Esther's Tiny Tale, Leah's Painting, and a Wrap Bracelet

Here is Esther's Tiny Tale, and an illustration she did for it:

Once upon a time in the eve of the day, as the sun was setting, displaying golden rays on tulips and lilies, stood a stone castle. Surrounded in ivy that crept up the walls, and a large meadow of flowers, the beautiful scents of roses and other flowers could continually be smelled through the windows of the castle. Everything was happy and gay.

Deep in the castle lived a lone princess named Lilian, with lovely golden locks and deep blue eyes. Most unfortunately, because of her father's death, her no-good uncle became the next ruler. It happened that he also did not particularly care for nieces who cheered the maids and did not talk to him -- Lilian.

Lilian had heard bad things about her uncle, and kept a wary eye on him. King Hans became angry of her absence and made new orders.

Now, for many months, Lilian had been either ignored or shrugged off by Hans, and given sullen looks from maids. Lilian became lonely and sad, which is not what a princess is supposed to be, and her complexion grew pale from a lack of sunshine. Since the guards would not listen to her, she could not go outside.

Then one morning before the yearly ball and festival, when Lilian stared gloomily into the ceiling of her room,  a soft patter was heard in the hall near her bedroom. Lilian grew curious and opened her bedroom door to find a... Peacock.

The peacock stopped in front of her doorway. "Hello," he greeted her.

"You talk?" Lilian cried in amazement.

"Yes. I'm a Problem Solver. Call me Prob Solved," said the peacock.

"You solve problems?" asked Lilian.

"Yes," repeated the peacock. "Why, do you have any problems?" he asked.

"Oh, yes!" said Lilian.

"Then close the door and tell me all about it," said the peacock.

So Lilian shut the door and told him of all of her problems.

"Well," said the peacock, "I've never heard a more interesting story. Let me see what you should do." He sat there and tapped the tip of his beak with his wing for so long that Lilian grew agitated.

"You!--" she cried.

"Ahh! I think I have figured it out," said the peacock. "You need to go and play in the meadows many hours of the day. That will brighten you."

"You really think so?" questioned Lilian.

"Unless --" began the peacock.

"Never mind. I'm going right now," said Lilian, and rushed out of the room.

With the help of the peacock to lead her down the many halls and corridors, they reached the outdoors.

The peacock then bid her adieu and left.

Lilian found the meadow a peaceful and beautiful place. She picked flowers, and romped in the meadow all evening. Her complexion got some color and she felt much happier, but then she thought about the problem in the castle, and grew heavyhearted again.

"True," she thought, "the meadow is a lovely place, but it still does not fix the problem inside the castle."

Lilian went back inside and thought until her head hurt. Finally though, after overhearing the maids talking about the king wanting to do something, she came to her senses and went and apologized to him for being so absent and offered to play a game of checkers.

Things went much smoother to Lilian, the king, and everyone from then on. Turned out, the king had gotten so angry of her absence because she reminded him of the daughter he had lost and yet she would not visit. In other words, he was lonely, and so was she. They both needed each other, and the maids needed more joy.

Many parties and gatherings were held, and as Lilian grew older, she grew wiser, and soon became queen.

As for that silly peacock, he was a usual sight around the castle.

The ivy on the walls was clipped off and the castle looked much brighter. The yearly festival came around again, but this time everybody was happy. They all lived peacefully ever after.

The end.

From Leah we have this:

I've been wanting to do a painting like this for a while, so I finally did! I sat down one Sunday after church and just did it in like 4 hours. It was really fun! I did use a little help from a couple references, but I really like the way it turned out! It actually turned out just how I pictured it in my head! :)

And here is the bracelet I made this week:

I used suede string, fishing line, beads, and a button to make this wrap bracelet.

First, I strung the button onto the suede, pushing it to the middle and securing it with an overhand knot.

Second, I tied on the length of fishing line, wrapping it around both sides of the suede in a figure-eight.

Third, I began to string the beads. (It is important to remember to go over and under the suede when you thread through the bead and back again, or the bead will just pop free. Haha. I'm totally not speaking from experience, of course.)

When I had the bracelet beaded to the length I wished it to be (minus the allowance for knots), I knotted the fishing line off, then tied knots in the suede spaced apart far enough to let the button through.

Ta-da!