Fairy Garden & House: Phase Two

I went to the dollar store yesterday after work and there were all these little ceramic houses sitting on a shelf next to the check-out line - I've thought about buying them before, but I decided the time was now, so I got six of them (two or three different styles) and when I got home I created... THIS.

Two rubber frogs and a clear quartz crystal were added

A neglected flower pot that was sprouting some false carrot (otherwise known as Queen Anne's Lace) provided the place to build a little diorama featuring the ceramic house, some white stones for the front walk, tiny terra cotta flower pots I bought years ago (one has little clovers planted in it) and some other landscape features, including a quartz cluster, a golden rock that says "Believe" and some garden critters: two froggies and a flutter-bye.

Close-up of the little flowerpots and a boulder: "Believe."

It's so cute - the pot sits on a small pedestal right next to our front step. The ceramic houses are quite small - nothing like the ones I am hoping to make, which would be several inches high/wide/deep, perhaps even a foot or more - but they work very well for a "fairy garden in a pot" sort of thing, as would a small wooden birdhouse, I suppose.

Then there are the special touches: twig furniture, acorn dishes, whatever I can find to make the scene as "authentic" as possible.

I put up barriers to protect the fairy garden/cemetery from weed-whackers

I'm not sure why I am so caught up in this... I am just going to go with it and see what happens - perhaps I'll discover something important about myself... It's interesting, though, that there are two movies coming out that deal with the Snow White story ~ !

Illustration by Kate Greenaway (Dover clip art - free sample)

As for me, I still have children's books from my childhood and a few that I discovered as an adult: "The Hoogles and Alexander" (a wonderful story about a giant rabbit who takes two children to a magical world where they learn valuable lessons about life, love and friendship); several books of collected stories, nursery rhymes and fables, accompanied by wonderful old illustrations; the entire Harry Potter series; "The Spiderwick Field Guide of Magical Creatures"; "Eloise Goes to Paris"; "The Child's Book of Wonder"... and so on. 

Perhaps I need to go back in order to go forward!

Yet Another Obsession...

Who is this siren?

Introducing... my handcrafted mermaid

The other night, I finished reading Sue Monk Kidd's "The Mermaid Chair" and realized that I forgot to blog about the paper-doll mermaid I made...

Serena, holding a baby seahorse and resting her arm on her fins

This one I created to give to a friend of mine - but it's not quite finished

She is quite lovely, and holds a baby seahorse - she also wears a necklace that I made with a tiny sea glass pendant... so authentic!

A close-up of her seahorse, her necklace and her tattoos!

I am going to write a suitable poem on the backside, after I make her lower half a little sturdier (thicker paper)
 

I love this little mermaid - I think her name is Serena!

There are so many lovely images of mermaids - the one below Serena is one I've seen in a couple of places (recently I saw it imprinted on a glass plate for a nightlight - quite enchanting) but I am not able to find out who the artist is...

The mysterious Victorian mermaid illustration

Being so busy with fairy gardens and their houses, mermaids and renaissance faires, I've sort of neglected my chores - but I'll get around to them eventually!

It's so much fun trying to create these mystical images and to find suitable materials to make something that will appeal not only to me but to others...

Good night and sweet dreams!

Calling All Nature Spirits

Ferns and spotted jewelweed alongside the stream

Yesterday I spent a lot of time wandering around in the yard and working on the little fairy garden I'm establishing near the house. 

Last night I went to a class to learn about nature spirits; I also have a wonderful book, A Complete Guide To Faeries and Magical Beings by Cassandra Eason. 

A gnarled tree root living next to the water

My plan is to spend a little more time outside than I usually do (see my post earlier this year about my hopeful attempts at "Earthing") and to carve out at least two small sanctuaries for myself where I can commune with nature (one in the front and one in the back).

The biggest problem with this crusade is that the front of our house is quite close to a small yet busy road, plus we're one house down from a four-way stop. There's a volunteer fire department just down the road (yesterday, the ambulance screamed by three times - the fire engine, too, often roars by multiple times a day); in the back yard it's a little quieter, except there's a busy little shop on one side and a gas station that repairs cars right behind us.

A view upstream where the sun filters down a bit more

Even though there's a little stream between our house and our neighbor on the other side, and lovely woods directly across the street, there is always traffic noise - people honking the horn or playing the car radio loudly, or groups of bicyclists whizzing by as they yell out "Turn right!" and  (worst of all) the motorcycles revving their very loud engines as they slow down to stop and then take off through the intersection - there's rarely a tranquil moment, especially during the day.

I finally brought the gazing ball back outside (front yard)

But I am determined to do something about it this year - plant some protective bamboo or a row of some kind of tree between the house and the road, or put up some sort of temporary tent or wall of fabric for the summer, something that will look pretty and protect us a little from the loud sounds and obnoxious fumes of passers-by, who are also (I assume) trying to get home or to someplace peaceful themselves.

Chippy Alert: I'll have to make a "chipmunk crossing" sign!

The cats, I must say, are thrilled to catch sight of the busy little chipmunks who are always dashing across the front steps; and on the back porch, 'way up high, a clutch of house wrens are getting ready to leave the nest. 

Spring is giving way to summer and, although I will miss my dear little Nancy, who loved to come outside and enjoy it with me, I am ready to make the most of it. 

Nancy soaking up some sunshine not long before she left me

I will imagine her little sweet spirit sitting next to me, watching for the glimmer of tiny wings.

My Latest Obsession

This butterfly was resting on the flowering kale plants

Here's what I've been up to the past two days (in addition to teaching a class at work and attending a Nature Spirit workshop at the store):

Rock, moss and "tufts" by the stream near the house

I've been weeding and tending the area where I buried my sweet little Nancy, thinking I would plant many flowers and have some statues, etc. there

Nancy's cairn, down and to the right of our front door

Well, I started thinking about making a little "fairy garden" with a little "fairy house" tucked away and, now that I've been sort of researching them and thinking about how to go about making something that would look really natural (or, um, supernatural), well, now I just want to start making lots of them! I found some web sites and blogs by people who do this sort of thing for a living... and, while I don't intend to do that, I do find that I want to really focus on making things for this little garden and, while I'm at it, for other places, too, (but secretly, you know, sort of "stealth")

My first attempt - not natural at all, but I'll fix it up later

 I need to gather lots of twigs, bark, moss, pebbles, shells, leaves and things like that. I found many images to inspire me, showing tiny teepees (or, if you like, "tipis") and multi-level fairy mansions with winding stairs and verandas and hammocks and clotheslines and miniature garden tools and watering cans...

The possibilities are endless, and I have lots of ideas about what I want to do in my little pet cemetery!

Debris on the stone wall near our little stream

Hopefully, I'll have more to show you soon - it's late, I'm tired, and I have two days of work ahead of me before I head to the Renaissance Faire on Sunday: Huzzah!

Finally... May

I bought this groovy lemon-lime lamp to energize my work space

I have always loved the month of May; it is, after all, the time when we finally break free of winter's icy grip for good - until the end of autumn - and it also used to signal the end (or almost the end) of school so it triggers memories of long, lazy summer days, horseback riding and camping and going to the beach with friends... and it is, after all, the month of my birth, and represents things like emeralds, lily-of-the-valley, the hawthorn tree and other juicy portents of the natural and supernatural world.

Pink dogwood blooming in a parking lot

Everywhere I look, all the trees (well, almost all) finally have their leaves back and the bulbs and forsythia and other early-birds are giving way to achingly beautiful blooming trees like dogwoods (white as well as several shades of luscious pink), white and purple lilacs with their unforgettable scent, daringly dark Japanese red maples and wistfully pale wisteria, about which I can honestly say I am seeing more of it this year than ever before. 

I finally wire-wrapped this Ocean Jasper I bought a while ago

Up here in New England, Nature's palette is a treat for sore eyes: Even though winter was much kinder to us this year than the year before, it's always the spring and summer months that make me feel more connected to the Earth. Winter is too bleak and cold to suit my personality and, although I know we need that seasonal break, I am a Southern girl in my soul and so I breathe easier knowing May is here at last.

Two votives I made hang in the upstairs window

My Beltane "revels" only went as far as lighting a few candles inside - there was a breeze blowing that night and I didn't want the embers flying all about. I was tired, and sure enough the next morning I had a sore throat and the sniffles. Today it's more like a cold, but manageable, so I hope to get a few things done. 

There's always something that needs to be done... I just have to find time and patience to begin and end the many projects that await me. I hope you are successful in your own attempts at getting something done this week and, most especially, have the time to enjoy them. Happy May!