On A Cloud-e Day......

I've Got Sunshine.....

I am sure that All of you, Dear Readers, will know the Happy anticipation that comes with packages arriving at your house at this time of year! And sometimes when the box is from someone you have received packages from more than once, you can feel special excitement because you know you will Love the contents once they are revealed. And such was the case with the box that arrived from Dear Birgit in Germany, even though I had to wait a couple of extra days and collect it from the Post Office when it was open last Saturday, a Cloudy and rainy day! Imagine my surprise when it was "bulkier" than usual.... and there was an extra specially wrapped box inside.... What could this be....?

Well, perhaps you can imagine my Surprise

 when I opened the box to find this smiling fellow inside!!!

Well, he came with a card explaining his name is "Cloude"

which is a play on the name
"Claude" and the Cloud Palace where

 the Fairy Bears all live over here.

Of course, when I thanked Birgit,

 I forgot to add the "e" to his name... 

and just wrote "Cloud"..... 

(Which got me a little bit in trouble!)

But meanwhile, Cloude was so happy

 to be out of his box, and so eager to go exploring....

 

He dropped by The Folly... 

(it really was a Cloud-y Day!)

But no-one was home so he continued on...

No-one was home at The Tree House either....

but there was plenty of Snow... 

so he felt right at home already!

He Dropped in at the Cloud Palace Tower Garden

 to admire the mini silver tree...

but no-one was here either.

On top of the Cloud Palace Lookout Tower

 he found some tea and cakes...

But no-one was there either!

At last he found his way into The Cloud Palace Living Room

 where All the Fairy Bearys were still admiring

 the perfect Silver Tinsel Tree.....!

"Oh, Hullo" he said.

 "My name is Cloude, with an E" he added, just to be sure.

"I've come from BiWuBarenLand, and I bring greetings!"

And Believe it or not, Dear Readers, 

Just then the sunshine burst through the Clouds

 and filled the room with Light!

Well, really, Dear Readers, 

knowing these BiWuBaren Beings as I do... 

I was not so surprised...

That Cloud-with-an-e brought Sunshine!!

 

Thank you again, Dear Birgit!

I am So touched and Surprised!

 

 

(Now back to work on the Christmas Card!)

Little Light(s).......

Another Gift....

This Will have to be a short post, Dear Readers, because I am running so far behind on my Other Seasonal Obligations...(otherwise known as The Christmas Card).... that it will certainly not get finished by Christmas at the rate I am going! But as we approach the Winter Solstice and the Darkest time of the year, I find myself Needing the beautiful lights of the Christmas Trees! I admit to feeling endlessly behind on my Dreams of Wonderful miniature Holiday scenes all decked out in tiny perfection, and believe that "someday" I will have the Time to make my wishes come true. But meanwhile I simply hurry around at the last minute setting up the little Tree in the Lovely Old Dollhouse... the same old tree in the same old corner of the Living Room! And yet.... when I plug in the lights and that mini tree shines with its own tiny colored lights... I am enchanted all over again!

 There is just something intensely special for me

 in seeing the Little Tree lit with tiny Little Christmas lights!!

I have not added any new ornaments in a while.... 

and all the ones on the tree were purchased years and years ago...

 back when I was still hiding these treasures

 in a closet waiting for "Someday" to arrive!

I know you can't really see them here

 because there is so Little light.... 

I will have to pull the tree out Someday 

and show you the real balls and glass birds

 and snowflakes and the brass pieces too!

And with the passing of the years,

 they somehow grow more and more special to me!

So I wanted to share them with you!

And I also wanted to show you, Dear Readers,

 the Wonderful Gift I received

 from Jodi of "My Miniature Madness" blog....

 

She sent me one of her Beautiful little chairs....

With all the little Tea Treasures that she made to go with it!

(I Adore Tea... and flowers.... and books and.... and...!)

I haven't decided where it will "end up" in my mini Worlds....

 but meanwhile it is beside me as I work at my Drawing Table!

Thank You Jodi!!! 

It is such a special Treasure and I absolutely Love it!!! 

And Lest you think that I have neglected my Lilac Blossom Program....

Here is Blossom number Thirty-seven completed!

And with the ever growing assortment in the blossom box!

 

 

 

But really, Dear Readers, 

it is those Little Lights.....

In this Season of little Light...

That bring me an endless gift of Joy!

The Best Laid Plans.....

Late to the Party.....

I am Sure that Some of you, Dear Readers, have been wondering about how Quiet it has been over here on this blog, with no updates about the Christmas Card (still not finished), no views of the Tiny Secret Christmas House with all the gifts under the Tree (still not completed), and no invitation to The Castle for a New Year's Party (alas, there was none) all due to the unplanned and unwelcome spell of "Under the Weather" also known as the flu which laid me low for the past ten days. Alas, I was forced to abandon all my best laid plans and retreat to my bed for days on end. And to top it off, we have been enduring record cold weather, snow storms and ferocious winds in this part of the world, leaving us feeling rather besieged! I was even too weak to take my camera around to visit all my mini worlds, and so I have almost no New Year updates to share with you. But I am sure you will be happy to hear that I am on the mend and even returned to work today, so maybe I will get caught up soon with all my lagging projects! Better Late than Never! And speaking of Late.... the box of gifts that Birgit sent to me way back at the end of November, took an extra long time to get here... arriving the day after Christmas! I assure you, it's arrival was even more welcome having been given up for lost! As I am sure some of you know, Birgit is one of the most generous blog friends imaginable!

(Of course, my pictures were taken late at night so I hope you can see them at all!)

The beautiful cards and the calendar with 

Rosey and Fluby through the year are all made by Birgit.

And I must tell you that the entire Cloud Palace Gang 

was ecstatic that the Marzipan arrived after all!!!

(I apologize for the dark pictures....)

The entire gang gathered around for the New Year's Treat!

This is the delicate and world renown Chocolate Cloud Marzipan....!

The Beareys are particularly fond of it 

because it reminds them of the Land of their Birth...

They try not to be too impatient.... 

but they eagerly await it at this time of year!

And this year there were a few other tiny gifts from Birgit...

including a lovely "china" horse and another "china" Pegasus....

Who decided straight away to fly up to the Cloud Palace 

for some chocolate cloud Marzipan!

She said her Name is "Milkyway".....

And she hopes Nobeary minds if she crashes the Party!

Of course, all the Beareys are Happy to share!

Well, Dear Readers, I hope you will understand

 if there is still no Christmas Card to show...

At least there Was a Cloud Palace New Year's Party....

with  plenty of Marzipan....

All Thanks to Birgit!

Happy New Year!!!

Setting The Table.....

I Promised you Plates....

It was quite some Time ago, Dear Readers, that a dear blogfriend sent me a selection of beautiful ornamental ribbons and trims as one of the wonderful "giveaways" on her blog, and here you can see some of them packed into an old wooden trunk where they are still awaiting special projects. While she has not been blogging for a while now, her Treasures are still giving me joy! And last week when I rashly suggested I could make some teeny tiny plates for the Teeny tiny dining room, it was because I had remembered these trims! How could they Possibly make me plates, I hear you ask? Well, if you look closely you will see that several of those trims are made of little sequins!

Just how little the sequins are was the only question in my mind....

And if I carefully painted one..... 

would it be the right size to serve as a plate?

See the painted one on the right?

(Do remember to poke the pictures to see them larger!)

Can you see I have painted one to resemble china?

I was happy to see it looks about the right size!

So I quickly made five more....

Well, perhaps not quickly..... 

because the method requires several coats of paint.....

which must dry between coats.

Above you can see the white blobs of paint on the plastic, 

and each one covers a single sequin.

The surface tension of the wet paint covers the hole in the sequin 

and when the layers have dried thoroughly, 

you carefully pull the "plate" off the plastic.

Here I have added the decorative details before pulling them from the plastic. 

(It is much easier to paint them when they are stuck to the plastic!)

Here they are removed from the plastic and with their edges carefully cleaned up....

And Ta-da!!! The plates on the table!

But maybe we want to see how they look with chairs too....

Oh, and did I mention a basket of rolls....?

Can you see it there in the front? 

I know it is a little blurry... 

it is so hard to convince the camera to focus on the tiny things!

How about on the table.... can you see it there?

(This is made from a blob of glue that was dried onto a toothpick, 

painted to resemble a basket with a linen cloth 

and then tiny orange no-hole beads glued on top! 

Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the progress!)

 

And then I realized, Dear Readers, 

that if we were going to have plates and a basket of rolls.... 

we would need to set the table properly with glasses and utensils too!

(Who had thought that far ahead???)

So I pawed through my beads to see if I could find any 

small enough to pass for glasses....

I found some tiny milky white ones.....

which needed to be tested on the table....

Can you even see them there? 

I am less than impressed.

These are not what I wanted at all!

And then I remembered something Dear Readers, 

that I clearly had been saving for just this sort of occasion.....

In one of my little boxes somewhere.....

Aha!

Do you see what I see?

Here.... look closer.... 

Do you see wine glasses?

(This is a piece of plastic used to attach price tags 

to clothing in the department stores!)

Carefully cut apart.... 

with a dab of "The glue trick" to make the foot....

I was giddy with excitement!

And can we see them on the table?

Ooohh, I think they are Perfect!

And can we see the table in the dining room....?

Wowee, I do love those wine glasses! 

But now we are faced with the challenge of silverware.....

Tiny knives are not so hard......

Snipped from an aluminum foil baking pan.....

 

Here you can see it in better light......! 

But the Forks.... arggghh... 

the forks are not so easy....

The first couple were much too big.... 

here you can see me testing them.....

So I persevered in trying to make them smaller....

The operative word being "tried" .... 

with marginal success.

The forks still look too large.....!

(waayy too large!)

But perhaps we should see if it is even noticeable when in the dining room?

Especially when all the other furniture is in place,

 and the chairs block part of the view....

Are they small enough...?

(Yes, I know... you are saying "what forks"?)

 

Well, Dear Readers, 

I think you will need a magnifying glass 

to even see them with all the other pieces to look at....!

Especially those wine glasses... I Love those wine glasses!

I might have promised you plates and a basket of rolls....

But I ended up having to set the whole table!

(And we won't mention the hound unless I succeed.....)