I’m going on very little sleep. It was a strange night. I had a nightmare early on – I barely remember it now. I hardly ever have nightmares, so that in itself was strange. Anyway, I got up to use the bathroom and I never really got back to sleep except for a doze here and there.
But let’s get to what I was doing yesterday. I decided to make a Christmas tree for Dove Cottage. I was also going to make one for the Lake House, but I forgot how long it takes to make just one and quickly realized that was a no go. Next year.
Don was downstairs writing music and recording. I was upstairs making a mini tree. Both activities required a lot of meticulous attention and at the end of the day, we were tuckered out!
There is a post somewhere on the blog showing the steps I took to make that first tree. If I can find it, I’ll post the link. Found it: it’s here. Though it doesn’t actually say anything more than I’m writing here!
It starts with a tree like this one:
This is a basic bottlebrush type tree that you can find in tons of stores at this time of year. I bought a bagful of Lemax trees on sale a few years back at Michael’s. The one I used for this project was exactly the same size as the tree pictured.
You take the tree and cut back most of the bottlebrush, leaving about a half inch or less (you’ll have to eye it and see what you’re comfortable with) so that you retain some structure in which to anchor the lycopodium, which is a kind of preserved moss, sometimes referred to as preserved pine. A note about lycopodium: you can find it at Earth and Tree Miniatures for $5.00. Pretty good deal! I got mine from miniatures (dot) com several years ago but I don’t think they carry it anymore.
After you cut it down, you start clipping small pieces of the lycopodium and gluing them in, one “branch” at a time – the largest being at the bottom with the tree getting narrower toward the top. I trim as I go, trying my best to keep the tree looking natural, and then I go over it once again when it’s finished. This takes a long time. You will have glue all over your fingers!
Here’s what it looked like when I finished it:
I was finally able to use one of the tree toppers I found at the miniature show a year or so ago!
Then I decorated with some stuff I had on hand. I use those holiday picks that you find at Michael’s. Remove each glittery ball from the pick and glue it into the tree.
These are a bit larger than the ones on the tree in Hummingbird Cottage, but I’m fine with that. I remember my aunt and uncle having some large ornament balls on their tree and I loved them. Eileen, I’m talking about your mom and dad!
And here it is in the dollhouse. I’ll try to get a sunnier picture later. (Some of you keep referring to the great light I have in the studio. I don’t. That’s simply the editing I do on the photo.)
I have to make some sort of tree skirt. I’m also missing my little box of Christmas presents, etc., that I use in creating these scenes. I’ve looked and looked and can’t find them! Here’s hoping I find them soon.
Before I forget, there’s a link for Don’s latest song on the Facebook page for Don and Dan’s collaborations. Here is the link. It will take you to their page and then you’ll see a post with another link.
Okay. Have to go. I didn’t mean this to turn into a tutorial, but someone mentioned that they’d like to know the details, so there you go!
Stay safe.
Happy Sunday.
I love the little tree…hope you find your packages…prayers for health…
Thank you, Brenda!
Stay safe.
Your husband has a wonderful voice. :-)
He does. Thanks, Regula!
Ditto!
Thank you, Lottie!
Still have a few of those ornaments…. Love the tree you made. We just ordered a small 2 ft artificial one so we can hangs some of Woody’s parents’ vintage ornaments.
I love vintage ornaments. I know Dad had some from his mom but I don’t know who (if anyone) ended up getting them. Not me! There was a German ornament, a woodcutter sitting on a log, that I loved.
Stay safe (and thank you for your helpful email)!
xo
Just had a listen to Don. He has a wonderful, rich voice and such clear diction which is something I always admire.
Happy Sunday
He does. He’s a talented guy!
Stay safe, Dee Dee.
hope you have an easy day ahead and get to sleeping better and without nightmares!
you and don have many talents … so inspiring! thanks for sharing them.
going to visit with some family members today as the main streets are clear of snow, then i will come home. all the tough stuff is catching up, there are many things to do for the holidays and my job, it’s very cold and i just need to do nothing once i get home. maybe watch a movie without care if i take a nap in the middle of it.
hope you are having a good day and stay safe!
kathy in iowa
Glad you can take it easy today, Kathy. You deserve it!
Stay safe.
Very cool! Happy Sunday.
Thanks April!
Stay safe.
I didn’t realize the tree was that involved. I assumed you just bought it and added the ornaments.
Tell Don I enjoyed Sweet Rose. I am all about the lyrics and a song that tells a story. He has a beautiful voice.
I ate some sugar right before I went to sleep last night and didn’t sleep well. I knew better too.
I hope you have a better night tonight.
Stay safe
You can’t buy real looking trees. They’re usually bottle brush, which I love, but only as decorations, not as real Christmas trees.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
Lots of small precision Its beautiful and suits the room very well.
Thank you, Nora!
Stay safe.
The little tree is so pretty. I don’t think I have the patience to make one of those. Love Don’s new song. Thank him for sharing it with us. Pretty day here but my back is telling me to rest, so rest I will. Hugs!
Rest.
By the way, I barely had the patience to make the tree. Toward the end I was going a bit nuts!
Stay safe, Linda.
So weird, Claudia…my nights have been awful lately. I wonder if the last few wks of OM is stuck in my mind, subconsciously..
I love the little trees! I’m going to make them for next year for my kids & us..thanks for the tutorial.
Get some sleep!!
He’s still hanging around in my head, that’s for sure.
Stay safe, Priscilla!
Perfect tree in a perfect place. Lovely.
Thank you, Kay!
Stay safe.
That tree looks wonderful. Your patience level must be extremely high….I don’t think I could do such detail work. Course, I say that about all your dollhouse projects.
Hope you sleep better tonight. Stay safe! ;)
As I said to someone else, the only thing that kept me going was knowing I was close to the finish. I was over it by the end!
Stay safe, Donna.
Really enjoyed Don’s new song! Such a talent. Thank you both for sharing.
You’re very welcome, Melanie!
Stay safe!
I’m glad you decided to turn it into a tutorial because I had no idea how one would do that. I can see it had to take hours and the result is worth it. I like the big balls — it gives a mod kind of elegance. It looks wonderful in that corner and I’m so glad you took the time to do it.
Checking the link for Don’s song/music and will look forward to it! Now, rest!
Oh good! I didn’t want them to look too big. Someday I’ll add a few smaller ones as well but I’m not about to go out shopping to get some right now!
Thanks so much, Jeanie.
Stay safe.
What patience and determination you have to go along with your creativity and talent. I find myself getting frustrated with the tedious details and give up and go outside and play in the garden. It’s calling for winter weather so today I took another look around and to fine tune some of the winterizing to increase the chances of retaining some of the containers through to spring. and ended up taking pictures the Joseph Lempler Christmas rose and then of some remaining blooms I encountered along the way. There were coneflowers, roses, petunias, a clematis with 2 blooms and several buds and lots of pansies. The only thing remaining in the vegetable garden is turnips. Everything else has frozen.
I love the tree! And the rest of the cottage!
Take care…
Kelly
Everything is gone here! The one remaining plant on the porch that was still blooming is no longer doing so and since the highs this next week will be in the low thirties and twenties, I think we can say they’re done. I have a few more pots to empty to ready the porch for winter.
Thanks, Kelly.
Stay safe!
Dear Claudia,
you spoke about your wish to possess a Beacon Hill dollhouse. If you want a kit I stumbled over this on a German Ebay site, but it’s located in NY, USA: https://www.ebay.de/itm/164578621003
Stay safe!
Thanks so much, Helga, but I’m really hoping to find an already finished Beacon Hill that I can renovate. I’ve read a lot about building the kit itself and it sounds like too much to take on!
xoxo
Yeah, that was the same with me. Though it is lightweight, it is very big. You will have a transportation problem. Nevertheless I wish you luck. Stay safe!
I googled ‘building the Beacon Hill’ yesterday and not one person said it was easy and that it was really hard!
xoxo
Well THAT was fun! Loved hearing Don’s voice and song and guitar-playing. What a guy. He is so talented. Such a fine way to express oneself creatively thru the music and lyrics and of course he has the acting, too, so he’s a Renaissance Man for sure.
It’s a good tutorial and your tree is so pretty. Very worth your efforts, Claudia; you are really artistic. Takes some good concentration; get your mind off other stuff, right?
About the sleep thing, I was just talking to a friend (our age group) and she said her new thing is that she’s just ‘dead’ by 7pm and finds she can’t stay up, so she’s in bed at 7:30pm, tries to read a little, falls asleep, up at 3am and then what; wide awake. Two hours to go as she gets up at 5am (she needs a long, leisurely morning before she goes to work [part-time job working from home, 5 days a week, 6 hrs a day]). So she tries to read again and sometimes just gives up; gets up. Or if it’s the weekend, she pops something like a Tylenol PM and goes back to sleep. That’s just one person. I almost do the same. When the lights go lower in early eve and I bore myself with television, if I dare lay down on the sofa, I’m gone by 8pm; maybe 9pm. Husband lets me sleep and then it’s 2am and I’m very awake. Go back to bed at 5am or 6am. It’s nuts. Very unhealthy. No way to start a day. Too off-schedule and then sleeping in too late. Ugh. All I can figure is that we’re perhaps ALL (or a lot) of us having some kind of sleep issue in 2020; not just Covid, maybe our age, too; who knows. But it makes sense to me because we’ve got a lot coming at us with new president, old president, economy, virus and vaccine; when do we start ‘real life’ again. Etc. The times, as they say, are just weird. It’s a restlessness; a preoccupation. Maybe. I’m no doctor. On the one hand, I’ve read we don’t need as much sleep at this age but, man, if I don’t get 7 hrs, I’m TIRED. I know it’s why I have to increase my exercise, too; wear myself out a bit. I’m too Covid-inactive. If anything, just stand up more, pace the floor, walk the house. Even do sitting exercises. Whatever it takes.
Yeah, so far that ‘you don’t need as much sleep when you’re older’ thing has not come true for me. 7 hours. That’s what I need. I can get by on 6 but I feel the effects.
Stay safe, Vicki!
I love the tree and the ornament colors look beautiful with the sofa in the room! I surely don’t have your patience and would have just used a bottlebrush!! Your lovely dollhouses and Don’s song are very inspirational for those of us who are not creative.
Hope you sleep well tonight. I fell asleep this afternoon for about 20 minutes and it felt great. Take care.
I did use a bottlebrush when I first started, but it looked so fake! I’m sort of a stickler for trying to make it as real-looking as possible.
Stay safe, Chris.