No, I didn't join the apple community. But I finally got something done. Thanks to everyone here for help and support. I hope you like it. I know I have a far way to go in the performing area (the mobility of the crane isn't too great, eigther) and to my horror I really show up (I didn't in the preview...)- I really need to get a closed box. But I guess it is not too bad for a first one.
I used Pinnacle Ultimate Studio for the editing.

http://youtu.be/Y0ln88LTYRQ

That's a really beautiful crane! How did you do the feathering?

I know it's probably not practical, but I'd love to see that video done with a light curtain.

I loved that!  And did you say before you were afraid to show us your work. You shouldn't be!!! It was beautiful!

Great job! I Love the crane. Happy Valentines.

Nice work! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.

Thanks guys! That is so nice of all of you, I am really touched. Especially since you are that much more professional than me.
Okay, light was a bit hard, I really need to have something above my head, I show way to much. I just bought a fotobox, as they call that (for taking green screen pics of small things) and put the lights in the front of my homemade (cartboard) theatre. I don't think I could get lights on the top- the whole thing would break down on me. Well, I really do need more money (who doesn't?), but that will be far off.
The crane has a Fimo head and body, connected with a piece of steel wire (next time I should really use a spring, this doesn't move at all so I didn't bother with headmovements). I handsewed white cloth (and old T- Shirt, really) over that (glued it in the back) so I could sew on wings and Legs. The legs are simply aluminium wires, taped together and covered with cloth (that was an old sweater). Something similar I did to the wings, only they are a bit padded, too and I used the same white cloth as for the body. I painted the beak and took a thick yarn of wool to pad up the neck (I just swirled the wool around, more on the part were the neck is connected to the body and sew it on on both sides). The head and neck is covered with black (and a bit red) velvet, the body and wings with white fake fur which I trimmed except for the wings and the tail (there is a tiny fraction extremely trimmed on the head, too. I had almost forgotten about this white patch). Then I glued on some black marabou feathers from the hobby store to the wings and was done (there are little noses of steel wire sewed to the wings, feet, body and head (I didn't bother to use that one, though) for the rods.
And since Kimberly mentioned the music, I thought I should share my awesome source:
http://www.freesoundtrackmusic.com/

Rikka the crane is beautiful. Awesome job! I have liked it and can't wait to see more!

Thanks for posting the details of how you made it Rikka. For whatever reason I didn't even think that you'd cover it with fur, as well as feathers. You did a lot more details in the building than I thought you did and it shows: it's a great looking crane.

Very beautiful! Simple and profound at the same time! What a great set too! Like everyone said the crane is gorgeous! I loved the heart at the end too!!

Thanks guys! I am almost moved to tears. I can hardly believe I made so much of an impact with all you professionals!
Lizzie, you might not have heard about Wilhelm Busch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Busch he is said to be one of the grandfather of comics. In "die fromme Helene" (Pious Helen) there is a hilarious bit with cats going rampage. I will tackle this next. But I only just got the skeletons ready. Right now I am building puppet books (as props) since that takes time but not much effort or steady hands!
Thanks, Na, I told you I am a details junkie. I guess I still would be clipping and trying if it hadn't been for the sweet kick in the behind my sis gave to me.
Thank you, LJ, I try but I think sometime it is hard to fit in with these awesome works of art displayed by members here (that's why P&S ended up in the credits, of course- I had to do that). Especially since I do have my trouble with keeping stuff simple. The heart was filmed 3 times, the 3rd turned out to be the best. I arranged the ribbon in a heart shape and my husband pulled it up while filming. Then I just reversed it, this way it is much simpler and since I don't have any text and even if I did I could do it over it worked out quite well...
Thanks again, I got almost 30 views in just a few hours. That is so awesome!

Hi Rikka,

this is realy well done! You did a great job here. Thx for sharing your work and I'm looking forward to more movies. Look out , at the end of the month, for that Oscar!
Johan

You think the Muppets will win the award?
 Thanks though, coming from an artist like you this is exceptionally flattering. You (and everybody else here) make me feel like a painter who did his first and then gets praised by the whole of the Munich School!

Nice work.  Pinnacle is a great off-the-shelf editing program, too.  I used to use it all the time before I moved on to Final Cut.  But Pinnacle is a very user-friendly program with lots of neat tools and effects.  Nice work.  Keep it up.

Thanks! My husband and his buddy use more sophisticated software, but that is beyond me. Pinnacle excels at soundwork, so I've been told by Stephan, while some effects or continuity are sometimes a problem. But it is so easy to use and I am not into the more fancy stuff... If I had to go for fancy effects I'd ask my husband, frankly. He said, if he needed puppetry or mechanical effects, he'd ask me. Good thing we complement each other so well!