Princess Ballroom!

Last week I made a ballroom for the princess books.  It ended up being the biggest room set I have ever made! I thought it ought to be big though as it was a royal ballroom.

It was requested that the floor should be wooden which was something I had to think about how to make- because the floor was so big . In the end I found some very thin sheets of wood, cut them into individual miniature planks and stuck them down one by one. It didn't take as long as I thought it would and I was really pleased with the effect so that was all good!

Here's a close up of the floor:

It was also suggested that a grand piano could be included in the ballroom. I was very taken with that idea so went right ahead and created a gold glittery piano fit for a princess.

Here's how the whole ballroom looked. The pillars and panels were another challenge- something I had not tried before. I was pleased with how they came out though. I also used a string of fairy lights poked through the walls to create lighting round the edge of the room.

Again the flowers were another little challenge. I bought some cheap ones and then spent quite a while painting them (with Henry's help!) different shades of purple and then glittering them up.

I took a few shots without daylight to show how the lights on the walls light up. I think it looks more atmospheric this way. 

Here come some princesses!

 I especially like their glittery skirts:

I am looking forward to seeing how all this will look once it's photographed professionally and put into one of the books!

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Hello from Celestine

Hi everyone. It's Celestine here! Harriet's a little too busy to blog right now as it's the wedding eve eve and she has been busy setting everything up. I said 'Don't panic,' in my most calming of voices. I said 'I will take it upon myself to write a blog post. I know it's a great faff for me what with the keyboard being so big and everything (do you know how much longer it takes to type when you are only 4 inches tall!?) but I will do it for you out of the kindness of my heart. Harriet said 'Celestine writing a blog post is not really top of the to do list right now, don't worry about it' but I insisted. I absolutely insisted.

So yes, whilst everyone has been very busy today setting up the marquee and putting decorations up and finding boxes of fairies and driving here there and everywhere, I have been practicing being a bridesmaid. You can see how well I've been practicing by these photos. Do you like my necklace? I made it especially for the wedding. It's swarovski crystal. It's extremely sparkly.

Though actually... I won't really be a real real bridesmaid at the wedding sniff sniff...

I was very upset to hear this at first. I sobbed for absolutely days. But slowly I came round to understanding the reasons why:

One is that being so much smaller than the other bridesmaids I will not be able to keep up with them as they walk down the aisle. Even if I sprint at my fastest run. (And sprinting would just look silly anyway)

Two is that there would be a high risk of me being stepped on. And that would be even worse than looking silly sprinting down the aisle. A squashed Celestine would not be a nice wedding present for Harriet.

So then I suggested that I could be on top of the wedding cake instead of being a bridesmaid. But then I realised what a boring job that would be and I decided that it would just be better for me to watch the wedding from a nice safe place. So that is what I am going to do.

Harriet says it's ok because I am still a bridesmaid in spirit and I can still have a nice bridesmaids dress to wear in the colour of my choice. I chose pink becasue it suited me best. And then today I wore my bridesmaid dress and picked some flowers from the garden and had some photos taken. It's not as good as being a real bridesmaid but it will have to do.

It's actually quite a tragic story now I think about it all. 

Ah well...

I'm getting a bit tired from all this jumping around the keyboard now so I think I will wrap this up soon.

I might write another blog post sometime though. I've quite enjoyed it. It's been cathartic to talk about my experience of not being a bridesmaid.

I'll leave you with a photo of my lovely dressing table in my (unfinished) castle. You can see my sparkly swarovski wedding necklace sitting in my jewellery box (just before I put it on today). Also, on the left, my gold cornish pisky ornament I got when we went to Cornwall last year.

Bye for now!

Love Celestine 

X

Princess Books

Hello everybody! Hope you're having a good start to this Christmas month. I thought I would explain a bit more what I have been busy with lately.  I have been working on the illustrations (3d sets) for a princess picture book and various activity books with the publisher Parragon Books. Earlier this week I travelled down to Bath where Parragon are based to help direct the photography for the sets as there is a professional photographer taking the photos for these books rather than myself. 

Here are just a few of my own little snapshots I took during my time in Bath- kind of behind the scenes photographs...

It was very interesting for me to see how the photographer worked and how he used all his equipment. There was a lot of equipment! The aim was to get very clean bright images and it was very exciting to see it all come to life like that.  I was hoping I would learn a few things about photography but to be honest I didn't at all- I am one of those people who doesn't really learn from just watching. I have to do the thing.

Also as (I hope!) you can see everything is very sparkly. I have SO loved being able to just chuck as much glitter and as many gems as possible onto the sets. I love love it! It was like the perfect project for me.

I was in Bath for three days (two nights) working solidly during the day so I didn't get to see a huge amount of the city. From what I did see though looks so nice! I want to go back there and visit again some time so I can look around more. There was a Christmas market and a carousel (!!! my fave! though there wasn't time to go on it. Also it looked like it went really fast- extra points for it!) and all the buildings were sort of beige coloured and very picturesque.

It was a very interesting few days and the people at Parragon were all so nice and friendly.  I am now really excited to see the book when it comes out some time next year. Before that though I still have some more sets and characters to make for the activity books. So I had better get back to that...

X

The Sad Picnic

Crown Jewels

I just want to show you this miniature jewel cabinet that I created the other day for my castle.  I'm very pleased with it! 

I had been searching for the perfect jewel cabinet to display all my miniature crowns for a while but with not much luck. I couldn't find anything the right shape or size for what I wanted. I wanted one which was longer horizontally than vertically and that seemed hard to find! In the end I bought this one on ebay which was labelled as being a display case for a shop and decided to customize it myself.  

As you can see it's not exactly the most regal looking thing. Also you can't really tell from the picture but the depth of it was bigger than I wanted too.  Silly me didn't think about the depth when I bought it I just looked at the height and width!  When I put it in my castle it stuck out quite far from the wall which i didn't want. ALSO the crowns were too tall to fit on the shelves!

Well! I decided that I would take it apart and re make it exactly how I wanted it. Henry warned me not to. He said there was no way I could change the depth of the cabinet without ruining it and he said to leave it.  But I am a perfectionist. So I got out my little hand saw and began to saw it almost in half length ways. Then I cut the 'glass' in half too, shifted it down a bit so the crowns could fit in, painted all the wood gold and stuck it all back together with superglue.  And it worked!!! I was so proud! I was secretly quite worried that it wouldn't.

Then I decided to fancy it all up with some gold decoration. I bought these little bits and pieces a while ago. I was originally going to use them to make an ornate little mirror but then decided that the jewel cabinet was a more worthy cause.  

So there you go! A fancy little jewel cabinet for my castle. It's going to sit in pride of place!

Castle progress!

I haven't updated in a while and that's because I've been in the midst of wood shavings, paint and superglue for the past two weeks.  I've been sawing and cutting and measuring- all in the aid of getting on further with my castle.  This year WILL be the year I finish it!  I never put myself down as a 'woodwork' kind of person before but I've actually been enjoying myself quite a lot!

To you it may not look too much different than before but this is now the current state of my castle:

I have wallpapered all of the outsides with stone patterned paper and painted the edges and tops grey (it took me three coats of grey paint to find the perfect shade!).  I have ALSO- and this is the part I am most proud of- made a flight of twisty stairs for it!  (I don't like dollhouses without stairs.) 

To make the stairs I bought a length of wood doweling and chopped it up into three inch pieces. Then I stuck them all together with superglue and voila!

Then came the hard part- how to cut a hole in the floor.  I watched a you tube video and realised it was possible to do with a craft knife.  When I say possible I mean possible if you're happy to sit there for three hours doing it.... Still it was worth it and created quite a neat, precise effect.

I am so proud of myself for doing it!  Since then I have also cut another hole in the floor above (to the top/attic room) and made a little ladder to go up to it. 

I am now very almost (apart from a last coat of ceiling paint) ready to start putting in the carpets and wallpaper and lighting.  I can't wait!

Celestine's snow day

Someone's been having a lot of fun sledging down the slopey roof of the green house this weekend....

Meanwhile Henry and I have also been sledging down Pegsdon hills. I have to say it was a little too scary for my liking.  Maybe because the bits of hills we went on were very very steep and full of bumps and tussocks and rabbit holes and snowdrifts up to our knees.  Henry had to go down most of the hills on his own (I did go down a select few though!)  It was so bumpy that he kept bouncing up into the air on the sledge which was very funny to watch!

Also some sheep started following us... I think they might have been hungry.

Hope you've had a wonderful weekend snow or no snow!

Celestine's Halloween Costumes

From right to left we have: Green and Purple witch outfit. (I love that colour combination) Pumpkin outfit (my personal favourite) and lastly Red and Black witch outfit. 

Which one do you like best?

click to enlarge

Celestine says her favourite is a mixture of the two witch outfits.  She likes the colour of the green and black one but the tutu style of the red and black one. She's picky. 

A quilt for Celestine

Celestine likes reading Peter Rabbit

Celestine was tired of sleeping in a sock so I made her this nice patchwork quilt to sleep under instead.  I thought it would be nice to make it sort of seasonal so there are lots of reds, oranges and yellows in it.  Celestine likes it so much that she is demanding we make another Christmassy themed one for December. I said: 'I expect you'll want another one for spring and then another one for summer too!?' and she said: 'Yes please. I like to have a selection.'  

Not demanding at all!

patches all laid out in order.

Celestine likes to help out.

the finished article!

goodnight Celestine. (really she's just posing here. As soon as this photo was taken she jumped right out!)

stars, stripes, leaves and flowers.

What do you think? Happy Monday everyone!

This Weekend

The older I get the more I seem to appreciate nature.  I wonder why that is.  When I was younger I didn't seem to be so fussed about it and I used to hate being dragged out on walks by my parents but now I choose to go out on walks (or at least the dog chooses) and I love them! I find the beauty of nature really inspiring.

This weekend Henry and I went to one of our favourite places to walk and I took some snaps. I am getting much better at remembering to take my camera with me everywhere I go now.  I find it's a really good way to train yourself to constantly have your creative 'eye' out.

Henry and Barney

 The clouds were really beautiful on this day. They were all puffy and fluffy like white candyfloss. 

Oh and Celestine came on the walk too of course. Only managed to take one decent photo of her though as she kept running away down rabbit holes to explore.  Like Alice in Wonderland.  Here's a picture of her poking a little pool with a stick.  It was such a small little pool made from the roots of a tree. It had acorn cups and dead leaves at the bottom of it.

How was your weekend?