The Lil' Woodzeez Bakery Makeover

Hello, GreyRabbit here!  Long time, no post!  But we haven't been neglecting our Sylvanian Families - quite the opposite in fact.

Somewhat before last Christmas, we bought a number of Sylvanian Families items from a seller on Gumtree (you may remember the arrival of our beautiful Oakwood Manor - this was part of that lot).  Among them was a Lil' Woodzeez bakery.  Now, I'm not generally a big fan of Lil' Woodzeez.  I don't like the shape of the animal figures, and I find both the figures and clothes are of a lesser quality than Sylvanians.  I know some people love them - this is just my opinion.  But here's the thing:  they do have some rather lovely accessories and playsets, which are just the right size for Sylvanians.  The car and caravan set is a case in point:  it's gorgeous, and SO much cheaper than the Sylvanian caravan alone!  The big problem I have with a lot of Woodzeez items though, is the colours.  Everything is very bright, and there is a LOT of pink.  Like, Barbie pink.  Now I like pink, but it just doesn't fit well with our vision of Sylvania.  We feel that Sylvanians mostly prefer more natural tones and either softer or more traditional colours.

So we had this bakery on our hands, and boy was it PINK.  But it really was rather lovely, and came with lots of great little foods etc, so Caitlyn decided she would like to receive it as part of her Christmas present, provided that I was happy to repaint it later.  Sounded like fun - I happily agreed.

So anyway, I have finally got around to redecorating the bakery.  And it was fun, if super time consuming.  I thought you might like to see what I did.

First up, I decided to spray the whole thing in a cream colour, using a paint that said it would work on plastic.  This way I would have Caitlyn's requested cream base colour for the walls, plus it would act as a primer for the detailed bits, as I planned to use the regular craft acrylic paints that I already had (I didn't want to spend masses of money on special paints).  I started by taking the bakery apart as much as possible.  The base (which we did not want to paint at all) came off nicely with the help of a screwdriver.  Two of the walls wanted to stay together (there seemed to be glue involved with how the acorn sign is attached), so I let them be, and just removed the other wall and the door.  I also masked off some areas where Caitlyn wanted to keep the original colour.  Naturally I forgot to take pictures of this process, but I used masking tape and aluminium foil.  This is what it looked like after the application of spray paint (and after the masking was removed):

Next it was time to paint all the teeny-tiny details.  This was, needless to say, by far the most time-consuming part of the whole process.  Caitlyn chose the colours, and mixed the dark red herself as she was after something specific for that colour (hint, hint - can you guess which of her new families is to run the bakery??).

As you can see, the first coat tends to go on somewhat patchily!  Another couple of coats fixed this up nicely.

After everything was painted its new colours, I sealed the whole thing with a few clear spray coats to protect the paint and give it a nice even satin finish.

Once it was all dry, I simply reassembled it, and the bakery was all ready for its new owners to move in!  Here are some before and after shots, so you can see the difference between the original colours, and the new colours Caitlyn chose.  PLEASE NOTE that due to a brain fade on my part, I completely forgot to take "before" shots, so I have borrowed these "before" pictures from an ebay listing, which can be found here, if you are interested in buying one of these bakeries yourself!  I don't know this person, but I hope they will forgive me using their photos, and accept my best wishes for selling their bakery (call it extra advertising)!  (Seriously though, if these are your pictures, and you would prefer I removed them, please let me know in the comments below and I will do so immediately).

Front:

Side:

Other Side:

Interior (oven side):

Interior (other side):

Wow, I have just noticed how rough some of my painting looks when viewed through a camera lens!  It's much less noticeable in real life (at least I think it is - I hope it is!) - I guess we don't usually poke our faces in this close...  lol.  It just goes to show things don't always have to be 100% perfect to still look good to the casual observer.... right?  Right?

Overall, I think this project was a success.  Both Caitlyn and I like the new colours much better than the old ones, and it was fun repainting a building - something I have never embarked on before.  Would I do it again?  Maybe.  If I found a building I really liked, it was cheap, and I really didn't like the colour, then probably yes.  Would I recommend buying Woodzeez buildings and repainting them in order to save money?  No.  I used acrylic paints that I already had, but I did buy two cans of spray paint (cream, and clear) for this, so there was an expense involved.  More importantly though, I spent Many Hours on this project.  So if it seems like fun to you, then yes, do it.  It was fun.  But don't do it purely in an attempt to save cash - that would be a false economy, especially if you don't already have the paints.

Wow, this turned out to be a very long and picture-heavy post - well done if you made it this far!  Have a great week. xx

Grand-papa's Tale

It was Teri and Frasier’s wedding anniversary, and they had gone out for the evening to the Courtyard Restaurant.  The children were spending the evening at home with Frasier’s parents, who were visiting from Town.  When dinner had been cleared away, and little Crème had been put to bed, the other children gathered in the lounge room to spend some time with their grandparents.

“Grand-mama, how did you and Grand-papa meet?” asked Milka, dreamily.

“Have you not heard that story, ma petite?” asked her grandmother, in mild surprise. 

The children all shook their heads.

“Tell us, tell us!”

“Hercule?  I think they are all old enough now, n’est-ce pas?  Your grandpere, he will tell it better,” she smiled.  Six pairs of bright eyes turned to Monsieur Chocolat.  He cleared his throat, and put his coffee cup down.

“Well, it was long ago,” he began, “when I lived in Belgium.”

“Was that when you were a policeman, Grand-papa?” asked Cadbury, interested.

“Oui, so it was.  I worked for the Belgian Police Federale, in La Division des Lapins.”

“What does ‘lapins’ mean?” asked Marzipan.

“It means ‘rabbits’,” said Freya, “Shhh.”  Marzipan poked her tongue out at Freya, but subsided to listen quietly.

“It happened that at that time, there was a famous jewel thief at large in the great city of Brussels,” Hercule continued.  “It was not widely known, but evidence had been found that suggested this thief was a small animal, and most probably a rabbit.  The case was therefore given to our Division, and we were hard at work upon it.  Now one day, I was sitting at my desk, and in came the most beautiful young rabbit I had ever seen.”  Here, Honey noticed her grandfather glance at her grandmother, who gave a little smile.

“This young lady was distraught, as she had had stolen from her a most beautiful necklace, which was not only very valuable, but was also a most important family heirloom.  The details of the case you will not find very interesting, but suffice to say that I was quite sure that this was the work of the Shadowy Paw, as we were calling him.  Naturally, I assured this lovely creature that I would do all I could to bring the thief to justice and make him pay for what he had done.

‘Oh monsieur,’ she said, ‘I cannot even think of that.  All I want is for my family’s precious necklace to be returned.’  Well, it was all the same – to find the necklace, I must track down the culprit!

Now a few nights later, there was to be a ball, and all the rich and fashionable society of the city would be in attendance.  This, I knew, would be my chance!  Surely the Shadowy Paw would be at this ball, and would strike again!  I laid my plans, and on the night of the ball, myself and several of my colleagues attended in disguise.”

“As I recall, you looked quite dashing in that tuxedo,” Madame Chocolat interjected.  The little rabbits giggled.

“Go on, Grand-papa,” urged Cadbury.  “Was the thief there?  Did you catch him?”

“I had been keeping my eye upon a particular society lady there that night – a Countess, in fact – who was wearing a tiara of simply outrageous value.  

I felt that on no account could the Shadowy Paw possibly resist it.  Sure enough, late in the evening, the lights went suddenly out!  There was great confusion;  everyone jostling about and exclaiming in the dark.  There was a scream!  Then, just as suddenly, the lights came back on again – but alas, the scream had come from the Countess, as her tiara had been snatched from her head!”

“But who took it?!” breathed Milka.  The children’s eyes were like saucers.

“I acted quickly,” Monsieur Chocolat continued.  “I noticed a door ajar that had previously been closed, and ran straight for it.  I could hear light paws pattering ahead – the thief was fast, but I felt sure I could catch him.”  

He noticed Duke looking slightly sceptical, and pointed out, “I was a little fitter in those days.”  His wife gave a quiet chuckle.  He pretended not to notice, and continued with the tale.

 “The thief finally left the building through a window, but I leaped out also, and collided with him, almost knocking him to the ground!”

“Hooray!” the children cried.  “Did he have the necklace?”

Monsieur Chocolat hesitated.  “Yes,” he replied slowly, “I got the necklace back - and the Countess' tiara, of course.  But I had noticed something rather unexpected.  The rabbit I had collided with, and who had certainly stolen the tiara, was not a ‘he’ at all – in fact, it was a ‘she’.  Dressed in black from head to toe, this young rabbit took one look at me and dissolved into tearful speech.  The tale she told was a sorry one.  How, an orphaned rabbit of good birth but no family, she had fallen in with the wrong sort of creatures, and into bad habits.  How a pretty smile and a certain natural talent for thievery had been encouraged, and honed to a skill unparalleled.  How she longed to escape from this dishonest life, to live among decent, quiet creatures, and to become one of them herself.”

“Did you believe her?” asked Honey, bluntly.

“She was very persuasive,”  her grandfather replied.  “I agreed to give her a chance.  She was thankful for this, and a little shaken.  She did not expect it, I think.  But I made two conditions:  that she was to turn everything she had stolen over to me, so that it might all be returned to its previous owners.  And that if she ever stole anything again, I would alert the authorities to all her previous crimes.”

“You mean you let her get away?”  Cadbury was incredulous.  The other children stared, too.

“But you promised Gran – I mean, the beautiful lady – that you would bring the thief to justice!” cried Honey.  “Grand-mama, what did you think of this?”

“I thought he was very kind,” Madame Chocolat said quietly. 

“I know what you are thinking, children,” said Monsieur Chocolat.  “I am not sure, even now, that it was the right thing to do.  I simply felt that there was something about this young rabbit – that she deserved a second chance.  And I have no regrets.  But the very next day, I resigned my post with the Belgian Police force.  I felt that I could not ask them to trust my judgement in the future, when I myself found this decision so questionable.”  There was a silence, broken finally by Marzipan’s voice.

“Did she give all the jewels back, Grand-papa?” she asked, timidly.

“She did,” he answered with a smile.  “And since then, she has done much charity work, and raised a wonderful family.”

“None of which, of course, excuses the dreadful behaviour of her youth,” his wife pointed out sternly.  “She was extremely lucky not to spend many years in prison.  It is perhaps what she deserved.  And your grand-pere would have gained much prestige in his career for tracking her down.”  Then she relented, looking fondly at her husband.  “But I for one, am thankful that he acted as he did.  He showed a great kindness and selflessness that day.”

“Well, at least you got your necklace back, I suppose,” said Honey.

“The necklace?  Oh, ma petite, the lady with the necklace – that was not me!” Madame Chocolat exclaimed.

“What?  But I thought – “

“I still can’t believe you didn’t capture the thief, Grand-papa,” said Freya, perplexed.

“Ah, but ma chere, who says that I did not?” replied her grandfather, his eyes twinkling.  He took his wife’s paw, and they exchanged a loving smile. 

Freya stared at them for a moment, and then started to laugh.

Introducing Dr Murdoch

Hello there!  Today I am introducing Dr Tobias Murdoch, a very well respected bear in Town.  I have also added him to our Town "Meet The Families" page.

I was lucky enough to find Dr Murdoch and his lovely Cottage Hospital at a very reasonable price, quite some time ago now, but he did not come in his original clothes.  In fact, all the good doctor was wearing was this aqua-coloured shirt.  I planned to keep him in the shirt, and make some pants to match, but I never seemed to get around to it...

Recently, one of the craft challenge prompts on the Sylvanian Families forum was "Healthcare", in recognition of all the healthcare workers doing such an amazing job all over the world right now.  So I decided this was an excellent opportunity to get around to sorting the hospital out, and making the long-awaited pants!  Hopefully they combine with Tobias' shirt to look a bit like hospital scrubs!  I also made him a surgical mask, for when he is operating.

The Cottage Hospital is a lovely building - this one came with some, but not all, of its original accessories.  I have added a few things, including making new bedding, some extra posters, and a shelf above the desk for some of the larger medical supplies and bulk medicines, as these items did not fit in the beautiful cupboard.  This is the layout I have decided on:

Caitlyn's Maple cat town girl, Miranda Maple, has been employed at the hospital as a receptionist.  She is friendly and efficient, and makes a very good first impression on arriving patients.

"Oh, good morning Mrs Caramel.  Do take a seat, the doctor will be with you shortly."

Some of the posters made Mrs Caramel feel a bit hungry...

While she is waiting, perhaps we will take a peep into Dr Murdoch's office...

He seems to be catching up on a little paperwork.

Luckily, he never makes his patients wait too long.

"Well, hello there.  How can I help you today?"