Studio E: Christmas Stockings

I have a great fondness for Victoria Bliss Magazines and whenever I happen to see old issues of them in the thrift store, I buy them!

I mention this because in the fall of 2018, I made a small room box which reminds me of some of the WARM & COZY Christmas scenes found between the pages of many of the Victoria Bliss holiday issues.

But this post isn't really about the magazine at all.
It is more about a series of mini transformations which ultimately resulted in precious memories of my mother, who not only LOVED CHRISTMAS, but also the Victorian era along with all things British, which is why I've ended up christening this project:
"VICTORIAN BLISS"

Initially when I started; I had no idea that it would become Blissful or Victorian. THE only mandate I had, was that it'd be all about CHRISTMAS
and here's why....

Back in the early fall of 2018,
my dear friend Fatima,
was looking for Christmas related dollhouses, vignettes and/or roomboxes,
to display at a HUGE

Annual Christmas Craft Fair,
scheduled for the 16th of November 2018.

Fats' idea was
that the miniatures displayed at the fair,
would serve as advance advertising for the
Vancouver Dollhouse Show
scheduled for the following year-
September 2019
AND
That the variety of miniature displays would promote and encourage new membership for
the Miniature Club of B.C.
and to Fatima's credit,
it achieved both of these objectives
To The Max!
❄️
but getting back to my story-

Fats asked me if I had anything
Transportable and
Christmassy
which I could contribute?

at that time I didn't
but
I did have LOTS of festive items on hand,
as well as an old unfinished
wooden speaker box
which I could put some Christmassy stuff into.

I told Fatima that I would have
a small Christmas room box display
ready in time for the Mega Craft Fair.

The Speaker Box I used
was the mate to the one I'd used for
"GOTHICA"
https://studioeminiatures.blogspot.com/2013/06/best-in-show.html
(11.5" h. x 9.5"w. x 5.5"d.)

❄️
A few years earlier,
I had sprayed the exterior of the wooden box
with gold enamel spray-paint
so the outside of the box
was already halfway done.

I tore out the interior I'd started years before,

then

I pulled out a few foundation items from my stash
which I thought might work
and played around with a possible room arrangement.

this was my first draft
😫

The stone fireplace was too big
and the slouchy resin chair
(which I'd plan on slipcovering)
overshot the edge of the roombox
and swallowed up most of the floor.

I replaced the resin chair with
a well-worn green velvet wingback chair
which was an easier fit.

I also tried to squeeze in
a footstool AND a side table.

The additional pieces of furniture were pushing the limits of what the box could comfortably contain.
Something had to go
and that 'something'
was
The FIREPLACE.

After checking through my stash again,
I found an "AS IS" Victorian style resin fireplace
with an obvious repair on its left front face.

Even so,
it's overall proportions were more refined
and better suited for inside this box.

I painted the fireplace in a light tan and gave it a whitewashing in an effort to make it look
"Shabby"
However,
the noticeable repair was not only thing wrong with the fireplace.
The mantle was wider on one end than it was on the other
so it couldn't sit straight against the wall without leaving a noticeable gap between the top of the mantle and down the left side of surround.

SO
rather than have the fireplace positioned as the central focal point of the room,
I re-positioned it
to stand against the right wall of the speaker box,
where the repaired crack, the wonky mantle, and its gaping side
would appear less noticeable.

Moving the fireplace to the side wall,
provided more breathing room for the chair
and the half-round side table,
but I now needed a new focal point for the back wall.

I chose a tall Victorian Style Window.

I painted the side table the same yellow green as the armchair, and toned it down with a light wash of
Rich Espresso
a gold flecked dark brown acrylic paint.

Below you can see the painted table against the left wall.
Here they are with a
Beige Damask Wallpaper
which at the time
I was seriously considering.

I LOVED this beige wallpaper because it went well with the painted Victorian Fireplace
yet I felt it was too chilly, and too formal
especially with the threadbare green chair.

so I tried out a completely different wallpaper
in pink
and I love pink....

yet it not exactly what I was looking for.
But what was I looking for?

I still hadn't a clue.

everything was feeling all over the place!

Even the Victorian wall shelf I was planning on installing
didn't make me happy anymore
so

I continued to audition and then reject a variety of different wallpapers.

In the photo above
you can easily see the repaired horizontal break
across the left side of the fireplace.
So the placement of the interior lighting would need to be well considered:
The lighting would have to downplay the repair,
and draw the viewer's attention
up onto the mantle.

Meanwhile,
after rummaging around in my stash,
I found a 12 volt "coal" fire I'd previously made
and never used,
which fit comfortably inside the firebox.
I made a basket for it using sections of plastic model railroad iron fencing,
glued around the 3 sides
of a painted block of balsa wood.
It looked pretty good!

To make the fire look more
"FIRE-LIKE"
I glued gold-foiled cardstock
onto the back wall of the firebox to reflect and intensify the light.
Lovin it!

Once I was happy with the fire,
I was emotionally ready to commit to
A WALLPAPER.

I chose the
French Toile scrapbook paper
which I'd purchased from Hobby Lobby.
You can see it featured up close in one of my
VERY FAVORITE blogposts
The Subject was Roses!
https://studioeminiatures.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-subject-was-roses.html

I re-papered all 3 walls
in the French Toile pattern,
and after that
everything else progressed rather quickly.

I laid a wood plank floor,
and cut out the opening for the window.
I moved the half-round table to under the window
and the wing chair into the corner.
The room was FINALLY coming together!
In the photo below,
I am trying out a set of paper drapes
hoping they would inspire me to actually make some.

and they Did!

I found a shiny PLUM satin scarf in my fabric stash which made a small throw cushion that I filled with tiny glass seed beads for the required "slouch".
The cushion was tucked into the corner of the armchair and it not only complimented
the apple green furniture but also picked up some of the rosey tints in the wallpaper.

I also found an off cut length of a heavier Leaf Patterned Synthetic fabric in a dull plum
which I was
DETERMINED
to use for the drapes
even though it fought with me every step of the way!
I struggled with this fabric in the
Pretty Pleater for 2 hours
because it simply wouldn't stay flat inside
the pleater!

I eventually had
to overload the fabric
with Aleene's Tacky Glue;
and then use knitting needles
to keep each of the folds inside the pleater.
Then I placed
a glass plate from a picture frame,
on top of everything
to keep the fabric from lifting up and out of the pleater, as it dried.
Lastly,
I BLASTED the the top of the glass plate
with a heat gun to speed set the glue
so the pleats would hold their shape.
WHEW!!!

Needless to say that both panels are
(*knock knock*)
AS STIFF AS BOARDS!

but it was all worth the extra work and worry
because they look right for the window and make an excellent backdrop for the furniture in front of them.

My confidence was growing

Soon, more Christmas-related items began to fill out the room:
some of them stayed,
whilst others were just passing through.

Gradually
the room began to remind me of
1) Charles Dickens

2)vintage Victoria Magazine covers

and
(to my surprise and delight)
3) it was reminding me of my mother!
❤️
The development of the room
from here forward,
was decorated with my mom in mind.
Would mom like this,
or would she prefer that?
What would she like to see while sitting in her comfy chair?
What would she enjoy reading?
etc. etc....

Pictures were hung on the wall
and tiny Christmas presents
(cut down wine-glass tags)
were displayed on the side table and on the mantle.

The above arrangement was fine but not something my mother would do.
My mother LOVED CHRISTMAS
and exuberance!
and had decorations and ornaments galore!

so I made some mini Christmas ornaments
using a string of metallic plastic beads,
fused to a very thin wire.
I cut them apart leaving a stem on one end
and glued on a gold seed bead over the wire.

To display the ornaments,
glued lengths of lycopodium across the crooked fireplace mantle top, which helped to disguise its deformities and its other imperfections,
then I glued the Christmas baubles into the branches.

A tall mirror painted the same colour as the fireplace,
was hung over the mantle and tilted forwards
Victoriana style.

I'd made the pair of brass candlesticks from assorted metal beads and topped them with
fat candles
cut from a saved lollipop stick that
I'd covered with mini tea-dyed sheet music.
Their wicks are tiny slivers of black painted wire.

I repainted a metal french mantle clock,
in green, and then gave it a wash
of purple glass glaze and gold gilt highlights on the raised portions.
I applied the glaze and quickly wiped it off, allowing the green undercoat to still show through.
The clock face was given a big drop of
Glossy Accents dimensional medium by Ranger
which dries clear and stays domed.
I dabbed textured snow paint onto the boughs of the lycopodium
and tucked purple silk bows in around the clock.

'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!'

Linda Park had made me a Lovely Holly Wreath
the year before
which I glued onto the fringed valance over the window.

I added 'Belle" the cat by Valeria Erokhina
2014erok
on ebay
because for a couple of years,
my mother looked after my sister's cat while my sister was overseas.

At this stage,
most of the main elements,
including a small
rectangular area rug,
and a tall table lamp were in place,
although nothing other than the fireplace,
was permanently glued in.

The light from the fire and from the table lamp
gave the interior a very cosy atmosphere
which I knew was just right for mom,

and yet-
I felt the room
required
some additional illumination so that mom could see the mantle better.

Since I had quite a few battery powered LED's
I tried them out in different colours,
and in different positions around the room.
First I strung warm white lights from the ceiling over the fireplace
and took photos to see if I liked it

as seen below

Although having over head lights helped alleviate a lot of the dark shadows above the mantle,
it wasn't exactly the look I was after.
I chose instead
to install the LED's across the mantle
threaded through the greenery.
I used a string of Orange LED lights rather than white, to keep the interior looking warm.

same lights top
and bottom

Because the walls were already glued in, the only way to get the string of lights into the room
and across the mantle
and still be able to hide the wires
and the battery pack,
was to thread them IN through a hole drilled through back wall,
on level with the mantle.

I used an awl to make an opening
right through the wallpaper and foamcore back.

(the awl poking through the back wall.)
🙄

An eyelet plug was used to help guide the LED string through the foamboard,
and into the roombox.

sorry for the very blurry picture! 😖

To place a tiny LED "flame" at the top of each candle I wound the wires around the candlestick to keep it in position and pressed the wires in hard
against the metal
to make them as inconspicuous as possible.

The excess wire between each bulb,
was folded and compressed and hidden amidst the
ornaments and the greenery.

To give the impression of it being
a COLD night OUTSIDE,
I hung some cool blue LED'S outside
the exterior window
which you can see reflected
in the mirror.

Pinned to the wall on either side of the mirror
are an assortment of vintage Christmas Cards
(these were free printie inserts cut from dollhouse magazines).
fyi
Every Year,
my mother used to hand write hundreds of Christmas Cards and hand out candy canes to EVERY PERSON in the Church directory,
whether she knew them or not.
People still remembered her kindness in doing this and how special it made them feel-
I remember asking my mother why she insisted on doing this each year,
and she told me that if she was a stranger in a big group,
or all alone at Christmas,
and someone handed her a personalized Christmas card with her name inside,
she'd feel like she was noticed
and that she belonged and it made her feel good to make others feel good.
Jesus said:
"do unto others as you would have others do unto you"
GOD bless her!
this as well as many other
"insignificant"little things,
were those personal acts of kindness which have remained in people's minds, and they continue to tell me about them to this very day!
😇

Once the lights were installed on the mantle,
I proceeded to fine tune the rest of the room- imagining what my mother would like to have around her at Christmas time.

Linda Park had made me the little needlepoint footstool which I KNEW my mother would enjoy resting her feet on
but I was needing a pair of slippers for mom too,
so
I borrowed Linda's custom made pair from the bedroom of
VILLA LEONE
They are Exquisite!

However,
my mom needed
"MOM SLIPPERS"
so
I decided to make her a pair

I used the same fabric I'd used for the drapes
and edged them with some fuzzy chenille trim.

The worn and familiar slippers fit right in with the
rest of the rest of the casual atmosphere.

Mom would have had a lap blanket for over her legs,
however
I chose instead,
to drape a Victorian lace shawl across the chair to keep her shoulders warm.

My mother always put up her Christmas tree in early NOVEMBER
then loaded it up with assorted gaily wrapped parcels,
and so
I loaded my mini gifts under and around
the bright green table and chair.

I had fun piling up and arranging the various parcels
just as my mother used to do,
filling up every free corner inside this room box.

I mixed solid resin Christmas presents with miniature paper boxes
wrapped with metallic nail art ribbon.
Nothing matched yet it all seemed to work

To fill up the wall space above
her "sleepy chair"
is artwork clipped from magazines.

The needlepoint was former brooch pin
found at a local thrift store.

The antimacassar on the back of the chair
is cut from a section of fine lace ribbon

The iridescent limoge tea set was borrowed from another
of my mini "projects -in-waiting".
It's luminous finish ties in with the gilt, green painted table.

The more I worked on this project
the more it was reminded me of my mom.
She was ALWAYS reading something whether it was "The National Enquirer " or the "HELLO"
tabloid magazines;
she loved biographies especially about past and present royal families;
and
Catherine Cookson novels.
but most of all-
SHE LOVED TO READ HER BIBLE!

so I added a Bible opened to the
Book of Mark-
the Story of JESUS
whom she Loved
and is now with.

Each new detail was moving me closer towards the finish line

But I wanted more light!
So after looking intently at the mantle,
I decided to put more lights on it.

And even though
everything was already
FIRMLY GLUED IN PLACE,
I re-open the original hole in the back wall
then very carefully threaded MORE BULBS in through the same tiny aperture,
shifting the first batch of bulbs over
to make room for the additional ones.

I continued to thread the long length of LED's through the hole & across the mantle,
folding and tucking in the excess wires,
until I was completely satisfied
with its level of illumination.

It took some doing

but in the end I got it done!

ahhhh yes!
MUCH BETTER!

I'd covered the ceiling in mottled pink patterned scrapbook paper and added the raised "plaster" details around the perimeter
using a cut up plastic doily

LAST of all-
to finish off the front of the box,
I  cut down a gold painted resin picture frame
and hot glued it to fit around the front opening of the speaker box .

I glued a small gold foil gift box to the top of the unit
to house and to hide
the 2
LED battery packs,
then wrapped it all up with a wide,
Plum and Gold edged wired ribbon
and tucked in some mistletoe.

This project was now ready for Fatima's display
at the 2018
Christmas Craft Fair.

I'm Almost at the end of this post-
but not quite
because...
After posting my most recent tutorial
"Stocking Up for Christmas"
https://studioeminiatures.blogspot.com/2019/11/stocking-up-for-christmas-couple-of.html
I decided to use the curly toe sticker stocking
and hang it on the fireplace of
VICTORIAN BLISS
then I took a few more photos
and here they are...

A closer look at the dressed mantle
and below
is the stocking in situ

Mom got a plate of homemade cinnamon buns
(which she loved to make )
A treat for her to enjoy with her tea!

Christmas Presents for her many grandchildren
are piled up everywhere!

I made and decorated a Glass bead Christmas tree to sit on the side table.
And below you can see
a container of candy canes
which mom loved to hand out to strangers.