Lordy, lordy...

It's my birthday in a couple of weeks.

I will be turning 40.

My mum asked me how I felt about that. About the 4-0. I'm absolutely a-ok with it. As I said to her, there is nothing in my youth that makes me regret that it has passed, or makes me feel that getting older is such a bad thing. My life has improved with age. In fact, I'm rather glad of the distancing of youth and all if its woes, insecurities, uncertainties and general shittiness.

I shake my head when people say that being young is the best time of your life. It's not. Not for all of us. Not by a long shot. For some of us, growing older is salvation. For some of us it's not until we are well into adulthood that life really begins and actually becomes enjoyable.

So I'll be glad to be 40. I don't mind the wrinkles. I'm glad to be a grown lady, wearing tiaras on a Sunday, building fairy things in my garden, finding magic and shaping my world into something worthwhile and good.


ANYWAY, I've decided my gift to myself is a challenge for the coming year. I used to read daily and I miss it. I thought that I'd set myself a list of books that every person probably aught to read that I have not. I'm a pretty slow reader (I like to savour every word) so I think a goal of 20 books over the next year would be reasonable. I also thought while I was as it, I might make a list of 20 films that I've shamefully never seen that are considered essential viewing (I've never seen any of the Godfather movies!).

I'll check in once a week or so to let you how it's going, what I'm reading, what I watched.

I'm open to suggestions so please don't be shy about suggesting something that you feel I absolutely MUST read or see. What are some of your favourite books and films of all time that I should be certain to include?

Ducks!

Given that we have 6 very cute baby ducks living with us at this very moment, I've been posting a slew of duckling photos on my facebook page. Tomorrow is the last day for the bombardment of cuteness that is "Baby Duck Week". Here are a few of my favourite pics of the 'lings.

 

The handsome fellow starring in most of those pictures is Petyr, Master of the Quack, Head of House Peep Peep. Today is his 1 week hatchday!

The darker duckling standing in the teacup is Bene. Here he is just a day hatched...

Bene had a bit of a struggle getting out of his shell and as a result dinged up his bill. Don't worry, he's fine and dandy now :) 

There's more pics over my facebook page if you'd like to check the whole bunch.

Godefroy's Book Shop

When I was asked if I'd like to participate in Horizon's fundraiser this year by getting my fairy on, I gave an enthusiastic YES! Inspired by the Urban Fairy Doors of Ann Arbor, Horizon's is adding fairy stops on their 17th Annual Home and Garden Tour. Partnered with Furby House Books, I've created a little bookshop for book loving fairies (which really means all of them, because all fairies love books... even goblins.)

The piece measures 11" tall x 8.5" wide, the size of a regular sheet of paper. The base is a cardboard box shaped like a book, very recently gifted to me. How's that for timing?!

The shop window says "Godefroy's New, Used & Rare Books ~Specializing in fairy tales~"

Above, window boxes were created with White Picket Fence. The edging on the awning (made from Graphic 45, Good Ol' Sport, Victory) is Thin Fleur Dresden Border. The tiny flowers filling the boxes are Alpha Stamps Violet Cherry Blossom Garland.
 

If you peek inside the windows you'll see scads of tiny handmade books!

There are clothes peg steps leading up to a lemony yellow door. The little sign can be turned to read "Open", but right now the fairies are still doing inventory.

Peeking inside you can see loads of books piled upon the floor (Graphic 45's Mother Goose & Ring Around the Rosies.)

I made over 470 little books, about half of them made it inside the shop. They all open. My intention was to leave them loose so that the big book shop owners could move them around, but I realized that was probably a bit of a pain, so most of them are stuck in place.

I have left space for some faux tealights to be placed inside to flicker and glow through the windows.

The insides of the windows have not been framed in. To be honest I don't think the inside will be displayed quite so openly so I decided to leave out that detail and save a tiny bit of time. I don't mind that it's not absolutely perfect... imperfection can be quite charming after all :)

Dotted around the shop are pictures of some authors I love dearly.

JK Rowling, Roald Dahl, Margaret Atwood, Hans Christian Andersen...

Edward Gorey glares at you as you climb up the matchstick ladder. Poor Lewis Carroll is hiding to the left.

Also keeping a watchful eye are Maurice Sendak, Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Munsch. Beatrix Potter is tucked in there somewhere too.

And that completes the tour of Godefroy's Books!

I'm not entirely certain when it will be on display. The 'official' tour event takes place on Sunday, July 6th. Be sure to pop in to Furby House Books if you're in the Port Hope area to support a great cause and independent book sellers.

A Mad Hatters Tea Party with Petaloo!

This summer I'm planning a Mad Hatter's Tea so Petaloo's "It's Your Birthday" Birthday Week provided the perfect excuse to start making fun accessories!

I've created several fun little Mad Hatter hats and a 'This way / That way' sign post.

To create the sign I embellished a small piece of dowling with washi tape, affixed the small arrows, and then placed it in an old teacup. There's a few cute little sticks and embellishments from doodlebug in there too :)

The base of the post is decorated with dried moss and pretty, sparkly, Velvet Hydrangeas... LOVE, love, love the Fuschia!

The hats are constructed of paper from the "Sugar Shoppe" paper collection from Doodlebug Designs.

The little pom-pom trims from Petaloo's Fancy Trims are absoluletly perfect for finishing off those edges!

And how much fun are those sparkly Glitz trims?!!

I am certain the Hatter himself would approve of a hat the colour of orange sherbet :)
I had such a great time creating these pieces. The "Sugar Shoppe" papers from Doodlebug Designs paired perfectly with the always outstanding and oh-so-fun products from Petaloo.

... AND if you'd like to make accessories for your own Mad Hatters Tea Party, I've created this template for the projects above. Happy making!

Supply List:
Botanica Blooms 1102 > Teal
Botanica Minis 1101 > Teal, Fuschia, Soft Yellow
Flora Doodles Velvet Hydrangeas 1296 > Cream, Fuschia
Assorted Fancy Trims 1910 > Shades of Teal, Shades of Pink
Fancy Trim Glitz 1912  > Fuschia
Crochet Lace Fancy Trim 1482 > Spice
Doodlebug "Sugar Shoppe" Papers, Sprinkles, stickers and washi Tape
Wooden dowling
Tea cup
Hot glue

AND you just might want to hop over to the Petaloo blog because they're having a great big fat giveaway to celebrate "It's Your Birthday" Week!

Petyr Baelish and a Magazine Spread

Two things that have absolutely nothing to do with one another today.

#1. My 221B Baker Street tin is featured in this months issue of  Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine! How exciting is that? Thrilled to the gills to be in those pages along with so many other amazing projects and miniature art!

Check it out! There it is tucked in the bottom right corner of the cover! *faints dead away* Could not possibly be more excited. Here's the loverly layout...

#2. Ducklings!

Mr. Pixie bought an incubator a while ago and has been turning eggs twice a day for about a month. Yesterday this happened...

Babies! So far there are 5. Another is hatching as I type away. This fellow was the first to crack his way through...

I've dubbed him Petyr, Master of the Quack and Head of House Peep Peep! after Petyr Baelish from Game of Thrones.

One of his very first schemes was to peep as loudy as possible last night, protesting the fact that he was all alone and needed a snuggle. Today he is much happier with his new brothers and sisters to keep him company.

 I'm waiting for one to come along and peep that his name is Jean Reno.

Leon's Window

Here's my completed mini in honor of Luc Besson's amazing film, Leon aka The Professional. It's dear Leon's apartment, with his best friend, the plant, hanging out on the ledge.

"It's my best friend. Always happy. No questions."

I've based the piece on the last apartment Leon and Mathilda live in. Here's a screen capture with a mighty handsome Jean Reno as Leon. That voice! Those eyes! The whiskers! **swoon!**

The piece measures 5" tall, a bit bigger than the tins. It was built upon a Graphic 45 Small Matchbook Box which are amazingly sturdy things. The brickwork is created with egg cartons, the sill is matchsticks and coffee stir sticks.

The box does slide open (carefully!) for access to the interior...

... and a better view of the Madonna, bullet marked walls and Farmland milk cartons.

I think one of my favourite things about the little box is the pull shade and actual window. The pull is a tiny White Pearl Stamen, the leaves from the potted plant are taken from this Yellow Flower Garland.

While making the tiny cartons I was looking for dummy text to fill it out. I started putting in quotes from the movie and ended up making this too...

A mini milk carton measuring around 6.25" tall. Cross my heart, I think that is possibly the coolest thing I have ever made. And that dear friends is your freebie!

It's covered in quotes and facts about the film. The nutrition facts is a list of the cast and crew. I'm not convinced that one or two of them are 100% accurate so there might be an edit or two over the next week but...

... you can download the PDF file here for your very own Leon milk carton.

I've made two Leon windows. The one posted here will be listed in my etsy shop tomorrow. The other is mine forever!!!!