Last year the elves were the last to show up for the Winter Festival but when I stepped out into my Fairy Garden earlier this week, I saw that they decided to be the first to arrive this year!
They've spruced up their area a bit and have created a more welcoming space, complete with candy seats and a candy-lined pathway.
These trees are also a new addition to this area in the hopes that they can block the cold winter winds from fairies who come to visit the sweets shop.
The colorful candy-lined pathway was a good idea, but they might have to think about repaving it with something else because the ice is very slippery. It is a little silly to see the elves glide around.
During our winter holiday Fairy Garden Class back in November we had over 30 participants. Everyone had a great time making fairy gardens and socializing. We also had a few people try their hand at a terrarium, something new I wanted to offer to the class. As much as there is support for this event, I unfortunately have to share with My Fairy Folks that the Sunshine Growers Nursery will be unable to host these events until sometime in the Summer - the exact date has not been decided.
Fairy Garden Class, November 2015
I realize this might be a bit disheartening so I have decided to try and ease the heartache by publishing fairy garden class material (examples, pointers, how-to's, etc.) on my YouTube channel in the following months. If you have yet to subscribe, now would be a good time to do so. Oh look, a handy little link to my YouTube Channel. I would like to reach out to you, My Fairy Folks, to see if you know any local business that would be willing to sponsor our Fairy Garden Class during the Spring months. I also would like to know what themes you'd like to see at our next class. And as always, if you have any questions about Fairy Gardens in general, please contact me. If you have not yet signed up for the Fairy Class email list, please email grandmasefg@gmail.com. Here are a few featured photos taken during the class, followed by a slideshow. I tried to get a picture of every work of art. Thank you all for attending.
This lovely Winter scene is going places! What an inspired container.
Possibilities are endless when you use a large container.
This terrarium was my personal favorite, especially because of the magnetic hummingbird. If anyone knows where I can find such a thing, I'd appreciate the information.
There is quite a lot going on in this festive scene depicting a family of snow people.
On November 7th I submitted two entries into a flower show. A few weeks before that, I happened upon a flyer for this event to be held in the beautiful and historic Kendall Place nestled on the Plymouth Village Campus in Redlands. A woman who works in my building, whom I often discuss gardening with, kindly shared with me a clipping from the local paper spotlighting the event. I'd never entered a competition like this but figured I'd give it a go; it could open the door to another facet of gardening that I had yet to explore.
Outside of the building, garden enthusiasts socialize and browse the many related vendor booths.
I decided to enter two pieces that qualified for different categories; Miniature Garden Exhibit in the theme of "Fanciful Fairy Garden" and Combination Planting, sub-category Terrarium. I had never worked on a terrarium before but the category caught my eye and, again, figured I'd give it a go. There were many rules and restrictions to abide by, but come time for me to take in my entries, both pieces had met all the requirements.
My entry in the Fanciful Fairy Garden category
My entry for the terrarium category
There were many beautiful pieces spread throughout the building that ranged from single cut roses ("1 stem with 3 sets of 5 leaves" was the requirement for this category), eatables, container grown foliage as well as table setting designs. They even had a youth category for students grades K-6. I enjoyed speaking with other garden enthusiasts and saw inspiration in the other exhibits.
You are probably wondering how I did, right? Well, My Fairy Folks, both of my pieces placed! I really had no competitive intention to win, I simply wanted to enter the show to see what it was like and get familiar with it, but each of my entries won second place. For my Fanciful Fairy Garden entry, the judge commented: "Very well done. You're all in scale except white rock which is a bit out of scale with other components."
My second place ribbon for "Fanciful Fairy Garden"
My second place ribbon for the terrarium category
Overall, it was all pretty surprising! I had two entries, each placed and each got second place. Not bad for Grandma's first time! I am eager to enter the show next year and will keep my eyes and ears open in hopes of spotting other local shows. I would like to try my hand at a tiny floral vase - I thought they were very cute (possibly because I'm so used to everything being tiny for my fairies). I've put together a slideshow of the many other photos I took. Unfortunately there was so much to see, I couldn't capture it all. Check them out below.
On November 6, 2014, with the help of my grandson, I put my very first fairy garden video on YouTube. I joined YouTube to rebel against my granddaughter who had my blog posts on a strict six-picture-maximum diet. I had noticed other fairy garden videos on YouTube that had beautiful music in the background and had begun to take videos myself with my iPad. Knowing that my grandson had experience with recording video and adding all sorts of special effects and music, I went to him for help. Uploads are slow going but my grandson is a very busy young man, working and going to school and still making time for his grandmother's passion without one complaint. As of today, the YouTube channel has 24 videos with 475 views. In an effort to get more views, I am getting brave and plan to talk in them. From silent films to talkies! I'm revolutionizing my YouTube channel. I also plan to do fairy garden tutorials in hopes that I can reach out to people who would like to attend but can't make it to my local fairy garden classes. I've done blog posts about repurposing items but I would also like to make videos. As always, I'd love to learn what My Fairy Folks would like to see on my YouTube channel. My goal is to double my YouTube subscribers and views by year two and I'd much rather make videos that my viewers want to see. If you haven't already, check out myYouTube channel and be sure to like my videos and subscribe.
Hello Fairy Folk! I wanted to give you some information on my second Fairy Garden class at Sunshine Growers Nursery. You will be required to purchase a minimum $12 but the class is free and you are strongly encouraged to bring any existing items from home that you'd like to use in a fairy garden scene (a container is suggested although these are also sold at the nursery). Please (CLICK HERE) to read more about this nursery. New this month is the addition of a fairy terrarium guide. Containers for this are limited so feel free to bring your own to guarantee you can participate in this portion. We have learned from our first class that decor supervision needs to be tighter, so for those of you who attended our class in October, know that the number of items you are able to collect from our bins will be monitored which is why bringing items from home is strongly suggested. You are also free to purchase items in the store at the front counter. And similar to the previous class, there WILL be a raffle near the end that you must be present for.
WHO: Hosted by Grandma Sandy, anyone who purchases a minimum of $12 at the nursery can participate, ages 12+ WHAT: Thanksgiving/Christmas-Themed Fairy Garden Class WHEN: November 14 @ 10am-12pm WHERE:34017 Yucaipa Blvd., Yucaipa CA, 92399 MORE: Contact Sunshine Growers Nursery at (909) 797-9210
Look everyone, Andy is back! When Andy shows up, you know it's time to celebrate Fall. He arrived just in time for the Halloween celebration.
Fairies show their sense of humor by playing a trick on me. I thought there was an accident but it turns out these legs are just a decoration.
Look at this scaredy cat.
Mrs. and Mr. Bones have come to visit and help celebrate Halloween.
The Haunted House boasts a lovely floral arrangement this year as the celebration's centerpiece.
Ophelia and Elvis met in grade school and became Mrs. and Mr. Bones years later. Even though their wedding vows said "till death do us part," they had a change of heart during their vow renewal; "together for eternity."
Jezelle was invited to join Laura for tea and got caught up in some spooky gossip. Laura asked "did you hear what happened to Grace and Gwendelyn the night they were invited to the Mad Scientist's Haunted Mansion?" Jezelle almost spit her tea out! "No, tell me!"
"Well, Grace and Gwendelyn were sent an invitation to come visit a large mansion. They knew the man who owned it was a scientist but only found out later that he was mad! Okay, so they both get there, knock on the door and it opens but no one is inside. They walk in and ask "is anyone here?" but no one answered. They ask again, louder, and this time someone says "hello, thank you for coming." They don't see anyone. They call out "who's there?" and the voice replies "it's me, Dexter." Grace and Gwendelyn walked around the room and still couldn't see anyone. Grace asked "where are you? I can't see you."
"I had a little accident in the lab," the scientist said "and it turns out that I'm invisible." How crazy is that!? They reluctantly went on a tour of the house with an invisible guide and even got to see his lab with all his potions and experiments. The further up in the mansion they went, the more they feared they would be unable to find their way back out if they needed to make a run for it. Grace was worried the two of them might end up part of an experiment, or even turned invisible.
They were finally taken to a large room where a big feast was laid out. "Please, take a seat," the scientist said. Grace and Gwendelyn looked at each other, concerned, and Grace wisely said "we need to wash up first, can we use your bathroom?" He told them where it was and they managed to find a window that they could squeeze out of to escape whatever fate may have been in store for them!"
"Wow," said Jezelle. "That's scary. I guess the moral of that story is to really be careful with who you visit and make sure you know them. Good thing they went together." She slowly sipped the rest of her tea.
