This week I'd like to share some pictures from one of My Fairy Folks from Redlands, CA, and introduce you to someone special.
This is Buddy the Elf, putting the finishing touches on this Christmas tree. He's very excited for this time of year because it means he gets to go sledding - his most favorite thing in the world! He has his sleigh in his hand, ready to take off.
What a beautiful tree you've decorated, Buddy!
This tree is decorated with ornaments of all shapes and sizes - some even bigger than Buddy's head! Thank you so much My Fairy Folks for sending in your elf and holiday pictures. I'm still accepting submissions to share here on the blog so feel free to use my contact information below.
Welcome to a new month on my blog! Last month there were a total of four fairy garden tutorials (that I hope you enjoyed) which was a different pace. This month we'll also do something a little different by featuring the Fairy Garden Workshop in this section. Now, this is a class I did not organize but I did attend. I made a post about the Fairy Garden festival already, but I felt that the class had so many wonderful results, it needed it's own post.
A group of mostly women and children gathered on the back patio of Plymouth Village's beautiful front house to learn the in's and out's of Fairy Gardening. Tips were shared and suggestions were offered over the hour-long event. While participants were asked to bring their own container, the class provided each "artist" with bubble wrap (to cut down on soil use), potting mix, a few plant options, some small rocks and smaller, decorative pebbles. There were also a few other, more exotic plants and decorations for sale to enhance the gardens.
Here are a few of the plants that were given to each class participant.
Pictured here are a few handmade mushrooms and other plants that were set aside to be sold to class participants. The workshop organizers wanted to make sure there were many ways to make each fairy garden unique.
Below are the fairy gardens myself and my granddaughter created. I purchased the matching purple containers at Lowe's which have water reservoirs at the bottom and the houses were purchased at a booth at the Fairy Garden Festival. We each used the same plants and I bought some mushrooms to emphasize a path in my garden.
In my garden I used white pebbles lined with colorful mushrooms to emphasize a path.
My granddaughter chose the darker decorative pebbles for ground cover and a little 'stream' of blue pebbles to create the illusion of a water feature.
I took many pictures, trying to capture everyone's creation. If I did not include you, please feel free to email me with a photo of your fairy garden. I would also love to see where these Fairy Gardens made their forever home, so if you have pictures of your creation in your yard (or wherever you put it), please send them to me. Below are a few creations I felt were extra special and there is also a slideshow of all the photos I took for the class.
This work of art is the perfect example of "use what you have." Something as simple as an old wicker basket can create a beautiful fairy tale scene, including a sea serpent and and castle with soldiers. Even more shocking is the "driftwood" that blends in so well with the scene. When I was talking with the artist, she informed me that the wood is actually from a Rosemary plant in her own garden.
This simple creation uses the same plants and pebbles as everyone else, yet due to decoration and placement, creates a very unique story. I can imagine that this fairy and bear have been friends for a very long time and they are taking a typical walk through the forest to get to a stream. The forest is created by separating taller plants to give the illusion of trees on a path.
Here is another example of a creative container. Just about anything can be a vessel for a garden creation!
On May 14, 2016, I attended a Fairy Garden Festival in Redlands. This was the second annual show which cut me to the bone; how did I not know about it the first year!? There were so many vendors with such beautiful and creative things; there was a raffle, there was a fairy garden contest and even a class where participants were taken step by step through creating their own fairy garden. I took so many pictures and put together a slideshow of them, but I'd like to feature a few below.
Grace Bagwell, Potter from Diamond Bar, displays her ceramic creations.
Grace, creator of A Glazin' Grace, had a slew of adorable, hand-crafted ceramic fairy houses and I was able to get my hands on a one-of-a-kind piece, seen here on the left. If you'd like to contact Grace, her email is gbagwell318@gmail.com and her phone number is 909-576-3894.
This artist offered some woodwork houses, some metal work accessories and some even more impressive metal artwork which I failed to photograph (you can't blame Grandma for being focused on fairy-sized things). Unfortunately I forgot to grab a business card from this vendor, but you can see them on display here. I purchased these two metal decorations that are currently in my garden.
www.etsy.com/shop/WillyWimbles
Willy Wimbles is a business venture headed by local artist Denise Brown. Their booth had so many fairy items for sale, including houses, furniture, fairies and even jewelry that features fairies. One thing that made this vendor stand out was a sign that informed customers that every purchase made would add a donation to a charity. Her etsy store boasts a few different charities they donate to, including "New Day Foster Homes, and Love Without Boundaries, both of which are geared specifically toward Special Needs kids in China. We also donate to The Drop Box in Seoul, South Korea and Half The Sky in China." I purchased a bed to use in my future gardens at home and noticed a few of her items being used during the fairy garden class that day.
Lois Jones had a booth with an assortment of small ceramic containers. On the very far right you can see a sea foam green cone-shaped ceramic container which was used by a participant in the fairy garden class (and which I don't think I was able to capture a picture of and am very upset about it but felt it needed to be mentioned). If you'd like to contact Lois her contact numbers are 714-534-5681 and 949-463-3013.
This booth was hidden at the end of a row of vendors but I'm glad I made sure to check it out. Not only are these hand-made houses tiny and adorable, they were extremely affordable! I purchased two of the smaller ones to use during the fairy garden class for my granddaughter and I and only spent $5. There were larger houses and some with decorative silverware wind chimes but all were well priced. Unfortunately, I was unable to get contact information from this artist.
Miss Dorothy's Glass Garden Art was another local artist with a wonderfully unique craft on display. In this particular piece she used a porcelain fairy garden decoration as the focus and if I had seen it just a little sooner, my husband would have been upset with the money I spent. Unfortunately, someone else bought it before me and my husband remains the normal amount of grumpy. If you'd like to contact Dorothy Lewis, her phone number is 909-793-2725 and email is missdorothys@msn.com.
Pixie Village Cottages by Dennis Patterson
I was absolutely smitten with the large display of hand-crafted fairy houses created by Dennis Patterson from Hemet. They are advertised as Pixie Village Cottages and for the artwork they sell, the value is astonishing. I've seen similar pieces online for twice the price so I'm happy to know that Mr. Patterson is local (because I can't imagine what shipping would cost on something like this). I know what my next large purchase for my garden will be but it's quite some time away. If you'd like to view the cottages they offer, visit their website at pixievillagecottages.com, or contact them via email at pixievillagecottages@gmail.com or by phone at 951-440-2731. I could have taken a million pictures of this booth alone, but the handful I did take are in the slideshow below.
Finally, after exploring all the booths outside, I discovered some wonderful pieces inside the lovely building, including this First Place fairy garden display. I really like this piece, especially because it shows that you can repurpose a broken pot (which I've seen quite a bit of online and intend to try myself at some point) and has a nice array of colors.
I took many pictures, of course, so here are the rest, presented to you as a slideshow.
