are you ready?

are you ready?

has it threwed

are you ready?

has it founded

are you ready?

has it tolded

are you ready?

has it setted 

are you ready?

has it strunged

are you ready?

has it circled 

are you ready?

has it squeaked

are you ready?

has it pointed 

are you ready?

has it punched

are you ready?

has it bowed

are you ready?

no really......are you ready?

oh and don't forget...

The Tradition, The Dance, The Celebration

A special world wide celebration known as the Winter Solstice is observed for the shortest day of the year occurs on Sunday, December 21, 2014 at approximately 4:30 pm (MDT) or 11:30 pm (UTC) but this is the time that Inuvik, NT (Northwest Territories), Canada marks this date.

But Inuvik does not really pay homage for the Winter Solstice as it has been in complete darkness since December 6th and the sun will not appear again until January 6, 2015 and even on this date it will be just a sliver above the horizon and only for less than an hour. This is when Inuvik celebrates the shortest day of the year. With a massive bonfire lit, dressed in their parkas and fur and standing on the permafrost, the people watch as the skies are once again filled with light.

Situated just above the 68 parallel which is 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle, Inuvik is approximately 100 km (120 miles) from the Beaufort Sea and then another 100 km (120 miles) to reach the Arctic Ocean but these bodies of water can only when travelling on the ice road during the darkest days and nights of the year (or of course through air travel).

There is a long standing tradition from the Inuit people that whistling to the Aurora Boreralis (Northern Lights) is when you can make them dance and come closer to the ground. Mind you, there are many beliefs that the lights are actually walrus' playing soccer with a human head and then all the way to the ghosts of the dead reaching down to take small children away. Which is the truth, only the one with story from their ancestors and then passed onto down to the next generation knows the truth.

So even though the Winter Solstice has passed, Inuvik will continue to stay in the dark for another few weeks but still the days are getting longer and the dark skies are slowly fading away to make room for the sun.

p.s. ~ I lived in Inuvik for just under 7 years and I have on many nights spent time outside in the -30 (-22F) to -40C (-40F) whistling to the lights and watching them dance.

A new YouTube video featuring 'Me'

As a tradition, okay this is only my 2nd time submitting something for the Fort Smith's Annual Festival of Trees, I have made a YouTube video of what I entered and it features ME!

This idea came to me in a dream one night. When I woke up I was able to draw a sketch of what I really wanted. Yes it was bizarre but it was fun. After a major shopping spree and my husbands most invaluable help, I was able to bring the dream to reality.

I have had a few invaluable points made to me about marketing my little nursery and they all seem to have included that "I" must become a part of that company. I have always kept myself at a distance, not for any particular reason but I have never allowed myself to be really photographed when I wasn't in makeup and dressed up as Faerie Amma.

So, I did post on Facebook with a few photos of me 'working' in the nursery playing with flower heads. Well, it's what I do. My husband was playing with the camera and took a few shots of me and I was brave enough to post them on Facebook. That was a first for me.

As the great advice goes, people need to fall in love me (and Faerie Amma) and what I do before they can fall in love with my company. If I allow myself to be seen as more of who is behind the creations then hopefully my family, friends and followers will learn a bit more about me.

I titled this years submission "Your enchanted home away from home." Now I understand that this is definitely not your normal Christmas Tree entry but I work in a Faerie Nursery. I shouldn't be part of the norm. I should be different. I should be whimsical. I should just be me.

I hope you all enjoy the video (next time I will at least have brushed my hair and put a bit of makeup on...lol).

Winter Solstice, Faerie Dust and Wishes

With the nursery being filled with twinkling lights, sparkling faerie dust and lots of smiles; the guardians and faeries of the nursery wish you a joyful, healthy and happy winter solstice.

In the Nursery

I'm not sure if this is a blessing in disguise or not but due to not feeling the best, I have decided to take a week off work. During this time away from the office, I am hoping that I will be feeling up to doing some work here in the Nursery instead. 

I have now just posted Flossie the Faerie on my Etsy site. She is being listed under the Faerie Suite tab for being a Dental Hygienist. She comes with her own toothbrush, toothpaste, posters and even little tiny X-rays.

I will be listing more of my Holiday Collection Faeries as well. I am thinking of doing up one or two under the Faerie Suites that will come with a decorative wrapped present (display only), a Christmas greeting card and a string of beaded lights to drape across the wooden door. 

With new product still arriving daily the Nursery is never quiet. I now have the wood pellet stove going, apple juice warming and soft music playing. Hoping this help ease my headache and that the faeries will come out to play.

And Who Doesn't Love SPARKLES???

Tomorrow is Art in the Park and as a last minute decision I decided I would like to do a tree display for the faeries. 

Now normally, well I have only ever done Christmas craft fairs before, I have used pine tree branches with moss at the base. Mind you this display is used for the complete Faerie Suite that includes the magical wooden door, trinket chest and a flower petal faerie. Everything is tucked in nicely to create a wonderful mystical scene with mushrooms and rabbits and faeries in the trees.

But as this is a summer fair, I thought maybe using just branches that are sparkled to hold the faeries. So over the weekend I just happened upon one of those light-up branch Christmas trees. You know the ones, just bare branches, no leaves. Well the picture on the box made it look like it was rounded and filled out and just perfect to hide little faeries in. After taking it out of the box....well lets just say it was silver branches all right, but they were all tied together flatly. There was no dimension, no nothing, just flatness!

Really need creativity here. The craft fair set-up is tomorrow morning. I don't want another Christmas scene and anyways, my table is only going to be about 3 feet long. Not nearly enough room to show a complete Faerie Suite. So what to do. Don't want to show off my Teacup Nurseries just yet. What does that leave me. The Seed Pod Faerie Babies...but but but. Nah. I am only going to take my faeries. 

So, off I went after work...need spray paint and sparkles...oh yeah and branches! 

I was lucky enough to have Georgina come over who really should go into interior design. No, really, she should! Wow. She did a fantastic job of the whole tree. She make little spaces for the faeries to sit in and everything. Plus she seems quite at home wearing sparkles :)

I will take more pictures tomorrow once everything is set up at the venue. As I am unsure if I will have access to an electrical outlet, the tree looks just fine without all the blue shiny lights. 

Wish me luck :)    

And thank you again Georgina :)

Georgina having fun ;)

Sparkles :)

Sparkles, Spray Glue and Rubber Gloves..hmmmm

 Fionn making sure we are doing things right!!

sparkly leaves

with lights

without lights