Merry Christmas

I  want to say Thank you and Merry Christmas to all of you  who follow and leave such lovely comments on my blog, all of you who adopted my creations and all of the bloggers who are such an inspiration !

I was send this gorgeous photo by Teresa who is the sweetest lady and the gnomes think so too :-)
I loooove this photo Teresa, thank you so much !

Merry Christmas

Helen X

The Sandman . . . .

Uncle Ukki had some visitors the last couple of days. 

It was the Sandman and his donkey !

It wasn't just a friend's visit, Sandman's donkey Suzanne had a little problem and Uncle Ukki is an expert on animal behaviour so the Sandman needed his help.

Uncle Ukki and his assistant little  Higgins had to train Suzanne every year how to fly when there is fireworks in the sky. Well actually, they hypnotize her so she wouldn't be afraid. 

In the meanwhile Mr. Sandman flies around on an owl, which is great of course but not as comfy as his own little Suzanne.

Everybody thinks the Sandman is only at work at night but now I've seen what a busy schedule he has.

There are many people ( children) and animals who sleep during daytime and I had the opportunity to take his photo while in action !

Hahahaaa Pinky had no idea !

I was not allowed to take a photo of Suzanne until Uncle Ukki and Higgins were ready with her "training" but they promised she would be ready by the end of this week.

Helen X

The sad Snowman ......and a happy ending

SNOW SNOW  ! ! 

Arthur and Ginny hurried outside with their new sleigh !

Wow Arthur, look at this white world, it's a pity Higgins couldn't join us, he had to help Uncle Ukki.

Wait Arthur ! Do you hear that ?

They heard a woefully sound, it was like a sad song. 

They listened carefully and yes the sound came out of a cave nearby .

Oh my goodness ! There stood a Snowman singing a very very sad song. . .
What's the matter mister Snowman ?
And then he started to tell his story. . . . . .

♫ I came from the heavens as snow

                                             you know

    I fell on the ground, just looking at the sky

    Then a little boy passes by

♫ He made me, I think it was yesterday

    when he was finished, he ran away

♫ If snow becomes a snowman

    you are born again

   Now I have eyes for sight

    to see this world's delight

♫ But I wish I was in another place

    instead of this tiny space

♫ I'm standing in this little hole

    I might just have been snow under someone's sole

♫ I'm all alone, nothing to see

    Even the stars can't smile down on me

♫ I have never seen the moon

    And I will be melting soon

♫ So, no memories to share with Mother Earth

   What has my life been worth ?
The poor Snowman cried a big icicle  
His head and arms hang down 

 Oh mister Snowman, I know what to do !

Wait a sec, I'll be right back ! 
They ran and ran as fast as their little legs could carry them. 
Before the Snowman could blow his carrot nose he saw a merry parade coming his way !

Mister Snowman, here is something beautiful to look at and we brought you a little friend of us to keep you company.

His name is Duff and he is a bear so he likes being in a cave and don't mind snow.

He will be your friend until you melt !

The Snowman couldn't believe his little charcoal eyes.

That was the most beautiful tree to see ! And this little bear wants to be friends !

When Arthur and Ginny went back home the Snowman had a big smile and he and Duff waved them goodbye .

Little Duff is made by Sharon:
http://folksy.com/shops/riamelin


Little mice by Barby Anderson : 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/barby303?ref=seller_info 

I'm away for a few days, I'll be back December 8th :-)

Sigh. . . . . . .

She is finished at last. . . . 

I always forget how long it takes. The legs were not that difficult, some sturdy wire did the job and now she stands firm !

I think she my all time favourite now. . . . . 

 She is in my Etsy shop :-)


Helen X

p.s. I think she makes a cute Christmas card, you can download her pic :-)

Baby roe deer :-)

Nope, not finished yet :-( but here's a cute video where you can hear the sound of a fawn calling it's Mom

Don't worry, Mom is around !

http://youtu.be/HFLrrnilggI

❆ ❆ Baby roe deer girl ❆❆

I had no chance to work on her yesterday, sometimes things pop up and you have no choice but go with the flow. . . .

I was up early this morning and  finished her head just about now. I couldn't wait to see her with legs so I took Robin's advice and made the front legs of wooden dowels, the hind legs are bend, so I used wire for those.

Now, I have her standing on my kitchen table and try to see if they are the right size. 

It's better to put her away and don't look at her until tomorrow morning.

If you are working for hours and hours on a project you have to take a distance.

I took some photo's ( this will help too, also looking at it in the mirror) and I tell you: I looove her !

 It's funny, when I'm working on a animals head, there comes a point that you see it come to life and it's a strange feeling poking it with a needle :-)

Helen X

❆ Not Rudolf . . . . . . .or Bambi.. . . . . .

It's his little niece, a roe deer fawn :-)

This is how I start an animal, a bit of wool here a bit of wool there. Then I start with the eyes and from there first one side of the face. If the head is okay, I can see if the body needs adjusting ( smaller/bigger).

I'm planning to make her stand up with looooong legs, mmmm that is not going to be easy but what's in my head isn't in my☟.

Helen X

❤ Snowy Owl ❤

He is finished !

10 inches high and very soft

I think you can see him smile ☺

Helen X

Someone's lurking . . . . .

Pheeew, I promised further pics and so on about the house but I needed to make things. . . 

I had a X- mas present to finish and I can't show you :-( , my dear friend Barby who is the one receiving it is also reading this blog and it's a surprise ( she knows about the present but she don't know what it is )

Well, when I'm busy creating, all kind of animals cross my mind and as soon as I finished Barby's F. . oops, I started a new birdie, Helen H posted  a beautiful photo of a snowy owl a while ago and it wouldn't go out of my head. 

So here he is, not finished yet :

 Haaa, it feels so good creating again !

I'm especially looking forward to making his big feet :-)

I commented on your lovely comments  on my previous post but it's gone ! I don't know what happened !!!!!

We are back part 2 :-)

First ; I apologize for being away so long !

I had so much on my mind since we were in Germany, my brain wouldn't stop thinking of the possibilities with the house and I had a lot of things to organize. In between I made some owls, list them on Etsy  and off we went again to Germany.

Our car was so full of stuff , Pinky had to sit at my feet and tho she made herself nice and comfortable I sat for 4 1/2 hours with my feet at the same uncomfortable position :-) but once we were there it was all good and well.

We started working the next morning, some window sills had to be painted and there was this wardrobe from Erik I really want to turn into a TV cabinet.

I don't like looking at a TV or CD players and thought it would all fit in this cupboard.

There was a sort of niche in the wall that could be used for the TV but every time I saw the niche it looked to me as a window that couldn't be opened.

The niche is in the middle of the wall . . . . .
So, there was the Ikea wardrobe, some paint, new hinges et Voila ! I added some Ivy leaves in relief  to give it a bit of Schwung ( flair)
The relief is very easy to make: I made a template of Vinyl flooring that's about 1/16 inch. and use a water base paste wood filler.
You put the template on the wood ( there must be a coat of primer or paint on the wood) and then you spread the filler on ( the same way you fill holes with putty). Take away the template and let it dry, after 15 minutes when the filler is dry you sand it a bit and you can paint it in the final colour. 

I hope I explained it simple, if not I could make photo's of the process if anyone is interested.

I was very pleased with the result !

Erik painted the windowsills and that was all for the day !

I told you in my last post about the Marten. . . . It's the cutest animal !

Well, we think there is one living in the attic, it keeps away rats and mice but it sometimes forget to eat the prey and it will rot and I think that's why there was a strange smell in the upstairs bedroom :-( . There are devices that makes high sounds to scare off the Marten but after some investigation I found it will work for a while but eventually they will come back.
We let him be for now. . . . 


The following day it was chilly and misty and everything looked so beautiful we went for a walk with Pinky.
This wooded area is huge and it's a fact one could walk all the way to France through this forest. The autumn colours were so gorgeous and some flowers were still blooming...

That night we heard a strange eerie sound and when we saw our neighbour Helmut the next morning we asked him what it could be. Probably a fox he said ( he knows all about wildlife ) and when we were home again we searched the internet and YES ! this was the sound :

http://youtu.be/J6NuhlibHsM

If you listen to the sound at 1.39 min. you can imagine the chills that ran over our spines :-)not from fear but if you've never heard that sound before it's very impressive !

Back to work !

We bought some beautiful black and white marble tiles in the Netherlands and we wanted them in the living room where there once was a chimney . We really love to have a wood burning stove but the chimney has to be modified and that costs a lot of money so we decided to go for a fake fire and mantle and after tiling the floor ( we never did that before ) we installed the fake and well, the effect was surprisingly good !

I could see stockings and green decorations hanging on the mantle piece ! 

Okay, that's it for now !

Follow up tomorrow !!

 

We are back !

I don't know where to begin, it's been overwhelming, exhausting and so very exciting.

We love the house, it's about 200 years old with a very peculiar lay-out ( I had to wander through the house over and over again trying to get it) , it has 3 cellars ( basements)  but they are above the ground.

Erik turned one of them into a wine-cellar but after one week it's a wine cellar without wine :-)

We managed to paint the living room walls and beside the decorating that part is finished .

We planned on taking one room at the time and next time the entrance will be painted.

Here are some photo's:

Baker sat on the dashboard of the moving-van and suddenly she started to scream ! IIIIIIIEEEEEE IIIEEEE !! BLIP BLIP IEEEEEE !!! 

After a few seconds I understood ! There was this road sign saying: Luxembourg ! She knew Blip lived there ! Gosh are they smart or not !

Our first home made Spaghetti Puttanesca, !There is nothing as good as a pasta when you're tired and hungry ! ( Baker is sitting on the windowsill )
  When I was in the kitchen, suddenly a Pine marten showed up in the kitchen window, looking at me with a very curious face as if he/she wanted to say: who are you ? It was the cutest thing and I couldn't stop laughing.

 The next day we unpacked the stuff and Pinky is urging us to put the couch together.

 The poor thing was a bit upset, the couch wasn't assembled yet and she hates sleeping on the floor tho we brought 2 warm woollen rugs for her.

 Well Pinky has a big brother Arthur and he takes care of Pinky needs!

The following day we let Pinky discover the garden and as you can see she has found her favourite spot on the terrace on the side of the house. From here she has a perfect view on her land :-)

We did take time to walk around and showed Pinky the surroundings.

We all felt so happy !! 

We were invited by our neighbours ( Anja and Ronny) who made us feel very welcome ! They own this fantastic authentic  house behind us.

They don't live there permanently  and you can rent the house as a holiday-home ! This is the link to the house : http://gloveler.com/house/Elmstein/schwabenbach , and another :
http://www.schwabenbach1.beepworld.de/

We also met our neighbour who lives next to us : Helmut, a incredible nice man who's face inspired me for a gnome ( I hope no one  will tell him this ever! )

Well, I'm still so full of impressions and I hope I gave a bit of an idea how our week went, if not please ask !

This is how we left our living room, waiting for us to come back in 2 weeks for the decorating part.

 I hope I can go back creating tomorrow I'm severely distracted at the moment !

Helen x

"VACATION " !!!!!!! 14october----22 october

Some of you know we bought a house in Germany a couple of months ago and now finally everything is official and tomorrow we will receive the key of our little fairytale home !

We will be there for a week to furnish and paint and enjoy this little forest house.

For the next 2-3 years we will be using it as a vacation home and later we will be moving permanently to Germany.

We don't have internet there yet so it will be quit here :-(

I will take pics of course so when we are back I think there is a lot to show you !

Have a great week you all !

Helen x

Hooray !!! Finished !!!

We have a new friend in the house and since he is very close to Finkle I let him talk you through our little catwalk show :

Wow, thank you little Duff for this nice presentation !

Little Duff is a present I received from Sharon !

She sells her little critters her : http://www.etsy.com/shop/riamelin?ref=seller_info

The tiny scarf is made by sister Sophie and you can find her shop here :

http://www.etsy.com/shop/OpheliasVoices?ref=seller_info

New Gnome in the making. . . .

Picktin and Baker were keeping a close eye on me while I was working on the clothes of the new Gnome :-)

This is : Finkle "Fall" Fudnock III

He is the Autumn-watcher, he makes sure the last leaves will fall, some late birds get going to their wintering grounds and helps the elves to conjure mushrooms.

Let me introduce you to . . . . . . Picktin !

Very very difficult ! I wrote down all of the names and decided to let my son Arthur choose the name.

Arthur is always interested in my creations and I appreciate his opinion.

He looked at the Gnome and said carefully every name and as soon as he called him Picktin he said YES that's his name.

So ANITA  your daughter was right !  Send me your address please and this cute bat is coming your way ! 

People ! Let me introduce you to PICKTIN !

And this little one is going to live with Anita and her children

Thank you Anita and your daughter for giving this Gnome his name !