Town in a teacup

More makings for Brighton's Applefest Craft Show. They are the absolute opposite of Hell in a Handbag ;)

Houses, mushrooms and moss, oh my!

We've signed up to do a craft fair next month. It's exciting but it's also a little daunting. I've been up late every night gluing my fingers together and straining my eyes. Here's one of the things I've been working on...

They are the teeniest things that you ever did see and are pretty precious. Much, much better in person (damned soul stealing photography!).

For the Keeper of Bees

Here's my second wee fairy cupboard. This one belongs to the Keeper of Bees and is filled with lovely golden yellow things. The total size is about 11" tall including the base. All items are fixed in place but the doors do swing open. :)

It's an absolutely GORGEOUS day out there today and I'm off to drink my tea in the sunshine.

A faerie gardener hutch

I've seen those wee hutches around and the wonderful things people do with them. I decided to try my hand at them too and bought up a bunch. Here's the first one complete, a teeny gardener's hutch filled with loads of fairy gardening goodies.

The whole thing measures just 8.5" tall. I used an upturned box as the base and then added a wee staircase I had leftover from one of the wee houses I made. The measuring tape is from an awesome sewing basket I bought at an auction two weeks ago that was filled with vintage goodies.

There's some pots filled with rose petals and lavender buds.

Inside there are bottles with dried mugwort, chamomile and rue, teeny tiny houses, a thimble, buttons, scrolls, books, a quill, the smallest spade you've ever seen :)

On top there's a nest carefully tucked away, and behind the cupboard there are snail shells and a lovely little shovel.

Swiping ideas = Summer Project

Have you heard of pintrest.com? It's one of those sites that quickly sucks you in. It's filled with lovely and wonderful things and provides endless inspiration. Yesterday I saw this ...

Source: goldenagegardens.blogspot.com via Nichola on Pinterest

I was smitten and immediately compelled to have a spiral in my own garden. So I pulled Big D away from the tv today and we weeded, collected rocks and created a fairy spiral in the front garden.

Not quite as grand as the inspiration but I think the faerie folk will enjoy skipping about it. If I play my cards right, maybe next year I can convince the husband to make a big and proper one so I can skip along too!

It's going to be a long night

Our garden is over flowing with veggie goodness right now. It's pretty damned spectacular out there. Just look as this huge basket of swiss chard I just picked.

Now I have to process it so that the fruits of our labour won't go to waste. For this giant basket of swiss chard I'll wash, trim, blanch, squeeze and freeze.

There's loads of other stuff back there too.

Too many eggplants to count.

Dozens of peppers.

Tomatoes that look like huge bunches of grapes.

The question is... can we keep up?

Make-a-Mess Mish Mash Giveaway

See all this old stuff?

I'm giving it away.

There's an old book, some vintage children's book illustrations, old domed clock glass, photographs, vintage bingo card, buttons, ribbon and more. I'll add more goodies to the mix as I go through my stash.

What do you have to do? Just leave a comment below and I'll randomly pick a winner on August 30th, 2011. Please make sure I can contact you via your comment! If I can not, another winner will be chosen at random.

If more than 30 people enter I'll giveaway a second package of goodies.

That's it. Easy peasy!

Good luck and may the force with you.

They grow up so fast, don't they.

Here's sweet little Padfoot who is growing so fast. He's such a lovely dog. He plays nicely (most of the time) and doesn't listen to a word I say unless I've got a treat in my hand. No worries, he's definitely a keeper and we all love him to bits. I think he loves us too because when we got back from camping he was so excited to see us he piddled a bit. Who knew getting peed upon would be a compliment.

I've been working hard on a few things but I'll wait to post them. I think you'll like them. I've enjoyed doing them so much I've spent far too much time making them. Sometimes I get so absorbed in the making that I forget things like bed time.

I'll be making things like mad over the next few months getting ready to do a couple of small local shows AND something special too. We're going to have an open house here the first weekend of December to show off our stuff and spread the holiday spirit. I'm looking forward to it already but I'm dreading all the prep work... there's a hell of a lot of it!

Will keep you posted and hopefully show off my new goodies in no time at all.

We're back!

Every year we grab the tent and camp at a different Ontario Provincial Park. This year we went to Bonnechere which sits on Round Lake, in the Ottawa valley, just a short trip from Algonquin park.

The beach was fab.

Our site was right on the Little Bonnechere river.

The weather was (mostly) great.

D especially loved just sitting at the waters edge and catching a few fish :)

I could have done without the two kids blowing whistles at 6 in the morning (parents! how can you not hear that?!?) but all in all it was a pretty darn great trip. Bonnechere definitely ranks as one of my favourite parks so far and I'd totally consider a return visit :)

We've camped at private grounds and they don't even come close to the Provincial Park experience. Most individual PP sites allow for quite a bit of privacy, unlike the fishbowl setup of many privately operated grounds. The Prov. Parks we've been to have had great daily kid programs, hiking trails, clean beaches, and reasonable rentals (ie $30 full day canoe rental incl. all needed life jackets). Bonnechere also offered free fishing rods, beach balls, and sporting equipment. They might not be as flashy as some private campgrounds, but the Provincial Parks we've visited have felt feel a whole lot safer, cleaner and are far quieter... apart from the whistling kids.