There, now I've lost my three male readers!
I adored the Cicely Mary Barker Flower Fairies books as a child and am delighted that my two-year-old loves my original books just as much. These are some of my favourite images from them...
They taught me so much about the different plants and flowers, both through the accurate illustrations and informative poems which accompany each fairy. The sweet fairy folk fed my sense of awe and wonder at the beauty of the natural world and my desire for the reality of the magical in everyday life. But it's just not the done thing to be 15, or 25 and into fairies. So I left them to one side. But I didn't ever stop loving them.
Enter my dear children. And re-enter fairies into my life. Wonderful!
And I have discovered that I am not the only mama whose sense of the magical has been re-invigorated, and validated, by helping to create a little enchantment for their children.
A dear friend has the most whimsical book of fairy fashion which I adore looking at every time I am at her house - you see, I always wanted to be a fashion designer when I was a little girl. And fairy fashion - think leaf slippers and petal jackets - is my thing.
Welcome to Fairie-ality: The Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand
I have a flower fairy patchwork on the go for my girls...one year and counting, it might be ready for next Christmas! And I went through a stage of making lots of lovely fairy cards using the decoupage prints of the original flower fairy pictures. Sometimes I put a seasonal flower fairy on our nature table. In fact we sent two flower fairy cards to my mum for her birthday just this morning! We have the books, and a wall chart....
We have lots of little Steiner flower fairies, gnomes, elves and root children on the nature table. With many, many more being dreamed up at the moment! My next enterprise is peg flower fairies (see links below!) as I am not that good as sewing ones that look very sweet! And flower fairies HAVE to be sweet and pretty.
My project for this year is a fairy house in our new garden, out of fallen logs, bark and moss, and equipped with little fairy furniture, for all sorts of imaginary games outdoors.
If you share my fairy passion then do check out these wonderful blogs for incredible creativity and inspiration.
http://www.fairyhouses.com/pictures/
http://twigandtoadstool.blogspot.com/2010/04/its-fairy-weeklets-make-fairy-houses.html
http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairy-furniture-chair-and.html
And then some little fairy folk to inhabit the house...
http://webloomhere.blogspot.com/2011/02/wooden-peg-people-tutorial-part-1.html
http://twigandtoadstool.blogspot.com/2011/02/blossom-fairies-to-beckon-spring.html
http://twigandtoadstool.blogspot.com/2010/08/woodland-fairy-folk.html
I used to have a fower fairy book as a child too :-) Rebe's not crazy about fairies, she believes in them alright and will talk about them occassionally, but they are just a bot too girly for her I guess, she's more into unicorns and the like, and of course Peter Pan :-)
ReplyDeleteHave you ever visited Bewilderwood in Norfolk? Very magical day out (don't go in summer hols on a weekend though as its heaving) Its a gorgeous woodland themepark devised by a rather whacky landowner who writes stories about Boggles and Twiggles. Kind of fairy related but the idea is the same...enchanting woods with little creatures, litle houses dotted around the woods and a feeling of stepping into another little world. Lots of high walkways and wooden frames to climb and very quirky throughout. Do you have the Sybelle Von Olfers book that has been made into a quilt? That is truly magic!
ReplyDeleteHope everyones feeling a bit better- MF
When I was about 10, I drew picture after picture of flower fairies with colored pencils. There was a morning-glory fairy, a clover fairy, a forget-me-not fairy -- all flowers we had in our yard. Then around the yard, I used to build little houses for the fairies to live in. I don't think I really "believed" in the strictest sense, but I had so much fun.
ReplyDelete"Little, Big" by John Crowley. Fairies for grown-ups. Or not so grown ups. :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little,_Big
ReplyDelete