The story inside the book , part 2

After a bit of hard thinking I decided the book would hold a little shop that would sell , perfums, soaps and other beauty products. Even though the shop is decorated in 1900 's style it is  to  be a shop that you could find these days and it sells oldfashioned as well as more modern products.

The first thing I tried was finding a client for the shop.............that was a big problem for with a doll inside there would be no room left for the items I wanted to sell.

To solve the problem I added a lady to the decoupaged wall. She is part of the decor but she also adds just a little bit of life to the shop.

I found her on the internet  and I printed her 2 times so I could use foam tape between the two layers and give her a little bit of dimension.

I could not resist adding a few things with a Parisian theme so it would be very clear where the shop was .

Then I built a whole lot of shelves into the book so I would gave enough room for all the  perfumes and stuff  I wanted to sell.

Here is a picture of what the fully stocked shop will look like.

Tomorrow  I am going to show you how to make some of the items in the shop.

 Perhaps it would be a good idea to start looking for your beadbox and some erasors.

The story inside this book

I found this wooden book box at the dollar store. It already had the fabric on it and the printed roses. I immediately knew what the story insde this book was going to be about.

Let me tell you a bit more about out it . The title of the book is Au Bonheur des Dames. Which roughly translates into "  where ladies get happy" . From the pictures you can probably tell that we are talking about Paris. I added the plaque and because I am a terrible painter I made the lettering using miniature alphabet pasta. Does not it look good ?  The labels I found on the internet and I felt they were perfect for the book. The ladies picture was stuck behind a plastic door stopper and then framed inside an old ring.

Then I went on to decorate the inide of the book. I felt the old catalogue  pages from the  19th century were just pefect for my book. I scanned them from a book that I own and then printed them on the computer. I aged them by dragging a used tea bag over them.   I cut the paqges into pieces and decoupaged them inside the book using Mod Podge. For now we are leaving the book to dry and I will tell you more about it a bit later.

Today was like a summer day...........

It was really like summer today . I guess the last day for sitting in the garden and the perfect day for showing off my knitted swimsuits.

Variation on the bread recipe.

Using very similar ingredients you can make tons of variations on the bread recipe I gave.When  you use mini foam balls instead of foam board you can make various types of buns .

They can be decorated with talcum powder for flour, tiny sesame seeds, ground white pepper etc to make different types of breads.

They are fun to make , look pretty awesome in a shop scene, a basket or on a table.

Of course you can serve your buns with a hamburger, cheese, meats and whatever else you like.

My Fimo free bread.

All the breads in this picture were made by me  using the basic recipe and just adding different ingredients and doing different shapes. 

 I am totally hopeless when it comes to working with Fimo. I admire anyone who can  do it , but for me it is a total nightmare. So I try to make stuff without  it.

I found that foam board makes very nice bread. Here is my basic bread recipe to get you started.

Ingredients :  Piece of foam board, round  bottle cap, paint brush , oil  pastels in suitable shades of brown and amber colored glass paint . If you do not have any pastels  you can replace them with watercolors but I prefer to use the pastels myself.

Step 1 : use bottle cap to cut a round shape out of your foam board. You can also press the cap into the foam to make the size  and cut the shape  with a knife.

Step 2    There is no need for a perfect shape. These round breads never look too perfect at my local bakery. You can shape it a bit more of you like using a knife or small scissors.

Step 3 : Color your bread . I use a brush ro rub  the pastels into the foam. Start with the lightest shade . It helps to slightly moisten your brush. You can do this with water colors as well but I feel the pastels give more color control.

Step 4 :  Leave to dry. Check the color and add more if you like. For a nice crust , paint the top of the bread with a little glass paint.


If you feel like decorating your bread, wait  till the glass paint is nearly dry to add   your  decorations.


Talcum powder makes great flour, salt makes great sugar ( sugar will dissolve !! ) and white pepper also looks  brilliant.

  Some finished breads shown on a slice of bread.

  Breads shown in a shop setting.

There you are,  freshly baked bread the easy way !

Breads  in my French bakery shop.

Sharing some golden oldies

Today I am sharing some golden oldies. Projects that I have finished some time ago but that are still personal favourites.

The French bakery inside a book was made  to house all of the foam board breads I made. I did sell the shop and I still feel a bit sorry about not having it around anymore.

Looking at the photo reminds me that I have not  made breads for a very long time. Maybe I should try again?

  The photo also made me smile when I saw the beams again. I made them out of real breadsticks treated with varnish .and  still like the look of them.

"Au Panier Fleurie"

Another memory of holidays in France.  I always have dreamt about owning a real flowershop but that will never be.  So instead I made myself a mini one. This is about 1/2 scale and I used an old discarded and battered birdhouse for the basic structure.

Showing the front of the shop

Back of the  shop and the interior. 

The vintage looking  table  is actually just a chess piece with an extra table top. The vase is a plastic thingy  I found in a box somewhere but it looks like a glass vase , does not it ? I like the flowers in it,

 they are dried flowers from my garden mixed with some paper ivy.

The flowers are an interesting mix of paper flowers, dried flowers, plastic flowers, silk flowers and bits and pieces from my stash like plastic berries and leaves.


" Au Panier Fleurie" was published in American Miniaturist.

I am really into a French theme today. So here is another  holiday  in France inspired project. My brocante shop.
This scene is mostly about the outside from the shop. The shop interior is mostly done in 3 D effects done in paper with some real objects at the front behind the door and window  to add depth.

This shop has been published in Dollhouse Miniatures magazine.

No calory , crochet cherry pie

Feel like making sme o no calory cherry pie ?  Then get out your crochet hook and try this very easy pattern. This is not serious food but it is fun to make and it looks good.

I am giving the pattern for 12 th scale but you can make it bigger or smaller by using thicker or thinner thread and a matching crochet hook.

What you will need :

0,60 crochet hook

DMC fil dentelles no. 8o or another thread of the same thickness. Colors for Cherry pie : light brown, red and white . 

Needles for sewing up.

Tacky glue.

Tiny bit of stuffing.

Sc = single crochet

Ch= chain

Dc = double crochet

Bobble = 3 dc in one st worked together for cherry pie filling

St= stitch

 The Cherry pie is

made in  3 different parts : crust, filling and the cream swirl.

Pie crust for the cherry pie slice :

Bottom and lid of the pie are worked in one piece.

Row 1 : with light brown chain 2

Row 2 : work 2 sc in first chain, chain 1 and turn.

Row 3 : work 2 sc in each sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 4 : 1 sc in every sc, chain 1 and turn

Row 5 : work 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in each of the next 2 sc, 2 sc in the last sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 6 : 1 sc in every sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 7 : Work 2 sc into the first sc, 1 sc in each sc until last sc, 2 sc in last sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 8 : 1 sc in every sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 9 : Work 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in each sc until las sc, 2 sc in last sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 10 : 1 sc in every sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 11 : work 1 sc in every sc. using only the back loop ( the loop farthest away from you at the top of the crochet), chain 1 and turn.

Row 12 : work 1 sc in every sc, using both loops again, chain1 and turn

Row 13 : work 1 sc in every sc, using only the back loop as before, chain 1 and turn.

Row 14 : work first 2 sc together, 1 sc in every sc until last 2, work last 2 sc together. Chain 1 and turn.

Row 15 : 1 sc in each sc, chain 1 and turn.

Row 16 : as 14

Row 17: as 15

Row 18: as 14

Row 19 :as 15

Row 20 : work last 3 sc together. Do not finish off.

Finishing row of sc around the pie crust : chain 1 and work 1 sc in every st. around the pie shape. At the points work 3-4 sc in the same st to make a nice shape. Fasten off and cut thread .

To add the scalloped rim to the pie top :

Attach thread to the unused front loops of row 11 and work : * 1 sc in first loop, 2sc in next loop * repeat * to * till end.

Cherry pie filling

. I wanted it to look like berries so I used a bobble st. for this. But you could also omit the bobbles and just work sc if you do not like the berry look.

Row 1 : chain 21 in red.

Row 2 : work 1 sc in second chain from hook. 1 sc in every chain till end, chain 1 and turn.

Row 3 : work 1 sc in every sc ,chain 1 and turn

Row 4 : for the bobbles work : 1 sc in first sc, * work a bobble in next sc = work 1 dc but do not pull the yarn through the final loop, work 2 more dc like that and finish them by pulling the yarn through all 4 loops on the hook at once , 1 sc in next sc * repeat * to * till end. Fasten off and cut thread leaving a tail for sewing.

Cream swirl :

With white chain 15 .

Row 1 : 1 sc in second chain from hook and 1 sc in each chain till end.

Row 2-3 : work 1 sc in every sc using only the back loop. (= the one farthest away from you at the top of the work). This will add a rib to you work . Fasten off and cut thread.

Making up the pie :

You will find that the pie crust will fold at the two rows where you only used the back loops so you will have a bottom, side and top of crust. The filling has to be sewn to the inside of the bottom piece first. So hold right side of crust and filling against each other and whip stitch in place. Do not use the sc row around the crust so it can form a little rim on the finished pie. Then sew the filling to the top of the crust once again not using the sc row around the crust. Leave a little opening for filling the pie with some stuffing and close the opening. Weave in all lose ends.

Now to make the rim of the pie stand up nicely : thread your needle with a light brown thread. Attach to the pie at the side near the scalloped edge. Make small stitches all through the pie following the edge and finish off.

For the cream swirl :

Take your white strip of crochet and twist it around a few times till you get a nice swirl. Sew the swirl together so it keeps its shape and weave in all ends. Glue to top of pie.

There you are, place on a nice plate and admire your home made crochet cake.

If course you can make other types of pie as well. Just change the color for the filling and use different stitches to make it look a bit different.