Sugar Plums Dancing in your Dreams

The arrival of Christmas brings all things pretty, taking out your favorite ornaments and decorations bring the magic to a winter's day. To share with you, one of my little Very sweet Sugarplum Dancer Shadowbox Theater, made with vintage woodcuts from the 18th century and housed in a gilded 4 inch by 4 inch box with lid, hung from a silk ribbon, I have this theater shown with a little battery operated tealight in side which you can add your own for a magical effect. I have had many compliments on this piece in my home so I will continue to offer this design for purchase. in my little paper shop Victorianwoodlands. Makes for a sweet keepsake gift for any occasion.

My thoughts are often here......

Woodland Tea

I have been watching lately the Edible Garden, which is truly one of my favorite garden shows. Alys Fowler made some delicious looking lavender biscuits. of course i had to find the recipe and found it from here. I made a small patch first and added just small amount of dried lavender, since years and years ago i made lavender biscuits with another recipe and I could not eat them. Well, i must show these biscuits to you and made a little woodland tea party of it...

i am just dreaming what kind of cookies i will bake with this recipe next time.
chocolate, ginger, raspberry, honey, lemon...

Fresh New Look

I did a bit of housecleaning on my blog to give it a fresh spring clean new look, I love the old 18 century woodcuts depicting victorian lifestyles, gardens, so I thought I would use this one for now to wash away the gray days of winter. I have a added a couple of new items to the shop a Lovely
Portfolio that I made inspired by the one used by Miss Potter in the movie, I loved it so much that i set out to make one of my own, and one for the shop of course.



I used some old calico vintage fabrics in muted shaded of peach and rose so very pretty for spring, makes for a lovely drawing tablet if you go out and do some sketching in the park, the inside is made of study artist board and I have added 2 fabric pockets on the inside for pencils and paints and papers, it ties shut with black ribbons and is quite durable and large in size.

I have worked on a few little watercolors of pretty period dresses inspired by the books of Jane Austen, and her lovely ladies in regency style dresses.
Happy dreams of spring to you, as the last bits of snow melts away and the little buds start to show.

Snow and Valentines

It snowed and blowed yesterday and while the weather outside was frightful thinking of a few ways to brighten up a February day....lovely bright red Valentines, I keep some of my holiday greenery up and red bows till after Valentines day just to cheer up the gray days and my little gingham heart stayed on my front door even after the blizzard last night.

My cat Suki stayed in the window and watched as I dug out from the storm, she longs for a sunny spot and spring days, but for now she enjoys the view of birds and squirrels that live in the nearby bushes.

I am working on some Nature Journals with my daughter and have ordered a few books on the topic some that are used for Homeschooling. I have decided that as an enrichment study to introduce her to these topics at home, since the school curriculm does not have a very diverse art and nature study. I will share some of the journals with you as well as the book that I selected.
Stay warm and happy tea times to you.

A few more pictures to share, thanks for your comments Christine, my gosh I know what you mean burned out bloggers need a break too, I have been neglectful to my blog as well but I still keep at it when I have the time or something to share. Best Wishes!
Just a few more pictures to add from the tour it was hard to take good ones with no flash and tripod but I still wanted to get some for decorating references like paint colors used in the hallways and wallpapers that were selected as historical reference to the time period and some of the lovely framed lithographs the large one of Queen Victoria is so sweet, the McNab family were devote Catholic so there was quite a few religious framed pieces of Jesus Sacred Hearts and in the girls room Sophie and Minne they had little prayer altars that they would use daily with Rosarys and Missals. The room pictured with the white curtained bed was the "Sick Room" in the house and at that time Influenza and T.B. where fatal and required months of bed rest, not like our Benelyn take a pill and rest a "day" sick day's we are used to today , the ill person would take up residence there and be tended to by nurses, ahh life in the castle!

Kitchen

Music Room

Sick Room

Butler's Pantry

December has brought with it a delicate and silent winter wonderland for the weekend!!
(We are nestled in and making a cozy soup, yum!)

The folksical forest outside is blanketed with snow, and the flurries are still falling.

Wishing you all a magical holiday!

Here is some pictures from a Christmas Tour of Dundurn Castle all decked out in it's Victorian Finery, they use all fresh greenery and historically accurate decorations for that time period of late 1800's. I love the history of the Kissing Ball done in cedar bows and cloved oranges in the front foyer, it was to represent the winter solstice and the planets at that time of the year, in the center was the sun which is a mirrored ball. The mantels in each room were so beautifully done I spent time taking many pictures, and the Rose Drawing Room is one of my favorite rooms with the cranberry gas chandelier and the table top Victorian tree, as part of our tour we made one of the paper Fan ornaments to take with us, love that, and the tour of the historic kitchen was great they had samples of all the period foods of the Christmas feast Orange Gingerbread, and Christmas Pudding, Scotch Shortbreads, and warm cider, we stayed there for a while.
I wanted to spend some time taking photos of Sophia McNab's nursery where she was taught at home by a governess, many of the original pieces made are still there to view, samplers, and journals, watercolor paintings done by the children and family. Enjoy!