Creative Conundrums

I will admit that this latest Northern Faerie has caused me more self-doubting than any other faerie to date!

As I have had plans to complete a full calendars worth of Northern Faeries by the end of June, I am a bit behind after not feeling well for the first 3 weeks of the New Year.

Getting back on track though has proven more difficult than it should have been....grrrrrrrr!

There are currently 7 Northern Faeries (one will not be released until December 31, 2014 though) including... Aurora, Midnight Sun, Boreal, Agua, Snowflake and Raven. I do know the names of the next 4 faeries and I have most everything that I need in order to make them. This leaves me only 1 more to go, which I do have all the product for but she at this stage is still unnamed.

Back to the faerie that I have been working on now for the past couple of weeks. I have pulled out I don't know how many colours of flower petals and nothing seemed to be working for me. I have set her out numerous times (at least 6) in the evening time so I could look at her in the morning with fresh eyes and possibly new ideas. In the end...I actually didn't change any of her flower petals in either shape, size or colour! I did though find out what was throwing me off which was a good thing before I put her back on the shelf to tackle down the road. As each faerie gets a wee flower bead that goes right on her hairline on her forehead, of all things, it was this little bead that had thrown me for a loop. I know that this fine little detail could be the cause of all of my angst but it was! After you see the photos below, you will definitely question why the new colour works but trust me it does :)

Once I figured out that this is what was causing my problems it ended up to be such a quick fix. Everything from that point on just worked out exactly as I wanted to.

All that is left to do is for Hubby to curl her hands and toes. She will then be epoxied to her wooden plate stand and she will be released and made available for purchase.

As noted above, there are a few more things that I need to buy before I can proceed with some of the faeries that are on the list to be made. I am hoping that most items will be picked up on our trip out this week.

One stop will be made to the fabric store? Yes, one of the Northern Line will be made with fabric and not flower petals! How on earth could this be you ask? Well, I have researched our northern cultural and folk lore of Canada and am including all three territories...the Yukon, Nunuvat and the Northwest Territories (where the nursery is located) and not all ideas can be captured using just flower petals. No worries, I won't keep you in the dark too much longer on her....well, unless of course I can't find the type of fabric that I want!

Without giving away the latest Northern Faerie to be released I have attached a few photos for you to enjoy :)

Bowl of Inspiration!!

Original Hair Bead -- a very light pink/peach

Hair Bead used on new Northern Faerie 

Wee baby faeries

The nursery has been pretty quiet over the past few weeks as the care takers are on the mend from not feeling so well. Not wanting to pass anything onto the faeries that are staying here at the nursery it was decided to just close the doors for a bit and let everyone have a quiet nap.

As there is lots of snow still on the ground and flurries still in the air, all the faeries at the nursery seemed to be quite thankful for a nice warm place to stay.

But there has been activity of recent. A whole new batch of flower petals have arrived in the mail along with fantastic coloured wires for baby faerie stems.

As we have found here at the nursery, new borns love the quiet down time. And just as the proof is in the pudding, we have new batch of baby faeries on the go.

These little ones will have their stems wrapped in matching or maybe contrasting floral tape. They will be gently placed into a dried seed pod and then wrapped in a blanket of moss. 

Time for Expansion

Over the past few days the workshop has taken on some major transformations. The workshop has a new table, shelving units, a full wall and 7 hanging rods. It has been a lot of work with a lot of sorting out of little bags that I seems to have stuffed into every nook and cranny. Thankfully there is lots of hanging room and most of these 'lost' treasures are now out in the open and ready to be used.

I have placed another order for flower petals of the 'jewel' tone hues. They seem to be my favourite lately and it is fun playing with such an abundance of rainbow colours.

The new business cards, return address labels and stickers came in, along with the 4x4x4 corrugated cardboard shipping boxes (to keep the wee faeries safe while traveling).

The website is coming along wonderfully. My developer has worked in conjunction with my banner designer to come up with a superb looking site. There will be a Google map that will show all of the new homes my faeries travel to. The Flickr site is now up and running and each faerie has been named and has a little write up about her as well. The website will have two Flickr galleries attached to it.

I am hoping that my writer will have a draft ready by the end of the week detailing the story of the company. I am so excited and I can't wait to see it in print.

The Esty page is ready to have faeries added it to. I have worked out all of the shipping details and prices. I hope to have the site ready to open this week.

I have been updated Facebook (which automatically Tweets) little snippets of what I have been up to. This blog will be the space that completes the picture with all sites linking one another.

I am hoping to have my web designer update this blog as well with the new colour scheme, banner and logos :)

E-mail address: enchanted.pathways@amma-emm.com
Facebook: enchanted pathways (Fort Smith)
Etsy: enchanted pathways by Emmanuelle Nixon
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/enchantedpathways/

I have 18 new little faeries that are waiting so patiently to have magic faerie dust sprinkled on them so they can be adopted into new homes. This is when the creativity and fun begins.