Find out the story behind the fairies



Fairies were a great part of my childhood and my years of playing in the woods near my childhood home. Years later after I left childhood behind I still made stories and painted fairies. When my nieces and nephews took their naps I would weave stories for them to drift off to sleep with. When I became a nanny and now a mother I still used the memories of my times in the woods with the fairies as my inspiration with my children. Now I have this wonderful new way of bringing them to life for everyone.

Meet the Fairies from Fairyland....

You see it now, just behind the tree, the fairy ring of mushrooms. You know you want to. You have heard the tales. So, just step inside the mushroom ring and come with me to the magical world of Fairyland. You have come at just the right time, The Fairy Festival has just begun and you are invited to join in. Fairies from all around have brought their wares for you to try. Come join the tea party and merriment and meet the fairies of Fairyland.

Lavender and her fairy friends are here to meet you. Lavender wears a band of lavender in her hair and loves the sweet smell that surrounds her. She is a cute little fairy that has the grandest tea parties. She loves to solve problems and is the leader of the group.

Miss Marigold wears a dress of gold and has flowers in her hair. She teaches Charm and Manners to all the Jr. Fairies at The Charm School. All of fairyland is abuzz with excitement over her arrival. Lavender is even preparing a Welcome Tea.

Petunya wears a dress of pink and loves the flower she is named after. Petunya loves to bake and make sweet treats for all her friends in fairyland.

Hyacinth loves to get up early to meet the morning sun and wash her face with the first morning dew. She loves honey and dreams of one day having a Honey Stand at the Fairy Market.

Rose loves to make lovely smelling lotions and potions for all her fairy friends. Sometimes she even leaves some for the little girls that live in the valley.

Ivy loves the color green and lives in a lovely little house in the an old oak stump all covered with ivy. Ivy loves all plants and loves to grow special fairy flowers.

Zinnia wears a dress of orange but also loves the color purple. She washes her hair with blueberry juice, and it has become a lovely shade of purple! She lives in the blueberry patch, where she always has a fresh supply. One day she hopes to have a blueberry stand at the Fairy Market.

Daffodil wears a dress the color of sunshine. She is always happy and can brighten any gray day. Daffodil has a silly side, and some days you will find her walking about with a daffodil flower upside down on her head as if it were the grandest hat! Daffodil is always there to help a fairy friend or human that may need her.

These girls love tea time, midnight parties, and enchanting adventures. I started making these for my own children when all the information about the dangers of plastic worried me. There are fairies in two sizes, playsets, a playbox for each doll (more to come), and storybooks to come about the fairies. These dolls are great interactive toys that will enhance you daughter's childhood and will be toys that she cherishes forever. A set of delicate wings are painted on the back of each fairy, but the flying is up to you!

My Fairies can be found here:
http://www.thefairyring.etsy.com
http://www.theenchantedcupboard.artfire.com
http://www.theenchantedcupboard.1000markets.com

Getting to Know You.....


I recently did a produce review for my Tuesday Green Tip on Tricia of The Green Market on Etsy. http://www.thegreenmarket.etsy.com/ I wanted you to get to know her more and thought she would be great for this months Getting to know you.

Tell us a little about yourself and your family.

I am a wife to a wonderful executive city boy and mother to 8 children ranging in ages from 16 to 4 months old. I was born in NY but raised in Miami, Florida and have been planning my escape to the country for 10 years. We finally realized our dream of owning a small hobby farm on 3 acres 2 years ago, called Moss Flower Farm. My J.O.B is cake designing. I can make any cake that my client can dream up, I love challenges. My favorite hobbies include painting, crochet, quilting and designing. We have a very structured but fun family and there never seems to be a shortage of hugs around our home.

My blog is about my life on Etsy but also about my family and living green, so what does GREEN mean to you and your family?

We have been "green" for so long that it is just the way we do things. Being green to me is taking a step backwards. A step backwards is a step forwards. I try to do things like my grandmother would have done it. We do not use reusable or throw away items. If we have an event we use compostable plates or cups. We use cloth napkins, diapers, cleaning cloths, reusable shopping bags, produce bags, all paper goes into our shredder and is used to line our chickens nest boxes, any food scraps go into our compost or earth worm bins (vermiculture). We are in the planning process of going solar powered by installing solar panels to hopefully be mostly off grid. We have a solar oven which we built and are still working on to cook our meals with the sun soon. Water is conserved in any way we can and keep a mind of being wasteful with any resource. We don't have many chemicals in our home, we make our own cleaners, laundry detergent, tooth powder and hopefully soon our own soa
p. We make laundry soap out of greener ingredients and make most things from scratch. For such a big family, I would say that our carbon footprint would be equal to that of a 4 person family.

We are now in summer and gardens are the new/old thing to have, What do you grow and/or raise on your property?

On Moss Flower Farm we raise chickens (Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire Reds and Araucanas) White Drake ducks (Aflac), we have a huge stocked catfish pond and are planning to add a Dexter cow very soon for raw milk. Dexter cows are as big as a big dog and are very gentle, because of their size they require little pasture. We have fruit trees including, peach, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, fig, loquat, all kinds of citrus, apples and mulberries and bananas. We grow tomatoes, peas, squash, potatoes, green beans, all types of lettuce and microgreens, many herbs, strawberries, black and raspberries, garlic, chives and onions. We have a blueberry orchard and are picking wonderful blueberries at the moment. We will probably be done with the blueberry season in a few weeks. Growing food is powerful, if you can grow food you can become free.

When did you start on Etsy? How did you get started crafting?

I opened my shop in June of 2008 and am coming up on my 1st year anniversary on the 20th. Crafting has always been a part of my life. When I was little (I am 36 now, shhh very priviledged info) my family would go to the library and I would go straight to the sewing, crafting section.

What do you make and sell in your shop?

I make all sorts of reusable products, ReYOUsable dusters and sweeping cloths to replace the displosable one in Swiffer products, reusable napkins, baby wipes, sandwich wraps, cleaning cloths. Shopping bags from wonderful designer fabrics such as Amy Butler and Heather Bailey, resuable bulk food bags for grains and flour and produce bags to replace those flimsy little plastic produce bags at the store, they are also great for keeping lettuces from drying out in the fridge. Even though most don't make it to my store because of procrastination on my part, we sell all of our items at the Farmers Market in town and love custom orders on Etsy.


What do you wish you had known when you started out selling your craft ?

That a serger is not an evil monster which should be kept covered in the corner of the sewing room for years before being brave enough to attempt using it.

What are some of you favorite projects that you have done?

I love to paint little people families. Seeing the little wooden dolls come to life and look like the people who will own them is fun.

What would be your best tip for someone starting out?

Think creatively and out of the box. Keep a notepad of ideas as they come to you.

Tell use about your day and how you "do it all" with homeschooling and running your own business?

As I said before, we are very structured. Children thrive on stucture (with flexibility) and discipline. The key to our family being able to "do it all" is going to bed early. My children's bedtime is 8 PM which means that they go to bed while the sun is still out. This helps the next day to be fruitful, fun and pleasant. School work is part of our life and my children have never know another way so they love to learn. My studio is where I create and run my business and my children respect that. I do not waste time with TV (not much : ) or phone and unnecessary outings so I have time to work on my ideas. We also schedule quiet time so we can all get to our favorite activities like crochet, reading or whatever.

What tips do you have for parents trying to run an at home business while raising a family?

Moms cannot and should not do everything themselves. Each one of our families members has their jobs which they are responsible for which we keep on a list and it ensures that everything that needs to get done, gets done. Even little children can help mom put the laundry into the washer and use a brush to sweep up crumbs in the kitchen. Children need to know that they are valuable and necessary parts of their families. Home businesses are a wonderful way to involve children and teach them business skills for their future. In our cake business my daughters start by punching out and creating flowers and passing ingredients. My 16 year old is now my soux chef and is getting quite good at baking. Children can help to package items, stamp letters and organize supplies. My kids love our booth at the Farmer's Market. They love to talk to customers and educate others on living simpler, greener lives.

Where do you see or hope to see you business in the future?

We have provisional patents and patents pending on some of our items and I would like to see them in stores outside of our town. It would be wonderful to have a business we can work on as a family when my children are older.

Last but not least, if granted super power what would you pick?

I have always wanted to be able to go back in time and create the things I make now back then. Imagine coming up with Reusable swiffer type products before Proctor and Gamble got us all used to the use and throw away mentality.

Ladybug, Ladybug ...




Ladybug, Ladybug Nursery Rhyme
Ladybug! Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone.

All except one,
And that's little Ann,
For she crept under
The frying pan.

We have ordered ladybugs to add to our garden. When gardening in an organic way, we want to work with nature not against her. There are lots of great plants and insects who will happily come work for you in your garden to keep away unwanted dinning guests. Ladybugs are beneficial because they feed on aphids and other soft bodied insects that feed on plants. They feeds on these pests as the adult ladybug and also as the larva. One ladybug can eat as many as 50 aphids a day.

We have also ordered a lovely little house for them, it will be a sweet addition to our garden. A Ladybug House encourages these beneficial insects to take up residence in your garden and provides a safe roosting place during chilly months.

History of the ladybug:
In Europe, during the Middle Ages, insects were destroying the crops, so the Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon the Ladybugs came, ate the plant-destroying pests and saved the crops! The farmers began calling the ladybugs "The Beetles of Our Lady", and they eventually became known as "Lady Beetles"! The red wings represented the Virgin's cloak and the black spots represented her joys and sorrows. They didn't differentiate between males and females.


For more information check out these websites:

http://www.growquest.com/ladybug_page.htm

http://www.ladybuglady.com/

http://butterflywebsite.com/Articles/MQuinn/MQuinn1.htm

http://www.coloring.ws/ladybugs1.htm

Wordless Wednesday : Reasons Why I Love This Man!