ULLABENULLA

Venetian Christmas At The Castle

While I was away in Minnesota over Thanksgiving, the Castle Queen and her elves put together a Venetian Christmas sure to make your heart drop! Two decadently dressed manniquins grace the windows with a feast of goodies that will make your mouth water! Petit-fours of paper and felt, a papermache boars head, faux candied fruit, swans baskets filled with clam-shell treats and my favorite, two glorious red crepe-paper lobsters!!!

John McRae created a giant golden chandelier completely out of large German pressed papermache dresden! Walking around the shop one finds many hidden little Christmas vignette's including, a miniature castle filled with mushroom gnomes, golden paper clothed fairies, magical white rabbits, favorite fairytale characters and glistening white trees filled with wonderous ornaments. If you happen to be in the Bay Area over the holidays, be sure and come VISIT!!!

Gunhilds Silver and Papercut Wonders...

Every time we go to Minneapolis, I always make sure to visit the American Swedish Institute, housed in the historic Turnblad mansion, built in 1908. My wonderful Sister-in-law came with me this year! My Husbands Grandmother, Gunhild, was a prominent figure at the Institute in her lifetime, and left many lasting memories. Years ago, she began the tradition of installing Christmas Tables and Trees, one for each country in Scandinavia, in the beautiful rooms of the mansion. When she died, memorial money went into the purchase of silver cutlery for the Swedish room. It is vintage Gense Silver, in the Vassa pattern.

I was so excited to be allowed permission to take a photo of her silver (and only after trumpeting Gunhilds name, whom everyone knew!) that I didn't get a photo of the full table set for 12. I did manage to sneak a photo of this years tree, full of swedish flag garlands, and the beautiful chandelier in the middle of the room.

Much to my delight, the museum also had a Danish Papercutting Exhibit with wonderful work by Minnesota native Cynthia McKeen. Feeling brave with my camera, (I know Gunhild wouldn't have minded...) I took some photos to share with you. There was a special paper cutting of the Turnblad mansion that McKeen has designed for the 100th anniversary of the completion of the mansion in 2008. This four-layer standing piece depicts the outside of the mansion, whimsically surrounded by figures inspired by Swedish stories and culture. A tomte stands by the front gate, and trolls, birds, and even Santa Lucia can be seen floating above the castle.

I loved her original interpretation's of 'The Princess And The Pea', and 'The Rose Bush' beautifully displayed hanging by big open windows...

There was a marvelous display showing Cynthia's process, from initial drawings and scissor cuts, to multiple cuts with rubber-cushion dies.

My favorite part of the exhibit, by far, was the 'Christmas Table Setting' in the middle of the room, filled with Cynthia's papercut trees, like a winter wonderland come to life!!! The last photo, showing more papercut trees, is from the Danish Immigrant Museum where Cynthia recently had another exhibit. Now my fingers are itching to cut a winter wonderland of my own, I hope this post may have inspired you to do the same!!!
(Cynthia's papercut trees are available for purchase online HERE!)

Shoe For A Fairy Queen

This delightful Altered Shoe created by Denise Fontaine is called "Shall We Dance?" and is available at Cottage Touch on Etsy. I love the over the top Marie Antoinette feel she has created! Wonderful!!!

Antiquing With ArtsyMama!

We are finally home from our holiday trip to Minnesota! We had a beautiful WHITE Thanksgiving, (the snowflakes were as big as moths...) with all the trimmings! The highlight for me was my day with Kari of Artsy Mama! Her POST about our day, captures the true spirit of our whirlwind adventure! Kari picked me up at 10:00, with a bundle of maps on her lap, that took us to 'estate sales' and 'shops' all around Minneapolis and St. Paul. My Husband was so surprised at how much ground we covered in a day!

I felt like I hit a home-run even before we began shopping, with the lovely gifts that Kari presented me. Beautiful Handmade cones held a wonderful 'U' mug, divine soap, and a charming vintage pipecleaner angel! She also spoiled me with bits and pieces of old paper, postcards and ribbons.

Kari introduced me to Minneapolis' Estate sales, and I'll tell you, I wish I could join her each and every weekend! It was such a delight shopping with a like-minded friend and artist, finding treasures and antiques together! Here is Kari after our favorite Estate Sale, where we scored wonderful old books, ephemera and other goodies! Isn't she adorable? And thats me pointing to one of the yellow 'Birkeland' estate sale sign's, that kept us running all morning...

Next we went to Hunt & Gather Antiques, an amazing shop filled with cabinets, boxes and bins bursting with an artists trove of delictable finds!!! I think we could have stayed there all afternoon if our hunger had not intervened!

Rooms were color-coordinated... and we found many wonderful displays to enchant and inspire us! (just look at this tree held up with Vintage books)

Here we are catching our breath at the front counter! (Don't you just love the Christmas display with red water-bottles, and a fire-hat?) As you can see, Christmas was in the air, and I found a few new treasures to use in my classes!

A good day of shopping deserves a good meal, and this was no exception. We did manage to pull away (not till 3:00 though!) and spent our last hour eating and sharing stories...

THANK YOU KARI for a Fairytale like day - My wish is that there will be many more!!!

(illustration from a real treasure of a book that I'll share later)

Hansel And Gretel Dollhouse!

How wonderful is this??? Eleanor Davis created this for the Hansel and Gretel Holiday show at the Metropolitan Opera this season. Its made from cloth with a painted wood base. Ms. Witch has a bunch of little flies made out of beads and cloth all over her, little wooden skulls hanging from her headpiece and whimsical candycane trim! Absolutely a Fairytale come true!!! (link via the multi-talented Midori Snyder's Blog In the Labyrinth!)

Life As A Living Theatre

I adore the idea of making life a living theatre. No matter where one stands, the stage awaits... "Drawing on water mythology and history unique to Tasmania, Dream Masons a new spectacle by Redmoon Artistic Director Jim Lasko, designer Joey Van der Hoeven, and director and puppeteer Jessica Wilson, transforms the facade of the iconic Salamanca Arts Centre (SAC) into an awesome theatrical spectacle of grand proportions." A building facade becomes the ultimate in 'silent film' display... Press HERE for a real treat!

Haunting Images for 'Save Nimble'

"The ultimate goal of this film is to let the viewer’s mind wander with creativity, with the renewed spark of imagination. When the film is completed, Nimble will make children smile with mischief, and adults smile like children." What more could one ask for? The film-maker writes, "to support hospitalized children and their families emotionally, socially and developmentally, I intend to donate any/all proceeds from the presentation/distribution of this short film to the Children’s Memorial Hospital, so that more children can find the mischief in their very own fairy tales." Save Nimble! will surely brighten all our hearts!

Being Thankful...

We are off to the middle of the country for the holidays, visiting my husbands family. I will be meeting Bloglandias own ARTSY MAMA this weekend - which is sure to be this holidays highlight of events!!! I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am indeed THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU - BLESSINGS!!!

(Silhouette image via the lovely Florizelle!)

Winter Classes in Ulla's Studio!

With Christmas just around the corner, my classes at the Castle are at a standstill until late February. Over December the shop classroom is taken over with Christmas merchandise, and January is spent getting Inventory done, re-doing all the displays and getting our class mailer ready for the Spring.

I've decided to take a serious step in teaching more classes out of my studio, based an hour North of San Francisco. Starting in December, I will be offering small classes (limit of 5 students) in a variety of mediums. I am dreaming up classes for January in 'Fabric Printing using Thermofax Screens'; 'Springtime Paper Theatres' and 'Marionettes' among other offerings. If you have anything special you'd like to learn, let me know, and I'll see what I can whip up!

This would be a perfect opportunity to gather a few friends together and come take a private class with me! The winecountry is beautiful this time of year, and there are many wonderful antique shops and cafes near by if you are tempted to make a weekend of it! Email me for more details... SEE SIDE BAR FOR DECEMBER CLASS DETAILS!

(photos from Ulla's studio)

Mini Christmas Theatres at the Castle!

Last Tuesday I taught my last Class before Christmas at the Castle. I will be teaching classes over the Winter in my studio - so stay tuned! Five lovely ladies joined me in creating little christmas theatres in papermache pinecones, snowballs and bells. Each theatre is about 4 to 6 inches tall, small in size but huge in whimsy!!!