door and window the same size with an exacto knife before using Mod Podge to glue it on. The Mod Podge was perfect for this because it was just like using wallpaper glue when you hang up wallpaper. and it also doesn't leave those pesky moist bumps in the paper. I've said it
before, and I'll say it again, Mod Podge is the shit. For the hardwood floor, I simply cut the rounded edges off of popsicle sticks and glued them down with quick dry Tacky Glue. I had toyed with the idea of painting the floor white when Ifirst started, but after seeing it complete, the wood really looked pretty with the the wallpaper, so I decided to leave it as is. Last, I started to decorate. I made a little menu out of some old gift tags I had left over from my little sister baby shower two years ago. I save everything art related, because you can always eventually use it for something. I wrote prices for the cakes, pies, cupcakes, ect. I tried to write it an fancy as I could in such tiny writing, I think it turned out pretty cute. I also made a picture frame and hung it on the opposite wall, and a magenta shelf between the door and window. Tomorrow I may look around and see if I have anything to make some curtains. I am not a great sewer, so I'm sceptical about that, but we'll see. Maybe for once my sewing will look somewhat acceptable. I also was thinking of adding a small little patio in the front for some outdoor tables. and I'd like to make some decor for the front of the shop. It also needs a "Bakery" sign, and window sills. I haven't done anything to the outside of the shop yet, but the inside looks really cute so far.
