Look What Arrived!

My Own Signature Sans! Suitcase Garden

Can You Believe how Utterly Delightful this Is?

Way back in January I was one of the LUCKY winners of Sans!' Blog Anniversary Gifts. She promised to send each winner a tiny Signature Sans Rusted Suitcase Garden! And being the Dedicated and Generous blog friend that she is.... she wanted to make them each different to suit the recipient... only asking which color suitcase we might prefer! Knowing that she had more than one to make, I told her not to hurry... to take her time....that we were used to waiting for spring around here! And if you are one of her followers you know how busy she has been.... both with making suitcase gardens.... and with visiting other Blog Friends in Europe! So Imagine how THRILLED I was when this little package arrived in my mailbox!!!!!

I immediately ran downstairs to see how it would look with "The Folly"!

And then I went looking for some of the other little Garden Gifts I received Last year....!

And before I had even set everything up..... Look who happened by.......

Hazel took ONE look at the little Suitcase Garden and Fell in LOVE...!

"What a Wonderful IDEA! A Garden in a Suitcase!" She exclaimed. 

"There doesn't seem to be anyone around to look after this properly..." she thought....

"I better take it home with me!"

"And just look at that tiny Bird House...!" 

"It looks Just the right size for Jenny Wren...!"

"Agatha! Come look what I found!" she hollered 

(Agatha is only a Little hard of hearing...!)

"Oh, MY!" Said Agatha....

"A Suitcase full of Posies! Well, I never!" 

"And those Darling little signs that say Chirp!" 

"How very Clever....!""Are the Flowers Singing Hazel??.... 

I can't quite hear them......!"

"No, No Agatha.... those are the Birds! The Birds on Daydreamer' Blog!"

"Are you Sure it's not the Flowers Singing... Hazel?" 

"I thought I heard the flowers singing once...."

 "Just wait until Daydreamer builds us our Own Garden, Agatha.....".......!

Seriously, Isn't this little Suitcase Garden Enchanting?! 

I just want to bring it Everywhere with me.....

A Tiny Suitcase filled with Birdsong and Garden Dreams.....

From the bottom of my Heart I THANK YOU Sans!

*********

And Just in case you missed the Blog Anniversary Giveaway notice.....

I have decided to Extend the Giveaway deadline.....

So If you want a chance to win two of the Famous Wedding Decoration Topiaries....

Just leave a comment on the Anniversary Post 

Before Midnight on May 4th!

And then maybe You Too will get to say.....

"Look What Arrived!"

Ah, The Folly, The Folly!

Ch...ch...ch...Changes.....!

Dear Readers, As I imagine Some of you know.... Blogger has changed! So I Really don't know what I am doing! But I shall persevere and try to get this posted tonight! Maybe this is appropriate, since the Theme of this Post is New Beginnings! So I feel as though I am stumbling around in the Dark as I try to figure out what button does what and where my pictures are all going! Since they all loaded differently, I am dragging them into place.... and I only HOPE they go where I want when I get this Posted!
 As some of you know, as I was beginning to make Miniatures, The Folly was my First Kit House (as opposed to The Lovely Old Dollhouse which has been mine since childhood!), and because I get distracted, it is FAR from finished! By it's very nature, a "Folly" is supposed to be VERY Elaborate and Fanciful... and My Folly has always been intended to sit in the midst of a Garden..... a Garden that I must somehow Build... even though I have NO Experience with Mini Landscapes!And in order to make a Garden.... there must be a BASE for the House to sit upon....
For a Long time now, the Folly has had no real base... which makes it easy to drag the house out into the World for Photo shoots.... Like This..... and This.This....
And when it is not being carried about (which can be hard on the delicate trims...!) it usually sits on this small wooden frame (see below) which is JUST big enough to hold the house... but NOT big enough for any real Garden Landscape. So I have decided that I Must make a bigger base!

 I have chosen to use the lightweight but sturdy builders foam insulation panels to construct the Ground. Here below you can see I am planning to use more than one layer because I want the effect of the House being perched on a little knoll next to a small brook.....
I have marked on the top layer the outlines of approximately where the foam should be cut.....

 And here you can see that I have sawed off the extra bits..... 

leaving a ROUGH Hill-shaped piece.... 

with room on the one side for a small patio and on the other for the small brook.......

 This is the side where the brook will run...... 

I truly have NO idea how I am going to make the surface into a landscape....! 

Lots of research needed here! 

But I have made a Start!

 And BEFORE I can attach the House FIRMLY to this new base..... I realized I must get more of the Electrical Wiring done... and Figure out WHERE I am Hiding the outlet strip...! This is not easy because  this Kit has the Skinniest walls imaginable.... they are about 1/16 of an inch thick! NO room to carve channels and bury the wires! So I am having to be inventive and hide them behind the baseboards.... Here below you can see the wire for the Parlor Ceiling fixture that comes through the floor of the bathroom and runs all around the walls at baseboard level... and will be covered when I add the baseboards!

 I have added a Porch Lantern on the Front Porch..... the wire comes through the porch ceiling.....

 Which is the sleeping nook in the bedroom above! I have decided to run the wires on top of this surface, and then cover them with a layer of cardboard which will be completely hidden by the mattress......

 Here you can see the wire for the Porch Lantern.... 

as well as the wires for the "candle" I have made to sit on the little window shelf which I also added.......

 And here you can see that I have drilled holes in the corner for the wires to go through into the bathroom where they will be hidden behind the baseboard with the other wires.......

 And here below you can see the outside wall where I have taped the wires from the Parlor Ceiling Light... where they will need to be concealed behind a piece of molding with a channel for the wires... from there they reach the Ground on the New Base.......

and I still have not decided how I am concealing the plug strip!!!!

Below you can see the Baseboard in the bathroom.... concealing the wires!

I have debated with myself for AGES over what type of light to use in the Book Nook.... and have finally decided to use the simplest old fashioned candle sconce. This has bi-pin bulbs and the old fashioned style suits the Antiquity of the era "The Folly" was supposedly built in. It sits far enough into the corner that it hopefully will not get bumped into too much..... and it can light the Nook as well as the stairway. I still have to make some Concealing strips for the wires.... which will run to the back corner under the window.....

Here you can see the lights being tested.... They WORK!

And a close-up of the pillar candle I made for the window shelf in the bed nook...... 

isn't it Romantic.....?

 And the view from outside..... in the dark..... 

Little lights to show the way......!

Still SO FAR to GO..... 

So Many Changes......

and I didn't really get the Base made at all.....

But it is a Start!

Ah, The Folly, The Folly...!

What A Year!

Second Anniversary Review.... and Maybe A Giveaway!

Dear Readers, I can hardly believe another year has gone by, my Second year of this Blog!!! And as with many anniversaries, it prompts one to ask "what has been accomplished this year?" First let me assure you that just to BE in Mini-Blogland, building and sharing with all you other wonderful creative people, is SO MUCH FUN, that I almost hate to even raise the IDEA of Assessing Progress... or even Implying that such measuring of ones Works should occur! But perhaps it is inevitable that the comparison of this year with the previous arises, and sometimes the results of such an examination are revealing, so I will take a look at what I have accomplished this past year in my Mini world!
I will begin with The Lovely Old Dollhouse as it is my First and Most Beloved House......
The top picture shows that the Curtains I made for the window of the Parlor are STILL NOT Finished! The second tie-back is lying on the floor somewhere.....!
And the Lace curtains in the Chinoiserie Bedroom are still just Pinned to the curtain rod.......

(And I have not yet started to build the Bed for this room....)

One of my Very Old Original Paintings now hangs in the Hallway.....

but I am not sure that it will stay there......

The Kitchen cupboards are still not stocked... nor are the dishes washed!!!

And I think there is supposed to be another set of shelves built for the left hand wall....

And the hearth needs some bricks made from egg cartons......

The Front Hall is almost exactly the same as it was a year ago.....

Except that I added the China Jar by the door.....

Here is the Previous Year picture for comparison!

Same with the Bathroom...... Nothing has been done!!!!

The Master bedroom is only a little more lived in.....

But NOTHING has been finished!

There will be Curtains Someday!

And the Window on the Fireplace wall will get some glass.....

and the Fireplace will get some bricks..... For starters!

And When we look at The Folly.... the same is true...

Very Little has been done!
I Did add the plate shelf to the Kitchen wall...
with tiny cup hooks for hanging teacups...

And, of course, I built the shelves in the Book Nook upstairs......

and sewed the cushions......
But I have NOT Made any more Books!!!
Nor Have I added the lighting...... Or Curtains.......

When we come to the Castle Dollhouse there has been a Little bit of Progress!!!

I made a Start on the Lord's Council Chamber...!

I built and painted the Peter Paul Stained Glass Windows for the Chapel......

I Completed painting the Noah's Ark Paintings on the chapel walls.......

And I STARTED the Paintings on the chapel Ceiling........

Still SO Far to go!

And you will be Happy to know I Finished making enough of the painted Tiles for the Great Hall floor! Now all I have to do is glue them down and apply the Grout....

a step that has me rather Nervous.....!

And I did manage to attach all the Electrical wires to the Back of the Castle Great Hall and conceal the outlets in a Chimney buttress! So I guess every little bit of progress Counts!

And of course, if you are a regular reader of this blog you will know that last August I Started in on an Entirely New dollhouse...... the Victorian Brownstone I am building from an old Cupboard (so I call it The Cupboard House...)

Here you can see the beginnings....

a Building I have been planning to build for MANY YEARS!

Inspired in part by these Wonderful Kit windows that I have had Waiting For YEARS.....
I Finally got them out and stained them and assembled them!!
(I love these windows!)

Here is the Front mostly finished....

I added all the external wooden details.....

(Supposed to look like Brownstone...)

And Started the Murals in the Hallway.....

Still SO MUCH DETAIL to do!

And the Trompe l'oeil Painting of the extra room behind the hall......

And we had gotten as far as adding the plate shelves to the Kitchen walls...

and the drying rack...

And building the Fireplace and mirror for the Dining Room......
And painted details on the ceiling......
Before getting DISTRACTED by the Holiday Parties and the Wedding.....!

So all in all, I think I can say that Some Progress was made! While I could wish I had finished more...... I am aware that working on so many projects at one time Does have a tendency to scatter my energies. I am sure that some of you would recommend that I just concentrate on ONE 'til it is Done..... But I know myself well enough to be Certain that Trying to do that would only cause me to start yet Another House......!
For Now... I am sending all the Little People away on Vacations... (and Honeymoon) in the hopes that I will get more Building done for a while! But first I Must show you what my Dear Mother sent me for my Birthday.... an old Embroidered Handkerchief that had been lurking in her Bureau drawer .... that has the Most Amazingly Exquisite Embroidery I have Ever seen!!!
I have draped it over the bed I bought for Charlotte's bedroom in the Cupboard House....

(when we get to that room....)

temporarily set up in the Shabby Sister House......

Oh, Right... I forgot to mention THAT House!

One year ago I bought it as a used house.....

Rather in need of improvements......

But NOTHING has been done!

Here, you Must have a closer look......

And closer.... Isn't it Amazing?

And Don't tell anybody... but just when I was sending all the dolls on Holiday.....
I went to that very dangerous Miniatures Store near my home......

and came home with this addition to my Mini World...

I think her name is Hazel.... and she is a Gardening sort of a Witch......
I know.... I KNOW.... she is going to need her own House...!

But I think she is going to belong with this Kitchen Hearth that I already have....

At least she is very happy to sit here beside my Computer while I get it all figured out.....

And she's already good friends with Great Aunt Agatha....!

So now that we have had the Anniversary Review...

What was that about a Giveaway?
Well, Dear Readers, while I was Dis-assembling the Wedding that took so long to put together.... the only things I could not bear to take apart were the Topiary Table Decorations!
And now I just don't know what to do with them!

They are rather Rough and un-refined....

just being made for Props for the Wedding....

but they are rather Cute too.....

So if any of you out there are interested in having them...

just leave a comment on this blog post!

I think I will give away at least one pair of them....

maybe two pairs if there is a big demand.....
I will do a drawing on May 1....
Notice: I have extended the Deadline to May 4th Midnight!!!!!

What A Year!