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.