The Truth

A short while ago I was asked if I'd be interested in doing an interview for a local publication. After the initial outbursts of "Hells bells!" and "Yee Haw!" I warned the writer that I'm actually rather dull and that most of the story would probably have to be made up for interest sake.

Last night the photographer came over to take snaps to go with the article. D was beside himself, and suddenly became very interested in the work his boring old mum does. I told him that he should document what was going on. Here are some of those blurry photos for your viewing pleasure...

Photog: Just work how you normally would.
Me: Umm, I usually sit on the floor surrounded by mess.

D did manage to get just a few photos taken of himself and I'm certain that's all he'll be talking about on the playground today.

 

The photographer was disappointed that my studio was so clean which means I now have a valid excuse for keeping the place a mess.

I sure that any minute now someone will discover that I was telling the truth, that there really isn't anything to write about. Someone is bound to say "Who the heck is this chick and why in tarnation are we writing about her?" Until they figure it out, I'll just play along. :P 

How to... make a thimble garden

And finally, here's how the mushrooms and houses come together to make thimble gardens like the ones above. Enjoy!

Wands, of the Goblin variety

 

I've been giving an awful lot of thought to goblins lately. I'm sure the ones who live by the stream are up to something. Last week they broke a patch of ice poor Padfoot was standing on, giving the pooch a bit of a fright and four very wet paws.

Not to be confused with Hobgoblins (which are actually rather nice, often misunderstood creatures, who could be compared to a house brownie in temperament and behaviour) the goblins who live down by the stream are quite mean-spirited. They push and trip anyone who 'invades' their space. They cloak themselves with invisibility and create all sorts of mischief. In the summer, they keep swarms of bugs and mosquitoes, making it very unpleasant to explore their domain.

I wonder if some ale would appease them? Hmmm, I don't know how I feel about having drunken goblins on my doorstep demanding another round.

And the winner is....

The lovely Mrs E! Congrats!

Last day to enter!

Just a little reminder that the Thimble Garden Giveaway is closing today. Check out the original post for details. There's still time to enter.

I'll announce the winner this evening.

xoxo

A hunting we will go...

Tonight, D and I went on a faerie hunt. We weren't trying to capture the wee things, just out to spy clues that they may be around. We set off just before twilight and headed to the field behind our property.

The first thing we found was a lovely white feather in our path. D was sure it was a sign that the faerie folk were welcoming us.

There is a group of strange little trees that sits in that field. They are absolutely brilliant. Old and covered in moss with giant thorns. We decided this would be a good place to leave our offering.

The thorns on those old souls really are amazing.You can just see our house on the right of the photo between the branches.

 

Now, I don't have photographic proof of it but we did have a VERY strange experience back in that small grove of trees. When we were ready to move on we called to our pooch, Padfoot, to join us. He ran towards us and then seemed to get stuck, caught on something and then ran in circles. I moved forward to 'free' him but could see that he wasn't caught at all. I moved forward again and this time he seemed to focus on something in the trees and stood up! Every time we would call him, his attention was drawn away, and he would stand up on his hind legs again and again!

After that spot of excitement D found this little spot which he is quite certain is a faerie home.

We examined loads of little holes that might have led to exciting faerie places.

We found a thin little trail, only a few inches wide, but determined that this must be a deer path and probably didn't have anything to do with the wee folk.

The thing about twilight is that it turns to dark very quickly. Very soon it was time to head back inside for baths, tea and trying to get Dad to believe that the faeries had their way with poor Padfoot tonight.

Nighty night!

How to... Make Mossy Cottages

 As promised, here's a video demonstrating how to make the little mossy cottages above.



Be sure to make bunches, make loads of mushrooms, grab yourself some thimbles and come back next week to see how it all goes together.

If you are very lazy and don't want to make a little cottage just check out yesterday's post and you can try to win one instead :)

Do You Believe? A Thimble Garden Giveaway

Last week I said I'd do a giveaway and now seems like a fine time. I was thinking that perhaps we could follow up D's list of questions with one more...

If you believe in faeries shout it out! You can enter up to three times. Post a reply below, tweet @pixiehillstudio, and hop over to my facebook page and leave a comment. On Friday a winner will be randomly picked and sent the little thimble pictured above.

Be sure I can contact you if you win. Winner will have 3 days to send contact info. If the winner fails to answer a second entry will be chosen in it's place. Please, enter only once per entry type.

Good Luck!

Edited to add: Yes! This is open world wide for true faerie believers :)

Big D's questions about faerie folk

While whispering before sleep last night, my son said that most of the children in his class do not believe in faeries. Certainly he knows they are real (who else would take those treats we leave for them?), but the other boys and girls do not

D had a few questions so I thought I'd share them here... being that he is a terribly bright boy and you might have the same questions too.

(D's Questions / My answers)

What is a brownie?
A brownie is a type of house faerie. They are generally of the 'quite nice' sort. If they really like a family they might fix or take care of things when no one is looking.

Have you ever seen a brownie?
I'm quite sure I saw one scoot under the deck last week.

I thought faeries didn't like to be seen? What did it look like?
They don't. This one was moving particularly fast. I think I caught him off guard. I didn't get a really good look at him but he was wearing brown furs and leather. He was probably about 10" tall.

Did the dog chase him?
No. He was moving very fast and poor Paddy is very dim.

Are there boy faeries?
Absolutely! There are certain kinds of faeries that are ONLY male. I'm not sure exactly how that works but Leprechauns, for example, are only boys.

Do faeries like honey?
Faeries like honey, jam and bread. They also like sweet wine. But they do not like sweets like chocolate and candy. Lots of people say they like milk but from my experience they don't like it at all.

Does a salt ring keep goblins out?
A ring of salt keeps lots of bad things away. The thing to remember about goblins and other 'bad' faeries is that they really just want to be left alone. They aren't going to sneak into the house and do awful things to you. They mostly act naughty when people bother them.

What is a faerie tree?
It is a tree that the faerie folk either like, are attracted to, live in or near. They protect the tree and it is very bad luck to chop one down as it makes them angry and you do not want the faeries angry with you.

Are there any faerie trees here?
Just the other week I discovered a group of strange trees in the pasture behind us. They are very old, but small and have big thorns growing from them. There is something very special about that bunch of trees. I'm sure that there's something rather old that lives there. What do you think?

I think the tree at the bottom of the hill is a faerie tree.
Why is that?
Because there are lots of holes in it and they might lead to their homes.

 (One of the holes in D's faerie tree)

What about giants?
There are loads of types of faeries. They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are even human sized!

But they wouldn't tell anyone right? Human sized faeries wouldn't want anyone to know they were really a faerie.
Bingo.

And so today the kiddo plans to come home from school and make a tiny sled because he's sure the wee folk would like to go tobogganing down the big hill if there's another snowfall. And really, is there any better thing to do after school? I can't help but feel just a little bit sorry for all those kids who don't believe.

Two posts, one day... it's insanity!

Just posting a quick little note to encourage you to pop over to pixiehill.com. The place has gotten a bit of a beauty make-over this past week.

Of particular interest to you might be the page  things to print, make and do. If you've been hanging around here for ages and ages you've likely seen all of the stuff on there, but for those new friends, you might find something useful there.

Eventually Pixie Hill will replace all the knickertwists stuff out there with more emphasis on faerie things. If you happen to notice image/content overlap, that's why.

Also, a heads up, next week I'll be posting a 'how to' for making wee mossy roofed fairy cottages, and doing a thimble garden giveaway so be sure to poke your head in to see what's going on :)

I'll leave you with a photo of the long grass in the pasture behind our house. Walking through is a bit like stepping through a Van Gogh painting. All that fabulous wavy texture!

Have a grand weekend!

xoxo

Edited to add: P.S. Spend over $40 in the etsy shop this Saturday or Sunday and I'll send along a Thimble Garden as a thank you.

A little thaw

It's absolutely gorgeous outside this morning. The faeries seem hopeful that this is the actual start of spring. I get the feeling they are trying to be reserved (as reserved as faeries can be), afraid that Jack Frost will pounce and throw some chilly weather our way again.

The driveway at the bottom of our hill is still covered in a thick layer of ice. It's starting to melt, but you still risk sliding and falling on your bottom if you dare to walk across it. As it melts all sorts of little treasures reveal themselves.

I'm half expecting to see a little face staring up at me one day. I don't doubt that more than a few pixies have been caught beneath a bit of ice and had to wait until a thaw to escape.

KISS ... of the stupid variety

If you know me at all, you know I am a bit of a scatterbrain. I am forever in a state of at least a tiny bit of befuddlement. As much time as I spend making, a whole lot is wasted because I make things far more complicated than they need to be.

Why do I need two different blogs and websites with similar content? Hang on a mo'. I don't!

So I'm simplifying and trying to put KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid, not Knights In Satan's Service) in to practice.

You'll notice some changes here over the next while. I'm working on putting everything into one place and making it look pretty. In the end there will be more for you, less work for me, but it's going to take time.

In other words, please excuse the mess while I tidy up.

Cheers dears!

How to... make teeny weeny mushrooms

I was thinking that it would be nice to do a bog ole' tutorial. So, over the next couple of weeks I'll share how to make little toadstools, wee houses, and eventually a thimble garden and town in a teacup.

Here's the first part... making miniature toadstools and mushrooms. Please excuse the chubby, grubby fingers :)



Happy making!

A secretive altoid tin

Attn: crazyalien8, if you are peeking, avert your eyes!

I'm taking part in craftster's Wicked Vices Altoid Tin Swap. I had an idea in my head, a vision of how I wanted my tin to turn out, and my tin disagreed and went entirely in it's own direction.

Based on my partners prompt of 'secretiveness' I had planned to do all sorts of little drawers, lots of crusty patina, a sort of mad scientists stash of bad things but instead ended up with this...

You can't see it too well in the photo but she's sitting under convex glass.

The base is made from a little star shaped wooden box I picked up from Michael's for 6¢, the vertical part is 3 chess pieces stacked atop one another. I've been calling her "The Keeper of Secrets" because she does hold a secret... 

Our lady pops right off to reveal cubbies filled with tiny treasures. (She's held on to the tin with magnets)

Here's hoping my partner likes her!

Padfoot

Here's our furry friend Padfoot, playing in the snow a week or so ago. He's looking at me like that because he really doesn't understand why I won't let him chase the people walking down the street. He looks at me like this a lot.

 

We love Padfoot and are so glad to have him in our family. I adore that lovely black snout, but even I have to admit that he's dumb as bricks.

One of the reasons my husband agreed to getting a dog was to give me a sense of security while home alone. You know, a little barking at strange noises to make me feel a bit safer. Well I can say with complete certainty that if ever the recycling bin, Professor Dumbledore,  Japanese ghosts, Vincent Van Gogh, Christmas angels, tin men, blue road signs or moose antlers ever decide to break in, Paddy will bark like a trooper... otherwise I'm probably on my own.

Ah well. Good thing he's so damned cuddly.

Another moon... THAT GLOWS IN THE DARK!

Let me say that this shrine has been the biggest pain in the bum in the whole wide world.

BUT IT GLOWS IN THE DARK!

I wasn't planning on putting the mice into this shrine but they hopped in anyway. They must been keen on adventure because at one point, when trying to clean up some excess glitter, the large one decided to jump up the vacuum hose! I won't even get started on the other ordeals with the glue, the pins or the glowwy paint... let's just say that I'm glad this one is done :)

Now listed on etsy

Spring is in the air... time to spy faerie folk!

I don't mind winter but this crazy weather has me longing for spring. I can't wait until everything starts growing, the earth gets squishy and muddy, and the faerie folk come out of hiding. (I think they are getting a bit fed up of the weather too, they've been quite active lately.)

With that in mind, here is a new faerie spying spoon wand I just finished up.

Listed in the etsy shop here

I think that this is one of my very favourites that I've done. I really like that it sort of looks rather primitive, or that perhaps it might have belonged to one of the lost boys of Peter Pan.

A Pumpkin Farm

I've been working like mad over the past couple of days. Loads of stuff "in-progress" at the moment, and hopefully a flurry of posts with wonderful stuff coming up. I finished this little shrine up this afternoon.

I used some of lovely little pumpkins that the fab rackycoo from craftster kindly sent my way. I think it rather looks like a little pumpkin farm :)

Available in the etsy shop HERE

Painting

I bought a bunch of canvas'.

They've been staring at me. Taunting me. Waiting for me to do something with them.

I've completed one painting and have two more that are well on their way.  This one is 12" squared, acrylic on canvas (available here).

What I'm really looking forward to (and dreading at the same time) is tackling the two xxl canvas' that I have sitting, waiting, for me jump on. Now, if only inspiration would knock me upside the head...

Did I mention...

Did I mention I won a little design competition? I did!

Here's the logo...

The Gates At Presqu'ile will be an arts centre for our wee town of Brighton. The building is located at 240 Presquile Parkway, just outside the gates of our beautiful provincial park, where an old mini-putt golf course was once located. 

I know it sounds a bit hokey, but it really is thrilling to be involved in a growing arts community like the one here. I couldn't have landed in a better spot if I tried :) 

Hey, I even got a nice little mention in the local paper for my win... but I will save you the horror of seeing my goofy double chinned photo :P


It's a PA day today and Big D has his friend over. They're skating on our homemade rink behind the chicken coop at the moment but we have big plans to make a miniature cardboard hockey rink this afternoon.Until then I'll savour the peace and quiet while they're outside.

A cold & more specimens

My husband shared his germs with me and they've done me in. I'm a sad sort of wreck at the moment, all sniffly, achey, and feeling generally out of sorts and all kinds of Blah!

Despite being sick I've finished up a rather large batch of faerie specimens under glass. I've got the first lot up on esty and will post more over the next week or so.

 

I think my favourite part of making these is coming up with the different stories for the specimen labels. This set includes the following:

No. 008.12 - Discovered one Tuesday in my sewing box. (Must secure the lid from now on!)

No. 016.12 - Noticed growing at the very back of the top desk drawer in the upstairs library.

No. 014.12 - Unearthed beneath a pile of odd socks sitting next to the washing machine.

It's a nice little exercise in creative thinking coming up with the one line stories. I highly recommend it :)

I'm off to vegetate on the couch and think about all the things I should be doing. I think watching an old movie and napping will probably do me better than housework this afternoon. I'll leave you with a lovely photo of the our lovely crooked house taken this past weekend when the world was fluffy and white. 

*dreamy sigh*

A no snow, snow day

I mentioned the wacky weather yesterday. Today we have a snow day with no snow.  There are no school buses running anywhere near us today. Here's why...

Doesn't look too bad. Until you take a closer look...

 

Everything is covered in ice. And I do mean every, single, thing. Every little blade of grass.

That may not look like too much to worry about until you realize that means every road is covered in a fine layer of slippery wet ice too. Add to that mix the crazy hilly nature of the land, a few insane drivers and you've got a disaster waiting to happen. Thank the heavens for the transportation gods who decided our kids were safer at home today.

Heck, even the dog was sliding about as he was trying to preform his morning 'ritual'. lol

Maybe, just maybe, I can convince D to join me in a bit of painting today... though I won't hold my breath.

A friend for Mouse, crazy weather, and they grow up so fast don't they

A sort of mishmashed post today.

I think I could easily become addicted to needle felting. I've made a little friend for Mouse.

I think I might try a white hare next.

The weather here has been terribly strange. Warm, rainy, frigid, freezing, snow, all within the span of a week. Last weekend there was plenty of white stuff on the ground and D and I took the shovels out and spent a few hours clearing a rather large skating area.

Today I look out and see that once again there is very little snow on the ground. I'm dreading the next dump of snow and having to shovel off that ice again... though D loves it and it's good healthy fun.

Lastly our dear Padfoot is growing big and strong and happy. He's a big dope but we love him. If we can just get him to not pee when he gets excited (ie. every single time someone walks in the door).

A fresh batch

I know things have been quiet around here lately but I assure you that only a tiny little bit of my time has been spent watching terribly romantic movies and pining for a Mr. Darcy. Truth be told I'm much more of a

Col. Brandon gal... or even Vicomte de Valmont (which I know is awful but John Malcovich's swagger in Dangerous Liaisons makes my knees a bit wobbly). But back on track eh?

I have been making things but it's been one of those periods where I have 16 things on the go and nothing is quite ready to show off. I have managed to finish up a batch of new thimble gardens and I dare say that they improve with each round. Here's the latest.... they sort of make me wish for spring.

These'll be posted slowly over the next week or so in the etsy shop if you're interested.

I've also managed to clean up my upstairs studio which is where I usually work in the wee hours of the night. It was pretty damned disgraceful but I've managed to tidy up and am happy to report that the floor is now mostly visible.

I do have a few ideas thunking around in my noggin', itching to get out, as well as several large blank canvas' that mock me every time I walk past. Funny how even with all the time in the world there isn't enough time ;)

A needle felted mouse

Today was grand. Coffee and chit chat with a fellow adult, interrupted only by my dim doggy piddling, puking and being a general nuisance (but I love him despite of his mentality and neediness). I don't normally miss socializing, I rather like my isolation actually, but today was lovely and made me realize that perhaps I like good company a little more than I realize.

Anywho, after my visit I finished up this fellow...

He's around 2.5" tall and made from a batch of poopy free wool I cleaned and brushed in the summer. I tea dyed the wool, used seed beads for eyes and those little whiskers are bristles of fur.

I think I'll be including this fellow in a large moon shrine that keeps turning over in my wee brain. Until then he's sitting on my shelf looking rather innocent (which you know means he's up to something naughty).

A Night Garden

And another drawer shrine is complete. This fellow really is my favourite moon face. He's just perfect with his wobbles :) He's looking over a faerie night garden of real dried flowers *sigh*.

A better look inside...

Now available in the etsy shop.

And another happy moon...

My husband is pretty great. He knows that I'd much prefer junk to flowers and brings home some pretty fab treats for my making. A while ago he brought home a set of ikea drawers similar to those pictured below and asked if there was something I could do with them... ummm YEAH!

And so I've been busy making happy moon shrines from those drawers and have finally completed one...

It's actually quite a bit bigger than the ones I've been working on. It's just over 5" x 7" x 3" which is the smallest drawer size in the set I have. A couple of others will go towards other happy moon shrines and the left overs will become other things entirely... probably. Though there is one that is really rather large that would make a fabulous fairy city. Hmmm.

Anywho, this shine is now available on etsy here

xoxox

Happy 2012!

It's been sort of quiet around here. I took an unexpected break for a couple of weeks thanks to a few germs that showed up unannounced. Little buggers.

Though I'm not big on celebrating New Year, or making resolutions, I am excited about 2012. I've got loads of ideas floating around in my noggin' and I hope I can push myself and create a boatload of stuff. I have a bazillion canvas' hanging around and I'm looking forward to jumping into some painting soon (when I can settle on what exactly it is I'd like to paint)

So far I've made a slew of little houses which are still unfinished but will eventually make their way into some larger box/shrines along with a few new smiling moons...

That fellow on the bottom right is slightly squished but I rather like him like that. While waiting for all of these little bits dry I did manage to put a few leftovers from last year into a little vintage spice rack drawer for 2012's first completed project!

You're probably pretty tired of these glittery nights and faerie villages but they do make me incredibly happy to make :)