A look back at the Resin Christmas Photo Scavenger Hunt in 2018. It was another photo challenge by Daisy Dayes on the Resin Cafe. We were to take a photo with our dolls to illustrate her ten prompts...and sometimes it was hard to decide. This time round I'm also going to share any other photos being considered....

Setting up the creche....

Getting ready to go for a sleigh ride....

Naughty - Making a big mess cutting out snowflakes....

Feeding the birds....

With all the children home from school, waiting for the big day, Nyssa and Eric had hauled out all their Fisher Price toys for their little sister to play with....

Sena especially liked the fire truck with it's extension ladder....

Nyssa thought she'd try out a little tune on the xylophone...

...while Eric just watched...

Even though this is our second pandemic Christmas, it seems we had more time last year to get together and make stuff. Like this gingerbread village we made with our son and daughter-in-law last December....

They weren't dry enough for them to take home, so I had the opportunity to take photos of them with my dolls.  First with Layla and Miki....

Then with Willie and my small Kaye Wiggs elves....

Then finally with the royal children decorating gingerbread houses in the castle kitchen....

*To revisit all the photos - Gingerbread Village

After making a new shirt for Baron, it was Lawrence's turn. I had some really nice black brocade with gold embroidery, which I thought would go nice with his black and gold surcoat. I chose a nice trim for the sleeve cuffs and worked hard to make it curve on the collar. The ruffles were single layers of a very fine white cotton with a hand-stitched rolled hem....

It took me three days to finish.  But I wasn't happy with it....

The collar was too high, too wide, and the white ruffle was too high, and the shirt did not fit nicely under his surcoat.  Well, never being one to accept 'good enough', I decided to start over from scratch. I figured time was going to fly by just as fast whether I did it or not, so I might as well do it.  Another three days later and I had another new shirt....

This time I made the collar shorter, and didn't use a trim - just embroidered it and stitched on some metal filagree and beads. The white collar was also shorter, and just peaks above the black collar - which is what I wanted in the first place. I also changed the sleeves so they would no longer be 'slip through', but have snaps to fit more tightly around his wrists. And I used the same trim on his cuffs as the trim on his surcoat - which this shirt fit under very nicely....

So now he's all set to welcome his holiday guests, just as soon as I finish his castle renovations.

I started out the month of December taking lots of new 'Special Days' photos, with plans to photograph the ones for later in the month in Medieval times.  However....I've wanted to make new castle walls for some time, and decided I wasn't going to set up the castle interior with the old walls, but to wait until I'd made new ones.  Well, that took a little longer than expected.

I make my walls out of foam core. A single sheet is not big enough, so we've been making the basic walls out of a full sheet and half sheet attached together.

Now, foam core will warp when it's painted. ​The first two sets of walls we made were fine. I thought it was because I painted the backs as well, so any warp from the first layer of paint on the front would be counteracted by a coat of paint on the back.

​But we learned after making the castle walls that there was more to it than that.  The first two sets of walls had been made by attaching the half sheet of foam core below the full sheet and then scoring the fold along both. See the example on the left....

But, when making the castle walls, we thought it would seem easier, and more logical to just attach the half sheet to the full sheet along the fold.  But when it was painted, the walls warped very badly, and no amount of paint on the back helped at all.  Jan put strips of wood on the back to try straighten the walls, but with no luck. I've used the warped walls for a couple of years now, but they drive me crazy. Especially since there isn't a lot of space in my dining room to take full width shots, so I have to use my wide angle lens, and that warps the walls even more.

Then it dawned on us that the warping had to do with the basic design. So when we made the walls for the Wood Cutter's cottage a year ago, we went back to the old method, and the walls turned out nice and straight. So I've wanted to make a new set of straight castle walls, but had been putting it off. It is a lot of work after all. 

So Jan made the new foam core castle walls the same way all my straight walls were made, and added some foam core strips which I wanted to portray 'pillars'.  After doing the underpainting it was clear that we were back on track. There was hardly any warping. Just a tiny bit, which a coat of diluted paint on the back totally solved. Then it was time to stamp on the stonework.

I squirted different earth tone colours of paint onto a plate and used cut out sponge rectangles for the different sizes of stone. I started by stamping the 'pillars' first. Then made my way up the wall....

After the stonework dried I did some shading....

...and then overpainted everything with a coat of very diluted gray paint. The idea is to soften the look of the stone, as the camera will highlight all the details. The unmuted walls might look nicer to the casual observer, but the camera will make the details stand out way too much. So they need to be softened....

So now I have two new, nice straight castle walls.  But I also want to make some new festive wallhangings. I picked up two table runners at Value Village last week. The one with the red pattern will make nice festive wallhangings for Christmas, while the floral tapestry one will make nice wallhangings for Naomi's dress shop whenever I get to that.....

Cinnamon and two friends were helping Santa make a snow man.... 

"He looks great!"

"Our best snow man ever!"

"Let's make another one!"

Baron and Naomi were heading to the castle...

The King had invited Baron to come for Christmas, like usual.

Lawrence and the Queen were both eager to meet Naomi....

However, she was a little nervous....

But Baron kept reassuring her that there was nothing to worry about....

"Don't worry...."

"They are going to love you."

"Just try to think of them as my friends...."

Another look back, at the Christmas story two years ago....a Victorian Christmas....and some of my favourite photos, in a condensed version of the story....

​At the Toy Store....

Christmas morning....

A guest arrives.  It's old Nick from the Toy Store....

He brought some gifts for the children...

Setting the table...

Christmas dinner....

*Revisit the whole story - A Victorian Christmas

Every once in a while Olivia and Cookie's Mom would let the girls play with her prized dolls....

"Now we just need a Prince."

"Well, what about one of these nutcrackers?"

"That could work...."

"...and the rest can be Guards..."

"What about this one? Who can be his Princess?"

"I don't know...."  

" My doll likes the horse..."

One of my favourite Christmas stories is the series taken in December of 2018.  I had made a Santa outfit the year before, and Jan had made me a fireplace, but the entire holiday had been hijacked with my surgery, so there weren't many photos that year. So I was going to make up for it the following year, and came up with my very first full length Christmas Adventure story.

It started on Halloween with the Wizard - who is also Santa - throwing a 'good-bye' party for his friends....

Elf Cinnamon, and Snowball the polar bear cub, arrived to escort him north...

They headed out on the long journey north, accompanied by Willie....

...finally reaching the North Pole....

...where they were welcomes by Santa's granddaughter and the elves....

Willie was given a special elf outfit....

Some of my favourite photos include....Santa resting....

Checking the Wish Lists....

Finishing the angel dolls....

Stuffing Eeyore....

Stuffing the stockings....

A stocking for Winston....

Willie's new ride....transporting toys to the Packaging department....

Santa helping Ringo repaint the last two rocking horses....

Watching a puppet show on Christmas Eve after all the work was done....

Santa, dressed and ready to go....

Saying good-bye, as the elves start their annual Christmas Eve party....

Winston catering....

The final delivery....

...and the morning after....

*To revisit the entire story;
The Wizard's Party
​The Journey North
Santa's Workshop
Winston Comes for a Visit
​Christmas Eve