The Fairy Market....

 

Dreaming of Gardens....

I Left you, Dear Readers, with the Candy House make-over just getting under way as I was determined to get the Cabinet of the Clouds completed and attached to the wall of the Fairy-Tale Wonderhouse Shop. But then the next morning, as I contemplated the Candy House and it's needed Snowy Icing Landscape makeover... I confess, I could not summon the necessary winter magic mood. Winter Wonderland and all the glitter and sweet candy bits for the Gingerbread House... their welcome was wearing thin around here! RL Cold Snowy Windy Frozen Winter was taking its toll.... and I just needed to Escape... and there was the Fairy Market.... for the central Shelf of the Cloud Cabinet... in a lovely sweet Spring Green... and an "open air" Market feeling... who could resist...?? Not I, it would appear! Before I knew it I had assembled the main pieces and glued them together, as you can see above. It has such a lovely frivolous "Garden Arbor" feeling about the shape... there is no roof and the floor is tiled... but the "back wall" print-out had me puzzled. See that brown and tan striped cut-out in front of the Arbor? It is supposed to be glued behind the back wall structure.... filling in all those "windows".... and  I had to think twice! It made no sense to me in an "open-air" Fairy Market to cover those windows with anything more than a glitter strewn gauzy mesh....

 

Such as this... 

although it is extremely difficult to get the glittery part to show...

 

But I really liked the effect... so I glued the mesh in place.

 

You can sort of see the effect here... 

although, it wasn't enough, and I decided to try another layer of gauze...

 that smoky glittery cloth I use so often for smoke and magic...

 

You can see here that it doesn't lose the transparency of the windows...

 but does add a layer of glittery effect... 

so I glued it on behind the gauze.

 

Here you can see some of the glittery effect.... 

but it is really hard to get the focus right!

 

The decoration for this Market includes the

 Tiniest Bunting you will ever see...! 

If you can even see it there on the plastic....! 

I was supposed to glue the flags to a piece of thin gold wire.... 

but the glue did not hold so I re-glued

 using some very fine gold thread 

which worked beautifully.

 

Here you can see the finished bunting, 

and I have glued some of the "gold treasures" 

in place on the Market windows....

 

I also assembled the little Market Table... 

 although I added a "skirt" of the glittery mesh cloth

 before gluing on the tiny bottles and the Market sign.

 Of course, by now it is late and Dark out 

(and snowing again) and my photos are hard to see.

 

But the clear light of Morning reveals the

 Market sitting in a lovely swath of Spring green grass... 

where did that come from....? 

Ah, yes... I Was Dreaming of the Garden... 

and could not imagine a Fairy Market 

that was Not situated in some grass or moss or ferns.... 

 and so I fitted the "landscape" as large as 

 could still be positioned in the Cabinet of the Clouds...

 

 Doesn't that look just delightful...? 

But we are a long way from finished...!

 

The Market Table needed to be glued in place.... 

and you can see I have also begun to make a few 

of the "little plants" that this kit includes... 

although this potted tree is destined for a different shelf.... 

still, it was causing me to dream of the bigger picture... 

the Fairy Market... 

If only I could take it outside into the Garden.... 

but that was impossible in all the snow... 

no moss or flowers anywhere in sight!

 

Here it is being tested for fit on the Cabinet shelf.... 

would there be room for a flower or two...?.... 

perhaps a few dandelions..." 

those iconic flag-bearers of Spring?

 

There was only one way to find out.... 

so I made a few from embroidery floss and wire... 

including one "gone to seed" as they so eagerly do!

 

Ah yes... it is dark again.... 

but the dandelions are attached!

 

But I could not stop there, Dear Readers,

 I was Dreaming of sunny meadows 

of dandelions and clover... 

where the bees hummed and the Fairies

 surely would be setting up their Markets!

 Clover there must be...

 I started with the embroidery thread 

because it was what I had. It is a bit too "fuzzy"

 to really be clover-like... but I am going with it!

 

Here I am trying to make some clover leaves... 

you will have to take my word for it...

 they are made of a nubbly thread greenery

 that was included in the kit.... 

so I am putting it to use here as well.

 

And here the first few clover stems

 have been added to the landscape... 

doesn't it look sweet...???

 

And the Sunlight has even come out to play....!!!

 

Can you believe how tiny this Garden must be?

 

And here it is tucked into the spot on the shelf....  

Oh, how I wish I could just take it outside into the mossy spring garden....!

 

But since I could not take the Fairy Market outside, 

I found myself making many of the

 tiny landscape pieces for this kit. 

They take a variety of forms and methods 

and are scattered throughout the Shop.

 

There is a tiny paper mushroom house...

 

That lives in a dish....

 

Under a glass cloche!

 

Here you can see several little pieces in

 the front Display window. 

And I assembled the little Alice in Wonderland book vignette...

 

The paper cut-outs, the wooden Book frame.... 

and the cloth covered table....

 

And the little bottle that sits on the table....

 

But the table was too big...

 it hid Alice from view! So I carved off the corners....

 making it able to sit in the corner to one side...

 

Like so! 

And then we need to see it on it's shelf in the Cabinet... 

where it tucks into one of those little shelves beside the Fairy Market...

 

But really, Dear Readers, I was Dreaming of the Garden.... 

The Fairy Market Needed a Garden... 

And then something happened....

 

Maybe it was just a trick of the light...

 

But suddenly there were two little visitors to the Fairy Market! 

It seems Virginia and Pandora had wanted to have a look....

 I am fairly certain you have not met Pandora before. 

She is the youngest of Lady Evelyn de Paradise's sisters.

 (Her gown is still being finished... but she has grown tired

 of waiting to make her Debut on this blog!)

 

Virginia is her second oldest sister

 and is tasked with keeping her out of mischief.... 

not an easy task... 

and Pandora is ecstatic to be out for an Adventure....

 because everything is an Adventure to her...!

 

 "You really should not trespass, Pandy," said Virginia chidingly

 as Pandora wandered through the Market. 

"We don't want to cross the Fairies..." she added.

 "But what is a Market for if not to go in...?" asked Pandora, innocently?

 "Wouldn't it be lovely to have 

a whole garden to play in...?" she added Dreamily... 

 

 

"A whole Garden....?" repeated Virginia ...

 and suddenly.... 

 

Everything changed before their very eyes... 

Trees appeared where none had been before... 

grass as soft as velvet spread beneath her feet... 

and Virginia found herself standing in a 

vaguely familiar terrace garden 

while Pandora spun around in 

the middle of a grassy meadow...

 Even the Fairy Market had shifted...

 

Nothing was the same... 

 

and everything kept changing....

 

Even the Fairy Market was different... 

wrapped in a mist of stars....

 

And strange creatures kept showing up...

 

"Oh Dear!..." thought Virginia... 

"Where will this lead now...?"

 

"Oh My....!!!!" thought Pandora.... 

"Just look at all this...." 

but she had no words she was so excited....!

 

Well... if you are going to introduce 

Pandora to the Fairy Market.....

 

What would you expect.....? 

 

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you don't mind

 getting a little Lost in these Dreams.... 

Spring and life renewed are still a long way away...

 

But I did spot a few tiny snowdrops 

way over on the far side of this Fanciful Garden.... 

Maybe they are not quite so far away after all...!  

And perhaps the Fairy Market will always

 bring it's own Garden of Dreams..... 

 

 

Makeovers....

 

 The Cabinet Of The Clouds....

Once I had Embarked on the Teeny-Tinies, Dear Readers, I was seriously Off the Script! I had thought the simplest thing to do was just make the little items for the front Display window first, and then pick and choose from the rest of the wonders within the Shop before finalizing the exterior. But then I needed to hook up those electric lights to really show off that Fabulous Three Bears Grocery in the front window (practically the last step they have you take If you are following the instructions) and this made me aware that the battery for the lights is supposed to tuck into the base of that Lovely Blue Cabinet on the back wall of the shop.... once it is Glued Securely to the Wall! Well, that changed things! I needed to get that Big Blue Cabinet done and decorated before I glued it in place because reaching in there past all the lights and other stuff would be challenging if I left it for last. You can sort of see it in its place in the back of the shop.

 Here is a view of the assembled piece as the kit instructs. The shelves are all glued to the decorated paper backing which you can see has a variety of "background" designs, most of which will be barely visible once the shelves are filled. As I looked at it, preparing to glue it in place, I thought "those designs are not my style..." and decided they needed a makeover! At the very least, they needed to all be the same color and theme.... perhaps a fitting background for little houses...? .... at least maybe a lovely sky blue color to go with the shelves themselves...?

 

It would have been easier to paint the background 

before the shelves went on... 

but then I would have lacked the guidance

 for placement provided by the designs......

 at any rate, the backgrounds needed to be

 painted over in white paint.... 

each little square... 

without getting any on the surrounding walls... 

yes, finicky work!

 

Here you can see the top shelf has received

 a couple of coats of the white paint.

It is all one shelf, but I had to paint around

 the printed "books" which are leaning on the back wall...

 

And here the lower shelves are getting their white coats.

 But you can see the printed pattern

 shows through with only one layer...

 

And all the shelves have had two coats.... 

but it really isn't enough. 

A third coat is needed!

 

And here they all have had three coats of the white!

 

And here is my first try for that sky blue..... 

but I realized it was going to "read" as too dark

 in the back of those shelf cubbies... 

I needed to lighten it up a bit.

 

And I know some of you are going to

 think this is too light... but its not!

 It will dry a shade darker, and the blue of the shelves

 will reflect onto it.... you will see!

 

But it is night... it won't look right ... 

so we'll let it dry overnight.

 

And first thing in the morning with natural daylight....

 There... that's better! 

That pale blue hardly looks pale at all! 

And all the while that I had been

 painting those little cubbies, Dear Readers, 

I was thinking about that sky blue 

and thinking about the little houses

 and vignettes that would sit here 

and wondering if there shouldn't be 

just a few little fluffy white clouds

 in those pieces of sky blue....?

 

A closer look at the items the instructions said 

should be placed on these shelves

 showed a row of store fronts on the top shelf,

 a Fairy Market in the middle,

 a Candy House below that,

 a few little vignettes with furniture at the sides 

(I might change this!) 

and along the top shelf nothing but Trees and landscape!

 Well, I don't know about you,

 but even if they would not be visible in the end... 

I wanted to put some little puffy clouds 

in all that lovely sky blue!

 

Like so!

 Doesn't that just look delightful? 

As though there is a world just behind those shelves.... 

with gentle blue skies and puffy white clouds.... 

The only challenge will be leaving

 some glimpses behind the houses!

 And I was also assembling some of those tiny houses...

 

That row of little store fronts for starters, 

made me want to "finish" each one completely... 

but this is supposed to be a store that has some

 "to be finished" stock available.

  I left the interiors alone, but I confess,

 I added the little walkway out front 

and made the front hinge open...

 

Cobblestones in front of the Traveler Cafe....

 

With that tiny tricky awning! 

I really wanted to add a table and chairs to the walkway....

 

Here it is in position on the shelf.... 

Alas... yes, it obscures the clouds....

 

And the next store front with its brick walkway... 

this one is a Teddy Bears Shop...

But the whole time I was thinking about those Clouds, 

I was imagining the top shelf as a

 little magical landscape up in the clouds.... 

above the world and far far away....

 could I just make that a "Cloudlands".....?

 Maybe with some "cloud shaped" lace trim for the shelf edging.....

 (this kit uses quite a bit of lace on its display shelves)...

 and so I had to give it a try! 

Now, I know some of you will think

 I totally Ruined the cabinet.... 

but I am withholding judgement...

 

I am pretending it is an elaborate 

Georgian Fretwork on a Regency Cabinet...

 (there are, after all, those tiny little arched fretwork

 sections at the top of those little cubbies too!) 

and to balance the top... 

I added a lacy rim along the

 lower protruding display shelf....

 

Like so.... I know, it has grown late and Dark... 

 

Shall we turn the lights on....?

 

Because this is where the Candy House will sit.... 

and in my Experience...

 these houses generally sit 

in a Cloud of Frosted Snow Icing...!

 

Well, Dear Readers,

 it has been a long time since I did a makeover,

 and the Cloud-like trim on the shelves

 might be a bit over-the-top, 

but I am growing fond of my

 Cabinet of The Clouds!