Monday, January 29, 2007

Two fairytale stories discovered in an abandoned castle.......

  






It had been many years since anyone had seen the castle or heard of the grand announcements of its beautiful galas or the dances held there......noone had even mentioned the castle in such a long time. what had become of it? Odd, that such a beautiful, enchanted place could be forgotten......but was it? perhaps there had been a slight mention of it......first, quietly, ever-so softly.......by the tiniest birds in the deepest part of the forest......then, quite later, by the woodsman who understood the language of the birds and had told the old man in the cottage by the lake. and in turn he had muttered something about the forgotten castle, (almost inaudibly) to his granddaughter, but she had a keen ear and she had managed to sort out his words quite nicely......it was the little girl, the cheerful and devoted granddaughter who understood......she knew........

the castle was still there.

her name was isabella. she loved the forest and the birds and her grandfather's cottage. she waited days and days to travel from the city, miles and so far away, to visit her grandfather and walk in the woods to talk with the animals. her grandfather was a dear man, a bit grumpy at times, but good at heart generally and he did indeed enjoy his visits with his dear isabella, too, just the same. but he was prone to muttering and it was just by chance that little isabella happened to catch those magical words......about the castle. did it have a name? she wondered to herself. who had lived there.......where had they gone? isabella couldn't quell her curiosity about the beautiful castle. she began to talk to her grandfather about the old, mysterious building and asked him, one bright morning when she thought he might have a more amiable countenance, "grandfather.......where do you think the old castle is......the one that noone talks about anymore?" she peered at him with quisical eyes and a twinge of the "little rabbit" in her spirit. curious and funny, grandfather couldn't help bring a smile to his face, looking at his charming granddaughter........he began to tell her of his memories of the great castle in the forest........

"i was there, little isabella, when the prince of ancient umbria lived in the castle. it was beautiful then......so many rooms and hallways, so many servants and footmen, gardeners and cooks....... regal horses in the great barns, wild deer roaming about the grand and elegant grounds, exotic birds, fountains and statues......i thought i was living in a paradise.......i was one of the gardeners, isabella. i was in charge of the secret garden. it was magical. it was behind an old stone wall. very few people knew of the secret garden......but it was there .....filled with thousands of beautiful flowers......wild and amazing, it was a secret garden......it's secret was magical. the flowers spoke their lovely language to the air and the clouds and the birds and they all understood. i was their caretaker......they were my wondrous friends".

isabella listened happily. her grandfather was a wonderful storyteller. "but grandfather, where is the castle? can we go there someday?" she nearly fell from the edge of her chair waiting for his answer. there was such a long pause. grandfather had turned to look quietly out the window, his expression filled with emotion. finally he spoke as isabella barely could contain herself any longer.

"yes, we will go. we will travel to umbria, finally after all these long years, i will go back to my paradise, my secret garden." he then turned to look at isabella and the faintest, sweetest smile crossed his old face. isabella wondered what thoughts were filling her grandfather's mind; what memories had been treasured far deep in his heart all these years......of the great castle and it's beauty and charm and magic. they were going to travel to umbria to find the castle! isabella couldn't believe this amazing turn of events! what an adventure it would be. isabella could barely contain her excitement. she turned to thank her grandfather and wish him goodnight. "but wait! i must tell you one more part of the story", he said very mysteriously.......

"once, i was told, there were stories hidden in books......somewhere in the castle. they were stories about fairies and gardens and dancing children and wonderful animals and birds. they had been written by a famous writer from russia who had traveled to see this beautiful castle he had heard so much about. he had stayed at the castle for many months, relishing in it's wonder and mystery and storybook character and while he lived at the castle during that time, he wrote many wonderful, amazing stories......for children. but he suddenly had to leave; he had received a letter from his family in russia telling him he must return right away. the russian writer hid the stories, written in his elegant penmanship, written with such feelings and emotion and love for the beauty of the castle.......he hid the stories in a secret place......that noone knew of. where did he hide them? would anyone ever know?"

isabella sat speechless, hoping and waiting for grandfather to return her anxious curiosity with the answer she imagined......grandfather must know where the stories were hidden.......is that why he finally wants to travel back to umbria at last?

grandfather had grown tired and weary, such emotion and excitement for an afternoon in an old man's life. he drifted off to sleep, sitting in his old leather chair, his feet near the fireplace as the coals grew dimmer and dimmer, still giving off a soft warmth. isabella grew tired and fell asleep, too, curled up on the soft, thick rug by the fire, her dreams filled with shelves of books and mysterious stories written with a magical pen. were the russian writer's stories hidden in one of those hundreds of books.......perhaps her dreams would give her a hint. the fire crackled quietly, a few sparks left in the old wood. the grandfather and little isabella dreampt of their journey and what mysterious things they would find.......

soon.......the journey to umbria begins......come back to the door to the travels to umbria and perhaps the stories will be found at last. the carriage is readied, the basket of foods and teas are wrapped and waiting, the sun shall rise soon and off they will go......"come with us", said isabella, in her sleep, not knowing who she was talking to, but hoped others would follow them to the ancient castle in the woods.......

The Quirky and Perposterous Stories of Emily Swan

"The two little chairs traveled to Paris" (see picture above) How uncanny it was that one day, a passerby happen to notice something beautiful but very mysterious hiding behind an old fence. The curious waunderer walked very slowly, so as not to frighten away this creature, oddity, princess or whoever it was and just as they were only 2 feet away, they realized.......it wasn't a person or anything like it, but two properly dressed fairy chairs, who at that moment stood absolutely motionless as they were terrified they might be discovered in their hiding place. The passerby stood happily, quite comfortable with himself......that he had indeed come upon such wondrous and odd little things.......chairs, but they had the aura and expression of true fairies......as if tiny fairies had transposed themselves into little thrones. He wondered and pondered the matter, but then, suddenly, a great clammering came upon the corner where he stood so he turned to see the cause of it.......and when his head turned round about again to look upon the fairy thrones, indeed, they had truely and mysteriously disappeared. He muttered to himself with great bewilderment but then decided to be on his way and keep his adventure to himself, for the time being. "Little stove dreams of being a car"...... "Who ever heard of such a perposterous idea?" asked an older, distinguished gentleman to his friend, Mrs. Lucille, his neighbor and friend of 37 years. "Yes, how could a stove ever think it could turn into a car?" Mrs. Lucille had a puzzled but comical look on her pretty, elderly face. Both of the onlookers stood quietly for several moments, trying to figure out the quirky quest of the little cook stove. Suddenly, right when the two neighbors were about to give up and continue on their afternoon walk, the stove began to move. Latching on to the beautiful, glistening blue beads that just happened to be draped about the feet of the stove, before their very (amazed eyes) the little cook stove wisked the beads all about in four circles and suddenly the beads magically turned into four quite reliable and fanciful tires.......(The little, mischevious cookstove seemed to grin and giggle at the elderly couple, as if to say......"I'm quite amazing, aren't I?!" Then, with a happy "Honk, Honk!", the little blue cookstove drove away, quite merry and contented with itself, for at last his dream of becoming a car....... had oddly and mysteriously.......come true.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Little fairy story

Once upon an enchanted time, filled with dreams of dancing and fluttering birds and singing angels......there lived a little girl whose eyes were filled with the memories of the fairy world. She found herself often walking quietly in the deep and beautiful forest.......she would listen to the voices and whisperings of the little creatures in the woods......delicate and mysterious. They spoke to her. The birds would sing to her from their nests in the branches......she knew the language of the birds and raccoons......she felt the spirits of the gentle leaves and the stories of the soil, ancient and beautiful. She would walk to the quiet lake and the streams and there beside the waters, she would create little fairy worlds from the leaves and the findings that she would gather about the forest. Little rabbits would quietly and patiently come to her side and listen to her songs. The deer would watch curiously from their glens. She was unafraid. The forest was her wondrous home. She lived there in her heart. Her smiles came from the memories of a childhood in the trees and in the mountains. Find a beautiful place today and stop and listen to it's pretty voice......it will soften your heart and bring you back to the earth's wonderful language.

Monday, January 22, 2007

My New Etsy Shop!!!!!

I am so excited!! I have my own Etsy shop now! It is called "The Fairy's Sunflower House". (www.Sunflowerhouse.etsy.com). Or you can probably also find it by putting in Sunflowerhouse. under usernames. I have some of my cards and prints in my shop right now and will be adding my little furniture and other creations as well very soon! I am amazed at how popular and fun Etsy is and it works so well......there are so many great features to it! So I hope you will visit my little shop often as I will be adding lots of new things. Have fun!! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Thoughts on life.......and some great ideas!

I have been thinking lately a lot about my life and my past and wanted to write about myself on my blog so that people can get to know me better. Blogs are such an incredible way to reach out to the world. There is so much in each person's life that is meaningful and worth sharing. I know I always love reading and learning about other people so I thought perhaps you might like to know more about me. And I hope you will leave your comments or email me because that is really the absolute best part of blogging......hearing from other people. It makes it all worth the effort and time and care......to hear from others and to feel your spirit and heart. I dream of having a wonderful studio, a huge space filled with wonderful windows and with lots of tables and shelves to set matierals and projects out on. I would decorate my studio the way I want to make it truely beautiful and unique. I dream of painting and making my little fairy furniture and collages, doing my photography, making chandeliers, mosaics, dresses, hats, designing furniture, composing on the piano, doing choreography for dance, doing art projects with children, painting murals, composing on a flute, a cello, a harp and other instruments. Working on my film projects that I want so much to do and my books, my poetry, my children's stories. There's so much I want to do!!!!!! I hope that if you are an artist or a creative person that you will be able to fulfill your dreams and that your life will turn out the way you want it to! Isn't it so crucial to fulfill our dreams? We all want to express ourselves so much. Hope you are having a good day and that you are happy! There is happiness in this world and part of that can come from just having peace within outselves......if things aren't working out, just knowing that eventually they will......helps us have that peace!! Take care, Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Monday, January 15, 2007

A Wonderful Story! Cake!

Last night, my husband Mike and I stayed up after watching Nanny McPhee and made up a wonderful, funny story about Cake! We started talking about how wonderful the smell of cake is and we were reminiscing about how Mike used to tell me that I smelled like wedding cake! So, we began to tell a story together........something we do a lot......make up funny stories together. One of us will start the story and then the other person continues and on and on. We will have to finish the story to add it all to my blog, but it was so funny that I thought I would just tell you a little of it right now. We wanted to make fabric that smelled like cake so that when we made clothes out of the fabric, we could smell the wonderful happy smell of cake! So, we found some wonderful old faded material and put it in a large vat. We added soap and water and then milk and 6 boxes of wonderful cake mixes......lemon and vanilla, orange, chiffon, banana and spice!! We mixed it all together and then rinsed it and then hung the wonderful fabric up on the clothes lines outside! Then we went to the other side of the house to have tea and cupcakes. We sat out on our porch and watched the beautiful birds flying about and marveled at the lovely hills with grasses and wildflowers. But, unbeknownst to us, back on the clothesline......the bees had suddenly found our cake fabric!! The smell was wondrous to them. They started buzzing all around the fabric filled with the smell of cakes! That's all we have for now, but we wanted to continue to say how we created incredible dresses and clothing out of our wonderful cake fabric and people loved it because it reminded them of cake!!!! We also thought of some funny names for shops or books or stories or??? Wildflower Cake Cake in the Air Cake Dancers The Cake School There is something about cake!!!! So much like childhood and running with your friend and opening a present and getting a letter in the mail! Have some cake today!! Love and hugs to all! Debbie

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Favorite things to share......

Hi again...... I just wanted to ask if any of you know of some good scrapbooking companies that carry really unusual papers?? I use papers so much in my work and am always looking for shops to buy papers from. I found one absolutely wonderful shop this last weekend called "Sweetpeas and Snapshots" on Pico Blvd. in Los Angeles. It is so dreamy and cute and is decorated just wonderfully!! If you live in the area, I hope you will have a chance to go see it. We had so much fun going there. But I am always looking for more shops that carry really nice papers, so if you know of any companies that do have unique scrapbooking papers, could you please let me know?!! That would be wonderful!! Also, I am still looking for other wonderful shops or galleries that have unusual handmade art or creations.....or home interior stores with unique objects......I love going to wonderful shops and just have not found very many in our area. Some of my favorite things that I would love to share with you....... The movie "Nanny McPhee"!!! I love this movie! It is so cute and colourful and enchanting! If you haven't seen it, it's truely wonderful. Our son Matthew bought a copy of it for me for Christmas and I was so excited!! It's a delightful, happy movie! Look for the most beautiful, elegant, captivating, magical and breathtaking book on interior decorating that I have ever seen in my entire life. I have looked at thousands of books on interior decorating over many, many years and this book, truely, is the most beautiful book I have ever seen. Every page is incredible!! It is called: "The New Eighteenth Century Style" by Michele Lalande. I am sure you can find it at Borders or Barnes and Noble. It is just my most precious book ever!! My husband bought a copy of it for me for Christmas and I just cherish it so much! Erik Satie!!!!! Have any of you ever listened to his music??!! I am sure many of you have. I bought myself a CD of his music and I love it so much. It just takes me to a place of such beauty and tenderness. I play the piano and compose all of my own music and his music inspires me so much. It is truely simple beauty and enchantment! That's all for now. Would love to hear from you. I hope this time of year that you are all safe and well and feeling the love in the world and the comfort and joy of friends. I am grateful to those of you who wrote to me recently to cheer me up! Thank you so much!! The world is a good place, regardless of some of the things we see all around us. There are so many things to bring us joy and gladness! I hope you have a wonderful, happy week! Take Care! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

More Art to Bring you Beauty and Happiness!!

Here's my last post for tonight of my artwork. Just excited to share all this with you dear creative, happy friends. Hope you like these. 1. Little Teaparty (Photograph) 2. Little Rabbit and Friends Having Tea (Photograph) 3. (same; sorry, didn't realize I posted the same picture; don't know how to delete!) 4. Little Friends and the Red Bycycle (Photograph) 5. The Roman (Fairy Furniture) 6. The Irish Washerwoman (Collage) 7. The Flower Dancer (Paper and Found Object Sculpture) 8. Sad Little Princess (Collaged Sculpture) 9. Seas of Blue (Collage) Art is truely a healing, wonderful way to feel happiness and joy. I am so glad that I am an artist and love creating my little works of art. I hope you enjoy them. I would love to hear from you!! God Bless You! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

More Art!

Here are some more of my paintings, collages and little fairy creations........ (from top left) 1. The Frenchman's Little Cottage (Made from paper and found objects) 2. From a Little French Town (Fairy Furniture) 3. Whimsical Fairy Teacup and Saucer (Ceramic) 4. The Little Neighborhood (My son's drawings made into a little scene!) 5. Golden Rooms (Photograph) 6. Little Fairy Wheelbarrow with tools (Fairy Furniture) 7. Dreams of Childhood (Collage/Painting) I also have cards and prints of all of my work. If you are interested, contact me for information. Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

Love to share these with you.......

These are some more of my collages and photography and little fairy furniture I wanted to share with you. I have made so many, many works of art......would love to sell some of them if anyone is interested. Some of my very special, newer pieces I do want to hold on to for a while to enjoy them, but I do have many wonderful works of art that are available to buy. If you are interested, just email me for details about size, description, cost, etc. The above are: (starting with first piece on left) 1. Tiny Princess Bed (fairy furniture) 2. The Giant's Garden (Collage/Painting) 3. Dreams of a Happy Summer (Collage/Painting) 4. Stairway to Childhood (Collage) 5. For Lakes and Fells (Photograph) 6. The Beauty of Glass (Photograph) I love doing art!! It is so much fun and makes me so happy!! Debbie (www.artmajeur.com/debbieschramer)

A few of my favorites......

Hello dear friends...... So sorry for not writing in so long. Just life's busy daily tasks keeping my time away from creative fun, but here are a few of my favorite little pieces. I made these in Washington state when we were renting a wonderful old beach house. It was wonderful. We had so much room to create. I think that's why these turned out so nice, because I was happily working away. Will add more later today. Love and smiles to all..... Debbie

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

No room for rudeness!

Hello dear friends...... I have not been posting anything on my blog for quite a while because we weren't able to access the internet. I am so grateful to finally have the internet again and to be able to post some new things on my blog. Also, to be able to see all of your wonderful blogs, too, has been wonderful as I missed visiting your blogs so much. It is incredible how being able to write to different people all over the world has meant to me......it just lifts my spirits so much to have friends who appreciate so many of the same beautiful things in life. Thank you for your dear hearts and thoughts!! I just wanted to share a few thoughts with you......things I have been thinking about. The most important thing on this earth and in this life is that we learn to be kind to other people and to care about them. We are born as good, beautiful and kind human beings. We need to recapture that beautiful spirit of love and thoughtfulness. We need to remember that nothing means as much in our lives as our spirit, our soul, the person we are deep inside. When we leave this life, we will take nothing with us except the lessons we have learned about loving one another. I pray that we can do better in that way and that people will show more respect for one another. We are all so near the edge of life anyway. If we really knew people for who they are, we would change our attitude immediately. God Bless those who see the true hearts of people and who show kindness, humility and respect to others in this world. We deeply need it. I pray that I can remember how happy I feel when someone smiles at me or shares with me a feeling of love and kindness. Thank God for people who are kind. Thank God for those whose priorities are in order.....whose hearts see what is truely important in this life......to be kind and thoughtful and respectful. I am grateful for all of you who are trying to share the beauty and goodness that is all around us. Thank you so much for your sweet spirits!