The Faerie shoes......

On saturday I had a stall at the local allotment: Elder stubbs. It went very well, the stall was set up beautifully and gave me an idea of which items sold, and how I could imprve on my ideas.Thanks to Rudi (eat your heart out) and Victoria (ABritish faerie) for making it all possible ....

More magic wands.......

Teeny faerie shoes , no bigger than a penny!

During my summer break, I decided I would like to visit Cottingley wood, where I couldn't resist a dead leaf or two! To capture my memory of the place where the faeries were seen, , I filled a jar and labeled it! who says you can't bottle memories?!

I thought it would be fun to make a 'faerie washing line' Here is the finished result!

I loved the idea of making tiny gardens , like bottle gardens but more faerie like! I used moss and alpine plants , and added a toadstool.....these are amazingly easy to keep, and don't take hardly any time to establish.Just spray ith a fine mist every week or two. With the lid on they retain the moisture ...perfect!

My latest excuse for being creative, was to house the 'faerie teas'. Someone asked for three pieces , 'simillar but different! ' and a little more than a tea, but not as much as a faerie house....I came up with these 'faerie arbours'...somewhere to have tea and play with the faeries.....

I made my first 'faerie door' today.Obviously I then got completely carried away! I hope to sell these in the summer, at our local gardening festival.

I decided to make use ofthe old sink that had outgrown it's first use as a herb garden. I keep herbs by the back door, and the plants in the sink were always neglected.I decided to turn it into an alpine garden, which was surprisingly easy to do.I had already built up a collection of old stones and pebbles; and the garden had some gravel.I bought 2 plants from a garden center at £2.50 each and two more from a car boot sale at £1.50 each! So the whole thing cost less than £10 to make, since I used my own compost! Very good value don't you think?

I decided to buy some faerie ears , from my favourite faerie shop in Halifax, The Friendly Dragon. They were five pounds,and I realise I should have bought more to give to friends!

Whilst tidying Ian's garden in Halifax, I found a snakeshead! I was very pleased to find a whole bunch of white ones at the bottom of the garden too....who knows, one day I may also find faeries.....

The idea of a faerie house (or houses!) in the garden , was my daughter's and mine.Once Isis had begain to landscape areas of the garden suitable for that purpous, We could begin. Rudi, my other daughter, got her friend Vicky to help, as she is a real faerie, in that she has been to faerieworlds and other realms..... Vicky said it should be a very organic faerie house and although I agreed, I thought a few blobs of mortar wouldn't go a miss! It started with a paving slab, a few logs and grew from there.Hopefully it will keep growing, as more peices are found, and should be ready for the summer.Today has been a beautiful spring day, but even as I type, the wind is getting wilder! I really hope it's still there tomorrow!

So when I had done too much digging today (well it is mother's day! ) I decided to make some little faerie houses , with bits and pieces laying around my plot.Well the faeries have to hide somewhere, and it's a little exposed up there.

Found this little fellow on my allotment yesterday! He was hiding under the plastic....felt a little guilty disturbing him, but time for him to start munching those slugs!!

I purchased a number of glass ornaments whilst in Halifax.I think these were the ones I got in Huddersfield indoor flea market.Not bad for a quid each(the man on this stall , as I had bought two!) let me have a free one

Affleck's palace in Manchester is an Aladin's cave for people like me! I managed to find this teeny faerie tea set, which I have added to my collection. It is a Japanese version of a 'sylvanian family' set, which you can't buy here.Since I'm never likely to go to Japan, I am very pleased it found me!

I went to Halifax to find faerie things and visited a butterfly house. The colours of the butterflies were amazing! There were some stunning tropical plants too, and we forgot the rain as we wandered around!

I tried to make a few cards....they have a gold and pink theme and mostly 'cherubic'. They look good all together...but who get's this many cards?

Valentine's day soon! I thought I would show you the way I displayed my little love notes! I have tiny pegs with glittery(naturally!) red roses on, and simply pegged them on to the fake(glittery!) ivy, that edge my shelves.....

Vicki's house

This is the house designed for my daughter's friend, Vicki. She loved faerie tales, so the bed has several matresses with a real pea under it (now a feature of all my houses) . As each one is different, this also has a washing line, with tiny faerie clothes! I left it unfurnished, as she and I often make furniture together, and she wanted to fill it herself.I have to say it's one of my favourite houses!

I then decided on a second one, this time in a different style.I chose some twigs and painted them a pearly white, dusted them with fine glitter powder and stuck old christmas type branches on the end.I then put to good use, the glass beaded faerie lights I had hoarded!

Chandeliers

Attempted a chandelier recently.I tried to figure out a way of having twigs hanging down, with 'beautiful things' hanging from the branches.In the end I saw a cookie cutter sitting in the kitchen and instantly knew I had found the sollution! Ihot glued the twigs and some old tree roots around the cutter and suspended the whole thing with wire from a central light fitting.No need to worry about fire hazzards, as I use energy bulbs.

Nest

The nest was made using air dried clay, and twigs from the garden.Ahot glue gun was used to hold it all together, and moss covered the glue.Tiny glistening eggs were added , then it was ready to sit in it's tree!

Trees, twigs and leaves....

Wanting to bring the outside indoors, I looked at making garlands of leaves and flowers. I made some leaves from felt, dredged them in sparkle, and they were ready to use in my display.I gathered twigs; dogwood for colour and others sprayed white for contrast.An archway was constructed using hooks( and tape!)...Then I could add my butterflies and faeries! Not satisfied, I then decided to bring my beautifuly shaped apple tree indoors.It had begain to die off, and wishing to preserve it's beautiful shape, I dug it up! My lovely sister had given me some gold and silver leaves,so I attatched the gold ones to my 'new' tree.Placed in a bucket of stones in a corner of my living room and housing four birds, a handmade nest, a dragon fly , a butterfly and several bejewelled apples it is a source of great wonder, and enchanting to look at!

Winter garden

The snow had fallen so fast, and covered the ground in it's twinkly white blanket. Thoughts of warm fires, and chopping wood soon abled me to reflect on more magical surroundings.

Time for tea.....

The table is set with faerie treats, to delight any folk who are tiny and light enough to sit on the leafy twig furniture, glittery dishes of delicateness crowded with berries and foods only a faerie could eat....magical!

A house filled with faerie magic, and treats would be a dream for any faerie...... From it's little pantry shelves and tiny cradles, to the swing in the garden and faerie dust room. I had always wanted to make one, and begain scowering local woodland and parks for twigs to build it. It really wasn't difficult, as it almost built itself! Several floors high, and using the things nature left us, it soon begain to take shape....now others have been made, sold and given as gifts, to people who really believe.........