Fairy-Tale....

Wonderhouse....!

I Left You, Dear Readers, still at the very beginning of my Adventures with the Fairy-Tale Wonderhouse kit, and already well embarked on a divergent course from the Original! Yes, it is True, I have the well ingrained habit of starting something that looks utterly perfectly enchanting just as it is and then saying,"But.... I would really like it better if..." and proceeding to go it my own way. This only Sometimes causes me really serious construction problems down the road... but I think in this case I am managing to stick to mostly just "cosmetic" changes, not entire make-overs! I proceeded to build the little desk corner entirely to specs with only the modification to the darker paint color for the woodwork. The curtain went according to plan (inside the plastic "glass" window pane) and the "printies" that liberally adorn every wall in this kit all are so far right where they should be! But I can't tell you just how much fun it is to look at every single bit of printed stuff and realize it is ALL about houses or dollhouses from RL! Practically the very first one I located and "removed" from the printed sheet nearly knocked me off my feet!

It is one of a couple of "pages" that cover the desk underneath the project that is being worked on.... but when I looked closely at it and it's partner..... they are well known drawings of the interior and exterior of a Gypsy Caravan Wagon!!! I have seen them on the interwebs many times when searching for inspiration about Gypsy Wagons..... and there they are in utterly Exquisite tiny miniature perfection... Oh, how could I ever bear to cover this up???? They nearly sent me off on a mini-miniature Gypsy Wagon construction Marathon.....!!! Alas, my better intentions held fast.... I glued them in place and bravely carried on...

 

Here you can see a "bunch" more has been added... 

tools in the wall rack, extra stuff under the desk, 

a bulletin board ready to hang up...

oh, and a lovely vase with a flower on that window sill...

 

Which you can see a bit better in the morning light!

 (I do apologize in advance for the numerous darkish photos... 

I work in an old house that has poor lighting... 

that is good enough to make do but not great for photography..... 

and I forget to pay attention while I am making stuff!)

 

And because this little "studio corner" 

needs to be entirely fitted out before 

moving on to the rest of the structure....

 I needed to follow the steps and make all those little things ... 

like glue bottles... (above) and paint cans...

 

And occasionally seeing something that

 I Knew had to be "modified" to fit my "taste".... 

in this case the coffee cup becomes a "teacup" 

with the tea bag tag still hanging over the side.... 

because I am a tea drinker!

 

Can you see it back there... in the corner

 where it is "designed" to sit on top of a book about dollhouses... 

(even though I Never put a cup of tea on top of books...!)... 

and that paint can with the stick still sticking up.... 

(who left that there!!! ??? !)... 

and I nearly died when I saw that the stick has 

words on it that say "magic brush"...!!!!!)

 Truly I was shocked at the minute wondrous

 details that are in every aspect of this kit!!!

 

Here you can see the wall at the other side 

of the main room is being glued in place..

 

Which gives more definition to the main room itself... 

and I have added the golden "clouds" cornice trim

 to the top of the walls.

 

The ceiling frame needed to be painted and attached

 so the lights could all be glued in place...

 

You can see here I am weighting it down

 with a lovely heavy piece of agate......

 

 

Then the whole thing needs to be upside-down

 to do the careful gluing of the light string

 across all the wooden framework...

 

Which is so wonderfully visible in the morning light!

 And all the lamps are hanging from the correct places.... 

except for the rest of the "light string" that

 continues across the front opening door.... 

which I need to get assembled...

 

Which I am starting by painting those window openings the dark brown!

 

And gluing on the interior wall papers...

 

And painting the pieces needed for the "Front Door" of the Shop!

 This door required hinges... but not screws!

 This gave me a few moments of panic! 

It has been a long time since I used a hinge without screws!

 But this wood was clearly not equal to the task

 of housing screws.... (way too thin and delicate)...

 and the method was to sandwich the hinge flanges 

between the layers of wood... all glued together!

 But the first glue I used (wanting it to be "Strong")

 was the wrong kind.... and squeezed itself

 into the moving parts of the hinges... NOT okay... 

and had to be carefully extracted.... (mostly successfully)...

 and started over.

 Second try I used a dot of superglue and

 a dot of white craft glue (Aleene's) 

and glued them fairly quickly into the

 finished "sandwiched" location on the Front panel.

 It worked. The hinges work, 

the door opens nicely... All good so far! 

But I forgot to take any pictures during all that panic!

 

And the opening windows on the front wall

 also needed to be painted and have "glass"

 added to their openings...!

 

Which required some very delicate fitting and

 the addition of an extra layer of "cardboard frame" 

to be glued over the glass panel on the inside of the window... 

here it too has already been painted the dark brown and glued in place.

(These windows have built-in "pin hinges" so no metal hinges are used.) 

 

And the decor for the Exterior Front Wall also

 needed assembling and gluing in place. 

The paper wrinkled alarmingly in the two printed side panels...

 but I can live with it! 

So many other items will cover most of them anyway.

 

The really Tricky part, Dear Readers, 

was the Front Display Window that sticks out on

 the front with treasures on display on the shelves inside....

 and the kit has them open to the elements!!! 

"Glass" windows were essential for my peace of mind! 

And yet, the wooden framework was 

really slender and delicate on the sides.... 

was there room to glue the "panes" in place? 

Just barely! 

 

But first it was time to glue the Front Panel to the Base....

 making sure it was completely vertical!

 

Oh, and I forgot to show the Front panel with the 

top decor in place.... and the front door too! 

But the bump-out window can't be assembled 

until the wall is glued to the base... 

the whole thing swings open when the kit is opened up.

 

Here you can see the Display Window foundation is in place.

 

 

Here the Display Windows have been attached.... 

this required a lot of testing and pieces falling down

 before I could be sure of the proper order for gluing.

 But it worked in the end!

 

And all this while I have also been 

assembling little pieces of the decor...

 in this case the top shelf in the Studio had some items... 

one was a lovely paper house...

 that I thought could use a tiny bit of landscape....

 

And some snow!

 Because there is a snowman printed on the front of the house.... 

all it needed was a little bit on the ground too!

 (Because it has been snowing a lot around here!)

 

And the front opening windows have also been glued in place! 

 

And the Whole Front panel has been 

Hinged to the Main body of the kit! 

Regular hinges with screws were used this time...

 and I am not used to working with MDF... 

it is a bit soft... but the hinges are sturdy and work fine!

 

And then the rest of the lights needed to be

 glued in place across the front wall... 

in the window, over the door and in the display cabinet

. 

The bulk of the "shell" construction is finished, Dear Readers,

 but I think I have just begun 

the Adventure of the Tiny Decorations

 in this Fairy-Tale Wonderhouse!

 

Snow......

 

Oh.... Whoa....! 

So Far, Dear Readers, this Winter has been a cold and snowy one in my Neck 'o the Woods. We got about eight inches of snow back on the first of December, and it stayed so cold none of it melted until just before Christmas. We had just enough of a "dusting" on Christmas Eve to qualify for a "White Christmas" but only barely. Then it snowed again the day after Christmas and followed that with a nasty Ice Storm... we got mostly sleet and rain right here but it froze solid afterwards leaving everything quite icy. Last week we got another very lovely "small" snowfall of about five inches and it fell overnight and everything was covered with snow in the morning. I love to get out to take pictures of the "Winter Wonderland" before the sun rises and the snowblowers show up to knock all the snow from the branches. It was very pretty out there. And it reminded me that I had neglected to "transform" The Folly into the "Winter Wonderland" for which I worked so hard and so long in years past! It does not take long and is always such a pretty setting!

 

Nobody has been out to disturb the snow 

and it has drifted a bit in the corner by the Glass House.

The snowy rhododendron shrub was finished just last year.....

 And deserves heaps of admiration, if I do say so myself...!

 

And of course, the Snowy Lilac Shrub was the first of 

the entire garden series to be completed..... 

waaaay back in February of 2019!

 It took the rest of that year to complete the flowering version

 and you can read all about it in the archives!

"Oh, hello, Mr. Gnome, I didn't see you behind all that snow!

 Are any of the other Fellas out yet?"

 "Hmmmph... haven't seen 'em" declared Mr Gnome.

 Clearly, he didn't want to see them either!

 

Meanwhile, on a Cloud not Far Away, 

Cloude-with-an-'e' was chatting with his friend the little red-bird

 who liked to stop by the Cloud Palace Tower Garden

 when he was migrating south.

 Sometimes he stayed quite a while!

 But today he whispered to Cloude 

that it was snowing down below.... a thick fluffy snowfall!

 

 "Really...?" said Cloude-with-an-'e' startled.

 Then he thought "Oh.... it has been a while

 since I had a good Cloudy Day Snowstorm visit! 

I would love to have a good roll in the snow!" 

And before he knew what had happened...

 

He found himself lying in a big fluffy pile of cold snow!"

 

"Aaah....  that's the ticket...!" he declared 

to nobody in particular as he sat up and looked around.

 He had the feeling he had been here before,

 but was sure it had looked a bit different.... 

but no matter, the snow has a way of

 changing everything for the better in his opinion!

 

Meanwhile, over by the Glass House,

 there was a moment of consternation!

 "Shhh.... whispered Mr. Blue....

"I thought I heard something big come crashing down!"

 "You don't suppose it was 'ICE'....?" whispered Mr. Green nervously. 

 

Ms. Red peeked carefully over the snowdrift 

but couldn't see anything except more snow. 

If it was Ice, she was gonna roll away as fast as she could... or hide. 

Maybe she should just hide in a drift until Spring... 

 

"I'll take a look-see" said Mr. Blue bravely....

 

 He crept closer to the porch, keeping below the drifts.

 

Mr. Green followed him cautiously...

 

Meanwhile, Cloude-with-an-'e' was blissfully unaware 

of the stir he was causing by his sudden arrival!

 

But he thought he would take a look around and see if any-being

 was awake yet this fine snowy morning!

 

"Oh hullo, Mr. Gnome! he called cheerfully 

when he spotted him on the porch. "I thought that was you!"

 

"Remember me? I'm Cloude.... 

Cloude-with-an-'e'" he added helpfully. 

"Hmmmph..." replied Mr. Gnome noncommittally.

 

"I think it's just that Cloudy guy....

the "Gnomeman" whispered Mr. Blue

 as they heard Cloude-with-an-'e' talking to Mr. Gnome... 

"Remember when he was here looking for his hat?" 

said Mr. Green with more confidence.

 

"Oh... you're here too are you...?" 

said Cloude-with-an-'e' cheerfully 

as he spotted the little Snowfellas.

 

"Hello Mr. Gnomeman... er I mean

 Mr. Cloude-with-an-'e' " said Mr. Blue carefully.

 "We were hiding" he added.

 "We thought you might be some Ice showing up." 

"We've been hearing a lot about Ice..." added Mr. Green. 

"We're from Asia and we've been here a long time,

 but we don't have papers." he added anxiously. 

"Nobody ever said anything about papers before!"

 

"Ice!" declared Cloude-with-an-'e'..... 

"I don't know anything about Ice!" 

 

"I'm a Snowbeing through and through! All Snow... 

with a big heart too!" he added for clarity. 

 

"And I am from Germany! But I have it on the Best authority

 that Snowbeings are made from Crystal Clouds.... 

and Clouds go anywhere they please

 and nobody asks them for papers!" he declared.

 "So you are completely safe with me" he added.

 

"And I could even give you a "Cloud tour"

 if you wanted one!" he added with a smile.

 

And believe it or not, Dear Readers, 

the other day it snowed again at my house.... A Lot! 

Not a Ton.... but a Lot! 

Oh, you wanted to see some RL pictures...?

 

This was the pretty little five inches of snow last week...

 

And this was yesterday morning... 

we got about 16 inches on top of what we had.... 

and the temperatures have been in the

 below-zero Fahrenheit in the mornings! 

It has not been above freezing all week

 and will stay cold for a while yet... 

But I'm okay..... as long as it isn't Ice! 

So you can see, Dear Readers, 

we have snow.... lots and lots of snow... 

Oh, Whoa! 

 

The Kit....

 

It's A Treasure Trove....

Just In Case you Wondered, Dear Readers, It did not take me long to Jump In to this kit! The very next day after it's arrival, I was sorting through the parts and reviewing the instructions to get a sense of the "layout" and the order of tasks. The manual is a bit complex, being mostly just pictorial with very little written instruction. I know this is so it can be used by people of many languages and I am good with picture diagrams, but it did take a while to figure out the "locater" system for all the individual bits and pieces. Each part in the assembly picture has a number which coordinates with a "Parts diagram or list" which will give you the "little bag number" or "layout map" of where to find it! Complicated, but effective and you get used to the three step process! But First thing, as I was familiarizing myself with the process, I noticed there was No Glazing for the windows! All those windows (on every wall and the ceiling!) and No Glazing even of the plastic type??? Not a good idea in My dusty house! But I could fix that. I decided right away that I would add plastic windows....

I started with the smaller side walls.

 And I realized the kit had "spray-painted" an orange base color

 all around the interior edges of the openings.

 Since this color was not my idea of a great color 

with the interior of the room's wallpapers.... 

I decided I needed to paint all these interior openings 

to match the trim of the wall decor, which was dark brown.

 You can see this step in the above picture!

 

Here you can see I am gluing the plastic "glazing" 

to the outside of the building. I did this because there are 

places where the decor is positioned on the window ledge.... 

or so close as to be the same thing.

And I figured the exterior window frame trims would cover

 the "bump" of the plastic under the wall-covering.

 

Yes, my gluing is a bit bumpy and the glue

 got on the surface in a few places...! 

These papers are all coated with a gloss, 

so it mostly could be wiped or rubbed off later. 

Rest assured, it looks better after drying! 

And then, since I was painting the window openings dark brown, 

I realized I might want a different color for the exterior window trims...

 especially against all that lovely brick...

 

Like a Lovely Traditional Green.....?! 

Oh, yes, I think I might want that instead of

 the reddish-brown of the wood in the kit packs!

 

But before we get romping too far ahead, 

the back wall needed the exterior papers

 and might as well get the flooring glued on too! 

Because the next step is challenging!

The electrical system needs to be prepared and glued

 into the wiring channels on the back wall

 before the interior decor can be started!

 There is a very careful diagram about just how to twist

 the mini LED lights into the pattern needed.

 And there are two separate "chandeliers"

 for the studio and the shop which need to be 

constructed and also glued into the wire channels.

 

Here you can see the chandeliers and the LED string

 (off the right top corner) being glued into the channels.

 Then I forgot to take pictures of gluing on the

 interior papers and starting the gluing of walls onto the base.

 

But here you can see the "corner" started where the little studio is set up,

 and the lights and wires have to dangle off the top for a while now....! 

Because they want you to get the corner studio all completed.... 

every little detail before you move onto the main room decor! 

So I jumped right into the building of that tiny desk.... 

I actually think this kit is closer to half scale than full scale.... 

 

I'm sorry the pictures are darkish.... it is Winter and getting late.... 

and the lighting in my house is very old fashioned.... 

but here I have hunted down and painted and

 assembled the pieces for the corner desk... 

(I decided that I wanted the darker brown for the furniture too... 

that reddish brown color was not to my liking. 

And add to that all the unfinished edges 

from the punched out pieces.... 

I was going to need to paint them anyway!)

 

And here you can see I have added the

 little gold "drawer pulls" to the desk! 

Believe me, they were not easy to do! 

One of the little "instructions abbreviations" 

in this kit are the use of little symbols like "scissors" 

where anything needs to be cut apart rather than detailed descriptions.

 But the little metallic jewelry findings that needed to be 

"cut in half" according to the diagram, were very hard to cut!!!

 I used the scissors..... pliers, wire cutters, and eventually

 repeated bending the metal to make it separate... 

and then the pieces were not very neat... 

but they were willing to be bent back into a shape that was usable..... 

and Hey, I think they look great after all!

 

And by now, I was getting the feel of this kit, Dear Readers, 

and found myself Dreaming of it at Night... 

and waking up with the knowledge that

 a few more details would need to be changed!

 

In particular, I was not fond of the wallpaper for the main room! 

The top border is cute, but the red and cream stripes did not please me. 

And It is the "Fairy Tale Wonderland" Dollhouse Shop.... 

so Could I use my 'Fairies" wallpaper instead?

 

I have had this wallpaper for ages,

 just waiting for the "right" place to use it.... 

I know... too many still unfinished projects in line out there.....! 

But really, wouldn't this be better... more fitting? 

The color would work fine with the main cabinet... a pale blue color.... 

And I know most of the walls are covered with all the little items... 

but still... a stray fairy peeping around from behind would not be amiss! 

I was trying to get a test picture here but the paper started to fall.... 

but it was good enough that I went ahead with the re-model straight away! 

 

I think it gives things a much more magical, ethereal atmosphere!

 

And the little interior wall dividing the Studio from the Main room... 

there are so many wonderful touches in this design... 

like the stained glass windows!

 

And starting to glue the desk in place! 

It was such a dark and snowy day.... 

the light never got very bright....

 

And starting to assemble some of the "paper bits"..... 

the box with extra stuff that goes under the desk in the corner. 

And I can't tell you how much Fun it is, Dear Readers,

 to find each of these little paper pieces 

and to realize how detailed they are

 and the printing is so precise....

 you can read the details on most of them!

 

But this is where I will leave you, Dear Readers,

 as I go flying off to hunt down

 more tiny pieces to assemble for

 this magical little Treasure House! 

Tis The.....

 

Christmas Card.... And A New Kit....

Well, Dear Readers, Here it is at last..... And "Last" is the operative word as this is technically Last year's Christmas Card, finally finished (as is the usual case) in the new year! It is as always, 8.5 x 11 inches, watercolor and pen and ink on Arches hot pressed watercolor paper. I hope you enjoy searching out the familiar images.... yes, mostly just The Tree House, most of which is very old work, accomplished in 2012 and 2013 for the most part. But last year was a year that didn't seem to give me any time for focusing on minis, since there were some real-life distractions that took a lot of time and attention. Yes, there was the Leafy Green Rhododendron finally completed properly and a bunch of tiny tapestry cushions stitched.... and a little bit of rocky landscape and the Nursery wallpaper.... and The Nano House... but not much else! Yes, it was That kind of year! I am very much hoping for a more Fun and Productive year of making minis! And because that is next on my agenda since the Christmas Card is Done.... let me show you a little... just a little new kit.....

 

Yes, yes, I know.... 

why ever did I think I needed another new kit....?

 (This is how I get myself into Trouble... Right?)

 

But.... it is called the "Once Upon A Time Fairy-tale Wonderhouse"..... 

A miniature dollhouse shop only about 8 inches wide by 5 inches deep....

and 7 inches tall.... and the front swings open...

 

To reveal the most astonishing assortment of tiny Houses, 

some fully furnished....! and Little Vignettes... 

and a corner nook for construction.... 

and it comes with ALL the parts, 

pieces, printies, Led's, tools and trinkets...

 everything you will need except your Time and Patience!

 

How Could I Resist????  

Well, clearly, I couldn't!

 It is my this year's Birthday gift to myself... 

a Treat for being Soooo Goood all last year 

(Duty before pleasure and all that!) 

It arrived yesterday and I have already spent hours studying

 the Assembly Instructions which are a 26 page 

full-color wonder in themselves!

 I am starting to think of it as a wooden version of

 The Home Sweet Home stitched Cottage project 

I embarked on three years ago... 

it took a year to finish and I learned a lot

 and Loved every minute of the project including the finished product!

 

I am going to TRY to stick to the kit instructions

 and not deviate into glorious unknown territory!

 We shall see how that goes..... 

I really cannot promise anything.... 

 

So There you have it, Dear Readers....

 'tis the Card and a Huge New Tiny Kit .... 

and that means a whole Lot of

 wonderful Tiny Trouble!!!!