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!

A Few Little Things....

Oh Those Details!

The Comings and Goings at my RL house are not all done, Dear Readers, and to add to the chaos in my RL World, I need to have extensive repairs made to my garage because last Winter was so brutal that it damaged the foundation! This requires that I clean out the garage so the repairs can be made.... and because they are starting next week.... I had to spend my weekend moving the accumulated detritus of several years.... yes, Nature abhors a vacuum.... so the space was not empty! And one of the items was a dresser that never should have stayed out there for so long after my move to this Much Smaller House.... I did not think there was anywhere inside that it would fit! But I measured it again.... and decided that it would Just fit into the space next to the Castle Dollhouse... if I shifted the Cupboard Dollhouse onto the worktable..... and you can imagine where we go from here...! Well, it is still a bit Unsettled in the work area, but the dresser Did fit Just Exactly into the spot I hoped it would. This means that the Cupboard Dollhouse is in the middle of the worktable.... and that means I Might get to addressing the structural issues that kept me from working on it for the last few years!
So, you can imagine that I did not accomplish much in the mini-making department last weekend, but I do have a few Tiny improvements to show you that have been accomplished over the last few weeks. The first is that I painted some birds on the walls of the Willowcrest bedroom murals... and you can see them up close in the picture above. I also added the lights which will go over the fireplace in that room....

There are still plenty of details I wish to add, so it is not yet done......

And I also decided that the windows for the Willowcrest 

needed to have wooden dividers added to cover over the fake 

painted ones on the plastic that came with the kit.....

As well as adding an additional crossbar at the top

which will allow me to add a "stained glass" portion to the top of each window.

I wanted to be sure we would be able to see through the 

windows themselves, as so much of this house is invisible 

except for glimpses through the windows.

Here I am testing the effect of the windows, 

in this case it is the "French doors" from the parlor 

onto the front porch of the Willowcrest.

You can also see I am testing the candelabra sconces

 and the placement of a few pieces of furniture.

Here you can see I have also started the attic wall construction.

None of it is attached, but I wanted to get a feel for the space...

and I needed to decide where the lights would need to be so I could plan the wiring!

You can also see that this kit has rear wall "side panels" which I am not liking at all! 

They obstruct the access to the rooms and make the small spaces feel even more cramped. 

I can feel some kit bashing is in order here!

The kitchen windows here have the 

added crossbars, but still no "stained glass".

(Sorry the picture is so dark)

And another Tiny Little Thing I was able to accomplish, Dear Readers,  

was thanks to Brae of Otterine's Miniatures blog, 

who recently posted a tutorial on how to make and print 

tiny reductions of all sorts of images....

(I know this is common knowledge to so many of you, 

but I had not managed to learn how to make these tiny minis!)

So I spent some time looking for things like old can labels, 

and printed myself some tiny labels 

and made a couple of tiny old cans for the conservatory.... 

to keep the paint brushes in, of course!

Thanks Brae!

I know this is just the beginning of Many tiny items I will now be able to make!

So while the dust has not even begun to settle around here, Dear Readers,

I know that Some of you are probably wondering 

just Where in my Mini Worlds have 

Buttercup and Marmalade and the Little Dreamers gotten to now?

You might recall that we left them staring off into the distance....

And you might also remember 

that they were watching a herd of horses go by....

But what you Might Not know is that 

Buttercup is fluent in several languages.....

Including "Chevalese"

And she "Whispered" to the Horses as they passed by!

"Phantom" stopped to answer her.

And so they learned that these were the Castle Horses 

and they were indeed heading back to the Castle stables for the night.

"The Castle!" said Buttercup. 

"We are trying to find the Wizard who lives at the Castle!" she added.

"Do you think you could show us the way?" she asked politely.

Phantom whinnied to the other horses 

and they all agreed that it would be simplest 

for the Little Beings to climb upon their backs 

as they were still some distance from the Castle 

and it would soon be growing dark!

They did not have to suggest it twice!

In no time Everybeary and even the Little Dreamers 

had climbed on the horse's backs....

and were happily riding across the meadows....

Led by "Ghost Rider" who carried Tiny Bear.....

And not One of them Noticed that they 

had completely forgotten the picnic basket!

And in case you were wondering what 

the other Fairy Bearys were up to, Dear Readers,

Brother Beorn is showing Sweet Pea 

the cozy Library of the Cloud Palace....

Where he is Happy to tell her 

there are several good herbal reference books....

And up on the top of the Lady's Tower, 

Blue and Sir Orion are keeping a look out for the Travelers....

That is when they are not Distracted by cakes and tea....

and delightful conversation......!

And Because Hamish Harry takes his work seriously....

He has brought in some more Supplies for the Kitchen....

Orange juice and toast have been added to the menu!

Oh..... and where is Hamish Harry?

He's trying to entice Lady Lavender 

into telling him what her Favorite food is!

So you can see Dear Readers, 

In spite of the chaos around me in my RL, 

I have accomplished A few Little Things...

And those little Details do make All the Difference!

Fragmented Time

Fairy Tales.....

With all the recent comings and goings in my RL World, Dear Readers, my Time has been too Fragmented to accomplish much in my Mini Worlds, and what little has been done is all rather scattered and only partly done with little to show for results. So I am sure you will not be too surprised that all I can show you this week is another small part of the Adventures of Marmalade and Buttercup as they try to find the Cloud Palace! You might recall that they had joined up with Tiny Bear and the Little Dreamers, and the last we saw of them they had just arrived on the doorstep of The Lovely Old Dollhouse. Tiny Bear was really rather relieved to find a house he had been to before and he marched boldly in the door. There he saw Theodore Bear still sitting in the chair by the front door.

"Good afternoon" he said politely.

"Oh, its you again..." said Theodore Bear.

"I've brought my friends...." said Tiny Bear.

"We're looking for the Cloud Palace...." he added.

"You don't happen to know which way we should go...?' he added hesitantly.

At that moment Buttercup stepped inside too.

"Hello..." she said. "My name is Buttercup."

"Oh, hello..." said Theodore bear.

He was suddenly a bit shy to see such a Large Bear... with Wings!.... 

He had never seen such a creature before!

 And right behind Buttercup... came Marmalade......

"And I am Marmalade..." she said.

"We are hoping to find the way the The Cloud Palace..." she said...

"Or maybe just some Tea..." she added hopefully.

 "Hrrumph..." said Theodore Bear.

"I don't know about the Cloud Palace.... 

but there is always some Tea in the kitchen.."

And right behind Marmalade came the Little Dreamers.

By then Buttercup was on her way to the Kitchen....

"Hello..." said Amy as she passed by Theodore Bear 

on her way to the Kitchen. 

She was feeling a little bit hungry by now 

and thought a snack would be very nice!

"Hrrrumph..." said Theodore Bear again. 

"I didn't expect a whole darn Parade...!" he added under his breath.

The instant Marmalade entered the kitchen, 

she spotted the teapot! 

(She was very fond of tea!)

"Oh...!" she said....."Is that really Tea?"

 

 "Well..." said Hazel "Let me fix a basket you can take with you."

(Marmalade had completely forgotten about finding The Cloud Palace!)

But Buttercup had decided to have a look around The Lovely Old dollhouse...

just to see what she could see!

She headed up the stairs....

And peeked in the door of a bedroom at the top of the stairs.

No-one was there, so she went on to the next room.

She peeked in the door. 

It was the most beautiful room she had ever seen!

So she went in to explore...

Meanwhile, Marmalade realized that Buttercup was gone, 

and went looking for her.

Tiny Bear had hidden himself inside a coat on the settee in the hall.

"What are you doing there. Tiny Bear?" she asked.

 

"I am hiding from the Cats!" replied Tiny Bear.

"This house is full of them....." he added.

"Oh!" said Marmalade. 

"Let me find Buttercup.... then we can be on our way..." 

she added as she climbed the stairs.

At the top of the stairs she could hear Buttercup 

talking to someone at the end of the hallway...

She went to investigate.

 

 Who could she be talking to? wondered Marmalade....

There didn't seem to be anyone there!

 Until she looked closer......

There on the plate on the Tea Tray......

Practically sitting In a piece of Blueberry pie.....

was a mischievous Little Fairy! 

"The Cloud Palace...?" he was saying....

"You'll never get to the Cloud Palace!"

"Not unless you talk to the Wizard 

about the Key To Time!" he added and laughed in a rather sly way!

Marmalade looked at Buttercup 

and they silently agreed that it was a good idea 

to go find the Little Dreamers and continue on their way!

Marmalade wanted to be sure that the 

jar of marmalade was also included in the picnic basket!

And so they gathered up their basket

and All together they headed outside to 

continue their search for the way to The Cloud Palace!

They were just about to start on their picnic, Dear Readers,

when they noticed something in the distance!

Whose horses were those? 

And where were they going?

Well, Dear Readers, 

I hope you can forgive me for leaving you here....

Time is so Fragmented lately....

We can't even finish the Fairy Tales in one sitting!

(To be continued!)