Imagine knocking twice on an old wooden door, and quietly it opens... Outside is grey and very very cold, but within - dreams stir and tiny lights twinkle! Step inside, into a warm embrace and your eyes dance with visions of the sweetest of treats... This is how my visit with Nicol began. (Yes! a couple of you knew right away!) Step quietly to the right and melt into wonderland...
Is your heart beating quickly? Nicol's dearest of husbands, who knows her so well, recently surprised her by setting up her daughters childhood bed ("because she loves things like this" he said) in the middle of her living room! Swathed in antique lace, with dear little dollies sitting center front, and lit with 'Christmas stars', this is truly any romantics christmas dream come true! Everywhere you look Nicol has created delightful Magical vignettes filled with treasures and special finds set 'just so'. Glass domes and boxes reveal fairytale splendors in a palette that one can only call NICOL!
Sometimes 'sugarplums' take months to prepare, and Nicol's newest dreamland has been 'cooking' for quite a while! New renovations has granted her a dearest wish - to have a studio that sparks creativity the moment you enter and makes one feel the need, urge and desire to make wonderful 'dollies' and treasures while letting time stand still...
A vintage chandelier hovers over an old oak table. The light is perfect - pale sunshine and vintage shadows! A slightly peaked roof highlights the victorian window that peeks into the garden beyond. Along the walls old tables hold cabinets, baskets, and bins filled with antique bits and pieces ready for Nicol to create!
Over a delicious Black Forest inspired lunch a mysterious butcher-paper wrapped package arrived from 'the old country'. Within were not 1 but 62 tiny little frozen charlottes, recently dug up from an old factory in Germany - a recent EBAY splurge.
Such sweet little things, 'like angels with broken wings' - and there was the inspiration we needed! An old photo hanging on a bulletin board, of a sweet cotton batting wrapped snow-baby set our creative juices whirling. Nicol pulled out boxes filled with ribbons, tinsel, antique christmas glass beads and batting the color of old creamy butter. With Chopin playing in the background, quietly we dreamed up our own versions of snow-babies with old paper wings dancing to sugarplum dreams...
Here you see our little angels, Nicol's on the right, wrapped in walnut colored bullion and topped with a golden star; mine to the left, wearing ribbons of vintage chenille the color of faded roses, and a tiny cream colored star from an old forgotten desk.. Surely we were helped by the many little eyes who kept watch over us as we created, and the sweet 4 legged benevolent souls who kept us company as the sun faded and dreams came true!
THANK YOU NICOL FOR SHARING YOUR DANCE WITH ME!
