Introducing General Nutcracker and His Colorful Militia:)

Do you see those ten darling men up there?  They are what I spent the bulk of my Thanksgiving Holiday creating.:) 

To create your own you can get the patterns and instructions here.  AND I believe they are on sale until Monday November 26th if you put the word CRAFTY in the coupon box thingy.:)

ANYWAYS, back to my guys up there.  I had such a blast creating them.  In the pattern they have them all the same color, but I wanted them to kind of match my family room...which is WAY MORE than one color.  If you have been in my home in the last few months you know how I have about a million different colored picture frames on the walls.  I painted every one of them and had a ton of paint left over, so my little soldiers are decorated using those colors.:) I also should mention that these are supposed to be a Nutcracker Bowling Set.  But I kind of turned them into some other kind of crazy magical toy(though I do want to make a Rat King Ball to knock them down with...which feels completely disloyal to my little troupe so I think I will have to make a set of Mice Bowling Pins as well to knock down with a Nutcracker bowling ball.;)

Me being...well ME, I had to name each one...and give them a colorful back story.....

SO without further ado, let me introduce you to General Nutcrackers Militia.( For any real military person reading this please be aware that when I named these fellows I tried to do it in true "Fritz Stalhbahm style".  Fritz is the little brother of Marie in the original tale of the Nutcracker.  He wouldn't necesarily have known the perfect ranks either.;)

From left to right we have GENERAL NUTCRACKER, MAJOR GENERAL NUTCRACKER OF THE MARZIPAN BRIGADE, and MAJOR ALOYSHIOUS MARMELADE.

General Nutcracker is THE NUTCRACKER.  This is his militia.  Major General Nutcracker THINKS he is in charge, but it really is the General. 

Major General Nutcracker is a bit of a show off.....well way more than a bit.  You can tell by his fancy shirt, and TWO ribbons on his hat.  He is constantly competing with Major Marmelade(though it must be noted that it is a completely one sided competition as far as the Major is concerned. The Major doesn't really go in for rivalry within the brigade as it leads to disruption and bad manners all around.)  The Major General is very upset that his beard is shorter than the Major's but he tries to make up for it in brass buttons(which are not a sign of rank in THIS militia).  AND although the Major is more decorated than the Major General, the Major General's star is bigger.  And truth be told, how he got that star is one huge epic of a story, so we might forgive a little of his pride for it.

Major Marmelade is a quiet, sober type soldier.  He is very efficient and very dependable in battle.  He knows how to get the job done.  He is the most decorated officer in General Nutcrackers militia, but he is very humble about it.:)

Here we have(again from left to right) LIEUTENANT JAMES DANDY, TOOT, and SWEET.

These three fellows are the heart of the militia's moral.

Lt. Dandy is the militia's poet with a purple sash.  He runs faster than anyone else and records the epic battles...and the not so epic battles.  But he is so good with words that even the tiniest battles sound impressive. He is very romantic, and it is rumored that the purple sash he wears was given him by some beautiful doll whose name is unknown.  He is not a show off, like the General Major, although by his 12 sparkly buttons you might think so. He just tends to overdue things because he is a very fervant sort of fellow. 

Toot and Sweet(called "Sweetie" by his closest comrades) are twins, and joined General Nutcrackers army at the same time.  They were called as his Hussars, but when they were told, they misheard and thought they were the Nutcrackers "Huzzahs!" And that is why over all the battle din you hear "Huzzah!  Huzzah!" It is indeed Toot and Sweet fullfilling their "duties" with all their might.:)

Here are Colonel Sargent Brickle and Sargent Colonel Pickle.

These two fellows can never decide on anything!  Up! Down! Forward! Retreat!  They are fun to have around, but are somewhat of a trial to General Nutcracker(though his very good manners would never have him let on).

Last but not least, here is the General's entire Navy.  ADMIRAL D.DARLING and MON CAPITAN BON BON(He's french).

For the longest time Admiral Darling was the Nutcracker's ENTIRE Navy, and how Mon Capitan Bon Bon(he is french) came to join the navy is a really beautiful story...that shall have to be told another time.:)  The Admiral swears his full name is Dagmar Darling, but the real truth is that he was born Dainty Darling.  Of course that is a ridiculous name to name a little boy soldier, but his mother was a very ridiculous sort of woman, though also the most loving mother a soldier could wish for(as tokened by the picture of her that the Admiral keeps in his breast pocket.:)  The Admiral of course never ever lets on about his real birth name, and instead says his name is Dagmar, which VERY unfortunately is a girl's name, but he didn't know, he thought it sounded very fierce<----which is important when you are heading the navy, albeit a navy of one or two.:)

Mon Capitan Bon Bon is french, and the most loyal companion of the Admiral.




And there is the gist of the my little Nutcracker Army.  I would write more, for indeed there is epic upon epic to record upon these webpages, but alas, the baby calls and I must bid you adieu!