The Gift Of Sight....

Or The Perfect Gift....

Oh yes, Dear Readers, we are back at the Tower again, and I am Sure you did not see that coming! Well, you are not alone, as I am often not sure what is coming next in my Doll Worlds... so I am as amazed as the next person when Unexpected Gifts turn out to be the Perfect thing.... and such is the case with the Beautiful pieces of scrapbook papers that Dear Birgit "threw in" with one or another of her Wonderful parcels that have come to my home over the past year! She included a whole assortment of colors and textures and "hoped I would find them useful!" Well, Birgit must be blessed with the ability to see what is needed ahead of time! Two of these papers were almost instantly singled out for use on the Cloud Palace Tower bedroom.... and I honestly never would have gone shopping for them in the store.... (I find the possibilities a little too overwhelming and so avoid that aisle when shopping!) So I Honestly cannot say where I would be without them! You can see in the above picture that I am testing one of them, a Beautiful pale gold brocade with a pattern of roses, as the wall covering for the lower portion of the Tower bedroom. It is difficult to photograph so that the pattern can be seen... so delicate and pretty!

Here you can see it again, but what I really want you to notice in this picture is the lovely edging I have added to the opening in the wall! It took me  long time to figure out which part of the egg cartons would best cover the edge of the openings in these rooms.... and still look like "stone" with a decorative feeling. These "stones" are made from the bottom of the egg cups folded back on themselves.... it makes an edge a little like a pie crust... thick and a little fluted, almost like the petals of a flower! Well, applying them and painting them took up much of my weekend, and make for pretty boring pictures! And I needed to get them done Before I could add the beautiful papers to the walls! Here below you can see the second paper being added..... a Gorgeous sky blue brocade with the same rose pattern as the gold.....

It was really very tricky to cut these pieces to fit around the "rock" window frames! I had to make patterns with tracing paper then adjust the fit for each section. These papers are "self adhesive", but I confess that I decided not to rely on that and added glue to the wall first. (I had applied the gold pieces using just the adhesive backing and was a little surprised at how easily they "let go" when the thin walls were flexed the tiniest amount!) Here you can see more of the blue in place...

What a beautiful sight!

I also added a beautiful gold lace edge trim at the cornice.....

And have added the "windows" as well.....

And I am trying out designs for the paneling on the lower section....

I am not yet satisfied. I will know it when I see it!

And Thank you, Birgit, for "seeing" the possibilities in those papers for me!

But I must confess, Dear readers, that I did not only work on the Tower last week.....

I also continued on the bathroom in Rose Thorn Cottage.

I only tested a couple of tiny details.....

The first being a curtain made from a tiny scrap of fabric I have had for years....

(it was a blouse I made when I was young...)

It has a lovely Rose pattern.... and I added a scrap of lace....

(still only pinned in place....)

I also wanted a little shelf for the corner and found this scrap of shelving from a kit....

Of course you need to see how it might look when the wall is in place.....

In other words, when you can hardly See it at all......

It needs some work, but I think the curtain will be just Perfect!

As for the Gift of "Sight"..... 

I hope that Some of you might remember way last Fall when Daphne 

was startled to "see" her Mother speaking to her from the Crystal ball

 when she was pretending to be a Gypsy fortune teller at the Castle Halloween party!

(More of that story can be found in the section labeled "All Hallows Eve"....)

Well, I truly apologize for leaving you so long with no follow-up explanations.... 

For now, Daphne's Story continues....

Daphne sat for a very long time in complete confusion. 

It was as if She were Frozen in Time! She simply could not understand how she could possibly hear and see her Mother talking to her from a crystal ball! And with a message that others could hear.... but that made No sense to her at all! The worst part was that she had not seen her Mother in a long time.... they had struggled to get along when she was a teenager.... and Daphne had always felt so constrained and constantly criticized.... she was relieved to leave home when she went to college. She had vowed to herself that she would not be the first one to reach out and mend the rift that had grown over the years. She told herself that if her Mother truly cared, she would be the one to reach out.

But did it count if it was words from a Crystal Ball?

And of such an impersonal nature?

The truth was, Daphne could not just let it go, 

and there was only one way to find out what it could mean. 

She would have to go and talk with her Mother.

It took her a while to find where her Mother was living.

She heard she was staying with Great Aunt Agatha at Rose Thorn Cottage.....

She was not at all sure what sort of welcome she would find.

Daphne was feeling a certain amount of resentment 

at having to go so far to see her Mother.....

and that it had been so many years.....

So she was quite surprised to find her Mother so cheerful and happy to see her.... 

almost as if she had Expected her to come!

"Daphne!" exclaimed her Mother, "Come in! You're just in time for tea!"

It was as if No Time at all had passed since she last saw her! Prudence was neat as a pin in her freshly starched apron, and Daphne suddenly felt all disordered and out of control..... her Mother had always had that effect on her.... no matter how hard she tried, in the presence of her Mother, her hair always was too wild and her clothes a mess. She felt small and wayward.... and even worse, felt that her behavior for the past few years had not been the best.

But she had come for some answers and she was prepared to stay until she had them... 

no matter how uncomfortable she felt!

But now she felt a little silly .... 

How did you ask someone why you saw them in a Crystal Ball... 

without seeming yourself a little strange....?

She cleared her throat... "Mother, I need to ask you something.. 

that might seem strange..." she began.

Her Mother just looked at her and sighed. 

"Yes, I knew this day would come.... why don't you sit down...?" she replied.

Daphne sat. But Prudence did not. She seemed suddenly rather agitated. 

Daphne felt the balance suddenly shift.... her Mother felt defensive, she realized.

"I should have told you a long time ago," said Prudence, "But I didn't have the courage. I kept putting it off .... and then you were gone and I realized I had left it much too long."

"Told me What?" said Daphne, a little taken aback.

"That I'm a Witch" said Prudence.

Daphne was suddenly rather glad she was sitting down!

She wasn't sure she had heard correctly....

"A What?...." she asked....

"A Witch" said her Mother.

"Does that mean I'm a .....?" asked Daphne, in a shocked voice.

"Well, maybe only partly ...." her Mother replied.

"You mean my Father wasn't a ...." she asked, not sure what the correct term was.

"A Wizard?" said Prudence. "No. Not a Wizard" she said in just such a way as to make it sound like there was something worse that he was. 
 "He was.... is a Gypsy." Prudence actually looked embarrassed. 
Daphne stared. She didn't know what to say. 
"Is a Gypsy?....." she questioned. "You always told me my Father was dead!"
"That was so you wouldn't try to find him..... so he couldn't take you too!" Prudence blurted out.
"Too? What do you mean, 'too'? Is there another.....?"

Prudence actually seemed to stagger and fall back.....

"Yes..." she whispered.... "There were two of you.... my darling girls...."

Daphne could almost swear she felt the world shift under her feet. 

"I have a sister...?" she asked.

"A twin sister..." her Mother replied.

"But when I realized I could not live the Gypsy life with him and decided to try to make a home in one place.... he came and took your sister..... he stole her from the cradle in the night!"

 

 Daphne could not believe what she was hearing. It was too much. Too strange. Too sudden. But it explained a lot. "Where are they...?" she whispered.

"I do not know" said Prudence. 

"I may have 'The Sight', but it cannot be used at will to spy on people, no matter how much you may wish it. I lived in terror that he would find us and take you too...." she added.

Daphne had thought she wanted answers. Now she wasn't so sure. Those answers had raised so many more questions.... she wasn't sure she knew anything at all any more.

Had her entire life been a lie? And where did it leave her now?

 

Well, Dear Readers, I will have to leave those answers for another day.

Maybe having 'The Sight' is not the Perfect Gift.....

But I'm willing to bet you didn't 'See' that coming!

Upon Reflection.....

Blog Anniversary, Painting Rocks and Other Ruminations.....

I Hope you will forgive me, Dear Readers, If I Wander around a bit in this Post! I have both Too much and too Little to show and am Utterly undecided about Where to start! To Begin with, I am aware that the Fourth Anniversary of this blog has Come and Gone.... with No fanfare on my part! Nothing new to show, all kinds of incomplete projects, Just Exactly as  Incomplete as they were a year ago..... How does that happen? I would venture to do a recap of the year.... but cannot Fathom how to condense That into one post! The Tree House Bedroom and Bathroom.... The Castle ceilings.... Daphne's Story...., The Cloud Palace..... Not to mention the Little Dreamers.... ! You can see what a dilemma I am in! And as if to exacerbate an already overwhelming situation.... Last Sunday was Easter Sunday..... which so many of you were prompt about honoring with beautiful and charming minis! Well, I am a bit Late... but Yes, the Easter Bunny made a stop here too....

Annabelle was a little surprised......

She is still young enough that she is not sure what to expect.....

Even Sally May looks surprised......!

She has a new Cookbook to try!

Annabelle asks "Is the candy for breakfast, Momma?"

But while Sally May figures out the answer to that question, 

I must take you back to the Fireplace at Rose Thorn Cottage....

Where the Sunday Morning Sun was lighting up the chimney....

Here you can see pretty clearly the completed hearth.....

But it took almost an entire day of painting the rocks to get the effect I wanted!

Of course, I forgot to take progress pictures.....

 but the first steps (after the base coats of gray) 

were to add brown washes to many of the stones..... 

and then to fill all the crevices with black....

as you can see in the above picture.

 This highlights the rocks individually.....

But when we test it in place, you can see that the black needs to be toned back.....

The rocks need to be rounded more at the edges and the cracks need to recede...

Which is a gradual process of just adding more gray washes.....

Until all the cracks are more subtle.....

Then we need to test it again......

That looks more like it!

But still Waaaay too clean looking! 

Time to add the soot!

It needed to look as though it had been well used as a fireplace 

before they "cleaned it out" and added the Aga Stove!

And by then it is late at night and Dark out....

So we must wait until morning to see it in the sunlight....

Oh, that Amazing Sunlight!

It looks so wonderful that I glue it in place and start to add some of the other details...

The wooden beams and the shelf over the window.....

Which just Begs for the china I have had put away for Years.....

And a scrap of fabric for a rug....

And then I had to start in on the Tub for the bathroom.....

I wanted a Lovely old Zinc bathtub.....

 

Made from cardboard, of course......

With a wooden rim.....

Then painted in gray and then silver paint......

Here you can see it being tested in place.....

Yes, you will only be able to see a glimpse of it.....

But oh, what a perfect image!

But wait..... there is more......

There is this lovely little mirror.....

It is a Christmas ornament!

 And believe it or not, but this little mirror has encapsulated for me

 the entire theme of this house....

The Roses..... the Red color, 

The lacy filigree.... the oval shape.....

The beautiful bright reflection in a dark corner....

Hidden and barely visible....

Quiet but so evocative....

Feminine...

Old Fashioned.....

Such a tiny room....

will hold so much beauty....

Before I know it the House has come alive......

Who is there....?

Did you want some tea?

Do come in!

Agatha always has the kettle on the stove!

Well, Dear Readers, Even though another year has flown,

Sometimes all it takes is a Little reflection.....

But now I can see that I have made a lot of progress after all...

and I want to Thank you all for visiting!

Where Are We Going Now?

Ch Ch Ch Changes...... (Oh, Not Again...!)

There have been a lot of changes in My World recently, Dear Readers, not the least of which is a new computer with a new operating system (which takes a lot of getting used to!) and a new photo storage system (which takes a lot of getting used to!)..... So I hope you can forgive me, as I Detour you through another one of my Ongoing projects.....! It is one that you have seen in some of my Stories, but never really been given a thorough look at! This is mostly because it is Woefully incomplete on the inside.... and I have been struggling with the layout of the parts ever since I started building it! This is the "Aster Cottage" kit, a small half-timbered thatched roof cottage... and I emphasize the "small"! The floor area is about 16'' by 19" and the second floor is supposed to be just a loft. I started this kit while Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on New England..... (over a year and a half ago!) to distract me from the possible trouble.... (which thankfully did not come to my neighborhood)..... and I always intended it to be a house for my Witches. I have named it "Rose Thorn Cottage". The kit is cute on the outside but has numerous design flaws for the interior! It comes with a ladder to the loft, which they intend you to place along the back wall to the right of the fireplace, with the opening to the loft under the only tall roof area on the upstairs (where I have positioned the bed). With this arrangement, there is nowhere to place furniture! I tried moving the stairs to the center of the kit.... but they take up too much room in the small floorspace. I also wanted to make a small bathroom in the back corner to the right, since this kit is relatively deep. I also wanted to enlarge the hearth area, since the original fireplace opening is cute but Tiny! Here below you can see the very unsatisfactory first modifications.....

A Long Time ago I had seen a picture of a stone stairway curving up into a wall behind the hearth... (I am not sure where I saw it)... and that was what I really wanted to make for this cottage... but I didn't think I had the room to make it work. But when I saw Elizabeth at "Studio E" Blog have so much success with fitting her stove in under the stairs in her little house.... I thought I should give it another try!

I re-worked my already partially built stairs, 

carving off the underside of the stair blocks, 

thereby narrowing the space they took up vertically. 

I also added the turned stairs at the bottom. 

Here you can see me testing them in place.

Here you can see they have plenty of room to "land" at the back of the open loft area, 

which I planned to cover over anyway, making a solid second floor.

You can also see where the stairs would have come up in the middle... 

and you can see the patched opening in the floor at the back right, 

where the kit had designed the stairs to go.

I really just needed to decide whether there was room for the hearth and stove

 under the stairs in the new position!

I am starting with a block of the pink builders foam insulation 

which has become my go-to material for constructing chimneys and stairs!

Then I needed to cut out the area for the "fireplace" 

which would need to be large enough for this "Aga" stove....

Here I am trying to see how it will fit and look 

with the wall section going upstairs filled in...

And you can see I have also painted the area that will be the bathroom on the right....

It is now a lovely deep pink!

And having determined that there really was enough room to put the stairs here, I just needed to refine the opening for the hearth and get started with the egg carton stones!

It always takes longer than I think to cut and position those egg carton pieces!

Here you can see the opening for the hearth without the front wall, 

which I thought I would make out of wood.....

Until I realized it would be much better to make it all into 

the "rocks" that the chimney is made of!

It looks so much better that way, Dear Readers,

 and is ever so much easier to cut and shape in this tight opening!

(By the way, for the Realists of you out there, 

the actual opening for the chimney "flue"  

would be at the top back of the arched opening.... 

but I am anticipating that no-one will be able to see 

that the "flue" is just painted on in this case...!)

Of course, I had to test it in place again and again!

And then I had to paint it to resemble rocks...!

This is just the first few coats... gray and darker gray...

There will be more details added!

But we have to test it in place again... 

to see if it looks like we hope it will.....

And a little closer to see those rocks.....!

I think it is working!

Here you can see it with the Aga stove tucked into the opening......

(It all still looks Waaayy too new for my liking...!)

And on the right you can see the little room that will be the bath....

And there is plenty of floor space for the basic living area....

Here you can come closer....

I can almost feel the warmth radiating from the stove!

And in the upstairs, there is the wall at the back where the stairs open....

and I plan to add a dividing wall where the loft used to end, 

making two rooms instead of just one.

I think I am liking this!

I have Tons to do still to make this Cottage Habitable....

And I Don't blame you at all, Dear Readers, 

If you are wondering Just where are we Going Now....

But I am really Happy with these Long Overdue Changes!!!