Welcome August

Dear Readers,
I can´t believe it´s already August!Time flies! Sometimes life moves at such a fast pace that it seems to pass by before we can really enjoy it.
I don´t know if our Sylvanian friends have the same feeling about time going by so fast but what I´m sure about is that their life style is far from being fast-paced and hectic. 

I like to believe they have a slow paced life that allows them to take time to enjoy whatever they´re doing,to appreciate nature, to actually focus on whoever they´re talking to or spending time with instead of always being connected to a smart phone or other electronic devices.

When I saw the calendar picture of this month the first thing that came to mind was breakfast : orange juice, croissants, strawberries, marmalade, coffee… well, I have to admit salad and ketchup didn´t fit into my idea of breakfast so maybe they´re having brunch,lunch or even dinner.
Either way, a healthy breakfast is important to start the day with plenty of energy to live each day to the fullest.
Isn´t it nice to sit down and enjoy a nice breakfast instead of rushing off to work or school in a frenzy?

I love to eat breakfast in the morning. I don´t really mind getting up a bit earlier to enjoy a relaxed breakfast. 

My Sylvanians like to take their time for breakfast too. They believe they can´t have a good morning without having breakfast. I´ve looked for some of the pictures I´ve taken of some of my sylvanians having breakfast so if you are a regular reader of my blog you have probably seen them before.


This picture belongs to the first story I wrote for my blog. Sheila Springer was expecting a new baby. She needed to start the day with a good breakfast. That very same day baby Joey was born.

I took this picture for a Sylvanian photo competition. I won the second prize with a different picture but I was very surprised when one fine morning I saw this picture on Facebook Sylvanian Families Spain.

Doctor Murdoch likes to have breakfast at the Blackurrant Café before going to the Country Hospital.He is always the first customer to arrive.The Café is usually very quiet at this time of the day and Kate and Alex enjoy chatting with him.

Postman Pete Petite knows a healthy breakfast has a great role to make his day a good day.

Every morning The Dales enjoy having a family breakfast in their cozy kitchen.

Taylor Timbertop and his wife Rose are the owners of a Bed and Breakfast in Sweet Berry Valley. In this picture he is stocking the breakfast trolley.

The Puddlefords will never forget the first breakfast they had in Sweet Berry Valley.

Teri cooked Freya´s favourite breakfast on her birthday. 

In summer,Teresa and Robert Seashore love sitting at the open porch of their cottage to enjoy breakfast.

This is the picture of the breakfast I´ve just had a short while ago.

Hope you have a good start of the day and a wonderful August!

A big hug!💗

Miniature crafting challenge 14:Night time

Dear Readers:

This challenge is about the hours after the sun has gone down: a bed, a lamp , pyjamas or even a pub were some of the given suggestions.

The bedroom I made for challenge 8:"Ultra violet" would have been perfect to fit this challenge but as I was stuck for new ideas I decided to make another bed.

For this bed I followed Kyraja´s tutorial but I made my own headboard.

Any idea what did I use for the headboard?

I know a  bottle of olive oil has nothing to do with beds but its handle makes a perfect headboard. Don´t you think so?

I cut it a little bit ,I painted  it white and glued the fabric to a piece of cardboard.

I also made the duvet, a pillow and some cushions.

My daughter insisted this bed should be for Sadie Fenton. I think she is right. Sadie´s dress colours really match the bedding so she´ll be the lucky owner of this semi-double bed.

I started decorating a room in Cedar Terrace to take pictures of the bed but I didn´t have time to finish it so the pictures were taken on my daughter´s bed.

At first,I thought a semi-double bed was too  big for Sadie but I changed my mind soon.You´ll understand the reason when you read this mini story.

It´s night time and Sadie has just gone to sleep.She is very snug and cozy in her new bed.

She was about to fall asleep when she heard her little sister´s voice:"Sis,I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you, please?"

Poppy jumped into her sister´s new bed. 

Sadie told Poppy her favourite story.

"Once upon a time there was a little girl called Poppy…"

Sadie couldn´t finish telling the story.The two sisters cuddled up together, they fell asleep and had very sweet dreams.

This will be the last challenge I´ll be able to join at least for a while. I had hand surgery  a few days ago so that means no more crafts until my hand is fully recovered. I´ll keep blogging as I have pictures to upload from my camera to write new posts.

I´m lucky the surgery was on the left hand.

Thanks for reading! 

A big hug!

Susan Wheeler´s illustration

Betty Blackberry´s juice bar

Dear Readers,

The aim of the last miniature crafting challenge was to work on unfished projects or start a new one in case you didn´t have anything to finish.

This challenge and the arrival of summer gave me the "push" I needed to make something I had in mind since I bought the SF "Juice bar" set, around a year and a half ago. 

Betty Blackberry runs the Juice Bar in Sweet Berry Valley throughout the spring and summer, providing everybody with delicious, healthy and refreshing fruit drinks and tasty homemade jams.

Fruit juices in summer are perfect to beat the heat and to protect your body from dehydration but poor Betty has to stay long hours under the blazing hot sun at risk of sunstroke .I wonder if her black tipped-ears have something to do with sunburn.

One day of scorching heat, while she was waiting for thirsty customers, Betty sat down under the shade of a tree."It would be nice to have some shelter from the sun" she said to herself. 

No sooner said than done,a few weeks later, this is what Betty´s juice bar looked like.

At last, Betty will be able to run her small business and protect herself from the sun.
As she is also very considerate of her customers, Betty set up a table and  some seats beneath the shade of an umbrella so that they can sit down and relax while they´re having a juice.

Sitting outside on a nice summer´s day with a juice in hand is one of the most relaxing and refreshing things one can do.
That´s why Betty´s juice bar is such a popular spot during the summer months.
The Maces love Betty´s juices and they are regular customers.

The Moss family visits Betty´s juice bar daily.  They really enjoy a refreshing glass of juice on the hot summer´s days.

Postman Pete always appreciates Betty´s kind gesture of offering him a glass of juice. 
"You must be thirsty, Pete! Here´s a juice for you"
"Many thanks, Mrs. Blackberry! I´m parched! It´s so hot today!" 

Daisy Buttercup had the great idea of asking Betty to blend fruit with "the best milk in Sylvania" and the result was so SMOOTH that now she also makes smoothies.

Raspberries, bananas, a splash of orange juice and fresh milk ...Healthy and yummy.

Sometimes, Daisy Buttercup has good ideas!

I considered this project as an unfinished one because I had planned to do it lots of times before but I never got on with it.
I even thought it could be a good choice for the previous challenge "It´s too hot" but instead, I got carried away with the beach theme.
It was high time that Betty had a proper juice bar that helped her to escape for the scorching sunshine.

I made the structure of the building out of a cereal box.

Monty and Rufus covered the building with 
wood planks (bamboo sticks from a table mat)

I used a piece of fabric for the awning.

I wallpapered the inside and I made a small shelve out of a green peg to display Betty´s homemade jams.They´re also delicious!

 I also placed this small piece of furniture for storage.

Rufus and Monty are going to have a well-deserved glass of juice for their good job.

Betty´s juices are packed with vitamins and minerals as they are made with the organic fruit grown at the Dale´s orchards.

Every morning Ewan Dale delivers Betty all the freshly picked fruit she needs to stock her fruit stand.

" I´ve just picked these blackberries for you, Betty".
"Thank you, Ewan! They look delicious"

Blackberry juice is Betty´s favourite.
Here she is enjoying a glass of this juice with her two daughters Ivette and Ingrid. 

Vegetables juices are also very popular at Betty´s bar.
Carrot juice is a best-selling and Betty´s  best friend´s favourite.

 It´s nice to have a chat with a good friend over a healthy and refreshing drink.

"Fancy a juice? Help yourself!"

Thank you for reading!
Hope you enjoyed today´s post.

A big hug!

Susan Wheller´s illustration

Welcome July

Dear  Readers:

July brings hot summer days and holidays for some of us!
It is a good month to get out and enjoy nature. This lovely summer scene of the Sylvanian Families calendar suits this month perfectly. 
A fun day at the beach and a barbacue in the picnic area is a perfect plan to spend time with family and friends, don´t you think so?

Hope you have a wonderful July and for those who are on summer holidays, enjoy and relax your vacation!

A big hug!

Illustration by Susan Wheeler