The rocking cow in the center of the window was made by Julian Biggers. You can see some of the model railroad cows walking around a flower arrangement on the skirted table behind it.
The display ledge was already there in the windows; I added the white picket fence and sprinkled on fine green Easter grass to unify the displays. This made the biggest change when I was working on the shop. Everything looked too bland up to that point. As soon as that fence was added and the grass sprinkled around, it gave me the idea to add other farm-themed elements to the shop, which added more color and personality. A shop with nothing but cow items would be monotonous, it seemed to me.
For example, until then I hadn't thought about using this little Noah's Ark, which I had stashed with some items for a children's room. But it definitely adds personality to the front window.
Many white items, such as plain white Chrysnbon dishes and the stool in the right front window were painted with black and white cow spots (it was also given udders); other solid color items throughout the shop were decorated with stickers or cutouts from magazines, etc. (This was before all the internet printies became common.)
The
cow pillow in the window shows one use of many different
cow and farm related fabrics. I think at one time I counted
seventeen different fabrics used throughout Moo-Moo's.
Although it is a bit distorted because I had to take the picture through the open top, this is a view of the right front of the shop.
The skirted table in the corner is made from a cut-down frozen orange juice can. Its fabric is used again on the stool covers and on the doorway curtain at the rear of the shop. I remember reading somewhere that if you use a color or fabric as a major element in a room, it's good to use it in at least three different places.
The red vase holding the flower arrangement is the cap from a felt marker. I set the vase inside a small gold tray made from a button; model railroad cows circle the base of the flower arrangement on the skirted table. One seems to be majorly tilting; maybe he's dizzy from going 'round and 'round that arrangement. lol
Here's a closer look at that little red box with the handle. It holds a roll of leftover wallpaper which was used as backing on the wall storage unit, and more cow pictures that I couldn't find room for anywhere else.
The wooden cow has a sign on the other side which says, No Tipping. It holds an Easter basket.
Here's a side view of the basket.( Didn't realize how the handle tilted until I took this picture. Too late to change it now.) In order to make it stay atop the wooden cow, I first had to glue a larger wooden button in place, then set the basket inside it.
I made this at an Easter egg basket workshop in the days when there was still a mini-club in El Paso. While everybody else was using pastels, I decided to use black and white. Hey, somebody has to lay those cow eggs! The white bow on the left side has tiny silk blossoms in the center; that's a black bow on the right.
That little circle thingie in the center is actually white icing atop a chocolate egg. There's another fancy chocolate egg barely visible next to the left handle.
Next to the stools is a barrel with hay and corn. Beside it is a bag of cow feed. I think those were purchased at a show once. The small carved cat next to a milk can came from a little shop at the Pike's Street Market in Seattle.
Behind them you see the base of the counter, which is covered with paper Christmas ribbon with a cow design. In case you can't tell from here, those are the cows' rumps. lol
You can get another brief glimpse of more of the cow (red ribbon around its neck) here, just past the stool. I have lots of that ribbon left, but that's okay, because it was also perfect for this scene since it had the black, brown and red colors that are used throughout the store.
In fact, I have lots of little cow items left over, too; it's hard to stop collecting, even though the store is supposedly complete. Maybe I should make up packets to sell to others who want to do a cow scene. Hmmm....
A computer register occupies the end of the counter. The clip on the clipboard is a tiny wooden cow. The cup is made from a jewelry finding.
The glasses on the center shelf in front of the mirror are real glass; the mugs on the right are plastic, if I recall; all purchased at one time or another. I don't remember where I got the glazed brown dispenser
You get a glimpse here of the health permit behind the counter and a couple of cow prints. The counter was made from a piece of marble-look floor tile. After I got everything glued in place, my husband kindly pointed out that the faucets were crooked. Well, then what? ! Rip it all out? Nope; so they stayed crooked. At the far right of the picture you get a glimpse of a steer stickpin which was used to trim a dish of brownies.
Unfortunately I can't get a good picture of it so that you can actually see the brownies.
Oops. Here's an example of how difficult it is to take photos through a glass window when you're facing a mirror!
This is the wall at the right end of the counter.
The grapevine wreath with a cow resting comfortably inside it is resin. If you look closely, you can see the cow reflected a bit in the mirror which I glued to the back.
Here's the mug rack at the far end of the counter. Originally, it was red; I painted it brown to better fit the color scheme and because I wanted the red mugs to be predominant. I painted the spots on the white mugs.
I practically had to lie on the floor to get a picture through the front window of the letters over the mirror behind the counter. You can see the valance on the front window reflecting back through the glass. It's not very clear, but it was the best I could do. I bought the wooden letters and stained them, and added the cow head to the O.
Same problem here as I tried to get a picture of the lily plant in the cow accented wall planter. Why a lily? Must've had some good reason, but I don't remember. Maybe to get different colors in?
At this angle I got at least a partial glimpse of the shelves under the planter. Those are ice cream cups in the box on the top. On the bottom is a small glass bowl of lemon slices and some ripe bananas. I was really proud of them; they turned out pretty darn good, but I can't get a good picture of them. Shoot!
Red was used as an accent color throughout the shop, including the Chrysnbon pitcher and glasses, and canisters made from red beads over on the right shelf. I cut half away here in this picture, but the bottom shelf contains metal soda fountain dishes and Chrysnbon white goblets that I painted with spots.
That's a cow jumping over the moon over the shelf and I guess those are my fingers reflecting in the mirror!
These letters over the doorway are another use of images cut from a mail order catalog. I glued them to cardboard for dimension, gave them a coat of varnish and darkened the edges with a felt marker after cutting them out.
Here's another glimpse of the refrigerator to the left of the doorway. So that it would hang realistically, I pinned Nolan's apron to shape on a pinning board (looped over a pin) and sprayed it with Patricia Nimock's matte finish. This works great with items that would ordinarily be too flat and not hang right, spoiling the illusion.
In front of the refrigerator and behind the small bench with the pink quilt are a couple of churns and some milk cans.
These two little guys
sit on the floor just past the churns and milkcans,
next to the curtain to the back.
Here's a partial closeup of the bench behind the milk cans and churns. The quilt was a piece of quilted fabric that was folded and glued over the end of the bench. That's another print pillow behind the cow doll. The same print was used for a seat pad on the bench, but it hardly shows.
The little cow doll is made of wooden beads tied together with twine. The tuft of hair atop her head is a knot in the twine. I found her in a craft place in Tennessee when we went for a visit when our son and daughter-in-law lived there.
The birdcage atop the refrigerator was a tiny white Easter ornament. In order to make it stand right, it's glued to a pronged jewelry finding stuck inside a button, all painted pink. I replaced the bird with a model railroad cow and decorated the cage with a silk ribbon bow, tiny silk ribbon roses and natural greenery that is now brownery! Nowadays I know how natural materials fade, and when I use them, I paint them if I want them to retain color.
To the right you get a glimpse of the curtained doorway. The curtain is the same fabric as the skirted table and the stool tops. I pleated it on a pleater, glued jump rings to the top of each fold, then slid a painted bamboo skewer through the rings. Above the birdcage is a cow clock and a sign that I can't get a good picture of otherwise.
To the left you get a glimpse of a multi-opening wooden unit which had no back. I covered cardboard with Joe Hermes cow wallpaper and glued it to the back of the open frame. Oddly enough, in the pictures the unit shows up green, although it is painted blue.
Although a bit dim, here is an overview of the left side of the shop through the window. You can see the unit I am referring to at the back.
Hidden by the valance in the above picture is this pastel cow resting atop the storage unit.
Unfortunately this is the best I can get of some of the figures. The tiny items on the top shelf are pictures glued to cardboard or tiny pieces of wood so they would stand upright. The vase is another red bead with a cow sticker on it, glued to a grommet for a base.
Man, that cow in the pink dress sitting on the wood block is one ugly angel.
I managed to get a good shot here that shows the Hermes wallpaper better. The cow on wheels is made of wood. My little cow on the right is Fimo. Hey, his nose looks like bubblegum, too. lol
On the bottom shelf is a white milk jug, a write-on calendar and a Fimo cow sitting in what appears to be some kind of tire tube. The yellow edged cow in front sits atop a breadbox on a table in front of the unit. On the far left you see a little cow head sitting atop a standing paper towel holder.
To the right of the Fimo cow you get a glimpse of some pink towels. In front of them is a bathroom plunger which I made. That's a plant sticking up but I couldn't get a picture of its container.
Here you see the breadbox more clearly. It was an inexpensive purchase; I added the cow on top. To the left you see the towel holder behind a wooden box with a matching cow on the end.
Just past the towel holder is a tiny shelf unit just big enough to hold four Chrsynbon glasses that I painted with spots.
Here is the wooden box on the table under the above shelves. I believe it contains napkins and utensils, etc. To its left is an open drawer in the red cupboard. That's a dishtowel and potato peeler in the open drawer.
Here's a close up of the red cupboard in the back corner. The top part of the red storage cabinet was a wall shelf unit. It sits on top of a dry sink to form a china cupboard. Painting them both barn red unified the two disparate pieces. The back of the cupboard was lined with more cow wallpaper from Joe Hermes.
The salt and pepper shakers are earring catches painted white and black spots added.
There are more cows along a molding on the left wall, including a clock. My goodness; I have no idea how that stain between those two cows got there!
This checkerboard cow also resides on that piece of molding.
Here's everything under that molding strip. The two boxes atop the cupboard were kits that I purchased on a trip somewhere long ago and finally put together for this store. The wooden piece with cow, pig, duck and rabbit is a peg rack. The shadowbox holds more tiny cows, milk cans, etc.
I tried to get a better picture of the bench with the sunflower and coordinating prints cushions but this was the best I could do. I am not sure why the red line is there. I painted the bench with the same barn red as the cupboard and made all the pillows. The checkerboard table in front of it was an inexpensive wooden Christmas ornament that I doctored a bit.
Here are the bench and table from another angle. The pillow at the end of the window is another different print. The lamp is made from one of those old-fashioned wooden milk bottles. The little planter with the yellow rosebuds was made from a bottle cap with a calf button glued to its side.
Here's an overview of the left end of the room. I repainted the chair and made the cushions (same fabric was used elsewhere a couple of times.). The black and white cow standing beside the chair was a show purchase.
The red cushion-topped storage bench filled with pillows in front of the table was made from the lower half of a Michaels hutch. (See Michaels Hutches in Tutorials.) The material covering its cushion/lid is the same fabric that was pleated and used for the tiebacks at the end windows and the valances on the front windows.
I learned early on to keep the door firmly shut because people kept trying to turn the doorknob to open it and messing stuff up generally. Unfortunately, this means these items in front of the storage chest/bench are rarely seen because they are behind the door. The little box contains a collection of cow bells. The cow chair on the far right is really nicely made. I need to move it someplace else so it will show up better through the front windows.
This is about the best you can see it through the right front window over the green pillow.
The mirror and clock show how metal cow buttons were used. One was used to trim a picture finding that I painted to match and turned into a mirror. I glued a clock face covered with plastic and topped with a jump ring to make the clock on the other button. I found the wooden cow with jointed legs at a craft show. I added the blue bow.
The cow sitting on the end of the table was a show purchase, made by Yahna. His striped legs are crossed; that's why you don't really see the second one.
Here's the view looking back toward the doorway and fountain area.
Here is the view through the left side window of the shop. Unfortunately, it's a bit dark to make out the curtain tieback.
This cow hangs inside the window frame behind that tieback curtain.
The cow head here was going to be an entire cow but I got tired and just glued it to a painted Valentine woodsie.
I added the bandana to this cow for another accent of red.
This "black-eyed Susan " wreath
at the left corner was made with brown painted florist
wire, starflowers with painted brown centers, a model
railroad cow (I painted the spots brown), and a tiny
piece of gold silk ribbon.
Here's another view of the left front window.
The lattice back bench and matching table to the left were plain white. I added the cowhide print cushion. The two cowhead pillows were made from wooden buttons painted with acrylics and given cardboard ears and red bows. The apple tree pillow was cut from a print featuring varied farm scenes. It fits with the color scheme of black, white, red, and brown, and the secondary farm theme.
Although they are blurred, the two items in front of the bench cannot even be seen from the front of the shop! The little pull toy is wood; the towel rack was contrived from a readymade piece with tiny wooden cows glued on the ends.
