RITA'S SWEETHEART COTTAGE

 Since I love fabrics and creating with them I decided
 to make my Sweet Heart Cottage a “Sew Nice Shoppe”. 
Covering the shutters with fused ribbon is a quick and easy way
 to achieve a bright look.  I scalloped the ribbon for the base to cover the slots.  
The step is two blocks of wood.  The shop sign is the front of one of the flower boxes. 
 It is trimmed with rick-rack and two little buttons. 
Both my sign and Valerie’s were made in Paint Shop Pro.

 A light grained contact paper made the flooring on the interior. 
 I wall papered the walls.
  Instead of using the tab and slots for the upper floor,
I glued wood trim around the house. 
The second floor will be glued into place on the trim. 

 For window treatments downstairs,
I glued lace for the valance to the frame.  
Little flower appliqués accent on the ends of the valance.
 I found a piece of little flower trim which
worked nicely on the curved windows upstairs. 
I just cut the trim into pieces. 
Four flowers made the under sill, three covered the straight side edges
 and three sets of two flowers covered the arch. 
On such a small house the trims worked well,
especially since it could be in keeping with the theme.

This is the finished front of my "Sew Nice Shoppe" (Sweet Heart Cottage). 
I used left over shingles to finish the roof.
  I also sealed the shingles with a clear varnish. 
I added the large red rick-rack trim to the front eave
and omitted the little roof addition over the door.

These are some of the accessories that will fill the shop. 
 I made the little holders and button display from scraps of wood. 
 I cut down a basket for the lace in the foreground. 
 I glued a fringe for accent before cutting the basket. 
Bits of cardboard made the base for the trims and lace. 
 Another basket holds remnants (bits of fabric rolled and tied with some string). 
 Felt squares and quilting squares are offered on a table. 
All of the buttons (four sides) are beads. 
I drew a line and a dot to simulate a header and hole for hanging.
 The ribbon was wound on woodies (three tiny ones glued together)
with a poster board circle glued to each side to create the spool. 
The spools of thread are plastic earring backs. 
For the patterns, I downloaded actual pattern fronts from a pattern site. 
The printed fronts were then folded around a piece of poster board. 

Here is the completed interior of my “Sew Nice Shoppe”.

Here you can see the close-ups of the accessories
 and their placement in the store. 
There are leather goods on the shelf above the fabric
and cotton batting in the basket. 
I have also included a cutting table.  
The trims are hidden behind the stairs,
but otherwise most everything else is self-explanatory.

The upstairs is finished as an employees lounge. 
You can see a banister was added in the eating area.
 I didn’t want anyone falling down the stairs!!! 
I used foam board to add privacy in the bathroom area. 
The toilet is hidden.  It has a green seat which matches the sink top. 
This too was built with sculptamold. 
A towel rack and mirror added a finishing touch.  

I have found a wonderful home for this dollhouse. 
A dear old (young at heart) lady who runs a second hand book store
 is always so gracious and cheerful. 
She just touched my heart.  Sooooooooo  I gifted her this house.

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