{Whimsy Street Shopping District Toy Store} IT'S DONE, IT'S DONE!!!!

Finishing this particular project was really a long time coming.  Technically I started working on it back in December, and got going pretty good on the building itself, inside and out, and then it got put aside and then most of this year I didn't get hardly anything done.  Then sometime in September I started working on it again hardcore, and got a lot done in a pretty short amount of time, but then I got delayed again while waiting for T-Rex floating charms to arrive from China, but now it is finally completely done! (well actually there's one more thing I might do..... if I ever come up with an actual name for it I'll make a sign for the shop to hang on the outside.  I've also considered trying to make some little balloons for outside, but if I end up making a sign I don't know if I would want the sign and balloons - I think it might be too much with what's already there).  So rather than go on and on about it, I'm just going to post the photos and talk about each area as I go.  Most of the stuff in there I have already posted about in earlier posts, so some of it might be repeating if you read those posts, but I'll try to at least be to the point and concise (bahahahah, hey, I said try lol)

Front view of the finished shop.  As I said, I still haven't come across the perfect name for the store, but honestly, since it says "Toys" real big across the top, I don't think it'll be the end of the world if I don't have an actual name and sign for it.  The lettering for the word "toys" are some glittery red stickers I already had that I backed with white paper and glued to the trunk.  The Trim around the windows and doors is Balsa wood that I soaked and then formed around the curve of the building until it dried and then glued on.  The door I purchased and painted, and the steps are floral foam, cut and painted to look like concrete steps.  The "giant" toy soldier was a little figurine I bought, I think around Christmas last year.  Oh and I suppose I almost forgot the most important part..... the building itself is a little chest I purchased at Hobby Lobby.

The castle and dragon in the window display were purchased as is.  I made the platform they are sitting on and painted the "road" up to the castle and he's kind of hard to see in this picture, but there's a little toy knight between the castle and dragon that I made from the top of a fancy toothpick.  The "Play" banner I made from masking tape and ribbon and the clouds are tiny pom poms that I pulled apart and "fluffed" a bit.

The dollhouse in the window display on the other side of the store I handmade from basswood.  The carousel horse was originally a mini Christmas ornament and I made and attached a base to it and painted it. The doll sitting on the horse I made from the top of a fancy toothpick and tissue paper and paint for the dress and little pieces of curled thread for the hair.  I also made the "giant" tissue paper flowers. The "imagine" bunting is little pieces of glitter tape with the letters painted on them.

I made sure when I was decorating the inside that I worked it out so that it could still be opened even after it was finished.  It made/makes it much easier to place stuff in the shop (or repair stuff if the need ever arises), and also made it easier to take closer pictures of certain parts of the shop

view of the inside of the shop. The green parts of the walls are painted and the cloud "wallpaper" is scrapbook paper.  The kites hanging from the ceiling are made from tissue paper and thread.  (The trim of course is painted stripwood)

I made the display tree that the dress-up wings and shields are hanging on from a toothpick and little pieces of wire.  The wings themselves are punched from velum and decorated with paint and glitter, and their "straps" are embroidery floss.  The knight's shields are cut from cardstock and they are hanging from packaging made from masking tape.  The little train table was a kit I purchased and assembled/painted

The dress-up capes are cut from satin and hanging on hangers I made from wire.  The dress-up tutus are made from tissue paper and hung from more hangers I made from wire.  They are all hanging from a fixture I made from basswood and wire.  The letters on the wall are floating locket charms I bought at Hobby Lobby.

I made the center display tables from little wood circles and strips of scrapbook paper.

The elephant and giraffe in the centers of the tables I made from purchased kits.  The blocks on the table that's on the left in this picture are little pieces of square dowels I painted, the little toy car I made from the square dowel also, carved and painted.  The crayon box it a printed front glued to a little piece of wood painted to match, and the drum is a scrapbook paper covered dowel with sewing pins cut to size for the drum sticks.  On the table on the right, the turtle toy is a bead, the little doll leaning against it on the left is made from the tip of a toothpick and the baby rattle next to it is made from a sewing pin and a seed bead.  The play ball is the head of a pearl head pin.

On the other side of the tables, on the table on the left, there's another toy car carved from square dowel, A Russian doll floating charm I painted, baby toys made from the heads of decorative jewelry head pins and painted, and a Robot I made from pieces of square dowel, some wire and silver paint.  The stuffed bunny on the other table I made from clay, and there's some more wooden blocks and baby toys made from the heads of fancy jewelry head pins

The shelving unit on the wall I made myself from basswood, and most of the boxes on it are printed covers glued to little scraps of wood.  The checkout counter I assembled from a kit and decorated (I'll talk about the decorations in a more close up picture)

The pictures hung all over the counter are colored and printed out to look like kids colored them with crayons.  The register I made to look like a "square" style register, the tablet part is wood and the stand part is made from the tab from the back of a dollar store frame that I had pulled out of the frame because I was using the frame for something else, not as a frame.  Also on the counter is a display of crayons and colored pencils.  They are printed box fronts glued to small pieces of wood painted to match and the display unit I made from cardstock.  On display on the shelf is a Lite Bright box, a coloring book, more crayons and colored pencils, and a little unicorn toy (which started life as a bead). The boxed dollhouse kits throughout the store where made from a purchased kit.

You can't see it real well in this picture, but the bottom shelf in the back of the counter had folded plastic and paper "bags"

You can see the shelving unit and boxed toys and games better in this picture, and the bin full of playground balls is made from a tiny wood disk and scrapbook paper and the balls themselves are the head of pearl head sewing pins.

The platforms that the window displays are sitting on are wood covered with scrapbook paper

The bookcase I assembled from a purchased kit. The horses, dinosaurs, and mermaid dolls on the shelve are floating locket charms I painted, the toy knights are made from the top of fancy toothpicks, the dolls are also made from the top of the same toothpicks with tissue paper for this dresses.  The whale was a bead, the teddy bears I made from tiny pom poms.  The starfish/flowers/whatever you want them to be on the top shelf of the far side are stickers, the octopus toy I made from a tiny pom pom and scrapbooking baker's thread, and the baby toys are the heads of fancy jewelry head pins, cut off and painted.  The castle on top was an unfinished metal piece I bought and painted.  The train set box I printed out and glued to a piece of wood and the rack it's sitting in I made from wire.  The train play mats under it are printed and I made the container they are in from basswood.

The coloring book are printed and the shelving units they are sitting in are pieces of plastic u-beam that I had leftover from another project

And now that the toy store is finally completely finished it's time to move on to the bookstore in earnest.  I've already gotten started on it some but hadn't gotten too into it while I still had stuff outstanding on the toy store, but now that the bookstore is all I have to work on at this point, I'm hoping I can get it done pretty quickly.  Fingers crossed. haha.