June 24, 2022 International Faerie Day

Well here it is June 24, 2022 and it just happens to be International Faerie Day!

I was trying to figure out a way to both celebrate this wonderful occasion both personally and with you. 

Once I started my research, it honestly didn't take me long to decide YES! This is what I need to do. The how and when came together with no hiccups.

Yesterday, starting at about 10:00am (with an hours drive having to be tacked on both directions) and going until just after 3:00pm I walked out celebrating International Faerie Day!

I would like to thank my friend Emy for all of her wonderful creativeness, patience and willingness to try. 

Here was how my day went...

 My hope is that you find yourself inspired, empowered 

and that you'll continue to believe not just in faeries but in your inner you.

Wishing everyone an amazing International Faerie Day!

it's all about me & you, nah, it's all about me

as there always comes a time, when eventually you have to crater, to the questions and requests to see who i am...well okay, as me as the owner of The Enchanted Pathways Faerie Nursery, that you realize that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad after all.

i'll will chalk this whole hesitation thing up to, well thinking about it, for, that for some unknown reason that i just haven't been able to put a face on my company, on me. (yes, that reason being shyness. yeah, that excuse will work... but, okay, but those who know me, will tell you quite blatantly that i am anything but shy)

i will admit though that i have gotten better at talking about the company over the past bit instead of squirrelling away busy as a bee and keeping to myself.

has this hampered my business, YES, i can tell you that without a doubt that if you want to be noticed then it is a pretty hard sell when nobody has actually heard about or seen or met you!

with being a wife, a mom, a grandma (to 4 and currently counting) that i've always told myself that i am just being protect of those that i love but ummmm how is anyone going to know that type of personal information when i haven't even told you about it?

okay fine, i must admit, deductive reasoning makes sense when spoken (okay, typed) out loud and yes, that even shouting out from the rooftops, this type of noise can only help.

after much thought, a few cookies (a whole box to be exactly honest), a cup of tea or two (possibly more), i have come up with a history of this, this being the company and then this, this being me.

i really love what i put together but i really put a lot of hard work into it. (yeah, you can stop reading here...like i work hard...my job is in a faerie nursery how much harder can a job get?).

so all of this painstakingly work can be found on the website under the tab named 'about' (yeah, yeah, yeah, i know, how original is that for a tab name).

oh, and,

p.s. ..... it is amazing that how easy it becomes once you start talking about you, that it just becomes easier and easier to do so. (um, but then again who doesn't like to listen to themselves talk about themselves?)

the photograph that i have put on my website was taken in this same photo-op. a massive thank you goes out to Chris who took the time in the sweltering heat to help me out.

so yeah, here i am!

this is me!

this is me....hard at work!

It's all about the look!

With the upcoming Fort Smith Annual Trade Show happening this April, I have been busy trying to figure out what I could do differently. You know, how to stand out, be noticed.

At last year's show, I was lucky enough to get a corner booth. Well, I thought I was lucky at the time. It turns out that having a corner booth allows people to converge on two sides of your tables and not just one. This would have been awesome if it was people that were interested in my faerie nursery but unfortunately, it was more like a gathering place to visit and catch up. I found that those that wanted to see what I had couldn't even get to my tables. I wasn't too happy in the end and knew that I would have to do something different.

So....I came up with an idea. Not sure if it will work or not but I'm going to give it a shot anyways.

When I came up with (okay, I had lots of help on this part) the background for my company. The stump, the grasses and flowers, the purple and pink sky and the little stepping stones that you had to take to come see the faeries...this allowed you to leave your world and enter mine. So...here is my world. Everyone is welcome.

I now have a tent. It is a white indoor trade show tent that measures 10'x10' in size.

photo curtesy of Costco.ca

I have banners. These ones stand outside of the tent.

I purchased 3 8' long banners that I will put up on the outside walls of my tent.

I have 4 wall panels (well actually not yet, I am still working with a few manufactures but the design is ready. These panels will be hanging on the inside of the tent.

I have indoor/outdoor artificial grass carpet that will fit the full floor size of the tent.

photo curtsey of gardenartificialgrass.com

I have my tablecloth (thinking about ordering another one but not right now) that matches the full theme.

I have hanging pink silk flowers/vines that will be attached to the rafters of my tent.

photo curtesy of eBay tiny heaven

I have twinkle lights (well, they are on order). I opted to go with just plain white ones so as not to take away from the feel.

I have carpeted cut out 'stones' that will be placed just outside of the tent for people to follow their way in.

photo curtesy of Lowes.ca

I have table accessories including vases with flowers, more risers for my faeries to stand on and other goodies.

I am still looking for the following: music, candy and a defuser that I like.

So what do this all add up to?? I want everyone to feel like they have actually entered my faerie nursery. You will walk in and be with the faeries. No distractions.

I read that you should allow your visitors to experience the whole thing by using all of their senses. So that is my goal. I think that I have done pretty good so far.

What else could I do, for visitors to feel like they have stepped out of reality and come to my faerie nursery.

Any thoughts, suggestions or ideas?

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).

The last batch of the "Bottom's Up" faeries

Well these little faeries were full of whimsical colours both bold and pastels. And we discovered hair! To think that I have this full rubbermaid of yarn that I purchased just for hair....and I have never used any! Why do faeries have to be so plain...so human like? Well they don't and they certainly are NOT human. So here they are....in all of their splendour :)

Webkins...

How could I resist this little critter....a Webkins 'Sugarplum' Monkey for my sweet little Granddaughter :)

Gift Bags

I now have 10 yards of fabric! 5 yrds of Gold and 5 yrds of Purple (looks dark blue on the photo, but it is definitely purple). This fabric has a bit of a sheen to it as well....a nice touch for the Christmas holidays.

This fabric felt is sold by Kunin and made by ecofi. This felt is a high-quality polyester fiber made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic bottles!!

Eco-fi - polyester fiber made from 100% post-consumer recycled pastic bottles.

The Kunin Group - Felt, Fabric & Crafts - Fabrics & Collections

I am very pleased with the colours and now I can't wait to start sewing :)

Sugarplums Dancing in Your Head.....

Well, I have almost finished my Sugarplum Faerie pendants. All I need to do now is solder the hoops closed. I am extremely happy with how they turned out! 

Flower Petal Faeries

Well there are many components to this project!

Firstly, the wire. As this is a speciality cloth wrapped wire I must say I have had a lot of difficulty in finding what I want. The wire that I was able to get is of the correct gauge but I wished that I could have found it in other colours.

Perler Beads, not as easy to come by as one would think. These are used underneath the bottom layer of petals to make them balloon out. 

Feathers....I thought that some of the Faeries should have real feathered wings not sure how they will work but I look forward to experimenting with them.

I recruited my Mom and my husband to spend an hour or two taking apart flower heads. Thank you sooooo much :) Now, I should have all of the flower petals that I will ever need to complete a whole bouquet of Flower Petal Faeries.

As well, I purchased more of the wooden boxes that I need to hold all of the Faeries precious goodies. These need to be stained to match the doors.

Sparkly Little Flowers

These have got to the be the prettiest little sequins I have EVER seen.

At first I was afraid that they might be too large to use as decoration on the little Petal Faeries but actually holding them in my hand.....they will work PERFECTLY!!

I ordered these from Craftaroo (ebay)....if you are looking for any scrapbooking supplies...this is the place to shop from :)

I decided to take two individual pictures as their are two different kinds of sequins.

This first picture shows all of the opaque ones....black; baby pink (which to me, looks more peach than pink!); white; hot pink; purple; baby blue and yellow

This next pictures shows the shiny ones :)  They are all titled rainbow colours....blue/green; pale pink and pale yellow

Aren't they just adorable!! And to think...they only came as a set of 6000! Yes, you read that correctly.....6000!

I will try my best not to use up all the rainbow ones first...it will be tough though :)