miércoles, 20 de marzo de 2024

Spring at the Country Market

Dear Readers,

Hope you are all doing well!

Today´s post is my entry for the third creative crafting challenge of the year in the Sylvanian Forum.

The theme was:  Challenge#3:"Welcoming spring".


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It´s the first day of spring in Sylvania. In Sweet Berry Valley, Carol and Arthur Osborne want to welcome the new season by offering their customers new spring and Easter products at The Country Market.


They decorated the store with care and detail to give it a springtime feel.

A flower wreath on the front door,


a pastel bunting to add a fresh and cheerful touch,


pictures with floral motifs on the walls




and even a flower shaped table with matching chairs for the tea room.




Grandma Laura Maces and her granddaughter Nichole were the first to try out the new tea room furniture. Even the pastries are shaped like flowers!


The window has caught the attention of Sheila and Joanne Springer.They both love colour pink.



Before the customers start coming in, let's take a look at the new arrivals at the shop.

A selection of fine rose scented perfumes and toiletries.


An assortment of handbags in different styles, all of them in pink which seems to be the fashionable colour this spring in Sylvania.


A shelf with gifts and Easter items that will attract the attention of the little ones.



Gardening books and magazines for those who want to become garden fanatics.



Household and decorative items with a springtime touch.


Stationery products such as floral pattern notebooks and gift wrapping paper.



There is  also a section that sells picnic items. If you don't find what you are looking for you can browse the picnic supplies catalog and order it.


In addition to all these new products, we can find the usual toiletries and cleaning items, baby food products as well as presciption medicines, natural remedies and supplies for minor ailments.


Full view of the interior of The Country Market





Soon after opening, the first customers began to arrive. Eric and Melinda Cakebread wanted to buy a gift for their mother's birthday. They wondered if they had enough money in their piggy bank to buy her a rosewater tonic and a rose perfume.They were sure she would love it.



Lucy Fenton and her daughter Sadie were looking forward to having a look at the new spring arrivals at the Country Market.As soon as they entered the shop, Sadie was drawn to the bag collection. 

Lucy had noticed a decorative pitcher that would look lovely on the kitchen table.


Alex Periwinkle went to buy some toiletries with his son Henry and her daughter Rebecca.


Little Henry was thrilled when he saw the Easter stand.He couldn´t wait for the Easter bunny to come and hide chocolate eggs for him and his siblings in the garden.


Rebeca's attention was attracted by a surprise egg with a violet perfume inside. 
"Dad, we could give it to mom and grandma for Easter. It would be a nice gift."


While they were deciding whether to buy the surprise egg or not, Henry showed up with a bunch of Easter goodies.
"Henry! I´m afraid you can´t get it all. You can only choose one thing". This is going to be a hard decision to make.


Bianca and Stephanie Marshmallow don't want to miss the first day of spring product sale.

Stephanie is  Bianca´s oldest daughter. She lives in the big city but she´s spending a few days in Sweet Berry with her family.

When she was a little girl, Stephanie liked to go to the Country Market with her mother and look at all the toys and gifts in the store.
Now she still likes to go shopping with her mother and whenever she comes to Sweet Berry Valley she always stops by the Country Market. 


Bianca loves the mint colour tea set. The little flowers on the teapot are a cute springtime touch, aren´t they?


Stephanie is looking over the mugs. It´s time to put away the Christmas mug and replace it for a floral one.


When spring rolls around, the gardening season gets underway. The Osbornes know that in Sweet Berry Valley there are many residents who like to take care of their garden so they have stocked the magazine rack with the best selection of gardening magazines.

Teresa Seashore has a green thumb, everything she touches grows well. This is partly due  to the fact that she takes heed of spring gardening tips from her favourite magazines.



Adrianne Hopkins is not very good at gardening but she loves all kinds of flowers, so she named her daughter after a flower. Rosa is the spanish word for rose.
When spring comes, there is nothing better than a flower-shaped fruit bowl in the centre of the kitchen table to add a touch of colour and freshness  and to encourage healthy snacking. She was lucky to find one on sale.


Spring means flower buds and blooming trees but it also means sneezing , a stuffy nose and watery eyes for Peace who suffers from seasonal allergies. She went with Peter to the Country Market to get an over-the-counter remedy to help ease the symptons.



Peter is not really into shopping and browsing in stores but his face lit up when he saw his favorite childhood book. He had fond memories of his grandmother reading the book to him over and over again. He even learned it by heart.



When they saw the Easter cards they picked out two, one for Grandma and another one for Apple and Juice, their good friends from Purrchester.


While Peace was having a look at the stationery section, Peter started browsing the book.He remembered that as a child he was a bit of a rascal, just as the character in the story, but  he was also as playful and charming as the rabbit.Curiously enough, they were both named Peter.


Peace is thinking of buying a new notebook for journaling.She likes to write, draw and collage her thoughts, dreams, and emotions. 


Apart from the allergy medicine, they had no intention of buying anything else, but it is difficult to leave the country market empty-handed.


Although their intention is to continue saving for a van by summertime, they spent more than 20 sylvas so they were gifted with a floral print tote bag: a special promotion at the country Market to celebrate the beginning of the spring season.
"You get a free bag when you spend 20 sylvas or more.What colour do you like?".


With weather warming up and days getting longer, spring is the ideal time for a picnic.
The Fenec family has recently moved to Sweet Berry Valley.They are planning to go on a picnic to celebrate the arrival of their favourite season so they went to the Country Market to gather some picnic essentials: a picnic basket, cups,a flask of tea and a picnic blanket.



Carol and Arthur spent the first day of the special spring sale serving customers, restocking shelves and preparing tea and pastries for the tea room.




When they were finished, they were tired but pleased with the success of their sales.
Finally it was time to close up the store and relax after such a busy day.


They were cleaning and tidying up when they saw their children arrive in the tandem they got for Christmas. Ava ,Aidan and Jason had spent the day at a friends´ house and Carol and Arthur didn´t expect to see them until they came to pick them up. What a lovely surprise!


The children had prepared a basket of snacks, fruit and juice. Aidan, the sweet tooth of the family, had also packed honey sandwiches for dessert so the whole family headed to find a cozy spot to enjoy an afternoon picnic. Arthur and Carol were grateful to spend some time outdoors after working in the store.The gentle breeze and the sight and smell of the almond blossoms was a treat for the senses.


As the weather had been quite mild since mid-February, the almond trees were already in bloom. High Valley Park was spectacular at this time of the year and the perfect scenery for the Osborne family to have a picnic to celebrate the fist day of spring.


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Hope you enjoyed today´s post. I really had a good time setting up the Country Market and making some miniatures.

These are some close-up pictures of my crafting for this spring related project.






























I wish you a wonderful spring season🌺 and if you are in the Southern Hemisphere a lovely autumn season 🍂.

See you soon!

8 comentarios:

  1. Hi Cutata. I hope you're well!

    Again you have given us an amazing blog post. The amount of detail is incredible; all those accessories and the time it must take to set them up! Your backgrounds are always so Sylvanian too. I love the little step ladder that Arthur has climbed - with his chatting he must take care not to fall off, haha!

    The range of critters you include is a treat too. There are so many in my collection that I've not used in stories as yet. You've reminded me of my Fennec foxes - I must have a think about what they do in the village.

    I have not ventured outside to do any work in my garden so far this year. When it crosses my mind it generally rains before I can think of getting the lawnmower out! It's good to see our Sylvanians are not so restricted!

    Keep safe and I hope you have lovely weather to enjoy the spring.

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  2. Hi Jackson,
    Thanks a lot for you kind words.

    The truth is that it took me quite a long time to put everything in place. The worst of all is that as there are so many little things, as soon as I moved something they fell off and I had to put them back in place. In the end using sticky tape was a great help.

    Poor Arthur also fell several times from the ladder but luckily he didn't suffer any major injuries.

    As for the backgrounds , some of them are the ones that come in the sylvanians sets.I have printed others from the internet and some are flashcards that I use at school. The flashcards of the seasons, although they are small, come in handy as backgrounds for some pictures.

    The Fennec fox family is lovely. As they have already bought everything they need to go on a picnic I will have to take some pictures of them enjoying a picnic day. That was the original idea I had for the spring challenge.

    I hope the weather improves and you will be encouraged to prepare your garden for the spring and summer season. I would love to have a garden but as I live in an apartment it is not possible. I am content to set up gardens for my Sylvanians.

    Have a great day!

    ResponderEliminar
  3. Hi Cutata!

    (This is Ayrell, in case Google decides not to show my name, haha)

    My friend, once more I am amazed by your lovely creations and pictures. All the tiny miniatures you created by this delightful story are truly lovely, and I always enjoy seeing your Sylvanians!

    The mint and pink pastel colours of the Country Market are perfect for Spring and make my brain happy as well, haha! So adorable!

    I love how well stocked the shop is, no wonder all the inhabitants of Sweet Berry Valley love it. I love how Peter enjoys the Peter Rabbit book, and poor Peace with her allergies made me feel seen, haha! I'm sure the remedies in the Country Market will make her feel better.

    I loved the Osborne family leaving together at the end and the almond blossoms background. Lovely!

    Now I'm looking forward to the pictures about the Fennec family having their picnic, hehe. :D

    Thank you for the wonderful new story. I'm so happy that you've been enjoying sylvani-ing again lately! :)

    Have a wonderful day!

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    Respuestas
    1. Hi Ayrell,

      Thanks a million for your lovely comment!

      I´m glad you liked this story and the miniatures I made to stock the shelves of the Country Market. It is a very nice building and as you say, its mint pastel colour combined with pink are perfect to create a spring atmosphere.

      When I wrote about Peace´s allergies I knew you were going to relate to her. I didn't used to have allergies but in the last two years, when spring comes, I start to notice the symptoms and they are very annoying.I hope you are getting rid of the symptoms thanks to the medication.

      I love almond blossoms so I looked for an image on the internet and printed it out.

      I´m in the mood for sylvani-ing at the moment.I hope that real life will leave me some free time to continue enjoying this hobby.

      I´m also looking forward to reading a new post on your blog. I miss your pictures and your lovely stories.

      Have a great day!

      Eliminar
  4. Wow Cutata, there is so much work here! You have done an amazing job. So many miniatures, and some lovely photos. I really like the one of Laura and Nichole Maces having tea, but I think my favourite might be little baby Henry with all the Easter things he wanted to buy! Very cute.
    It is clear that the Osbornes will do very well with their Spring range, if their busy first day is anything to go by. It's nice that they were also able to have some relaxation time with their family at the end of the day. :)
    I also really enjoyed seeing your pictures of the crafts you made, along with some of the materials used. So clever, using the capsules to make the perfume bottles! And I love those bags you made from the ribbon (I hope you don't mind if we steal this idea in future!)
    Thank you for spoiling us with this lovely post, Cutata. Hope you enjoy your Spring.

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  5. Hi GreyRabbit!

    I really appreciate your positive feedback! Thanks a lot!

    Lately, I´ve been getting back into my Sylvanians and I feel motivated to "play" with them again.

    I´m glad you enjoyed the story and the pictures of the crafts I made.
    I thought about writing another post explaining how I had made the miniatures but as they are so simple, in the end, I just took close-up pictures along with the materials I had used.

    The bags are very easy to make and can be done in no time at all. Of course you can copy the idea!. Your Sylvanians will find them very useful to go shopping.

    Have a lovely day! Hope you enjoy Autumn.

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  6. Hi Cutata!
    I absolutely adore this post! You make me long to come shop at the Country Market! I wish I could just disappear into Sylvanian, never to return to the real world!

    I'm blown away by the sheer amount of detail and work that has gone into getting the Country Market ready for Spring! Everywhere you look there is something new that catches your eye. I felt so excited when I saw the bookshelves - Peter Rabbit was one of my favourite stories growing up, as was (and still is) the Brambly Hedge books. I recognised Spring Story right away!

    Arthur and Carol must be so busy, running the store as well as serving in the Tea Room. They are certainly very hard workers. How lovely that their children suprised them and they were able to enjoy a sweet picnic together. It looks like the Christmas bike was definitely a hit! It's wonderful they got a gift that they can all enjoy together.

    Thank you for showing us how you made your crafts too. You are so creative.

    -I'm looking over the photos again, and I just love it all so much! Fantastic work!
    Have a lovely Spring! :)

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  7. Hi Kelsie!
    Thanks a million for your lovely comment!

    I'm glad to hear that you liked the story and noticed the little details. You spotted the Spring Story book! I love Brambly Hedge books too!
    Peter also loved Peter Rabbit. He was so excited to find his favorite childhood book that he bought it.

    You´re right!Arthur and Carol are very hard workers .They like to run their business and take good care of their customers. The Country Market is a favorite of everyone in Sweet Berry Valley and the surrounding area. It was the first shop I bought and is still my favourite.

    By the way, I like to read your stories again but I miss new stories so when you have a little time I hope you can post on your blog again.I´m looking forward to it!

    Have a wonderful day!

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