New Year

Happy Wishes.....

Well, Dear Readers, Another year has almost gone.... Where Did it Go??? And What did I get done this year? These are questions I have been pondering recently, and I have No answer for Where it went! As for What got done.... the answer is Not Much in the way of building or making minis! But in retrospect, I think I will have to declare it the "Year of The Cloud Palace!" Between the arrival of three new Fairy Bear residents last Winter, necessitating the construction of an additional Tower for the Palace, and then the arrival in the Summer of the Visiting Fairy Bears who were on their way to my sister's Hope Cottage, it seems as though the Fairy Bears and the Cloud Palace Adventures filled nearly all the blog and Mini-making Time! And what Adventures they were! (Let me assure you that this is not a bad thing!) And along the way there were a few delightful creations....

Like the Cloud bed for Sweet Pea which is tucked into the gable of the Cloud Palace....

And the one for Blue in the Lookout Tower.....

(Alas, Lady Lavender's is still not finished...)

And the Kitchen got an additional oven 

so that Hamish Harry could bake delicacies for the Bearys.

As well as being stocked with some essentials!

The Guard Tower itself is still far from finished!

 

As for Other Projects.....

The Willowcrest saw a burst of effort on the windows 

early in the Summer.....

but still is waiting for a great many details to be done 

before I can even attach the walls!

This picture is from before the windows were glued in....

but the house is "assembled" but not glued together!

And The Castle Great Hall Ceiling 

got a tiny bit of painting added in the Summer...

Starting the border with the everyday people below the Saints....

But that seems to have been the last work done on the Castle Hall!

Still a Long way from finished....

Oh, those Patient, patient Saints!

And Waaayyy back in the Spring there was a flurry of tiny flowers...

Really Really Tiny flowers.... and not many of them either!

Like this Squill that popped up in the cracks beside the Conservatory...

And the snowdrops too!

But I did not get any more work done on the Conservatory foundation.

And Nothing at all got done on Rose Thorne Cottage or The Folly.... 

or the Tree House!

Could it Really be a whole year and more since I worked on the Tree House?

(I am really wanting to continue with the Tree House!)

So, Dear Readers, I Wish to get more Construction done this year!

I don't know how I will accomplish that...

but I am Hoping that I will be a little more organized.... 

and a little less distracted by RL challenges!

Maybe I will even make better progress with the Stories 

that you are so Patiently waiting for...

Daphne and Renee have So much to say!

 

But Before I leave you, Dear Readers, 

I Wish to show you my Christmas Card for this year.... 

(Mom, don't look if your card has not arrived yet!)

It took a great many hours of painting!

It is watercolor and pen and ink.

The size is 8 and 1/2 inches by 11 inches.

It is a memory of a Christmas from my childhood, 

surrounded by vignettes from the current year 

inside the letter "U" which makes the frame.

Remember to poke the picture to see it larger!

I Wish it was not so Late in being finished....!

So Dear Readers, With that I close another year 

and Wish you All

a Wonderful and Happy and Productive New Year!

Scattered....!

And a Little Over The Top!

I am Running Late this week, Dear Readers, and I have no-one to blame but Myself! The Upheaval in my work room with the moving of the houses and the coming and going of Guests has left me feeling Very Scattered and not a Little Lost. So I hope you don't mind if Nothing makes much sense this week. But I did think you would want to see a Glimpse of the current Story...( the one where the Sister Bearys Buttercup and Marmalade are searching for the Cloud Palace...) even though it too seems to be a digression! You might recall that Perry, the brother of the Little Dreamers, was nowhere to be found when the Sister Bearys arrived at Rose Thorn Cottage on Distant Briar Moor. Prudence had thought he might be out chasing butterflies on the Moor, and indeed he was. It was one of his very Favorite things to do! He had quite a collection of butterflies all pinned and mounted in little boxes.... his Uncle Carson had showed him how to preserve them. He was always on the lookout for new and unusual specimens.

This day he had spotted a rather unusual looking one 

and was chasing as fast as he could...

It had a particularly glittery silver color to its wings

 that he had never seen before..

He really wanted a closer look at this one!

But catching a moving object in a net is harder than it looks....

But if you swish just right....

You can catch them!

Perry was really quite surprised when he heard a tiny voice....

"It wasn't me...!" it said.

"I didn't take it....!"

"I don't know anything about it...!"

Perry carried the little creature back to the Cottage 

and put him in a jar.

This was going to require further study.....

He wasn't entirely sure.....

But he thought he had caught a Tiny Fairy!

The Little fellow kept calling out "It wasn't me!"

But Perry had No idea what he was talking about!

And another little detail that is needing an update....

Who will find the Picnic basket?

Just How long does an Abandoned Picnic Basket

remain alone in a meadow?

Not long at all, it turns out!

Hamish Harry "Hotcakes" McCloud was out on 

his trusty Cloud Cycle when he spotted the basket down below...

He had to stop and investigate!

He decided it needed to come home with him....

there were plenty of hungry Bearys at the Cloud Palace these days...

And more expected any day now...

He would take all the provisions he could find!

And lest you think I have been doing Nothing at all, Dear Readers,

I will show you the progress I have been making 

on the bed for Lady Lavender....

In all the upheaval in my workroom, 

I found the right beads for making 

the arched framework for the canopy over the bed.

So I re-worked the frame and started on the upholstery for the bed.

Lady Lavender had wanted the bed to be made of 

brocade and lace.....

(She Loves lace!)

So I added a lace skirt..... 

so the bed looks as though it is floating.....

Lady Lavender came to have a look while I was testing the 

gauzy canopy fabric......

She is hoping there will be a little more lace...?

Well, Dear Readers, I had to add some 

to the top edge of the bed!

And with a silver spangled lavender colored netting 

for a canopy......

To resemble the stars in the sky above...

But by now it is so late it is too dark to see well....

But in the morning light we can see all that lace...

 and the glittery spangled canopy.....

Yes, Dear Readers, it is Scattered

All over the top!

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.