The Splashy go to the Country Market

Dear Readers,

Todays´s picture story is a continuation of Amanda´s prenatal appointment.
As soon as Amanda and Glenn left the Cottage Hospital they headed to the Country Market in order to buy the supplements doctor Murdoch prescribed Amanda to take during her pregnancy. 
When they arrived, a poster on the window caught Amanda´s attention. 

"Look, Glenn! They have baby stuff for sale!"

The Country Market offers special sales throughout the year and due to the recent increase in the birth rate in Sweet Berry Valley, Carol and Arthur Osborne have put up for sale a wide range of baby products at a discounted price.

When the Splashys´ got into the shop, Amanda couldn´t hide her excitement at the idea of starting buying things for their baby.

Before starting browsing around,they greeted Maurice Chantilly, who had just bougth a new baby bottle and some nappy rash cream.
"How is baby Jacques?" Amanda asked.
"He´s fine, thanks. He´s an easy baby so far but I´ll keep my fingers crossed. Esme was a colicky baby and she used to cry for hours."
Glenn also crossed his fingers. He really hoped his upcoming baby was easy to raise. The idea of a baby crying for hours was too much to handle.  

When Maurice left the shop, Carol offered them her help. 
"Feel free to look around and let me know if you need any help".

Amanda was oohing and aahing over all the cute baby stuff. She couldn´t resist buying an outfit for her little one.

They also bought their baby´s first toys. 

It was easy, especially for Amanda, to get carried away when buying baby stuff for the first time.
"Glenn, why don´t we buy a crib? It´s a must and it´s a good deal. We should take adventage of the sales."
Even though Glenn thought it was a bit early to start buying stuff for their baby he recognized his wife was right.This was a good opportunity to save some money. 

Carol, who overheard The Splashys´ conversation, handed them a catalogue in case they wanted to have a look.
"We just have three cribs on display but there are more to choose from this catalogue. We don´t usually have so many baby products at the store but you can always place an order from our catalogue"

Amanda had already seen a crib that she really liked. She was sure Glenn was going to like it too. Those cute little fish added such a nice touch.

"Have you considered buying a bath? They´re half price". This time it was Carol the one who encouraged them to keep adding things to their baby shopping list.
"Oh yes!I like the pink one" Amanda made up her mind easily as pink was her favourite colour.

With all the excitement, Amanda had almost forgotten the reason they went to the Country Market.

"Have you got the prescription?" Glenn asked her.
"The prescription?...Oh, yes! It´s in my bag.Can you believe it completely slipped my mind?." She said with a little giggle.

Arthur gave them the medicines while Carol was putting the stuff in the carrier bags. 
"The crib and the bath will be delivered to your place in a few week´s time" Arthur said when they paid for their shopping.
There were still a few months left for the baby´s arrival but Amanda was already looking forward to having the crib next to her bed.

Before leaving the store Carol gifted Amanda and Glenn with a book."A complete guide to care for your baby" Carol said.
" A must-read,especially for first-time parents". Arthur winked his eye to Glenn who seemed a bit overwhelmed with all the stuff they need for their baby. 
Truth be told, shopping wasn´t Glenn´s cup of tea.
However, seeing his wife so excited with all the baby stuff, made him happy.

They were about to leave when Daisy Buttercup and her youngest son, Cheddar, came into the Country Market.
"AMANDA AND GLEEN!. It´s so good to see you!.How is your pregnancy going?" Amanda didn´t even have time to answer when Daisy had already asked her a new question.You all know the way she is…
"Do you know expectant mothers should drink plenty of milk , don´t you? I think you haven´t registered for milk delivery yet? I can guarantee you won´t find better milk.I´ll tell Hornbull to leave a bottle of milk at your doorstep tomorrow morning.The first one is for free!"

"Did you have milk for breakfast? Well, just in case you didn´t, here you have some".
Suddenly, Daisy  took a small bottle of milk out of her bag and handed it to Amanda who was a bit intimidated but amused at the same time by Daisy´s personality.

"Come on, drink a little bit. You´ll see how nice it is."

"Carol!, tell them who sells the best milk in the village" Daisy can be very insistent some times. 
"There´s no doubt you do sell the best milk not only in Sweet Berry Valley but in the whole Sylvania" Carol knew that compliment would make Daisy feel proud enough to stop boasting at least for a while.

Daisy wasn´t expecting a baby but she just wanted to have a look around the shop.
"Aww,how cute is that little cat! It looks like baby Jacques. I´ll get it for him".Could you bring it down,please?"

"Sure, Daisy. I´ll take the ladder". Arthur kindly offered to reach the toy cat.
"You know Carol, I´ve got some juicy gossip for you… Did you know that..." Daisy whispered. 
"Turn back, Daisy!" Carol interrupted her.

"Oh! My little piece of cheese! Where do you think you´re going? Come here with mummy!"
Once Cheddar climbed down the ladder, Daisy kept Carol up to date with the latest news and innocent gossip. No big scandals ever happened in Sweet Berry Valley.

We´ll let Daisy have a gossip with her friend Carol and let´s go back to Glenn and Amanda.
When they left the shop they met Barbara Dale who was also pregnant with her fourth child.Looking at the size of her belly I would say she must be due very soon. 

Nancy and Betty, who were enjoying a chat over a cup of tea, congratulated Amanda on her first pregnancy and wished Betty everything went well.
"You make me so envious, girls" Nancy Waters said to the two mothers-to be.She would love to have a baby but she hasn´t met her other half yet.

Amanda and Glenn said good-bye and headed to the nearest bus stop. Amanda left the store feeling thrilled with her first baby stuff shopping experience but she was also a bit tired to walk all the way back home. Glenn just wanted to relax and have some lunch.Shopping always made him hungry, even if he wasn´t buying groceries.

I´ll tell you what happened next in another post.Otherwise, this story would be too long.

Hope you have enjoyed shopping at The Country Market with Glenn and Amanda.This is one of my favourite shops and the first one I bought along with the Blackurrant Café.I have so many good memories of the day I received such a wonderful package.

I can anticipate that you´ll see the The Splashys´ at the Blackurrant Café in my next story.

Have a lovely day!

Hugs! 

 

 

Amanda´s prenatal appointment

Dear Readers,

The story I have posted today was written four years ago just after The Splashy moved to Sweet Berry Valley.

They shared the big news of Amanda´s pregnancy with their new friends, The Neptunes, the day they treated them for lunch at their Seaside Restaurant.

Let´s pretend time stood still after this picture to see what happened shortly after this day.

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It was a bright and sunny morning in Sweet Berry Valley. Amanda and Glenn Splashy enjoyed their walk to the Cottage Hospital.Both were very excited! Amanda had  a prenatal appointment with Doctor Murdoch.

Cassandra Macavity ,who just happened to pass by the hospital,noticed Amanda´s bulging belly.

"AMANDA! She asked in a surprised tone: Are you expecting a baby?"
"I am indeed! Five months pregnant and I feel like I´m going to explode".
"Congratulations! You must be thrilled!"
"We are ecstatic!.It´s our first baby!
As a mother of six children, five by birth and one by adoption Cassandra knew that feeling quite well.

After chatting for a while about the joy and challenges of raising a large family,Cassandra wished the Splashy´s all the best.
"Hope your pregnancy goes smoothly!".
All of a sudden, Amanda and Glenn yelled to warn Cassandra when they saw Skimble and Snowy trying to get off their stroller.
"Oh!Watch out!The babies are about to fall!

"These two are always getting into mischief!

You see… even though I love them with all my heart, sometimes they drive me nuts!. That´s just how kids are. Wait till you have your own!" 

When they were finally waving good-bye, Glenn said jokingly:

"Pizza will be a regular visitor to our home once the baby is born.Your pizza delivery service will come in very handy when we have our hands full changing nappies and preparing bottles."

"Sure! Cassandra laughed out loud. Just give us a call and you´ll have a tasty pizza right at your doorstep or any other thing you need!"."We´ll be glad to be of some help!

"Look out!" Skimble is acting up again!" Glenn exclaimed.

When Cassandra turned back to reprimand Skimble, she was glad to meet her good friend Kitty Cat-Wood with her newborn twins and her daughter Tabitha.

Newborns, babies and expectant mothers...It seemed Sweet Berry Valley was having another baby boom.

Once inside the hospital, Doctor Murdoch greeted the Splashy and made them feel at ease immediately. Amanda was very excited but a bit apprehensive at the same time.
"Don´t you think my belly is too big,Doc?.I can´t see my feet.I can´t even see my toes!"
"You have a little one growing in your tummy.It´s completely normal,Amanda".
"Let´s have a head-to-toe check up."

"Step on the scale, please". The scale said she had gained a great amount of weight." 

When Doctor Murdoch noticed the worried look on Amanda´s face, he tried to reassure her. "It´s natural to put on weight when you´re expecting!" Just make sure you eat healthily". Amanda wondered if her craving for cinnamon rolls from the watermill bakery would fit into a healthy diet. She admitted she had way too many for the past few weeks. 

Clarice meassured Amanda´s blood pressure which was at a healthy level.

Then she also took a blood sample for a blood test. 
"Relax your arm.It´ll just be a little pinch".
It didn´t hurt but Amanda preferred not to look. 

When the check up was done, Doctor Murdoch´s words made Amanda feel overjoyed and relieved.
"Everything is perfect, Amanda! I´ve just listened to your baby´s heartbeat and your little one has a very strong heart."

Clarice told Amanda about the "Mother´s Class".

"Would you like to join? We´ll talk about pregnancy, baby care and you´ll learn some breathing techniques and exercises which will make a big difference to your baby´s birth"
Amanda thought these classes would be very useful to answer all her first-time mom´s questions and ease some of her worries.

Finally,Doctor Murdoch handed Amanda a prescription.
"You should take folic acid and iron supplements during your pregnancy".
"Is there a pharmacy in the village?"Glenn inquired.
"Not as such, but the Country Market has a licence to supply medicines.You can buy these tablets there."

Just before leaving, Glenn had a question for Doctor Murdoch. 
"Just out of curiosity Doc,is it true that there is a kind of machine that creates a picture of the baby before birth ?. I´ve heard something about it but I find it hard to believe".
"It´s true, Glenn! The ultrasound machine,a very useful procedure for monitoring the baby´s development.High- tech, Glenn! High-tech!. It will take a few years until it arrives to Sweet Berry Valley, but it will eventually.I know there is one in the Central Hospital of Sylvania, in Town, just in case you´re interested.You can also find out your baby´s gender but I suppose you don´t care much about it, am I right?

The truth is Amanda and Glenn couldn´t care less whether their baby was a boy or a girl.They were happy enough to know their little one was fine and had a strong heart beat! That was a good sign!
They trusted Doctor Murdoch completely.He was a very good professional with extensive experience in delivering babies. One of the first things they noticed, when they moved to Sweet Berry Valley, was that there were lots of kids and most of them were born with the help of Doctor Murdoch and his kind nurse Clarice Periwinkle.
They knew they were in good hands.

Amanda and Glenn left the hospital and headed to the Country Market in order to buy the supplements prescribed by the doctor.

By the way,have you noticed Amanda´s wide smile?
I can tell you for sure that she couldn´t be more proud! And the same goes for Glenn!
Their baby was happily growing in Amanda´s  belly. There was no doubt about it!

To be continued...in a few days.

And that´s all for today. Hope you enjoyed accompanying the Splashys to this important appointment for them.

Art shop miniatures

Dear Readers,

Hope you´re all doing well.

This year I have the intention to be back blogging regularly. I´ll keep my fingers crossed! We never knows what life will brings us... I hope it brings me more "me time" to do my favourite things. Spending time with my Sylvanians is one of them. I´d love to share pictures and stories with all of you again.

In today´s post I´m going to give you a closer look at some of the miniatures I made for the Caramel´s Art and Crafts Store and the story of the opening day.

As a picture is worth a thousand words,there won´t be much explanation about how I made these crafts. You´ll see they are quite simple and easy to make.

Let´s start with the chalkboard sign.

It´s actually a blackboard peg . I stuck a piece of rainbow scratch paper and did the writing with a toothpick. 

For one of the easels I used clothes pegs.

The brown easel is a souvenir my sister brought me from Paris.

I made another one taking this as a model using thin craft  sticks.

I made three palettes using cardboard, balsa wood and thin foamboard.

For the oil paints I used these kind of eye shadow applicators.

The first ones I made were quite simple and smaller. I used this type of toothpick and kitchen foil.I painted the top with a black marker.

I also made two kinds of paintbrushes.I used toothpicks for both of them. The ones I painted are quicker to make and you can use different colours for the top.

The container where these paintbrushes are was made with an eye solution pod. 

The pencils and coloured pencils were also made with toothpicks and markers.

For the oil pastels I used foam in different colours.

The small pots of paint were made with hama beads and a piece of white foam for the top. The box of Crayola kids´ paint is a printable I found on the internet. 

I share the link : Crayola Washable Kids' Paint 10-Count-02.jpg (1799×1209) (easydiyminiatures.com)

 

I followed a tutorial to make these acrylic paint bottles.

You can watch the video here: (347) DIY Realistic Miniature Acrylic Paint & Paintbrushes - YouTube

You can print the coloured stripes to make the bottles here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-In...

The watercolors box is also a free printable you can find here:

art-supplies.JPG (714×743) (neocities.org)

 

For the book covers I looked for pictures on the internet and printed them out.

You can download the Art school book cover in the activity page of the SSK website: Sylvanianstorekeepers.com

For the roll up pencil cases I used bias binding tape and thin lace ribbon.Once the binding tape is cut I put glue on all the borders.I also used glue to stick the lace ribbon that holds the colored pencils but after a few months the blue one is not glued on properly any more.Some stitches would be more effective but also more visible.

The ruler was made out of pink foam and the pair of scissors is a sticker.

I painted the pastel colored pencils with acrylic paint. I used markers to colour the other ones.

I hope you find the pictures and the links useful in case you want to make some of these miniatures at some stage. If you have any questions I´ll be glad to help you.

See you soon!

A big hug!