Beckoning The Fairies...

In our love for the fairies, we were inspired to create a little home for them... with high hopes that they felt so welcome that they decide to stay!

With magic in the air, we set off into the fairy filled hills and forests to collect our fairy garden supplies.

We found and dug up some delicate mosses, a baby maple tree, little fairy flowers, sage and grasses.

We lovingly transplanted them into a big pot of soil, watered our new garden and then began to dream up how we could make it a home.

We crafted and arranged until we wanted to move in ourselves!

Let's take you on a tour...

We offered them 

 A (shell) pool of water for them to swim and cool off in...

 little toadstools and a wee ladder for them to climb up and sit with the robin eggs.

A living room set for tea...

and a crystal cave, with a roaring fire and two stone chairs, for them to warm themselves at.

A little sink for washing...

and a wishing well to wish at.

An acorn swing in a pussy willow tree and yellow flower moss in a walnut shell, to help them feel right at home.

For the fairy babies we made a walnut cradle. We lined it with pussy willows and asked their bee friends to be the baby guardians.

We made an acorn mail box and wrote a teeny tiny letter to await their arrival.

We  found & planted them some wild strawberries and gave them a wee wagon to pull their juicy treats in.

We "planted" some puff trees we made for them (dandelion clocks, preserved on twigs), thinking these seemed to come from the fairy realm. 

We made them a cozy bed with pussy willow pillows and a feather birchbark blanket...

and just incase they felt so at home that more babies came, we also made a little milkpod cradle....

and walnut, dragonfly cradle to await the babes.

A  little lamp to light up a birchbark book full of magical stories.

A little cove of flowers and a butterfly friend.

Finally, we set them a table of flowers and nectar...

 hoping they would soon be gathered here together.

We stay close by our fairy garden and watch for signs of their approval and presence. Many butterflies, dragonflies and bees seem to enjoy hovering and hanging out amidst their new little home ~ we like to imagine that this is a sure sign that the fairies are here and have come to stay.

We are linking up our fairy garden with the other fairy lovers out there, over at the Magic Onions. Head on over and check out all the fairy love!

Thank you for taking the time to tour with us, on our fairy home creating adventure.

*Fairy dust to all * 

Wet-Felted Soap

A bar of natural, wet-felted soap takes just three materials to make - soap, roving and water - and can be made in about 20 minutes, plus additional drying time. Not only is the process quick, easy and delicious smelling, but there is plenty of room for imagination and creativity.

 Felting soaps can also lengthen the life of your soap, and even eliminate the need for a washcloth.

 Whether you make one bar of soap for a special gift or several for your home, soap felting makes a safe, simple, hands-on home project for adults and kids alike!

My niece had a birthday recently so I decided to felt up some sweet smelling soaps for her.

 These soaps I purchased from a good friend at Two Trees Soap, who makes the most wonderful, all natural, amazing smelling, long lasting soap.

I started with her Clary Shea soap.

Clary Sage essential oil is a low, calming, and reassuring scent as is mellow Rosewood. Ylang Ylang oil is distilled from fragrant blossoms is a sweet and mild aphrodisiac. Colored with Red Clay and ground Rose Petals, this soap adds a nice finish to your end-of-the-day bath. Wonderful for relieving cramps and hormone stress.

 

Lay out the wool so that it is about as thick as a normal washcloth. Wrap the wool around the soap, both lengthwise and widthwise so that the bar is completely covered.

You can layer colors together, or just add a stripe of a contrasting color if you choose to jazz it up a bit.

 Take your felting needle and poke it into the roving, focusing on places where it is loosest.

 Soon you will have a fairly secure little package that will look something like this.

 Immerse your soap into hot, hot soapy water.

At this point, the soap and wool will look like a wet cat. Gently begin to massage the soap and wool together. Be careful not to be too rough at this stage or you'll expose the soap underneath.

Continue to rub ... squeeze... dip it in the water... rub... squeeze... dip (you get the picture) until it is holding together nicely.

When the felt starts to shrink down, you need to up the agitation a notch. I scrub my soap on a sushi bamboo mat, but you can use anything that will give you more agitation. Roll it around on the mat and keep at it until the felt is flat, snug and smooth with no holes.

Run your felted soap under some cold water and then squeeze to remove any excess water. At this point you can set your soap somewhere to dry completely. The wool will continue to felt as the bars are used for washing, and the bars should be allowed to air dry between uses for best results.

Off these sweet smelling little packages went, infused with some Auntie love.

(My niece and I on her birthday)

Looking forward to more soapy creations.

Be Well

~ Shanti~

ALL SPUNK NO JUNK!!!! Link up!!

Hello beautiful friends...oh sweet summertime...sure seems to be a busy time for all, and I mean, can you believe July is half over!!!!!!! 

Please join us in our Monday link up...

we love seeing your creations!! 

xoxo

maureen & shanti!

Inspiration Stones

On walks and days at the beach we always seem to come home with pockets full of stones (me included!) They often end up on our nature table or in the fairy garden. This time, we thought we would try something different and make some stones with one word reminders for us all.  Words we want to feel and embrace in life right now. Words to inspire.

To create:

 we choose our word, cut out letter decals to spell it and applied them to the top of the stone.

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These words now look up at us from around the home... gentle reminders to breath in the gratitude, open up to the love and be present to the joy.

I think these would be lovely in the garden, in plants, on tables around the house... pretty much anywhere!

May this day bring you a sense of gratitude, love and joy.

~ Shanti ~ 

Wax Rocks

Looking for a simple summer activity?

These wax rocks just might fit the bill!

Here's how it works...

Gather some rocks.

Warm them in the oven or out in the bright sun until they are warm enough for wax to melt on them.

Place them on a sheet of paper.

Take your crayons and draw away!

The girls we delighted to see how the colors swirled and blended.

The best rocks for this seem to be river stones if you can find some ~ nice and smooth.

Somehow wearing a cat mask seems to help with the process too ; )

Be sure to have close supervision and explain that only the crayons should touch the rocks. 

With Love
~ Shanti ~