Tinkerbelle, Beffie Mia and Maurice

Well wouldn't you know...

the clean slate of my New Year's good intentions has already been written and erased a couple times over. That's just how it is with children and animals filling my cup to overflowing each day. Each day is a new adventure indeed, leaving many of my "good intentions" by the wayside.

Here are a few characters who have been making their patient passage through my good intentions since I posted last.

Finally, FINALLY, young Tinkerbelle is finished and settled contentedly on her cuckoo clock home! There are three places on the clock for her to rest as she is positioned ready

to take flights of faerie fancy.

She is quite small at 1:12 scale and would measure just under 5 inches standing.

There are so many little happy details that were added to her clock abode.

Thank you, dear Karin, for allowing me the freedom of time and grace to enjoy every minute of creating my first interpretation of Tinkerbelle! She will be flying home to Germany very soon

and will be missed...

Here is little sleeping Beffie Mia awaiting completion of her nest.And her wings. She has been patiently napping for several months althoughI know she is anxious to be united with her new mama.








Just because I love him so much,
I wanted to add a picture of jovial Maurice the SnowMan who visited us last Christmas from the most Northern country. My children really wanted to make Snow People for Christmas, so together we made this fellow and a couple of his frosty brothers.Now, I am totally hooked on these icy characters and look forward to perhaps creating more this year.

Pure fun!




Also,

Three newly sculpted faces in process of being painted for an exciting custom piece for the owner of Christmas Present!!

She has asked me to create with her a Christmas Future with the two street Children happy and well tended.

What a grand way to begin the New Year.I do hope my schedule will come into focus. In any case...I must keep on going...









that's what I keep telling myself...and somehow things do get done...

My next post will introduce to you an older faerie who has been an ongoing perplexing mystery to me.I would also like to show you pictures in progress of Christmas Future as well as her three companions - Her two children and a whimsical character I have in mind (inspired by James Christensen's art) to serve as a candle lighter...

We shall see what we shall see...all in God's time.Thank you ever so much for your most welcome visits and all your lovely calling cards left upon my door!

I hope your new year is moving along well and you are content with your progress however small it might seem.Let's just keep on moving forward, my friends...love, Rose

Merry Christmas!

A CHRISTMAS CAROL


by Charles Dickens



(an interpretation)









waking in the middle of a snore, and sitting up in bed to get his thoughts together, Scrooge had no occasion to be told that the bell was again upon the stroke of One.







He felt that he was restored to consciousness in the nick of time, for the especial purpose of holding a conference with the Second Messenger dispatched to him

through Jacob Marley's intervention.







There sat a Spirit, glorious to see:, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty's horn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge, as he came peeping round the door.

"Come in!" exclaimed the Ghost. "Come in, and know me better, man."





Scrooge entered timidly, and hung his head before this Spirit. He was not the dogged Scrooge he had been; and though the Spirit's eyes were clear and kind, he did not like to meet them.





"I am the Ghost of Christmas Present," said the Spirit. "Look upon me."










The Ghost of Christmas Present rose.

"Spirit," said Scrooge submissively, "conduct me where you will. I went forth last night on compulsion, and I learnt a lesson which is working now.

To-night, if you have aught to teach me, let me profit by it."







"Touch my robe."















Scrooge did as he was told, and held it fast.

But soon the steeples called good people all, to church and chapel, and away they came, flocking through the streets in their best clothes, and with their gayest faces.

And at the same time there emerged from scores of bye-streets, lanes, and nameless turnings, innumerable people, carrying their dinners to the bakers' shops.







The sight of these poor revellers appeared to interest the Spirit very much, for she stood with Scrooge beside her in a baker's doorway, and taking off the covers as their bearers passed, sprinkled incense on their dinners from her torch.

And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, she shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly.







For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day.

And so it was. God love it, so it was.

















In time the bells ceased...

"Is there a peculiar flavour in what you sprinkle from your torch?" asked Scrooge.

"There is. My own."

"Would it apply to any kind of dinner on this day?" asked Scrooge.

"To any kindly given. To a poor one most."







Much they saw, and far they went, and many homes they visited, but always with a happy end. The Spirit stood beside sick beds, and they were cheerful; on foreign lands, and they were close at home; by struggling men, and they were patient in their greater hope; by poverty, and it was rich.

She left her blessing, and taught Scrooge her precepts.















The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment.

"Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask," said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe, "but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts.
















The Spirit's sorrowful reply. "Look here."

From the foldings of her robe,she brought forth two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at her feet, and clung upon the outside of her garment.















"Oh, Man, look here! Look, look, down here!" exclaimed the Ghost.











The two children were yellow, meagre, ragged in their humility. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing.








Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude.

"Spirit, are they yours?" Scrooge could say no more.



"They are Man's," said the Spirit, looking down upon them. "And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers.

This child is Ignorance. This child is Want.

Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this child, for on her brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it!" cried the Spirit, stretching out her hand towards the city.

















"Have they no refuge or resource?" cried Scrooge.

"Are there no prisons?" said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time with his own words.

"Are there no workhouses?"

The bell struck twelve.

...And the Spirit departed, leaving Scrooge to ponder his Christmas thoughts...

Ghost of Christmas Present

At long last the second Spirit who visited Scrooge is now complete. She was a labor of love and I am really struggling with the thought of sending her away... Not to mention my growing attachment to the two children who are tucked into the silk folds of her ghostly gown.The youngest child bears a striking resemblence to my youngest grand*daughter...

If you would like to see more pictures I would love for you

to stop by their auction...

please click on the picture above.

(I will be adding the entire story here in a few days.)

Warm Christmas greetings, Rose

A Snowman, a Baby...and Seven Things

Please visit Cobbler Rune Gavier's mischievous nephew Friedrik on my blog Elven Slippers!

http://elvenslippers.blogspot.com/

There, you will also meet a jolly Snowman named Winslow and singing Snowchild Clemot. Together, they spin a sweet story...they are also currently on ebay...

My Oh My

To say it is a priviledge to have received these awards from some very special friends is such an understatement compared to what they really meant to my heart. This post has taken me several days to put together because I wanted to show my appreciation by adding

a few pictures with a story or two...

Thank you dear Alena, Dorote, Julie, Lisa, and Lotti for granting me this time to talk

a little about...myself...

Alena, you must see her newest rabbit in a Top Hat

http://alena-eliseeva.blogspot.com/search/label/%C2%ABHELLO%20TEDDY%C2%BB

Lisa...extraordinary historical miniaturist

http://lisajohnsonrichards.blogspot.com/

Dorote...who hales from Lithuania. Her sculpts are exotic, whimsical and intricately detailed right down to hand embroidered gowns and fairy boots!http://tirelessartist.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

Julie...a fine English artist of totally unique ooak sculpts in dollhouse scale http://bellabelledolls.blogspot.com/

My German friend Lotti...come see her fabulous love for all things small

http://gisela-wasistlosinwuselhausen.blogspot.com/

the Rules...

1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it in your blog.
3. Link the person who nominated you.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5. Nominate 7 Bloggers
6. Post links to the ten blogs you nominate
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Seven things...Seven Stories

1. As a young visionary, I had novice plans to travel to Ireland, join a sisterhood

and care for lost children.

It didn't quite happen that way...

but it did happen.

After taking the long way 'round.

However, it was they

who found me

and I am lost no more...lol!

2. I do not suffer from even a smidgeon of boredom.

because...

The most interesting thing about me are the ones I live with.

11 children, some of them gathered from far and wide, 8 grandchildren, two faithful house rabbits, six dogs, not sure how many cats but they all want to live in the house, two male goats (who also want to live in the house), assorted chickens, guineas, ducks...and a husband who quite deftly helps me make a home in the midst of this constantly moving kaleidoscope.

3. Our farmhouse turns into a makeshift boat during the winter monsoons...

Often here in the Pacific Northwest we don't even have a first snow. Last year though, we were happily caught in the midst of a quiet snowstorm! Our old farm was transformed into a magnificant living postcard. We relished every moment of it...

But within a week of the snowfall, the warm Pacific winds began to stir and melted everything, even down to the first snowflake. Then it rained...and rained...and rained. With the snow melt off and the heavy rainfall, we experienced the worst flood ever. I posted pictures of it on this blog last year.

As my husband was busy moving everything up on pallets in our barn, a wee baby mouse was rescued from a floating mound of hay by my third oldest son. He scooped this round ball of fur up in his glove before the cats had their fun with him. He and his brothers made a mouse size cedar duplex and placed it in an old fishtank. We discovered he is a meadow mouse, or vole, to be exact.

'Gerbert" (named after a mouse I made the Christmas before) resides there still. Busily burrowing his tunnels, enjoying gourmet meals, and bathing in a private swimming pool. He cleans his hands and feet after every meal and is a very sweet little fellow.

Gerbert the rescued Vole

4. I have always longed for a cuckoo clock.

If you walk into the front door of our home, the first thing you will hear is the melodic sound of many ticking clocks.

The irony of this is that nary a one of us are a clock watcher. With all these clocks, you would think there would be at least one cuckoo to remind us non-clock watchers of the hour. But it was my sister who inherited our Great Aunt's German cuckoo clock. It was, and still is a persnickity time piece, so I never thought we would have the time or the know-how to keep one going.

As providence would have it, I have been looking to buy a small vintage cuckoo clock case to alter for a Tinkerbell's house.

Before I found the right size, I ended up with 10 of them!

Naturally, not even one of them worked.

After I hung them all up anyway, my second oldest son Charlie asked permission to tinker with some of them just for fun. A couple afternoons later, we are now the proud owners of four WORKING "birdie clocks"! We are all thrilled to be in the company of a REAL Tinker and four energetic cuckoos.

5. I would trade a trip to Hawaii for a shared cup of coffee over the table with either one of my sisters. That constitutes

a piece of heaven for me...

I am blessed to have two adult daughters and two sisters. We are known to mix up each other's names when our conversations become fast and furious. I have wondered why we do that...maybe it is because together we comprise one big lump of unconditional love. Nothing is ever too small or too trite to share between us...

Sharing a cozy coffee moment with my sister Karla in a small bistro on Hood Canal. We each traveled hours to have an afternoon together.

( taken by my oldest son Robert with his new camera)

6...As an artist I often feel that my creative efforts are awkward and sometimes guilt laden...

Shouldn't I really be sewing with my daughter or scrubbing the bathroom floor instead of tediously fiddling with a lump of clay attempting to turn it into something recognizable?

AND when I see the sleeping face of a softly breathing child in my hands, I become completely overwhelmed with the ingenious beauty of God's Art.

Suddently my efforts seem clumsy in comparison.

But then I am reminded of how I feel when my children bring to me their enthusiatic stick drawings. Or their simple yet arduous attempts at sculptures of yarn or clay.

To me, they are masterpieces.

I need to be reminded of that sometimes.

Maybe God feels that way about my attempts at creating. And perhaps that is why we should be really good at encouraging one another's "masterpieces".

7. I always pray when I start a new sculpture...or...anything. So it has Often been Said that my Head is in the Clouds,

but of course I would have it no other way...

It was a daunting task trying to select ONLY seven recipients. I would have loved to pass this award along to all the treasured friends in my flower garden. What a blessing of inspiration and encouragement you have been to me!

After much thought, I chose friends who create art in an array of mediums.

Please accept these awards with my admiration.

I look forward to learning more about you!

Cindy, a maker of sweet Fairytale Pillows to dream upon

http://cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com/2009/11/cindy-vintage-castel-pillow.html

Christel, a very dedicated new ooak sculptor who has just started a blog http://christelhutson.blogspot.com/

Jacqueline, who generously shares with us her real Fairyland http://jacquelines-land.blogspot.com/2009/11/candyland-fairy-land.html

Karri, creator of whimsical folk and recently has returned to sculpting faeries http://curnowart.blogspot.com/

Miriam, a writer who passionately paints with words http://sospesaneltempo.blogspot.com/

Pat, a potter, a felter and a candlestick maker (and lots more!)http://woolytales.blogspot.com/2009/11/christmas-pottery-making.html

My daughter Tomi, a true artisan of the most remarkable bears http://bramblewoodbears.blogspot.com/

Bless you all...
until we meet again...Rose

A Velvet Bird and Saskii...for Karin

Please meet little baby Saskii who hales from the far shores of the Baltic Sea.

Her face is fair and her skin is soft as velvet.










Baby Saskii, as sweet as she is, gave her nursemaid fits as she unsuccessfully tried to convince the baby to nap. How can a baby grow, her family worried, if she will not sleep soundly?They sought far and wide to find someone to help.







Their search ended when they came upon Sasuke, a rare bird from the Orient with a reputation of resolve that was firm....but gentle. Sasuke assured them she could help the child find her rest.

Immediately she took to Saskii...








And Saskii to her.









Securing her with a silken scarf onto her her soft feathered back, Sasuke took Saskii on gentle flights wafting across the clouds to the far reaches of the earth...during long nap times.

As they flew along, the Wind whistled a timeless lullaby through Sasuke's feathers as the blissful wee babe slept ever so soundly.






The Velvet Bird is my first fully fabric sculpture. She is built over a wire armature and wears very soft pink velvet as her fine clothing. Real feathers are her tail. Glittered and pearl lace serve as her wings. Glass eyes inset in polymer rims, are beneath a handmade golden crown. Large and small pearls are sewn into her tail dotted with pretty little flowers.






Her poseable toes are gold lacquered wire.



Saskii is puresculpted from Cernit, texture painted and finished with earth powders. Her nightcap is silk, lace and pearls. Stretchd out she would be a 5 inch scale baby.





Thank you dear Karin for graciously giving me the happy opportunity to create this sweet companion set. It was thrilling to actually make my first ever velvet bird sculpture...I am so glad you asked!!
Saskii and Sasuke will be flying home to you very soon...always love, Rose