My latest mini cottage (purchased, not made by me)

After a couple of abortive attempts to bash a Primrose Cottage kit to make a shabby chic cottage, I gave up.  I just didn't have the proper tools to cut new windows and door in the "wood".
So, after admiring Caroline Dupuis (Cinderella Moments) cottage creations, I commissioned her to
make one for me.  It will house the shabby chic minis I've been collecting in anticipation for the cottage I ended up not making.

Here is what she made for me, and dubbed "a la Francaise" and it's even prettier than I expected:

And, here are a few of my mini furnishings added:

The Lord of the Keep has returned -

Had a castle guardsman made by Tish Tierney of Versailles Fashion Dolls.  He's warming his hands at the charcoal brazier.

Found a wonderful doll by Tish Tierney (Versailles Fashion Dolls) that should be perfect in my Castle Keep.  She's actually part of Tish's series of Henry VII and his 6 wives.  This was Tish's Catherine Howard who has been demoted by me to a Knight's wife living in the Castle Keep.

I also tried her in a couple of other interior settings, but prefer her in the Solar because she can be seen much better there.

I hope I'm finished at last.  After creating a landscaping mess, I've redone it and it seems OK.  The last thing I did was to build a platform bed with a straw pallet for the kitchen serf.  It's in a corner under the ladder stairs.  And the top floor pictures show the trap door closed and then opened. Of course, I'll probably still do some more tinkering.  That's the fun of miniatures.

Struggled with Magic Block doing a messy job, i.e. color, block shape & thickness...….just generally a struggle.  Fussed around over and over.  Made the entry platform and glued it in place.  Then began to apply the mossy growth.  I'll need to work with that a little more, but here it is:

a mess putting Magic Block on my Tower

I'm having a heck of time mixing consistent color in the Magic Block batches I'm applying to the Tower.
It's a tedious and tricky procedure especially when having to cover 3 walls that are 14" x 32" each.

I don't know what I'm going to do to try to fix the mess I've made.