Magic Always Trumps Facts and Fiction

the facts

a rainbow consists of a variety of colours that create a spectrum through reflection, refraction, dispersion and water droplets.  these documented studies have shown that with these 4 requirements there are numerous conditions that go in the designing of the prism like arc seen in the sky.  two of these studies include the sizing of tears which when larger generate vivid hues; and as with the horizon borderline reds/yellows can be seen and the range of blue/green pigments are found when higher in the sky.  

the fiction

folklore does tell us of finding a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, so if you do happen to find yourself bathed within the crescent of unbelievable colours please do share your riches with me. 

the magic

but more importantly it is with your own eyes that you find the true beauty of a rainbow. 

* please note:

the bits and pieces of information provided above came from a variety of resources which were re-written only to fit this blog posting. 

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 

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 :)

Sterling Silver Pear Drop Pendants :)

I received the sterling silver clasps to make the pendants today :)

And just like that....they turned into these!!

Yellow Pear Drops

Well as I had so much fun creating the Sugarplum Faerie pendants...thought I had to do something more!
This is the first of two packages for a new pendant. Now this one will not be as fancy but I think it will be a nice touch for the Partridge in a Pear Tree theme. The next parcel will have the pear shaped sterling silver pendent settings.

Partridge in a Pear Tree - Growing Pears??

Well who would have thought! Something new to add to the gifts bags.....

Yellow Pear Tomato seeds!! 

A very tasty pear shaped yellow tomato. 

Colourful in salads, sliced or in preserves. 

As rich in vitamins as it is flavourful. 

 A very popular variety for the home garden. 

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.

Soapy Bubbles

Some days a complete stranger goes out of their way and gives you a wonderful surprise!

I was in at Michael's Crafts buying...well....lots of stuff and while in the check out line, this wonderful woman came up to me and handed me a 50% off coupon, she smiled and said "my dear, your basket is fuller, here you need this more." I couldn't stop thanking her!!

So I used the coupon on the 10lb brick of moisturizing clear glycerin soap. And yes, I know I shouldn't have been carrying it around the store in the first place!!

I also picked up some colouring dyes...well more than some! I picked up every package they had :)

The sets include the following colours: Lilac, Peach, Seafoam, Yellow, Red, Blue, Turquoise, Lime, Orange, Wine and Gold. 

The store only had 2 types of fragrances though - Pearberry and Honey Almond. I will need to order the other types I need on-line. 

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 :)