_Once upon a time, there was a poor injured mouse.
Feeling very frightened and wanting to rest, he crept through a gap at the base of a wall to hide, when fortunately, he stumbled upon a family of Sprites.
Seeing that the little mouse was in pain, they quickly set to work.
The Oak sprite harvested a few blades of grass that were growing at the base of the wall. Then, he flew up to the top of the wall, fastened the grass around the two small oak trees and heaved with all his might to pull them together. With his nimble fingers, he wrapped the grass around a small oak sapling that was growing in the wall to create a shelter from where they could tend to the mouse.
Meanwhile, the Bramble sprite waited until the spider had left, then deftly climbed up one of the small trees to harvest the delicate strands of spider web. Sprites often harvest what they need from around our gardens. Sitting down, he carefully weaved the web into a bandage.
Finally, the Campion sprite unwrapped the blade of grass bound round her medical kit and removed her tiny gold scissors, fashioned from two thorns by Allister Sassafeas, the woodland leprechaun.
She put healing salve on the poor mouses injured side, then placed a cooling young oak leaf there to protect it. Gently, she wrapped the web bandage round his belly to secure the leaf in place and tucked the end in place. Kissing the little mouse delicately on the nose, the tiny Campion sprite gave him a little smile, then waved to her family and together, they flew away.

We are unaware of just how much the sprites do to help the tiny creatures that live in our garden, but we are very happy they are there.
Next time you are in your garden, look closely to see if you can find them, but don’t you forget, they camouflage themselves using the beautiful flowers and leaves they find. Each sprite becomes so fond of the plant that clothed them that their skin gradually takes on the colours from that plant, which keeps them safely hidden as they go about their work. _

I absolutely loved making this piece for Cake International. I didn’t put the story next to it at the show (will never put a story exhibit without a card from now on) so thought you might like to know what the background was with the piece. I received a bronze in small decorative exhibit. It is 11 inches tall.
It took 120 hours to create
The Campanula plant growing half way up the wall is a replica of the plant growing out the front of my house. I made the veiners and hand cut the leaves.
The oak leaves were from those found at St Fagans.
The brambles were growing up my back garden and the shape of the wall is a replica of the wall at the back of my house.
The earth was textured with a nail brush and the wall with scrunched up board covering paper.
The grass was made after watching Alan Dunn Sugarcrafts fabulous “up the garden path” craftsy class.
The sprites were characters I have been thinking about for a little while now and wanted the chance to create. The red campion sprite was made from the home made veiners I used for my Red Campion flower exhibit, then there is a bramble sprite and an oak sprite, both using the relevant leaf cutters and veiners.
The spidersweb is made from unbreakable gel, as is the mouses bandage and whiskers.
Hope you like it.