The Things Not Done....

A Taxing Time....

There Was a Moment of Sun on Sunday, Dear Readers, but it snowed on Friday and Monday, illuminating so clearly the Brief moments we must grab when they come! And grab it I did, with my camera, at least....! But the Time to work on any projects was overtaken by the RL chores, I had to prepare my Taxes... so very little got done in my Myriad Mini Projects! But the camera recorded the Sunny Sunday moments that I can share with you... just to remind myself what I Still Have Not Done! As you can see so clearly, Father Alban still has no robe to wear.... and has not even begun to paint the next icon, nor finish the walls and ceiling in the Chapel. But he has Ideas.... they tease him in his Dreams.... and elude him by Day...

And the ceiling in the Great Hall... still awaits the defining details....

Here the morning sun has filled the room with light.... 

so Easy to see what is missing!

And so hard to Find the Time!

I did Not dust the furniture....

I did Not build up a better Fire in the hearth...

Nor make the Rats new clothes...

I did Not clean the kitchen in the Lovely Old Dollhouse...

nor decide about the cupboard....

I did Not paint on the walls of the Willowcrest bedroom....

Nor did I add to the Trees in the Willowcrest Parlor....

Or help Joanna with the plantings in the Conservatory.

And The Truth of the matter is, Dear Readers, 

that I have so little room in my RLHouse for keeping all my projects going, 

that they end up sitting on the chairs.... 

because the tables are covered, and the sewing machine too!

And I had to get at the sewing machine to work on an order for my star wands....

which meant Moving all the Houses around!

Ahhhh...., Spring Cleaning is Next!

(Still Not Done!!)

But in all the upheaval, 

the Cloud Palace ended up on the Work Table...

So I could Better see what Needed to be done!

An awful lot of egg carton stones still need to be cut and fitted.....

And Yes, there will be another Tower added to the other side....

It will be the Guard Tower... 

and will have the sleeping quarters for the Guy Bearys.

But at present, I am still trying to figure out 

the overall layout of the rooms and the stairs...

and how big the base needs to be since we are expanding....

I am using foam core and pink builders foam for the structure...

and will use egg cartons for the "rocks".... 

Oh I will be making those rocks for a long time to come...

There will be more floors added above this first one!

And I am sad to report that I did Not get in 

any more Food supplies for the Palace Kitchen....!

I am sure Hamish Harry is about to go off fishing....

(Or maybe I should Special order some 

fantastic "Eraser Treats" from Elizabeth of Studio E blog!)

At the very Least I need to hurry up and just Make Something!!!

Because I also did NOT finish the other Dreamy Cloud Bed....

 And Yes, Elizabeth, I am going to try 

to make it a hanging "floating cloud" bed....!!

But for Now it remains just Another one of the Things Not Done!

And I, Dear Readers, remain captured in that Sunny moment....

Dreaming of the Next thing I have Not Done!

Yes, It is a Taxing Time...

And I hope I have not Taxed you too hard, Dear Readers,

With this list of things I have Not Yet Done!

Cloud Palace Furniture

Soft As A Cloud.....

Some of you have mentioned, Dear Readers, that now that there are More Bearys in the Cloud Palace, there would be a need for More cloud chairs so all of them could sit together! Believe me, I had been thinking about that need for a long time, and had also been thinking about the beds that would be needed for each of them. Well, it seemed only fitting that since Blue had got the Cloud Palace started with her Powerful Wishing Stars... that her bed would be the first one I would make. It also would require the most "engineering" if one can say that about a bed, because it would need to fit inside the Circular Tower bedroom without taking up All the floor space! And Some of you might have noticed that there was the start of a new Cloud Sofa in the Cloud Palace when the Bearys were arriving... it just wasn't quite finished yet! So here you can see the start of the new furnishings....

The sofa is made entirely of cardboard for the framework, 

and then it is painted with a white undercoat 

so that the see-through nature of the "clouds" 

will only reveal the white color.

The Bed for Blue begins with a wooden base, 

curved to fit the circular chamber, 

with one side having a serpentine shape.

Then the "sides" are made to resemble the shapes of clouds... 

made from cardboard.

Then I took the shape of the back side 

and made a separate template from card stock

and used this to make the tufted velvet that will cover the bed.

I used seed pearls to tie the tufting down.

Here it is glued into the back of the already primed bed frame.

Then I added the section for the front side, 

only making sure the top edge of the velvet

wrapped over the inner frame and covered the inside too.

Of course, I have to keep testing 

to make sure it still fits in the Tower!

And I also started the other beds!

This one would need to be very carefully fitted 

into the front dormer of the Cloud Palace!

Here you can see it being tested before painting....

And here, (along with the clutter of books and crystal butterflies)

you can see it painted and also the beginning of the third bed to the left.

Meanwhile I made a mattress for Blue's bed 

out of the softest silk chiffon 

in a perfectly matching cream the color of clouds at dawn.

And because no two beds are exactly alike, 

(Just like no two Bearys are exactly alike!)

I started to add the fluffy cloud lining for the bed under the front dormer.

This will be Sweet Pea's bed.

And once the fluffy sides were complete, 

I added a string of iridescent pearls along the crest of the clouds...

And a mattress of the softest brushed cotton flannel in pure white....

And then we have to test it for fit.....

Oh, it is Snug.... but it fits beautifully!

But perhaps they will need a blanket......

Of the Softest gossamer "lawn"......

Or the sheerest star dusted organza....

But let's not forget the Cloud sofa.....

slowly getting it's fluffy glitttery covering...

Here you can see the thread I use to hold it in place while the glue is drying.

It is the Perfect size for just two Bearys to sit together!

Now there really is enough seating for Everybeary!

And in case you were worried that they might starve 

once the Marzipzan was all gone...

Hamish Harry has done a bit of scavenging and 

requisitioning from all my supplies....

He found a pot of Honey, A canister of Tea,

Some "Erdbeere" preserves

(Strawberry Jam!)

And a bottle or two of milk!

I guess Nobeary will starve this week!

But Alas, You will notice that I have not finished the third bed...

Lady Lavender assures me she doesn't mind 

because she can tell it will have it's own special features....

So it is worth waiting for!

But I know the Question that is burning in your minds, Dear Readers!

The question of whether the Bearys fit in their beautiful beds!

Well, Sweet Pea was only too happy to climb into her Soft as A Cloud Bed...

Covered over with the gossamer thin spiderweb fairy blanket....

And Blue was happy to show you her beautiful bed....

Draped in Star dusted Organza....!

So I guess you can Rest assured, Dear Readers,

That once I get the New Furniture for the Cloud Palace completed,

It will Fit them perfectly,

and will be Soft As A Cloud.

The Ovens!

Time for a Retro-fit.....

Can you Imagine a kitchen Without an Oven, Dear Readers? Well I am embarrassed to say that when I constructed the Tiny kitchen in the Tower of the Cloud Palace, I completely Forgot to include an oven! Even though my Family members will not be surprised that I did not make the kitchen of Primary importance, as they know I am not an eager cook, nonetheless, I am surprised, because when I cook, I bake! And so does Hamish Harry "Hotcakes" McCloud, who was coming to take over the kitchen duties at the Cloud Palace! As you can see in the picture above, he arrived with a suitcase full of pots and pans along with his trusty rolling pin! He obviously had plans for baking! And an oven is essential! So as soon as I realized my oversight, I hastily began to Retro-fit an oven into this Tiny kitchen! Here below you can see a slightly out of focus shot of the fireplace Without the oven.....

Where oh Where would an oven fit???

Fortunately, it didn't need to be a Huge oven....

and there was already a kind of stone lip beside the hearth....

and just Maybe there was room under the stairs....

if I cut it just right......

 

Believe me, it took some fancy cutting 

to get the glued styrofoam  off the wall 

without taking out any of the stairs.....

And then I had to construct a little 

arched chamber from cardboard....

And build out the "rock" wall of the chimney

 to surround the oven chamber...

made from egg cartons!

And while I was at it I also added a "rock" ledge

inside the hearth..... for setting pots to warm....

And then painted it all to blend in with the already built chimney.

I made the interior of the oven all black 

as it is the kind of oven you light a fire inside 

and then sweep the ashes aside to do the baking.

Here you can see it a little closer... still without the door.

And then I thought some more about what Hamish Harry might like 

to help him cook in this Tiny kitchen.... 

and decided he could use some built in "iron" racks 

over the fire to hold frying pans....

And a chain for hanging kettles over the fire.....

And here you can see the racks holding 

the frying pan and soup cauldron....

And lest you worry that the oven is too small... 

I thought we should test the muffin tin....

Aha! It fits!

And now you can see there is a door to the oven too....

Attached with leather strap hinges....

Surely you can forgive me for not using metal ones! 

They would never hold with the Egg-carton "rocks"!

And here you can see Hamish Harry is trying 

to work in this new and unfamiliar kitchen....

Wielding his trusty rolling pin....

but Alas, he has found the shelves Embarrassingly Bare 

of the necessary ingredients for baking!

But being a Bear of Great Resourcefulness...

He brought out one of the Marzipan Cakes

(These Fairy Bears always seem to travel with Marzipan cakes!)

And he quickly sliced it up into thick pieces.....

And carried it out for the Bearys to have with their tea!

Of course, there was enough for EveryBeary to have some!

Believe it or not, Dear Readers, 

I was ever so Grateful for the Marzipan Cakes!

There will be plenty of time now to get the Kitchen 

fully stocked so NoBeary will go hungry!

And Hamish Harry "Hotcakes" McCloud 

will have plenty of time to test the Oven...

And there may even be one or two other improvements 

in this Tiny kitchen before we are done!

It is a good thing I was able to retro-fit an oven into this Tiny space, Dear Readers,

because even though you can barely see it tucked in beside the hearth...

Hamish Harry (and I) will know it is there!