Trees...

 

Christmas and Otherwise....

I Hope you will understand, Dear Readers, the enormous Joy that I feel when the tiny Christmas tree lights on the tree in The Lovely Old Dollhouse turn on! There is just something so magical and timeless and beautiful about a Christmas tree with the lights glowing, but even moreso when it is in a dollhouse! Of course, for Helen and Charles it is the "same old" tree in the "same old" corner of the Living Room and it has been just so for how many years? But never mind, the effect is always the same... Peace and Joy come into their hearts and Love for everyone and everything seems possible! 

 

 

"There!" said Charles with great satisfaction.

 (It seems it is always his job to set up the tree,

 but he really likes it that way.)

 "I think it looks better than ever" he adds happily.

 "You do such a wonderful job with

 the Tree, Charles," said Helen quietly. 

"It always reminds me 

of our first Christmas together..." she added.

 "Do you remember?"

 "How could I forget, Darling..." he replied gently... 

"The first major dispute of our marriage... 

and I thought it would please you

 to have the Tree a surprise!"

 "And instead I was so shocked

 that it was up already 

and nowhere near Christmas Eve 

when my family had always put it up....

 what was I to think...?" said Helen laughing softly. 

 

 

"Well, you told me quite clearly 

what you thought, as I recall..." said Charles...

 "Something about poor taste and 

lack of sharing...." he added with a grimace.

 "I wish you could have seen the expression

 on your face, my love..." replied Helen, sweetly.

 "It nearly broke my heart... " she said.

 "But we learned from it and built a better tradition

 for ourselves because of it, I think" she added.

"Always to do it together..." said Charles smiling.

"And never before St. Lucia's Day and 

Never as late as Christmas Eve..."added Helen wistfully. 

"I think it is just Perfect...." said Helen. 

 

And lest you think I have neglected the other Houses 

 

 

the tree has been lit in the Castle Great Hall...

 

 Where it is very dark, even in the middle of the day.

(I will have to bring out the accessory lighting...) 

 

And over at Sally May's and Chip's House

 the Tinsel Tree has been set up

 and shines brightly all through the day. 

Ernie and Blanche have gotten used to the "style" of the tree, 

even though it wasn't what they would have chosen.

They figure that since it is not their own house

 they have no business to complain! 

But the truth is they are really enjoying the glitter,

 no matter that it is artificial!

 

And over at The Cloud Palace,

 

The whole gang is gathered to admire the Silver Tinsel Tree!

As far as the Fairy Bears are concerned 

the Silver Tinsel Tree is the 

most Natural thing in the World!

Who wouldn't love  

a beautiful glittery silver tree

 to light the darkest Nights?

 

And if you look closely you can spot the

 little snowman ornaments made by Birgit herself!

 But that is not all, Dear Readers!

Do you remember the little table-top ceramic tree Gabrielle found? 

 

I assembled this little tree from a kit a couple of years ago.

 I love the ambiance it brings to The Folly living room

which is really too small to fit an ordinary Tree.

 

 

Even so, it radiates so much Peace and Joy!

And perhaps you remember that the Tree House itself 

once had a Christmas Tree in the Salon!

 

I had to hunt around a bit to find it...! 

Can you see it back there in the corner niche? 

I know it is a bit dark...

 

Can you see it better now?

 

But now I am sure you are wondering, Dear Readers,

 what I meant by "Otherwise" in the post title... 

and since we are on the topic of Trees a lot lately,

 I have more to show you of the 

Tree House Nano Tree House....

 

 

 

If you are familiar with the rooms of The Tree House itself, 

you would know that the third room up is the Library.

 But for the Nano Tree House I decided the Ratlings

 would probably wish for a bedroom

 to go with their kitchen and salon. 

So I am trying to make a very small version

 of the Chinoiserie bedroom with the Pagoda bed!

 You can see the fireplace has been attached.

 And the green base color for the walls has been painted.

 

And then I have to try to "suggest" the painted walls... 

which is where the Trees come in...!

(Please remember the walls are 1/4 inch tall!)

So I am just trying to "suggest" the elaborate

 wall painting I did for the Tree House itself.

 

Maybe you can see it better with the flash?

This is just the beginning... 

I needed to see how it looked in photos....

 

 

And here I have added "leaves" 

(okay, a few dots of green) to the trees in strategic places...

 

And the side wall too...

 

 

And, of course, I needed to attempt

 to imply a Peacock over the fireplace.... 

can you see his blue neck and green tail?

 

Oh yeah, and the black door frame and the painted door too...!

Does it remind you of the trees in the Folly Bedroom?

 

Well, Dear Readers, 

that was what I meant by

 "Trees, Christmas and Otherwise!"
 

Tree House For The Tree House...

 

If You Don't Try... 

I Have to Constantly remind myself, Dear Readers, with this tiny project, that if I don't try... how will I know if I can succeed at my ideas or not? As some of you may have noticed, I am trying to duplicate a few of the actual rooms of The Tree House for the Nursery Dollhouse. The kitchen was relatively easy, and I eagerly rushed forward with starting the Salon... painting the walls a smoky blue and constructing a fireplace for the corner with a grand mirror over it! In the above picture you can see I have underpainted a fire in the corner of the room, and the fireplace is glued onto that strip of card stock to the right. Could I make a mirror at this scale? With the "mirror paper" that I have scraps of from the Secret Christmas House Project...? Well, I would not know the answer if I did not at least give it a try!

 

Well, I hope you can see in this picture... 

that I could! And I Did! 

It has a gold painted frame too!

 

And can you see in this picture that the mirror reflects?!

 

And testing it with the ceiling in place... 

But that was not all I wanted to add to this room! 

Not by a long shot! 

There needed to be the kind of arched wall paneling

 that the Tree House Salon has... 

but could I manage to cut them from the card stock...???

 I had to remind myself that I needed to give it a try...!

 

And Oh, my!

 Yes, I could manage to cut it that small!

 It is not identical to the Tree House Salon... 

but it mimics the style and makes the statement!

 

Here I am testing the fit in the room...

 

 

And painting them the smoky gray I used in the original room...

 

And painting the ceiling to have a blue sky with clouds

 like the original does...

(no I will not be making the domed ceiling structure!) 

And I confess, I did not try to paint Zeus and Hera and the cherubs...

 you will have to use your imagination to see them!

 

Here they have been glued to the walls! 

But I wanted more.... 

in the original Salon... there is a door

 standing ajar at the back of the room... 

could I possibly paint the cut-out piece and glue it in...?

 

Well.. it seems that I could! 

And did! 

But can you see it back there...?

 

It stands just the tiniest bit open...!

 And I admit, I put a couple of dots of paint

 into those roundels over the arches.... 

just to imply a scenic picture

 if you should happen to notice. 

But there is so much more to try! 

The room needed a carpet like the original... 

made from a scrap of woven ribbon... 

did I have anything with a pattern small enough...?

 Well... maybe...

 

Bought many years ago at one of the Fairs...  

with a delicate floral pattern in colors the right hue...

 I cut off a tiny piece and slathered the back side in glue

 to prevent the threads from raveling...

 

And when it was dried.... 

 

 

(Sorry this is a terrible picture...)

 the right side of the ribbon showing the pattern

 before trimming it down to fit the room... 5/32 of an inch square...!

 

Can you see it there??? 

I know... it is very small... 

but I think it does the job!

 But the real challenge was 

whether or not I could make a tiny settee... 

like the lovely pink and gold one in the Salon of The Tree House....

 

Here are some legs gluing to card stock....

 

And painted gold.... like the originals!

 (After being trimmed down a bit!)

 

Here the tiny seat has been cut out 

and is being given a coat of the "glue trick"

 to pad the seat just a little bit...

 

Here the seat has been painted a rosy pink like the original.... 

and the back is being given a coat of gold...

 

And here the seat is being glued to the back section....

 (the original settee has a striped fabric so I tried to mimic it)

 

And does it fit in the Tiny Salon...?

 Well, yes, I think it does!

 

But that is not all, Dear Readers!

 If you know me at all, you will know that

 I cannot leave the ceilings alone! 

And in the original Salon, 

there is a magnificent chandelier overhead....

 could I possibly make something that 

resembles a chandelier for the "Nano House"?

 (Thank you Drora for the name idea!)

 I thought I would give it a try.... 

and forgot to take pictures for a while...

 but the above picture shows the ceiling 

with a tiny bit of tinsel being glued into the ceiling....! 

The blob of glue is bigger than the scrap of tinsel....

 

Here it is a little closer....

 and just for good measure,

 I sprinkled on a bit of iridescent glitter

 to mimic the glowing candles in the original. 

And when the glue has dried.....

 

We have to test the ceiling in place.... 

can you see the glittery blob of a "chandelier" in there????

 It even reflects in the mirror from the right angle... 

and is just about impossible to photograph.... 

 

And of course,

 the opening door wall needs a coat of primer...

 and the paint too...

 

And the arched trims around the window as well. 

And you can see I am rushing on to the the next room...

 but that will have to wait... 

there are a few Larger projects demanding my attention first!

 

But I hope you will agree, Dear Readers,

 that I just had to Try

 to see what could possibly be done

 to furnish this Tree House for The Tree House! 

 

The Tree House Nursery...

 

How Small Can I Go....?

There have been Some things, Dear Readers, about this Tree House Project that I have known for sure since the very beginning that they would be accomplished "someday". And to those of you who have been following this blog for a very long time and have patiently wondered When I would ever get back to working on this Enchanting project, I can assure you that some things are a mystery even to me until all of a sudden the idea is there... clear as a bell when it didn't exist a moment ago! How does this happen? It is a Mystery! But I can say that as I was recently looking admiringly into the Nursery one morning as the Sun decided to come along for a visit and shone so beautifully into the unfinished but now progressing room where I had just made progress with the lovely Ceramic stove and I was pondering the other things that still needed to be made for this room, the ones I had always known would be there, I thought of the "shelves" beside the door where the little ratlings would store their toys and decided I would need to build them next so they could be fitted before I attached the walls permanently. And I thought about what sort of toys they would have and how big the shelves should be...

 

They would need to fit into the space between the door and the bunkbeds.... 

and it occurred to me that perhaps there should be 

a dollhouse in the Nursery for the little ratlings to play with.....

 and then I thought that a dollhouse in a Tree House

 surely must resemble a Tree House....?! 

Uh Oh..... 

and you can imagine what happened next... 

I spent all night dreaming about the Tiny Tree House

 and just how it could be made to have real opening doors....

 Like the bookcases in the library... but for each room.... 

Could it be done????? 

Well, I thought... 

I would never know if I didn't al least Try....!

 

So the very next morning I hunted out the stripwood 

that I had used for the library shelves. 

I knew it was sturdy enough to take the drilling

 and would stay strong through use...

 

Here I am beginning to test the method of construction... 

each floor would be threaded onto the structural hinge wire

 at the corner where the doors would attach. 

I decided the house would only be three rooms tall

 so the ratlings could reach the top floor!

 

Here I am gluing the base to the back panel (cardboard) 

and one side wall to begin the spacing of the rooms...

 

And here I have temporarily stacked all three floors

 on the supporting walls on the wire to see if it will work... 

so far so good! 

 

And then I forgot to take pictures for a while... 

I was so absorbed in finding out if I could construct

 the furnishings for such a small room..... 

each room is about 1/4 inch tall and 1/4 inch deep and 5/16 inch wide!!!

 

I have made a tiny hearth with a glittery "fire" in it... 

and some cabinets on the back wall 

and even a kitchen sink....! 

But it is really really difficult to photograph!

 

Maybe you can see it better with the Flash?

 

 

But what I really needed to figure out 

was if my ideas for the door panels would succeed... 

so I cut the three layers...

 the middle layer supports the acetate window pane 

that shows through the openings in the outer and inner walls...

 

Here the layers have been painted and are being glued together.

 The top shows the inside and middle panels glued together

 and the strip of cloth (cut on the bias) 

that will wrap around the wire to form the hinge itself.

 

Here you can see the acetate window pane 

is inserted in the middle opening...

 

And here you can see the cloth has been trimmed

 and wrapped around the wire and glued to the middle panel.

 

And with the outer panel glued on 

and the wire inserted into the bottom floor 

and the next floor placed temporarily in position... 

But does it work...???

Oh, Yes! It really does!!!

(I had also added some tiny beads to the shelves for "dishes"...!)

 

But that is not All... Dear Readers,

 for I am sure you can imagine that by now

 I had truly fallen down the Rabbit Hole.... 

was there any end in sight.... ???

Surely the kitchen needed a Table....

 

 

The only thing in doubt was would my imagined methods work...?

I cut some very very fine paper covered florist wire 

into impossibly tiny lengths....

 yes, they "pinged" off in every direction until

 I learned to hold my hand in the way..! 

Even then.... they get lost on the cutting mat... 

and my super sharp tweezers are almost too big to hold them....

but you can see four little stubs glued to a piece of card stock..

 

And here it is cut out and painted....!

 

 

And Lady Evelyn de Paradise in all her 1/2 inch tall majesty, 

came by just to show the scale...

 

 

But even so.... 

inside the tiny kitchen the table was Miles too tall.... 

there was nothing to do but try to trim the legs... 

which made quite a bit of mess

 and needed re-gluing in the process.... 

but the table at least got shorter...

 

 and then even shorter...... 

this was very challenging.... 

and finally repainted too...

 

Is that acceptable...? 

Sorry that the flash wipes out so much detail.....!

 

 Can you see it now...??? 

Is that impossibly cute or what???

 

Well... you Know what has to happen next....

 the Salon is the next floor up... 

with it's blue walls and fireplace....  

and before going to bed and

 dreaming all night of possibilities....

 

We just gotta see how it will look 

in that corner of The Tree House Nursery.... 

well, when it is finished it just might look

 a little bit like a Tiny Tree House in there!.... 

but for now.... 

I am just getting started...! 

 

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

I have been chasing Tiny Tree House Dreams

 down Rabbit Holes and maybe even

 Learning just how small I can go!