Well, Hello again at long last.  As promised, here is another look at my florist shop "Flora".

It was my first attempt at a room box, so I have learned a lot, especially on the construction side of things. As you can see, it is side-opening, with two removable brass pins (nails) which allow the whole side to come off. On the outside is my version of a climbing rose on a trellis. The trellis is actually part of an old coffee machine. The boxes, made of mat board and drinking straws, contain hyacinths make with bunka. Also in the boxes are box hedges (ha ha) made of dyed sesame seeds.

Inside, the florist's work room is at the rear. Not a room I would want to arrange flowers in but the florist is tiny! The work table is made of mat board and a cheap plastic picture frame. On the wall, the rack is made with florist wire and parts of an old umbrella.

The down lights in the front windows are actually metal icing tips. They look quite good at night!

Behind the work room, and opening on to the front of the shop is the store-room where the florist also takes his lunch. It should have had a door to the outside as it is impossible to access now that the roof is in place. I made the roof permanent as the wires for the lights all run across it (under the "metal") and down the back into a box in the "back alley". As I said, I am learning!

In the shop, most of the flowers were my own invention, but I have also been given some by my Mineteer friends, Elizabeth (Studio E) and Fatima (Beauxminis). Janine (Minworks) gave me many treasures, including the book of botanical prints on the florist's table.

Outside at the front of the shop is the delivery bike I made from a Pheonix Developments kit. So challenging!!! In it is the wonderful basket made for me by Lidi at Basketcase Miniatures.

As you all know, a project like this is never really finished and I will be tweaking it for ever I feel but
I couldn't wait to start on Salon de Thé  while I was supposed to be really finishing the florist shop. I will try to do another post soon with more photos but in the meantime here is a little peek of the entry...

It is nearly finished, but not quite, and already I am deeply thinking of the next project. I can hear my mother saying to me "Finish one thing before you start another!"

Thanks for having a look,

Cheers, Linda

A peek at the Salon de The, and how 'Flora' got her name

Just a peek through the Salon de The (which is a work in progress) into the florist shop. I will go back to square one shortly and show more photos of the florist shop, "Flora". 

The name Flora came about because I had some vintage metal letters which I brought to Australia when I moved here as a young bride 43 years ago!! My father, in Canada, had an iron foundry and these metal letters were used to imprint the name "City of Vancouver" into manhole covers. Of the 15 letters in that title, I had only 7. What could I spell, for a French florist shop with F, T, O, R, U, C, Y??? Well, the T was changed into an L and the U became an A. If anyone, especially you French speakers, has a better name, I'd love to hear about it! And who can use a C or Y?
I hope you are all enjoying Spring or early Autumn weather - nothing too extreme anywhere. 

Happy miniaturing!

Thank you all!!

Thank you all so much for visiting and for all your lovely and encouraging comments. I'd really like to be able to thank you all personally but what with life being rather full at the moment, and this blogging business being a rather steep learning curve (to put it mildly!), I hope that this little 'after dark' peek through the florist shop window will serve as a token of my gratitude for the time being. 

Welcome to my little world!

Greetings friends and welcome to my blog. 

I have only been seriously into miniatures in the last 3 or 4 years but it has become a passion (obsession?). Although I have a small dollhouse in Canada I decided to try a room box here in Australia so my French florist shop "Flora" was born. It is still a work in progress but it is now being joined by a Salon de The next door. I will endeavour to post a few photos as I continue and hopefully some of you might enjoy looking at them?