Adventures in Crafting, Renovating, and Dog Treats

I sold my last theme tree, and I still have orders for two more custom trees.  I'll post updates as I make them.  THANKFULLY though I am good to start some other projects.  I have a long lineup of custom orders, but I'm waiting on parts to come in.  While I wait, here's what I've been up to:

1) Restoration of my extremely needy old farm house that was built about 120 years ago.  We decided to remove the carpeting because there are interesting old wood floors underneath that looked promising.  The living room looked pretty good, and we knew it would be a cinch to sand them out and refinish them.  Things WERE looking up.  And then we got to the dining room.  All I can say is whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!  Carpet removal found serious issues we weren't prepared for.  Million year old nasty blue linoleum with thick black glue underneath, and what else?  A section of the original floor boards cut out to make way for a crawl space into the basement.  Holy crap!  Holy Greek Tragedy Batman!  One panicked call to my Mother revealed it's not so bad after all.  In our area there are many old buildings that have been condemned and abandoned so it'll be easy to find old wood to patch in the missing floor boards.  Apparently she's done it before with a friend who was redoing an old house.  Ok so that's good.  But the black glue removal?  That's another story.  Here's what I'm dealing with:

Isn't that....pretty?  ***enter the sounds of vomiting***

It only took me almost an hour to get that little spot cleared away.  I felt like Cinderella without the possibility of parol or ballgowns or dances with Princes (my prince was gone picking up the kids from a birthday party).  Considering I have a whole dining room of this mess, I think that assessment is accurate.  That flippin' floor better look like the neatest floor that ever was when I'm done with it!

       

2) In the middle of all this horror, I decided temporary escape was a good idea.  What's better than doing something right now?  Doing it later of course!  Procrastination is survival in my case.  So I decided to make our english bulldog Tinkerbell some homemade dog treats :)  Now I had prepared for this by picking up a squirrel-shaped cookie cutter on ebay: 

Because it's funny :)  Here's what they looked like after I used them on the doggie treats I was making:

Tink decided she really loved these!  She gobbles them up and then sniffs my hand for the following five minutes and begs for more :)  Bad nighttime picture of these though. 

 Here's the recipe I used:

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup margarine or butter

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons chicken or beef instant bullion

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

2 cups white or wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.Grease cookie sheets. In large bowl combone rolled oats, margarine and water; let stand for 10 minutes. Sitr in cornmeal, sugar, boullion, milk,cheese and egg. Mix well. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition to form stiff dough.



On floured surface, knead in remaining flour until dough is smooth and no longer sticky, 3 to 4 minutes. Roll or pat out dough to 1/2 inch thickness; cut with cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely. Store loosely covered. Makes 3 1/2 dozen large biscuits.

To this I added some leftover chicken and veggies from supper the other night.  I blended them up and tossed the goop in.  I keep these in the fridge, and they would freeze well too. 

Tinky thought they were the bees knees!

Ugh I'm so full, I'm all tired out!

3)  Adventures in crafting:  I caught one of those little fairies again!  Here she is:

 

Fairy Studies-Miniature Captured Fairy Number 2 Celestine the Sleep Fairy

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80250852/fairy-studies-miniature-captured-fairy

This little fairy-who is around 2 1/2 inches long (1/12 scale), has a hang tag with her capture information on it.

The tag reads:

Captured Fairy

Genus: La Dormetta de Poitou

Explanation: Sleep Fairy, assures children have pleasant dreams

Location captured: Within the Ardennes Hills of France

Name of Fairy Captured: a wee little Fae by the name of Celestine

Date captured: August 22nd, 2011

Release Date: August 30th, 2011

Need a little piece of serenity in a mad world? How about a little nature scene right there in front of you? Moss, mushrooms, tiny fairy hanging in her little cage :) Don't worry about her, she will be let go after she's been studied and photographed :)

Her cage is a little under 7 inches tall, it is filled with plant material such as mushrooms, grasses, moss, etc. The cage hanger stand is 13 1/2 inches tall.
She is a sleepy little girl, but hey, she is a sleep fairy after all. Her wings are real wings, glittered and polished so they will hold up (although they ARE still a little fragile, if you go poking around the inside of the cage you can break them if you aren't careful)
The fairy is hand-sculpted by Sherry, dressed, haired, and decorated by me with lightly powdered with some extra fine glitter which is also sprinkled lightly on the moss around her as well. She was just captured after all. She wears only a powder blue petal skirt with a bejeweled barrette on top. Her hair is tibetan wool and is arranged in a wild and sweet way so that she looks like natural, wild fairy with blowsy, wind-swept hair. She is not removeable and the cage does not open.

This item, as with all my other items-is SO MUCH BETTER IN PERSON. I don't have the best camera for internet posting.



Miniature Titania and Oberon Bed and Side Table done :)

All done!  I'm working on a laptop because my home PC got a virus or something so I can't upload pictures as successfully right now.  So I can't post as many pics as usual but you'll get the idea from what I do have:

Available here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/77919541/dollhouse-miniature-queen-titania-and

Can't wait until my computer gets fixed, ugh :(

Updates on the Titania and Oberon Miniature Bed

A little farther along :)

I think my quilt turned out nice.  It took a little while hand-stitching it but nothing else would have looked as good.

I went with a less specific photogragh for the frame because it would fit more fairy themes than just A Midsummer Night's Dream.  And the picture was gorgeous and matched my colors :)  And I really like the flower pillows I made with their scrunchy center pillow part, they're cute in person!

I'll post updates tomorrow if I can get to it, I've got even more done to this than these pictures show but I didn't have time to retake them.

Proud Titania and Oberon's Bed, in miniature

I recently bought this movie in a rental place's going out of business sale inexpensively, for the simple reason that it's pretty :)  I've always loved Shakespeare anything so I had to watch this movie.  It's rather silly and more than a few times odd in places but the imagery is lovely and the speech is beautiful thanks to the style of the bard :)  Here's the movie trailer:

and as you can see it's a little goofy :)  But what interests me is the style of the dress and setting, it's beautiful.  And inspiring.  And the speech?  Well... a little difficult to understand and keep track of due to the vast difference in modern language.  But that's half the fun for me :)  Trying to keep up with it is part of the charm.  A sample of the beauty of the speech from a scene between Titania and Oberon and then Oberon to his henchman Puck:

"Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.

What, jealous Oberon!

Fairies, skip hence.

I have forsworn his bed and company.

Tarry!

Rash wanton, am not I thy lord?

Then I must be thy lady.

Why art thou here, come from the farthest steppe of India,

but that, for sooth, the bouncing Amazon,

your buskin'd mistress and your warrior love,

to Theseus must be wedded, and you come to give their bed joy and prosperity.

How canst thou thus for shame, Titania, glance at my credit with Hippolyta,
knowing I know thy love to Theseus?

These are the forgeries of jealousy.
And never, since the middle summer's spring, met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
by paved fountain or by rushy brook, but with thy brawls thou hast disturbed our sport.
Therefore, the winds, piping to us in vain, as in revenge, have sucked up from the sea
contagious fogs, which, falling in the land, hath every pelting river made so proud
that they have overborne their continents.
And this same progeny of evils comes from our debate, from our dissension.
We are their parents and original.

Do you amend it then?

It lies in you.

Why should Titania cross her Oberon?

I do but beg a little changeling boy to be my henchman.
Set your heart at rest. The fairyland buys not the child of me.
His mother was a votaress of my order, and in the spiced Indian air,
by night, full often hath she gossiped by my side and sat with me
on Neptune's yellow sands, marking the embarked traders on the flood
when we have laughed to see the sails conceive and grow big-bellied
with the wanton wind. But she, being mortal, of that boy did die,
and for her sake do I rear up her boy.  And for her sake I will not part with him.

How long within this wood intend you stay?

Perchance till after Theseus' wedding day.  If you will patiently dance in our round...
and see our moonlight revels, go with us.

Give me that boy, and I will go with thee.

Not for thy fairy kingdom!

Fairies, away!  We shall chide downright if I longer stay.

Well, go thy way.  Thou shalt not from this grove till I torment thee for this injury.

My gentle Puck, come hither.  Thou rememberest, since once I sat upon a promontory
and heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
that the rude sea grew civil at her song.  That very time, I saw, but thou couldst not,
flying between the cold moon and the Earth, Cupid all armed.
A certain aim he took and loosed his love shaft smartly from his bow.
Yet, marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell.  It fell upon a little western flower,
before milk-white, now purple with love's wound.  Fetch me that flower.
The juice of it, on sleeping eyelids laid, will make all man, all woman madly dote
upon the next live creature that it sees.  Fetch me this herb and be thou here again
ere the leviathan can swim a league.

I'll put a girdle round about the Earth in minutes.

Having once this juice, I'll watch Titania when she's asleep and drop the liquor of it
in her eyes.  The next thing then she waking looks upon...she shall pursue it
with the soul of love.  And ere I take this charm from off her sight, I'll make her render up herpage to me.  I'll make her render up herpage to me."

And so it goes and this is why it charms me :)  Pure poetry.  Scenes like this truly inspire me to create things of beauty, sparkling with fairy dust, but with bits of natural woodland tossed in with opulent glittering things that remind of the fairy royalty :)  Not just simply regular wild and natural fairy pieces but the furniture of the fairy queen herself.  Half wild and natural, half glimmering with beauty and a posh smattering of fabrics and jewels.

I'm currently making Titania's bed, the one she would be sharing with her Oberon after he's dropped her eyes with the magical juice of a love flower and brought her back to him.

  I've picked a variety of glittering fabrics from sheer violet fabric to hand-dyed silk ribbons and I plan on using them all in some way if possible.  I may have to do a patchwork spread and also do a variety of pillows.

and other items I have that I plan on using if they fit in:

I'll clip the bale off the pendant and give the frame wings (Sherry made those, they're cuties) and put a picture in it, perhaps of Titania herself? 

although I need to search for a better picture than this.  Plus she looks a tad angry, since she has just been fighting with her hubs :)

I've made a basic start of it, and trust me when I say this is far from finished.  Lots to do here, this is simply the start of the frame itself.  I have to make a padded mattress yet, bedding, add moss, etc. so this will be a whole different thing in the end :)

I like to think of this type of fairy furniture as "posh fairy style", not entirely rustic and wild.