On Saturday morning, April 6th…the inside of my Storybook Studio was ready for moving in…
I couldn't believe it!
But first…a bit of cleaning was required…
Aunt Marguerite's table would be first…
this was where I wrote and illustrated the first 10 books…
…and then the first of the chippy white chairs…
And finally, this seed box filled with art supplies, could be pulled from its hiding place…
(one certain little granddaughter loved getting into Grammy's paints and things:)
The Singer treadle found its place…
This is where the stories will be written and illustrated..
Harbingers of spring…Lenten Rose and Snowdrops from the garden…and a lovely piece of gingerbread, my sweet husband had tucked away…
Wild Violets, and a lavender-filled sachet…
Potted a wild violet in a tiny teacup (my momma's Mother's Day gift to her momma, my grandma Effie Belle, when my momma was a little girl)
Slowly but surely, it's coming together.
Tim surprised me by purchasing this quilt-covered Victorian love seat, while I was in my booth with Eliza, at the Strawberry Patch Barn Sale, Fall 2012.
I have waited so long for the day I could move it into this studio…
Really Old Bear finds her perch…alongside the bunting and lambies...
Could there be a more perfectly perfect spot for the little Beatrix Potter friends..
This photo was a gift from my very dear friend, Pam Hauser. She traveled to Beatrix Potter's Hilltop Farm in England, many many years ago. As I began my journey into storybook writing/illustrating, she decided the photo belonged in my studio …the photo of the garden gate Beatrix illustrated in The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck. This large Peter Rabbit sits alongside...
I remember seeing Jeri Lander's post of the little log cabin decorated for Christmas…decorated like Little House on the Prairie… it had a stove just like this one! Finally, Jeri…a photo of ours…
I found this tea towel when we visited Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House, last fall. I've been saving it for this…
And the pink lustre ware (just like Beatrix Potter painted in The Tailor of Gloucester) looks so pretty atop the stove…
Here are Eliza's little black cookstoves.
The smaller one is just like the one I had as a little girl…
when I created little log homes out of sticks and carpeted them with moss…
after I had discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie series of books..
The old white kitchen cupboard has waited patiently. It will hold all the little books about Eliza, the Mouse in Grammy's House…
A set of the books is pulled together, and will travel (and be donated) to The Round Top Family Library in Round Top, Texas...
The Storybook Studio's signature color…
The vintage Laura Ashley dotted swiss gown is a perfect fit for "Old Gal" ..
Dear Mrs. Tiggy Winkle…
Plenty of irons and pegs for her laundering duties…
and a teeny tiny pincushion from that ever-talented Natalie Jo…
and a package arrives..on this most exciting day of moving in…
It is a floral crown from the amazing Rachel Pallas…
The millinery flowers are spectacular..
Pink Roses…for this Rose Water Cottage's Storybook Studio
…but that's not all! A surprise for one little mousie girl…
A floral crown of her very own..
She is Over.The.Moon.
The chandelier is hung..and the studio is as cozy as I could have ever imagined...
Tim found and acquired this Eastlake doorknob set…the perfect match for this Eastlake door..
The old beams from the barn (where the barn wood for the walls was reclaimed) add the perfect touch to the beaded board ceiling…
and dried roses and hydrangeas and yarrow and herbs and baskets will hang here
Blessings to all of you who are in the midst of that season. It will end. Don't lose hope. God is good.
And Blessings to all of you who have endured. For not giving up. God is good.