Elves Live in Trees Like This

When I was a little boy my mother wrote stories for me. As I recall they were about families of elves who lived in old gnarley trees. She knew an artist who did some drawings for a future book. I think what I remember most was the ink drawings of gnarly old trees covered with little stairs leading to small thatched huts with little chimneys and shuttered windows. I don't know what happened to the stories or the drawings but when I see a gnarly old tree I always look for elves and their little houses.