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First blog post of 2024 with a fairy update including pictures of the beautiful Snowdrop Fairies that flew the nest last week and a short fairy video - a first on this blog!
Its hard to believe where January has gone this year and I'm struck once again by the sense of how different each year seems to be in these days following the pandemic years... Every year seems to have a different energy, atmosphere, pace... maybe it was always that way and I'm just noticing it more as I get older, the kids are growing up and world events are always close in our awareness. I think it's also why I take such comfort and delight in the physical, familiar rhythms of nature and the tiny worlds right on my doorstep.
It's snowdrop time again, and it's always such an uplifting moment in the new year! I made this trio of snowdrop fairies for the re-opening of the Museum in the Park, and their snowdrop festival this weekend just passed. I loved working on them throughout January, filling me with a sense of anticipation and hope, and when I dropped them off, it was a beautiful bright day with the clearest blue sky and that exciting, early spring feeling of the world waking up from the winter sleep was definitely in the air :-)
I gave these fairies cosy little boots and hoods as they are after-all just emerging from winter and I hand-made the little snowdrop flowers that they are holding as well. I made a few of these that looked so sweet popped in tiny bottles as seasonal decorations around our home. I did try to find some little bottles in order to send a few of these along to the Museum with the fairies, but unfortunately the only bottles that I could find in a good quantity were just a bit too small - I'll keep looking and maybe it'll be something for another time...
I've also been playing around with other ideas and needle-felting projects and I've made these super cute little felted brooches. Towards the end of last year, whilst looking back over my work of the last few years, I really got the feeling that I would love to do markets again sometime soon! I haven't done an event since before the pandemic - mainly because of other work and projects during the last few years, as well as supporting the children through various transitions during the pandemic years, that I simply didn't have the time. But I really miss attending craft markets and events - I always used to love chatting to visitors and meeting other makers, and for me, curating a market stall, always feels like putting together a mini-exhibition... I love to make a collection of fairies that complement each other, but its also a wonderful opportunity to make other things that I love too. I have so many items on my list that I'm super excited to make and it's definitely feeling that any given day is never long enough, and even though I don't really know how long it will take me to put an event collection together again, I'm excited to begin and see where it leads!
I've finally managed to set up a newsletter on this website too (there's a form at the bottom of the home page)! It's been a little while now since posting on my social media accounts and there have been many reasons for this, with a big one being simply around managing my workflow, energy and freeing up time for physical making over keeping up with content -hungry algorithms. I'm so grateful to have seen so many fairies fly the nest over the last few years, and I've learned so much through the craft tutorials we've made, and loved the community projects and groups... the days are full and whilst I really love sharing fairy pics and might make my way back onto social media at some point, for now the rhythm of blogging works well for me and I'm looking forward to putting some updates in a newsletter too :-)
Whilst looking back over last year and making plans for this year, I felt inspired to make this short video... I'm super proud of all the fairies in here, and I've included some of my favourite nature moments as being outside is always such a source of inspiration for me... I know we're entering spring, but some of the shots of the trees against a purple sky are from the magical sunset walk that I took on the winter solstice... it was such a beautiful atmosphere that evening and felt like the most wonderful gift to experience just before Christmas.
I hope you enjoy this little video as much as I enjoyed making it! I used an app that I've had for years and years and always forget to use but it's so much fun when I do!
There are plenty more fairy pictures hiding on my camera but I'll save those for another update. I've also got sooooo many fairies in mind for this year too that I can't wait to make - they just sort of appear to me and I get a sort of urgency about bringing them into being - it's exciting to be at the start of another year of creative adventures and being surprised by what unfolds... So far, these little kawaii brooches are making me feel happy and I hope they'll spread a little fun as they make their way out into the world too :-)
Wishing you a bright and uplifting start to spring wherever you are, I hope the snowdrops bring moments of delight, joy and hope as the world begins to emerge into colour and light once again... ♥
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