The making of Our Fairy Garden!

Here was our fairy garden in Spring when we first made it out of an old disused sand box.

The girls each chose their own plants to put into the garden.

We used our rabbits rich manure compost to fill the sand pit and the plants have really thrived on it.

The girls helped me dig out spaces where they wanted their flowers to go and then carefully planted them in.

Matilda chose the mini tree (for the fairies to climb, gather firewood and take shelter under)

Bujana chose the pretty pink powder puff flowers, (because her fairies just love anything pink) 

Seraphina chose some lovely purple heather (To remind them of the wild)

Emmy chose some beautiful miniature daffodils, (mainly because she is a march 1st baby) But also because their trumpets make excellent fairy dresses!

 

After planting came the really fun part.... Choosing treasures for the fairies to find in their lovely new garden!
Oh the joy...Of running around in search of treasure.

• We put in fir cones and sprinkled little sparkling green sea glass jewels.
• We made a garden path out of pebbles.
• We scattered a few copper coins in amongst the undergrowth for lucky little fairy people to find. (Fairies just love treasure)
• Emmy found some pretty shining shells at the beach which she filled with water to make fairy paddling pools.
• A couple of lanterns and some candles look so pretty and magical lit up along the sides of the garden on an early summer evening.
• Bujana found a little font to make a fairy bird bath.
• Then came the little butterflies for the fairies to ride around the garden on.
• And rainbow windmills which have the magic to create real rainbows according to one little girl I know :)
• We collected fir cones from our woodland travels to make little homes for our fairy people
• but best of all was this addition.... Our mini celtic wattle and daub roundhouse.

What fairy wouldn't love to live in this snug little abode?

By mid summer the wild flowers we had planted as seeds and which the fairies had obviously tended to with great care had grown bigger than we ever could have imagined!

The giants have now been replaced with, among others, a constant budding of small but beautifully formed red poppies and cornflowers.

These pretty wild flowers attract all the lovely bugs, bees and butterflies that this little girl is so interested in.... Yes, our fairy garden is now a wildlife garden too!

Emmy planted some wild strawberries along the far edge of the garden over Spring.
"So the fairies could find their own food in Summer." They are the smallest strawberries you've ever seen, truly "fairy strawberries" but you've never tasted anything more fragrant and sweet in your life!
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Thank you fairies....Yes the fairy garden has been an abundance of growth, learning, joy, imagination, magic and wonder.....Sweet treats and all :)
 

And look who I found the other day! A real life flower fairy! Right from under the tumble of leaves and flowers in our magical garden!

Whatever next?

I can't wait to follow this magical little spot through the seasons and the years to find out!

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Inspired by "The Magic Onions" Annual Fairy Garden Competition!

Here is a post about our Fairy Garden 2011

Make a Summer Fairy Hair Wreath...

Bujana my very own Summer garden fairy, has had so much fun wearing this fairy wreath that we made together this afternoon! She still has it on... in peaceful slumber in the bunk bed fairy den the girls made today!
I suggested to her that the theme could be Summer. Bujana chose the "summery" colours that she wanted the flowers, ribbon and buttons from her fabric scrap basket and button box.

First we measured around her head with a tape measure and cut a piece of florists wire to the same size adding on an extra inch or so for the wrapping.
Then we twisted it into a circle, tying a long piece of ribbon to the part where the wire joined itself, wrapping it securely it all the way around.
Bujana really enjoyed twisting the ribbon around the wire frame!

I drew some flower and leaf shapes onto card and cut them out. Then I traced around the templates onto some pretty, summery coloured felt.

Then I carefully cut out the pieces.
Bujana sewed the button onto the flowers first then I helped add the leaves underneath because that part was a little trickier.
Then she sewed the three oak leaves together with a button in the centre.

I sewed the finished flowers and leaves onto the top of the wreath using the long end of the thread still attached. Hooking through the wrapped ribbon and then back up through the button hole till secure.


Bujana couldn't wait to run outside to show the fairy garden fairies her new creation!

I think they were impressed :)

Making a House a Home.... Imperfect Prose.

Making a house a home...

Isn't about perfect decor,
fixtures and fittings
cut and pasted from glossy pages....

It is about treasuring memories.

And turning them toward the light...


A house becomes a home slowly...
with the same kind of love,
that the old skin horse told the velveteen rabbit, turns toys real.
But only If they are truly loved till,
they become worn in ,
a little frayed around the edges...


A homely kitchen is not always gourmet...
But it is always good,
wholesome,
nourishing to both stomach and heart.
Even with the simplest of fare.


It fills a child with an aroma of memories...

And offers food for every sense....


Some days a posy of wild flowers will do,
other days (though maybe not so regular) roses from the one you love.
Sometimes an egg cup of daisies is the perfect thing.
Or maybe fresh cut flowers from a neighbour will grace the jar that cheers the kitchen sill.



Homemade and happy sitting on a shelf.
Reminds a house it is a home too...
It has a heart.

A lived in, loved through,
brimming full of colour and sound!
Making, baking, singing, and learning.
Reading and dreaming...


.... atmosphere...
Brings a home out of a house.

Putting your own unique mark on the furniture can help too :)
Poems written in golden thread and memory.

Light captured in the corners, beauty savoured in the ordinary, sacredness noticed in the everyday.

The learning how to see your own family story...
Weaving fragile and precious, through the days...

And a garden that doesn't have to be landscaped to be a little Eden...


Childhood lingers in both the fragrance of a rose and the clown wonder of a smiling sunflower.


Ragged overgrown gardens attract all kinds of wonderful wildlife anyway :)

And something for lunch maybe.

Old books passed down never put down long enough to gather dust!


And music...always music!
Even if it's "twinkle star" on repeat,
with fairy lights and dollies under covers.

Always creating, becoming, emerging till....
Our house takes on the creation of home and blessing for both those dear and the stranger too.

Not outer adorning, but inner knowing.

Antique collecting?

And the endless making of cosy corners to hide in....

Even the mess. Yes!

That never ending, silver sparkly wonder that four girls seem to unintentionally grow and scatter happy.

till somehow all my surfaces have a little glitter on them :)

Right to the darkest, quietest corners. Where in prayer, and stillness where we find ourselves,

each other...
and Him.

Within this place we call home.

Home isn't about the stuff that's in it. It's not about the sq footage, the location or the furniture.
It is about making a space that welcomes, that is honest, that reflects the heart of those who dwell within it's walls.
A home can't be cut out of a magazine. It is grown, like a garden from the rich soil of love....

My life is made up of imperfect prose and my home though imperfect is the centre of the story we share.

Hardly any of our furniture or appliances is new, and at any one time there will be something broken you can guarantee it :) Right now it's the fridge, swilling in its own meltdown :) And smelling slightly of rancid butter!

But what I'm trying to say is, it doesn't matter where you home is or how big it is. It can be beautiful. It can be a place of joy, and welcoming and togetherness and Love.

Enjoy reading more Imperfect Prose over at Emily's place friends :)