Mad Hatter tea party....

Come with me...and welcome..to Wonderland!

I have long wanted to do some unusual art scenes with my dolls that & props that I have collected for my Alice project...which is an ongoing , tabled project because of funds, space and most precious of all...TIME...Like the hatter, sometimes I wish I could kill Time to make it stop!

For instance, I had no time to do this- Fanciful McTwist Mad Hatter Tea party

The owner of the blog, AFancifulTwist, hosts a Mad Tea Party that is 'virtual' and on that day you link to the blog and register so your blog link is on her blog for that day, and everyone can visit the different blogs & tea parties. I so wanted to do this, but had no time to gather together everything for the staging of the props and the dolls.
Though I have a Moxie Alice, my new acquisition, a Factory Blythe, which I won on
Ebay  looks like what I would think Alice would look like, especially with all the shrinking and growing! I was lucky to win her, because she appealed so much to me, and some of the other 'stock' ones did not. I figured if I was going to buy a doll, get what appealed to me and I liked.

In preparation, I took alot of photos today...of my Mattel Mad Hatter, who I keep displayed in our den on the mantle, and my Dollfactory Bobo mouse bjd- known as Minuette and also Doormouse.

To create this scene, I used odd pieces from my collection. The swan chair and table are Bespaq. The china are vintage teapots I had for my dolls as a child as well as a Ruetter Hummel set. The large teacup on the table with a tiny scene is a project I did a few years ago with my miniature club, Va. Miniature Enthusiasts, and I have loved it ever since I created it. I thought it would add to the unusual scale of Alice. My bjd with her mohair wig is holding an empty bottle and she has obviously drank too much of the 'Drink Me' potion and so has grown so large she has to sit on a crown! The red chess pieces are from Hobby Lobby bought on sale...the white ones are much more expensive. I used miniature books from the bookstore for Minuette Mouse to stand on.

Of course, though we do not have Cheshire here at the Pumpkin Patch, there are always cats at Pumpkin Hill, and of course, they are black!

Meet our 'Guardians' - they regard the house and yard as THEIRS...we simply live here to feed them.

Sweetie Pie (or she also answers to 'Little Girl' as my husband nicknamed her in the first picture above) Below, staring confidently into the camera, is June Bug, aka 'Big Man'...if you could see him in person, you would understand the name--- he is a large cat!

I encourage you to browse the Fanciful Twists' blog and click on all the links to the tea parties- also browse her archives. Some of the most beautiful pictures of tea, and all sorts of 'mad' color schemes and tea parties.
I hope you enjoyed this 'mad' little adventure ....and watch our blog as I endeavor to create more!
~Lisa

Easter preparations with the Residents of Pumpkin Hill....

*Note to readers: Gracie, our blogging assistant, agreed that she would blog this entry with permission from Miss Ashton during quiet study time at her desk. Since Miss Ashton is quite strict, Gracie needed a note- also promising that she wouldn't go on Facebook....lol!*

Hi Folks...yeah, that's me, Gracie here with my trusty laptop. I'm sorry I haven't blogged for the Residents of Pumpkin Hill for a while now. I've been busy with (grimace) Schoolwork! Miss Ashton has us in different classes, so Dottie & I are in the same class....

Dottie interrupts -"Gracie what are you doing? You're not on Facebook again are you?"
Gracie replied- "No Dottie! You know that Miss Ashton gave me permission during quiet time to do the blog entry for Miss Lisa!"
Dottie- "Oh. What are you doing for your art project?"
Gracie-"Dunno...let me get back to it Dottie..."

Gracie goes back to her computer..."Where was I ?" she said to herself, Dottie answered "Blogging!" Thanks muttered Gracie & began typing again...

The Residents of Pumpkin Hill are getting ready for both Spring and Easter, which is tomorrow....in this I'm helped with the assistance of my tiny assistant, Dixie....

Dixie blogs about the tinies in Pumpkin Hill, who live in the dollhouses all over Miss Lisa's house- and there are alot! Dixie has been busy with Maizie and Minuette Mouse, as we have two new Tinies coming to live here! But more on the new Residents in another entry- back to our preparations for Easter here at the 'Patch.

Felicity set to work cleaning the parlor, and setting out the tea things for tea lessons...polishing the silver, and setting out which tea cookies would look most scrumptous on the antique tea plates. Since Easter is special, she used the tea set from Japan that belonged to Mr,. Chris. Felicity was careful to dust the fireplace, and make sure the Silver chocolate pot shown.

Miss Ashton went outdoors to the front garden to look at the beautiful Spring day, and gather snowball blossoms from the Snowball bush to put about the tea room. She found some buttercups, which are some of her favorite wildflowers, and stopped to see if the buttercups were ready for picking. Filling her basket with flowers, she hurried back to put them in water.

Meanwhile, other residents of Pumpkin Hill joined Miss Ashton in the front garden...they were Miss Lisa's cats, who of course, are black cats. Sweetie Pie & June Bug. Here is Sweetie Pie near the pear tree.  They were enjoying the day as well, and follow Miss Lisa all over the 'Patch when she is outside.

One of the Residents, Miss Annabelle, (reproduction French Fashion doll) she was attending to her correspondence at her desk after Marigold Finch had delivered alot of letters to her. She's a nice lady and I like her...she occasionally lives in the The One Sixth Scale Dollhouse with the other fashion dolls who live there.  Annabelle is such a new resident of the 'Patch, hopefully more will be coming to her later. Marigold Finch delivers the mail for us here at Finch Express, and she is so excited because Wren, her assistant, will finally be arriving....

Marigold was making sure everything was in place to show Wren all about the 'Patch when she arrives...first she visited the deserted greenhouse...Wren loves plants, and the greenhouse will need a little bit of tidying up. Wren is a fairy who will be helping with the sorting of the mail, & Miss Lisa thought Wren and Marigold could use this greenhouse for sorting on sunny days, when the residents have alot of mail....

So Marigold went out into the garden when Miss Ashton did, and also flew to the dogwood tree to see outside, and check the mailbox. She could hardly wait for Wren to come. Miss Lisa took pictures of the lovely dogwood tree, so lovely in preparation for Easter, when we remember how Christ suffered for us & our sins.

Marigold had delivered a bunch of letters to Strawberry Hill, in their hallway, and finished her Thursday deliveries- there would be no mail delivery during Easter & Good Friday.

So that's what is going on here at Pumpkin Hill. There is alot of preparation here for Easter, Miss Lisa is getting good things ready for dinner on Sunday and sending out Easter cards.  We haven't had our Easter egg hunt yet, but am hoping myself that we can before it rains! That's all for now-

                   ~~~~HAPPY EASTER!~~~~

~Gracie