I've been really focusing on getting my the plans for my dollhouses and getting things settled this week. On Saturday I decided that since my goal is to build Halloweentown in the limited space that I have for it, it would be wise to go back through what I presently have, what characters I want to focus on, which houses I would like to purchase for future projects, etc. I ended up - after seeing the fact that the Aster Cottage was sold out on Greenleaf (how long it had been that way, I really have no idea) to check eBay. There were 3 for sale with varying prices. I bought on for $50 plus shipping! It should be here by the end of the week
The Aster Cottage will be for my dear old character, Mathilda Magpie. After securing her home, I got to really thinking about which characters that I wanted to work on things for and it boiled down to these:
Mathilda Magpie; Bartevious the Pumpkinhead (and his twin who I have never ever named); Lester, the jovial orange furry monster, unknowingly the nemesis of Mathilda; and Lynus, the Mummy who owns the One Stop Shop...Literally. That's 4 characters (plus 1 twin.) After thinking it out, rearranging things here and there I realized with utter glee - I could have houses for all of them and their business!
I cut the character I came up with for the Orchid as he wasn't one of my original 2013 crew. I reassigned my feisty house to being Lester's. I decided one of my Buttercup's would be for him and why couldn't he be my baker? Perfect!
Mathilda's house was one I always had a specific, albeit it undefined (yes, those 2 can coexist perfectly together) vision for, and the Aster Cottage just screamed her. So with that on the way, I moved my other Buttercup to her quilt shop, Magpie's Nest.
I had intended my Real Good Toys Peaches and Cream for the Pumpkinhead twins, but the third story always baffled me as I couldn't figure out what to do with all those rooms. (I prefer small dollhouses.) It suddenly clicked into place as I was re-tooling my vision for Lynus. I decided that I didn't really want to do a general store. Instead, he can run a breakfast/lunch buffet with a coffee bar. I needed a 3 story house for him so he could have the bottom floor be the restaurant, the middle story a huge kitchen and personal living room, with the attic space being his bedroom. Well, the Peaches and Cream is perfect for this! So then I gave Lynus a brother named Eye-gor, and together they run the One Stop Food Shop...Literally.
With the pumpkinheads being moved out of the Peaches and Cream, the best option for them was my Duracraft Brookfield. I had originally intended to use that as a Dragon Laire for my tiny resin dragon BJDs, but with space this limited, it didn't make sense to really pursue that. Now it is the home for my Pumpkinhead twins. The 2 story 4 room home is exactly what I wanted for them. Now, what about their businesses?
Back in 2013 one of the first dollhouses I got and put together was the cute little Primrose. I had originally intended Bartevious to run a toy shop. I missed having one, so I decided I would go ahead and order one. Only this time, I wanted to make it a Jack O Lantern shop for Bartevious' twin. For Bartevious' store, I decided that the Adams would be perfect. Nice and small! (And cheap!!) But what would be his store? My original plan for a toy shop made no sense, really, as in my Halloweentown there are no children. So what would he have? At the moment, I am thinking book shop. It's a WIP though.
So, to summarize, my main original cast of characters will all have their homes and their businesses. And I can fit them all in my space, with some creative maneuvering. Thank goodness I prefer the little kits, ha ha! This is a truly satisfying feeling. I had always dreamed of this happening, and now I can finally have them and their homes/stores in the flesh. Now I need to update my Dollhouse page!
