Alexa's Secret Garden

Over a year ago in April 2010,  I took some pictures of my Granddaughter, Alexa, playing in her "secret garden" in our backyard.  They eventually became a little fabric and paper book that I submitted to SEW Somerset last Summer.  It was published, along with the story, in the Summer 2011 edition which just came out the first of June. 

 I kept the whole thing a secret {no pun!} until she and her Mommy and Daddy were over to visit last night.  The little book hasn't been returned yet but once it is I have a keepsake box for it and will include a copy of the magazine {autographed, of course! LOL!}.  Alexa's 15 minutes of fame will make a fun "show and tell" for first grade next year!

 I didn't have any luck trying to scan the glossy pages so I just photographed the magazine.  Stampington included a link in the magazine to some additional pages that didn't make it in to print.  You can see them here:  http://www.stampington.com/html/snoopy/2011/0611/sew/alexa_garden_of_verse/

 I mention in the story that I was able to photograph her in the Secret Garden because it isn't so enclosed in April when the ferns haven't come up yet.  These next pictures show how it looks right now.  What a difference a couple of months makes!

 This shot is taken from roughly the same location as the ones in the magazine.  The ferns completely hide the secret garden.  You don't even know it is there until you walk right past the "doorway" between two evergreen branches.

 This little doorway is actually about 4 feet high and just right for a little fairy princess.  A little hard on the rest of our backs.

The inside is a perfectly enclosed little playhouse with a canopy of green overhead.  What more could a fairy princess want!