Alice's Menagerie

[ziggybea]

Alice's Menagerie

When my Julip girls and Ross had their pets last year Alice decided she wanted a rabbit and a guinea pig, that was until she saw a certain little black, brown and white dog on the spares page and she lost her heart to Mungo. However Alice never forgot about the rabbit and guinea pig she had been dreaming about, and she has been saving up her pocket money and asking very, very nicely, so I said that she could have them as well.

Alice already knew exactly what her rabbit and guinea pig looked like, and what they were called, Malteser and Brandy. So we sent off pictures to Laura, and as Alice had waited so patiently I asked Laura if she could have another rabbit as a surprise, a lop-eared rabbit called Warren. We left it up to Laura what he looked like, only that we wanted him to go with Malteser and Brandy. And when we saw him we were delighted, he is seriously cute!

So Alice proudly presents her gorgeous new pets, Malteser, Brandy and Warren:

Malteser is definitely the brave one, eager to hop off and explore, followed by Brandy, but Warren is much more timid, preferring to watch what's going on from the shadows.

[ziggybea]

When I said to Laura that I'd like to surprise Alice with an extra pet, Laura said that a chicken would make a great surprise! Alice agreed, and she said she'd love to have a chicken, but she couldn't have just one, because it would be lonely, and too sad to lay any eggs for her breakfast. So Alice chose two chickens:

Mrs Norris and Edna-Glory.

Alice was delighted when she went to let them out of their house and discovered that

they'd laid their first eggs!

And Alice wanted her chickens and ponies to be co-ordinated so I had to make new rugs for Alice's ponies Conker and Pickle.

[ziggybea]

And Alice had been looking so longingly at Bea, Cerys and Jess's cats that I thought she'd like a cat of her own too. "A furry-purry-cuddly-cat" as Alice put it. A cat that would curl up on her feet at the bottom of her bed, and snuggle up in her arms when she was watching TV.

I love the long-haired effect that Shadow and Casper have, so we asked Laura if Alice's cat could be "furry" too. And again, Alice had already decided what her cat would look like, a tabby cat, and what she was called, Tabby, short for Tabitha. The only problem, which we hadn't thought about, was how difficult it would be for Laura to paint a tabby on the rough texture of a long-haired cat - sorry Laura for making your job so tricky - but when we saw the pictures we were delighted, Tabby was "purrfect"!

And no, you're not seeing things, there are two tabby cats! Laura painted two tabby cats so we could choose which markings we preferred. Alice instantly announced that the darker tabby cat, on the left, was Tabby, but the other cat was so adorable we couldn't possibly not have him too, and Alice said that he looked so attached to Tabby we couldn't separate them, so Alice has now got two cats, Tabby and her brother Tiger.

Tabby is the friendly purry cat who always comes over for a cuddle.

And Tiger is the hunter, always on the prowl. He knows that Alice's pets are a no-stalking zone, but the local wildlife will have to watch out!

[ziggybea]

And of course Alice wanted co-ordinated pets and ponies, so I made another two rugs for Conker and Pickle.

Now Alice is an extremely happy girl, with a very large menagerie to look after!

Alice would like to say a huge thank you to Laura for making her pets for her, and she promises to look after them very very well, and spoil them with lots of cuddles!

And when you all say that Julips like to multiply, I have to agree, what started out as an order for two pets ended up as a parcel of seven!

[elli]

Lovely photos, I always love your backstories and how well you show off your collection

[juliporiginals]

I agree, I love your photos and really enjoy reading the stories that go with them