The Cure for Monday Blahs

A very short while ago I posted about the Pixie Hill fairies writing to a kindergarten class who were learning about the little people. Yesterday I was delighted to discover some replies from the class.

One of the fairies who wrote to the class lamented about his lost button. It was a favourite button, so his distress was quite understandable. The class very thoughtfully sent replacement buttons.

There were some fine portraits too! Those wings and wands are practically perfect. There were also some very good pictures of jam. And if you're curious, it seems strawberry is the preferred jammy flavour.

I was quite the grump yesterday and it seemed as though the whole day was one disaster after another, but these papery bits of thoughtfulness totally brightened my day (as well as the Pixie Hill fairies!) and I'm certain they've brought a bit of luck with them too.

Thank you Mrs. Butcher and to all the children of your kindergarten class for curing the Monday blahs!

(& thanks to your helpers too!)

Butterfly Meadow Altoid Tin

It's been a long while since I played with an Altoid Tin. I've got heaps of ideas sketched in my notebooks. I even have a prototype of a rather elaborate design... but today I'm sharing this sweet and simple tin.

I've used Prima's Tales of You & Me-Contes de Toi et Moi for the exterior and flowers. A few of the the flowers and the blue background are from Cigar Box Secrets - Corona.

The little sentiment "The butterflies danced in the summer meadow." is made up of words cut from a vintage children's book.

I've said it before, if you're looking to add cut phrases to your work, pick up an old damaged kids book. The typeface is usually quite large and they include the nicest words,

I hope you're having a great day. I'm ready to crawl back under the covers and hide for a while... hopefully it's just a case of the Monday's and the rest of the week behaves.

P.S. If you live near Toronto check out THIS POST and you could win a pair of tickets to Medieval Times.

Prima's Design Team Call 2016 -2017

Seeing loads of entries for the Prima Marketing design team call from fellow crafters I adore, I thought 'What the heck!' and decided to show off some of my projects made with Prima pretties.

Butterfly Meadow Altoid Tin

Paper Caravan

An Impatient Matchbox

Pocket Tag Christmas Organizer

Mothering ATC's

Happy papercrafting!

The Pixies Go to Medieval Times & Ticket Giveaway!

A few weeks ago I received an invite to visit Medieval Times, Toronto Dinner and Tournament.

Now, I had never been to Medieval Times, and I am a complete and utter dork for renaissance fairs and fairy tale stuff, so I was beyond thrilled. Seriously, I drove my kid and husband bonkers. "Are you excited?!? I'm excited! How can you not be excited?" It wasn't that they weren't excited... it was that they weren't middle-aged-woman-who-never-gets-out-of-the-house-and-can't-wait-to-eat-with-her-hands-and-a-wear-a-crown excited.

Medieval Times, Toronto Dinner and Tournament didn't just pay for my dinner, they said I can give away a pair of tickets on my little old blog too! So get ready for me to blab endlessly, and then see how you can enter for your chance to win tickets to this jousty dinner and show.

First, we pulled up to the lot and scrounged the $11 for parking. We should have known better since this is Toronto and *I think* paying for parking is pretty much a given. (FYI Toronto is the only Medieval Times that charges for parking.)

Inside there was a long line up for tickets, but we were ushered in right away.

We were given coloured crowns, then had our pictures taken with the Princess. The picture was terrible but that was totally our fault. Me looking like a demented housewife. The kid with a scowl and eyes half closed. The man trying to look manly next to the princess. We were a hot mess.

Next, we were ushered into a large hall where you can buy beer and wine, souvenirs, and everything from pink fuzzy unicorns to swords, crowns and dragon hats. I don't really go in for gift store stuff so didn't buy anything. Although... I was tempted to bring this giant dragon skull home.

I used this pre-show time to visit the ladies room. I'm a bit of connoisseur when it comes to the loo since I tinkle a zillion times a day. It was very clean, not fancy in the least, but served it's purpose well.

People entered the arena by the colour of their crown. These correspond to the seating sections and the knight you root for. We sat in the front row of the green section. You pay extra to sit in the front row, but in all honesty, with their staggered seating, I'm willing to bet you'd have a decent view no matter where you sat.

The show started and the feasting began!

Eats include tomato soup and garlic bread, huge portion of chicken, half cob of corn, half baked potato, two beverage servings of Pepsi or water, then coffee or tea, and a pastry.* Some of the chicken was quite dry and we all thought a little bowl of sauce/gravy would have been a great addition. That said, I totally get that this is not fine dining. They're trying to please 100's of people (including small children) with one set menu, serve it hot, and clear it efficiently. They do a pretty good job of it.

*There is a vegetarian meal alternative. If you have little ones you can ask for juice instead of Pepsi.

The show plays as food is served/eaten. It is largely horsemanship, skill with a little bit of jousting. There's a falconry element that is very cool. A bit of weaponry combat, some knightly chivalry, and that's it in a nutshell. It was highly choreographed, as it should be for the performers safety, but it was a lot of fun.

A few notes:

It did not smell like poo or horses. This is one question that kept running though my mind beforehand so there has to be some other weirdo wondering the same thing. My mother is a horse crazed lunatic and her vehicle always smells like horse. I was expecting that familiar odour in the arena. Not a whiff!

The bad guy. Even his horse looked leery of him.

If you aren't ok with kids, this is not the place for you. I sat beside a family with two little ones and almost got whacked on the head by flashing light up swords at least a dozen times. This wasn't misbehaving, it was kids doing what kids do in a confined space for 2+ hours when given a flashing light up sword. I'm ok with it. Others might not be.

By "sat beside" I mean literally touching the person beside you. Chairs are packed beside one another as tightly as possible. Your space is basically as wide as your place mat. Getting out to use the restroom is a nearly impossible ordeal (as demonstrated by the woman seated next to me climbing over the back of her chair). If you have personal space issues, you'll need to consider this.

I do have one last criticism: the timing of the food. I really wish that there were two serving wenches to dole out the nosh. It would have been nice to have entire courses served at the same time instead of waiting for bread or corn or potato to arrive, while the rest sat waiting on the plate. This is in no way a criticism of our server, Emma. She was an absolute delight and I should have tipped her twice as much as I did. It's simply a matter of needing a second pair of hands.

Where's ma tater and corn?

To be frank, one of the reasons I hadn't gone to Medieval Times before now was the price. Starting at $65.95 for adults and $45.95 for kids, it is not an inexpensive outing. BUT there are deals to be had, like mid week prices (Adults $40 & Kids $30) or their Victoria Day Long Weekend Offer (Adults $41.95 & Kids $29.95) Take advantage of their specials and the cost isn't too far off the price of dinner and movie/show. (i.e. I just checked the price of circus tickets and they run $30 - $50.)

Anywho, it's a fun option for a special occasion. I've included my criticisms here to provide a full honest review, but overall it was a great time. We really enjoyed ourselves and are totally grateful for the opportunity to visit, for the full bellies, and all the laughs.

Oh, for the love of biscuits Nichola!

Stop your yammering and nitpicking 
and get to the give away!!!!

Geesh! Hang on to your knickers!

For your chance to win a pair of tickets to
Medieval Times, Toronto Dinner and Tournament
comment below with the name of your favourite fairy tale.

One entry per person.

Please ensure that I can contact you via email if you win.
(ie. Don't comment anonymously.)

Deadline is 12:01 est a.m. on Sunday, May 15th, 2016

One entry will be selected at random.

Winner will be contacted Monday, May 16th, 2016

If there is no reply by Wednesday, May 18th, 2016, I will select an alternate winner.

Good luck!

The Tale of the Crow's Clock

Clocks have always fascinated me. Mantle clocks, wall clocks, clock towers, grandfather clocks. They give measure to the passing of time, keep us in order, but there's something quite mystical about them too.  

I thought of making a cuckoo clock for a while. Shortly after making the 'Goblin Throne' last month, a crow perched outside my window and nudged me to make a 'Crow's Clock' instead of a clock of the cuckoo variety. Who am I to argue with a crow?

The base of the clock is one of my favourite products from Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts, the 3 Story House. It's a great size to work with and I think it's practically perfect as a clock body. I carved out an arch on the front and framed it with an Reliquary - Tower Top.

Lace and Shell Border Sticks are used as edge embellishments and shingles for the roof.  For the
Little Bird House at the top, I used Dresden borders to repeat the patterned edge. At the tippy top you can see a wooden round thing... that's a vintage French lottery number, but don't worry if you don't have one of those in your stash, you could easily trade it out for one of the pieces from the Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set. Those cute leafy frame and filigree bits are these Fanciful Elements.

The clock does work and I've used the mechanism from the Desk Clock Standard. I did replace the hand with this Clock Hands Shape Set and swapped out the numbers with a frame from this Hanging Clock Set. Totally not necessary to replace all those parts, but I like the way all these pieces fit together.

Cuckoo clocks have weights in the shape of pine cones that drive the clock. Although my clock isn't weight driven, I wanted to include this traditional element by adding some real pine cones on a length of chain, along with some oak leaf charms.

 

This is a such a great project if you like adding embellishments and borders and you could go totally over the top if you wanted. If you'd like to make your own, check out my video that tells "The Tale of the Crow's Clock" and how it came together. 

Here are the supplies I used in my Crow's Clock

3 Story House

Reliquary - Tower Top.

Desk Clock Standard

Clock Hands Shape Set

Hanging Clock Set

Border Sticks 

Little Bird House

Faux Typewriter Keys Symbol Set *alternative suggestion*

Fanciful Elements

Black Dresden Trims

Old music papers

Brass chain and charms
Masking Tape
Paint
Glue

Clay houses and a noisy friend

The Canadian weather does a number on the fairy houses in our garden. We bring them in in the fall when our fairies move into their wild winter residences, but between the rain, the heat, and the squirrels... they take quite a beating throughout the summer.

So I'm trying to add some more resiliant clay houses to out fairy sanctuary. The grey clay is a raku clay that will be pit fired. The terra cotta coloured ones are an air dry clay that I'll seal and we'll see how well they endure. (Both of the clays are from Laguna)

I have been working on other things too, like these strings of sparkly glass beads but everything seems to be 'in progress' at the moment and not quite ready to show off. 

Ah well, it'll be a crafty celebration when everything is complete and ready to be shown off all at once. It wouldn't be so bad if I had some self control and posted little by little, but I get too excited and want to post all the pictures at the same time!

Perhaps I have a little bit of patience. After all, this guy and his friend have been swooping on the deck for the past couple of weeks. They've refused to sit still and I haven't managed a picture until now.

Blue Jays are a great reminder that it's ok not to have it all. They are stunning lookers, but that singing voice. Oy! No matter, they continue to sing anyway.

By the way, have you heard of Florence Foster Jenkins? Look her up!

"Some may say that I couldn't sing, but no one can say that I didn't sing."

Breakfast guests

This morning a couple of pileated woodpeckers enjoyed breakfast behind the house.

(Now with video that actually plays!)

Gave me quite a startle when this fellow took flight!

This weather, Mr. T and fairy mail

It snowed yesterday. SNOWED! I was lounging on the deck with a drinky-poo just the day before. This weather is nuts.

This guy thinks the crazy weather is somehow my fault. Just look at that stink-eye!

I'm fairly certain this is the first red squirrel that has decided to make Pixie Hill his home. He's very cute but is as mischievous as they come, and very grumpy. Our dog, Padfoot, chased him up a tree and he was so mad! He chattered and squeaked and made a huge fuss, thoroughly confusing poor Paddy who looked at me as if to say "What's this guys problem?"

Anyway we've named him Mr. Tibbles M. McNutt... or Mr. T for short.

A quick photo from last night. A small batch of fairy mail on it's way to Mrs. Butcher's kindergarten class.

The wee folk here were very excited to hear that the children were learning about fairies. They jumped at the chance to send some notes but Cecil, the mail room hobgoblin, sent them to the wrong department and the letters went on a misadventure. They look a bit ratty... hope the kiddies don't mind.

It's raining here, which means I'll go through my pot of tea in no time at all.

Have a beautiful day, no matter what the weather.

Clay, clay, clay

Just a quick post today.

I bought myself a whole whack of clay a short while ago. Last night I tossed a few pieces into a pit fire and then ran out in my pyjamas this morning to dig them up. These are my favourite bits that came out, some pendant types pieces and some holed stones. 

I really like primitive pit firing. I'm terrible at it... but it's fun. It reminds me a lot of darkroom photography. There's a sort of magic that happens when you submerge your paper in the developing solution and the image just kind of comes alive. The same thing happens when you dig up your pieces. You ave no idea what's going to come out.

I also bought some air dry clay by Laguna. $25 for a 25lb bag... which is an outstanding price if you consider the price of the tiny blocks of air dry clay you get from most craft stores. AND this stuff dries so hard! It's not crumbly and brittle like some others I've used. You DO have to seal it to protect it from moisture/waterproof, and I don't think it's suitable for foodstuffs, but if you want to fart around with some clay it's an option.

Here are some teeny bits of pottery I created with it.

Finally, I've been working on two new tutorials and my camera has not been cooperating. Have I ever told you that my camera is so noisy when it focuses that you can hear it on the recording? Seriously, that's why I changed my format to voice overs! Anyway, I think it might be time to invest in something a little more reliable.

What have you been up to?

Sleeping Stones and a Water Goblin

Today I painted rocks. 

Well, what I actually did was reveal what was already there with faint washes of white and black paint.

Many believe that nature spirits reside within rocks and trees and earth. I think there is an extraordinary relationship between stone and the wee folk. But I digress...

Today I uncovered this fellow. He seems to me like a sort of 'Green Man', but he was pleased to sleep soundly under the water.

And there was a sleeping stone, who found a spot nestled on the bank. I've called her a sleeping stone because her eyes are closed, but she isn't sleeping at all. She's listening.

Finally, this stinker. A water goblin! He was quick to splash himself into the water and was positively giddy at the prospect of frightening someone, or getting a nibble at a toe or two.

And it's seems good timing, with that fat full moon outsides, to share today's adventure with you.

Important side note: Yes, the paint on these will wear off over time. The amount of paint used on all these stones could be held on a penny. It is also non-toxic craft paint. If you are considering painting your own stones, please make environmentally responsible choices.

Little Landscapes and a Tree with Bad Intentions

The windows have been thrown wide open and the birds are singing. It is a glorious day.

I took a walk around 'the hill' the other day and snapped a few pics. It never ceases to amaze me that a few little inches can become an entire landscape. That a patch of moss no bigger than your hand could double as hilly pastures.

There's overgrown jungles in old rotting stumps. I wonder if one of the wee folk will chop this mess down and cultivate the spot as their homestead. Or maybe there's a gnomish sort hibernating beneath that moss, so still for so long that his whiskers are growing up through the green tuft!

These wee mushrooms took me quite by surprise. Taking pictures of a particularly interesting tree, I took a pause to adjust my camera and noticed a funny texture on its bark. There were 1000's of these itty bittiest mushrooms growing on it! I like to think that they were planted and will be made into goblin ale.

I was standing by the edge of the stream at the bottom of our hill and a flash of colour caught my eye on the opposite bank. Just look a the colour of those roots! It was actually quite jarring. Spooky, even! And I am not too easily spooked. 

"Oh, that's just a red cedar" 

But my mind turns to all those stories with trees with ill intentions (Evil Dead, Sleepy Hollow,The Guardian) and I can't help but wonder if I've stumbled on a murder tree.

No matter, I'll be giving this particular timber a wide berth.

*shudder!*

Mothering ATC's in pink and golden floral glory

"Who wants to make some ATC's?"

ME! ME! ME! (I'm a keener)

And maybe I'd like to make some sort of Mother's Day thing-a-ma-doodle? You know, for people who like to plan ahead and not do everything last minute. I have no idea who these 'think ahead' people are, but sure!

That's how I ended up making this pretty batch of Artist Trading Cards for my friends at AlphaStamps.

There's 9 of the pretty things all together which means you could make your favourite motherer a pocket letter. Be sure to include a gift certificate, a sweet note, photograph, mementos or charms in there if going this route.

I've made some of these little darlings as ATC sized cards. Perhaps you'd prefer to distribute a little love to all the great motherers you know.

The cards were a cinch to whip up, but here are a few of the steps you may find useful

• Using papers from this month's kit I cut out the appropriate ATC size 2.5" x 3.5" OR 5" x 3.5" for folded ATC cards, then rounded all of the corners.

• I applied some acrylic gel medium using a doily as a stencil and sprinkled some gold embossing powder sparingly on top and set it with a heat gun. I really liked the way these worked together!

• I applied fussy cut images from Mother Knows Best Collage Sheet (which I printed in black and white)

• All of the winged things are from this Butterflies & Moths Collage Sheet. I printed one sheet full size and a second sheet at 50% to give me an even wider variety of sizes.

• When gluing the butterflies into place, I only glue the centre body part. This way the wings can be folded back, giving a 3D effect.

Easy peasy and all the bits came together nicely. Soooo, if you feel like making something pink, floral and feminine, (or are one of those amazing people who want to get a jump start on a mothers day project!) here's your supply round-up:

Baroque Dresden Borders - Gold
Mother Knows Best Collage Sheet
Butterflies & Moths Collage Sheet
House of Roses Old Letters Scrapbook Paper
House of Roses on the Porch Scrapbook Paper
Prima Tales of You & Me Notre Jardin Secret Scrapbook Paper
Prima Tales of You & Me Jardin de Fleurs Scrapbook Paper
Doily
Gold Embossing Powder
Acrylic Gel Medium

Fairies, Frocks and Godmothers Revisited

I was looking through some old projects and I realized I didn't post the second part to my Faires, Frocks and Godmothers post. That was almost a year ago (!), so I'm using the old adage 'better late than never', which seems to be my life motto at the moment.

To review: fairy godmothers are basically the flashy aunts of the fairy world. While most fair folk dress for comfort and function, they love to dress in over-the-top gowns and wear shoes that aren't in the least sensible.

You would be forgiven if you thought the above dress was worn by a fairy godmother with butterfly duties. No, Pebble Waterstone, the owner of this gown, has absolutely no affiliation to with those winged creatures. Pebble is actually in charge of wells, keeping them full, maintaining water quality. She has played havock with the pipes in my little town over the past year or so.

The final frock I have to share belongs to Beryl Eventide. She is an elusive Godmother who, unlike her peers, prefers solitude and only appears in those magical blue hued moments of twilight as day officially turns to night. If you find yourself pixie-led at dusk, she may lead you to safety. If she likes you.

Lastly...

To the creatures of Pixie Hill

If the door is too small, it's not meant for you! This is a bird house, not a squirrel bungalow. 

Thank you,

The Management