Little Fairy Shoes ~ once owned by Lady Lillie Fairy!

Looking through my photos on my camera I found these photos which I took ages ago and totally forgot to share them. What a dope!

These fairy shoes belonged to Lady Lillie Fairy.  She’s rather a big deal in The Land of the Fae.  She’s the Fairy equivalent of our Dame (a title bestowed only by the Queen (or who ever is the Monarch at the time) in the UK).  She’s well-respected and treated as a high-ranking Fairy among those who reside in the Land of the Fae.

She has her clothes made by Fairyland Designers, and shoes made by a Cobbler called Cobwebs.  (Yes, I know, how incredible is that?  Me=Cobwebs;  Cobwebs=Cobbler! Who woulda thunk?!).

Possibly made from the petals of a Lily which one can find only in Fairy Land.  (or they might have been made from Polymer. [cough])  Can you see the teeny tiny stamens – which don’t leave any stains on your clothes – peeping out from the insides of the inner petals of the Lily?  They’re made from the same stuff.

The decoration which you see to the front of the shoes are teeny tiny green glass beads, which are hung on copper wire.  These beads give the most delightful tinkling noise as the shoes are moved, which makes every step taken ring out in an ethereal, magical, almost imagined sound,  – but it’s not imagined, for you really can hear it  – as you would expect from a Fairy!

The copper Penny sat next to the shoes in the photographs is there for reference, so that you can get an idea of the size of the shoes.

Of course, no shoes were stolen in order to share these shoes with you.  These shoes were left under a Fairy toadstool, in a place which is clearly labelled  “Sharing the Shoes” – so that a passing Fairy might stumble upon them and try them for size, or a human, with an eye for Fairies, might find them and either add them to a collection (as I do) or might begin a collection.

 

These Fairy Lillie Shoes were brought to you by Cobwebs. 

Have a spiffing Saturday!  Be good to yourself, and be lovely to anyone you come into contact with.  The Fairies would approve.  😉

Squidges ~

 

 

Advertisement

I’ll Rope You A Star ~ a handmade, little stars, Wand.

Did you know … that a Wand isn’t in the least bit magical?  It can’t do a thing.  It has absolutely NO power. NOTHING.  Let me explain more . . .

All a wand actually is,  is a ‘tool’ on which to focus your attention.  Believe me, if wands themselves really could do ‘stuff’ all on their own, I certainly wouldn’t collect the pretty wands which I do! (or any other sort of wand for that matter!).

Let me take you back to your school days.    Imagine for a moment that you’re sat in the classroom, and you’re giggling and whispering with the girl next to you.  Suddenly the teacher’s voice BOOMS out, and shouts your name!  You look up and see him standing there, with a cross face,  hands on hips.  He looks right at you,  gives you a stern telling off and tells you that you’re disrupting his class.

Embarrassing eh?

Now let’s replay that scene again . . . 

The teacher’s voice  BOOMS  out, and shouts your name!  You look up and see your teacher standing there pointing his index right at you.  He’s looking very cross.  Looking directly at you but still pointing his finger at you, shaking it the merest amount, he raises his voice and tells you off, – all the time he’s doing this he continues to point that finger at you.

Can you see (and feel)  how much more ‘menacing’ the whole scene becomes simply because he’s pointing his finger at you?

That finger doesn’t have anything magical about it, and yet it seems to hold so much more ‘power’.

That’s exactly the same as a wand.  All a finger pointing at you is doing is focusing your attention.  (and the person who’s pointing at you’s attention).  A wand is exactly the same thing.   It just focus’ the attention.

Well now I’ve blathered on about how wands don’t have any power, you can perhaps now understand why they don’t ‘freak’ me out, and even why I love to make pretty, magical to the eye, wands!   And this  ‘Rope a Star’ wand is magical to the eye.

The inspiration for this wand came from my childhood.  My mother used to tell me a poem, song, or story (I sadly can’t remember which) when I was little, but I do remember that I loved it.  Sadly I cannot remember what the story, song, poem was – and my mother has passed on, so I can’t ask her about it – but I remember a line from it which went something like:  ‘I’ll throw a rope out and rope a star just for you’ …  and that line conjured up such wonderful images inside my little mind,  and it still does now.

So I decided that I would throw a rope out and rope a star –  but this time I’d make mine a rope which wrapped itself around a wand, and the stars would hang from the wand itself.

There are little silver stars which dangle from lot’s of places on the wand, and there’s a crescent moon with stars hanging from the heel of the wand (at the top end as you’re looking at it in the photo.  The ribbon and star cuff around the top of the wand is removable.

Over the years I’ve tried to find the poem, song or story which mentions this ‘roping in a star’ and I’ve never found it.  But if you happen to know it or know where to find it, I’d be thrilled if you could either let me know or pop a link into a comment so that I could go and find it.

Have a truly blessed rest of your day, all,  . . .  and a fabulously twinkly, star lit night. 

The End of the Rainbow, Wand of all Rainbows.

At just 6½” in length, this is one of the collection of smaller wands which I make, and I absolutely loved making this one.  It has Blue, Green, a deep warm Yellow, and light Lemon.  Lavender, Lilac,  Orange, Pink, and a wonderful rich Ruby Red.   In total,  nine colours.  Why 9?  …

The number 9 has great meaning: 

It’s the number of Universal love, eternity, faith.

The spiritual meaning of number Nine bring us to the very height of vibrational frequencies in this number sequence.

Nine represents attainment, satisfaction, accomplishment, and our success to achieve an influence in our circumstances.

Nine deals with intellectual power, inventiveness, influence over situations and things.  Nine beseeches us to recognize our own internal attributes, and extend these abilities out into the world to make a positive, influential difference.

In ‘Angel Numbers’,  the number 9 is the number of Universal love; eternity; faith; Universal Spiritual Laws; Karma; spiritual enlightenment;  spiritual awakening;  Light working and Light workers; charity,  selflessness;  destiny;  soul’s purpose and mission;  generosity;  a higher perspective;  romance;  inner-strength;  responsibility;  intuition;  strength of character.

It also resonates with  creative abilities;  sensitivity;  inner-wisdom;  high ideals;  humility;  altruism and benevolence;  empathy;  compassion;   artistic genius;  an expansive viewpoint;  communication;  influence;  perfection;  magnetism;  understanding;  forgiveness and sympathy;  the visionary;   duty and calling;  obligation;  mysticism;  optimism and Divine wisdom.

 

Nine is the number of the hierarchy, represented by nine choruses of the Angels.

It represents the three divine manifestations in the three planes: world of the spirit, world of the soul, world of the matter.

The Bible teaches us the nine spiritual gifts of God enumerated by Saint Paul:

1. wisdom,
2. knowledge,
3. faith,
4. gift of healing,
5. to operate miracles,
6. prophecy,
7. distinguishing spirits,
8. to speak in different kinds of tongues
9. and the gift to interpret them.

Saint Paul enumerates also nine fruits of the Spirit:  love,   joy,   peace,   patience,   kindness,   goodness,   trustfulness,   gentleness,  and  self-control.

I could go on but I think you get the idea.  Nine is a beautiful, spiritual, fabulous, magical number, and likewise, this wand is a beautiful, spiritual, fabulous, magical, Wand of all Rainbows.

Once cured, I gave the wand a particular finish which is a favourite of mine.  It has the finest twinkly, star-dust motes suspended within its particles.   You cannot see specks of glitter or anything like that because it’s not ‘glittery’ in that way at all.  It’s quite literally the finest of finest ‘dust‘ of a magical type stuff which is just fantastic.    I’m convinced it’s the same stuff that sunbeams and moonbeams are made of!   This finish made the wand twinkle, shimmer and dance with merriment.  Once sealed,  I added a collar of rainbow colours of ribbons, and finally,  it was cleansed and blessed by the full moon,  in readiness for its new owner.

Can you imagine what this would look like inside a glass case, hanging on the wall?  Perhaps one of those box type frames – a picture frame with a deep box behind the glass.  It would look great against some plain coloured fabric – maybe even black velvet – to really make the colours pop!

Thank you so much for coming and having a look at the Wand of all Rainbows.  I found such joy in the making of it.  I love this wand and am hoping that you like it too.

Wishing you a magical day!

Angel Dust encased in glass, suspended from Angel Wings

Crafted by Cobwebs

All hand-made, in a particular mix of polymers which I like to use.  No moulds were used to make this pin/pendant.   All the feathers you see are all hand-made, no two are the same,  and each one applied individually by hand.  There is, however, one golden, metal feather nestled amongst all the other feathers.  Can you spot it?

Suspended beneath the Angel wings is a glass phial which holds a measured amount of Angel Dust.  The lid was applied and then sealed, never to be opened, so that the Angel Dust will be with you forever.   Finally, three more feathers were applied to the glass phial, each feather symbolizing Charity,  Hope  and  Faith.

I loved making this pin/pendant and now that it’s finished I love it even more.  Hope you like it too.

Thank you so much for coming to visit, and for taking the time to read.  While you’re here, please do have a look around.  There are many categories on my blog and you can find the links to those categories further up the column on the right hand side of this page.   →  →  →

Wishing you a really great rest of your day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bradley Thread Bear Esq. A little 2.5inch tall, polymer bear with a big personality.

Bradley Thread Bear, Esq.
a fully jointed, polymer bear.

Say hello to Bradley.  Bradley is a scamp of a bear who loves to sit on a shelf and watch you as you go about your day.

Made from Polymer Clay, and jointed so that his arms and legs move.  His joints are made by the use of gold wrapped elastic.

Bradley with his miniature cotton reel

Introducing him has obviously worn him out.  He’s had to sit down!   In width, at his widest point, Bradley is roughly 3cm wide (which is 1.18 in inches)

Bradley … what a lazy boy!

Oh, it must be nap time.  Shhhh… he’s sleeping.  Can you hear him snoring?   I’ve taken the opportunity to do a cheeky height measurement, and as you can see, he’s roughly 2.5″ tall.  (that’s 6.35 centimetres for those who work in ‘new money’. lol)

Bradley .. moving the furniture around?

Well that was a quick nap.  We seem to be on the move again …  probably off to find some honey!

This little bear was made from Polymer Clay, and then ‘dusted’ over with some really beautiful gold acrylic paint – which sadly doesn’t show up at all well in the photo’s but if you look carefully you can just about spot it here and there.  The hardest thing about making Bradley was threading that gold covered elastic through the holes I made for his joints.  You have to get the tension just right, otherwise a limb(s) will hang, or if you get the tension too tight, the limb(s) will kind of fan out and not work properly.

Because bears like Bradley are quick to make I will use them as removable card adornments for older children.  Obviously with a note that they’re not a playing with toy, but an ‘ornament’. But I’ve also put them into adult cards too and they seem to go down very well with the folks who receive them.

Bradley Thread Bear, Esq.
a fully jointed, polymer bear.

Bradley, however, is my bear.  He sits on a shelf in my craft room, mostly laughing at me when I swear under my breath as I drop something for the hundredth time and have to scrabble about trying to find whatever it is – before I roll the castors on my chair over ‘it’.

Thank you so much for visiting.  Please have a look round the place while you’re here.  There’s plenty to find and have a nose at!

Have a fabulous rest of your day!

 

Fairy Shoes ~ Pollens Pods – inspired by a Bumble Bee.

… because even a Fairy has to have shoes!
These are Pollens Pods.

 

Pollen the Fairy has a very important job in the Land of the Fae, and that job is to dust down the flowers after the Bumbles have paid a visit.  You see, Bumble Bees can be very messy sometimes and in their desire to collect pollen from flowers, they will occasionally get a little over greedy and splosh tiny specks of pollen all over the flowers and their petals!  So Pollen the Fairy was put on the job and he dusts down the flowers with a very special brush, made from the hair of the Fairy Princess.  (what?  you thought that a bristle brush would do the job?  tsk tsk)

But .. Pollen needed new shoes and so wanted Cobweb the Cobbler to make some which had a nod to the important flower dusting job.  Cobweb thought long and hard about this and eventually came up with ‘Pods’.  The cobbler took some pea pods, and fashioned them into the right shape and correct size, but felt they were the wrong colour.

So the cobbler asked a passing Kingfisher bird  if he would be willing to gift one of his beautiful blue feathers to the cobbler.   The Kingfisher obliged!  – and Cobweb then went to town and, using the feather donated by the Kingfisher,  painted the pea pod made shoes!

Slowly, as the cobbler painted  –  the bright blue colour of the feather began to seep into the green of the pea pod made fairy shoe and dyed it the incredible bright blue colour you see in the photographs!

But … that wasn’t enough!   A fairy wouldn’t just have plain blue shoes for hecks sake!  No fairy would want just a boring plain shoe!  Nooooo.   Fairies  have  to have something special.  And that’s where the magic began.

… the front and back, and the back and front!

These fairy shoes are covered in the pollen of all the different coloured flowers which the Bumbles like to visit,  and the vines which wind their way around the shoes are there to gently hug the ankles of the fairy wearer so that the shoes don’t fall off in mid-flight,  for that would be disastrous!

A comment made by another blogger made me realise that I’d hadn’t shown any of the boxes which the Fairy Shoes arrive in,  so I thought that perhaps I should include these boxes in the photographs from now on.   So the first photograph (at the top of this post) and the last one (below) show the top (and sides)  of  the hand painted and decorated box which Cobweb the Cobbler delivers the special Fairy Shoes in.

The other box in the background?  …..  Ohhhhh … well you’ll have to wait till next time in order to see the shoes which belong to that box!  😉

Fairy Shoes
all hand-made by
Cobweb
@ The Cobweborium Emporium

 

This post is dedicated to a fellow blogger, who’s photograph of a Bumble Bee was the inspiration behind this post.  You can find her truly beautiful and peace filled  blog here:   http://friendlyfairytales.com/

Have a blessed rest of your day,   and  …  thank you for visiting and taking the time to read.  I hope you like the shoes!

The Round-Tower of my Heart.

The Round Tower of my Heart
a pin / brooch
handmade by
Cobwebs

This tiny piece of (almost) nothingness was based upon the last few lines of a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  Although I’d read the poem before,  (way back in my teens),  I’d forgotten about it until I opened a book to read one evening and found the ending of the poem at the very start of the book.   On the opening page, were these last eight lines of the poem:

I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.

And there will I keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the walls shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away!!

Those lines have stayed with me ever since – and I’ve never forgotten them.

It was because of the last four lines of the poem that I decided to make The Round Tower of my Heart pin/brooch.

The Round Tower of my Heart pin.

It’s really quite tiny to look at with the naked eye – at less than an inch at it’s very widest point,  and although 2″ tall it looks smaller because of the design.  (measurements in the photograph are in centimetres).

I purposely made it with a nod to the more whimsy, but in very dark silvery grey/black, as I wanted it to feel like it was, although a little foreboding and from the depths of somewhere that was dark,  actually a quiet, gentle, beautiful place (hence the whimsical beauty of the piece) – but that it was also a place which kept that within its walls a closely guarded secret, and away from the prying eyes of others.  Down in the dungeon; in the Round Tower of my Heart. 

Thank you so much for visiting, and having a read.  I hope the pin brooch is something which holds something for you.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.

Tiny White Angel Feathers – make a most beautiful handmade wand.

The photograph above doesn’t show   the daintiness:  the apparent delicacy or the true beauty of this little handmade wand.  To see how intricate this really is you need to see it with the human eye,  however,  I’ve managed to capture a little of the details by taking a ‘closer up’ photograph which helps to show a little more of the adornments. and the fineness,  both in the appearance and the work which went into making this incredible little work of heart.

Close up of the Angel Feathers Wand

The wooden part of the wand is made from gifted pine wood, which was crafted by hand, by a wood worker,  into a short, beautiful, almost straight length, just right for what I had in my minds eye.  Pine was chosen for this wand because it offers the properties of protection, healing, rejuvenation, strength, life, purification and … a wonderful added bonus .. it attracts money!  (and I don’t think I know anyone who couldn’t do with a little more of that!)

The handle of the wand was crafted.    Made entirely of individual, handmade white Angel Feathers.  Each one is completely different from any other.  [No mould was used in the making of the feathers].  As each feather was made it was transferred to the wand and slowly but surely the handle was born.  Gold dust was then applied, with a very fine paint brush, to the tips of all the feathers, in order to give them their own glowing light.

At the head of the handle  is a large white pearl, and further pearls can be found dotted throughout the handle, tucked between, or peeping out from beneath various feathers.  There are then more pearls which are hung from tiny silver loops hidden within the folds of the feathers, and further tear-drop pearls which hang from little gold chains.

Pearls were chosen for this incredibly special wand both because of their association with the moon, and also because of their symbolism of purity, innocence, faith and honesty.

There are also Opals hung from the handle – a beautiful gemstone, chosen because it’s a stone of inspiration which enhances imagination and creativity.  A protective stone;  a stone for love;  and associated with peace, and consciousness.

In various places on the wand handle there are literally hundreds of the tiniest golden glass beads – which give the appearance of something bubbling forth from beneath the feathers – and the ‘something’ I envisioned that this represented,  was love.

The whole wand symbolises love, happiness, warmth, and joy – and in keeping with the traditions of wand making, the wand was blessed and charged,  before being passed to its destiny owner.

Thank you so much for coming to read.  I really loved making this wonderful little wand and am proud to be known as its maker.  I so hope you like it too.

Have a beautiful day ~

Fairy Shoes ~ Peapody’s Slippers ~ they’re his Sunday Best, don’t you know!

Peapody’s Sunday Best Slippers
handmade by
Cobweb the Fairy Cobbler

Peapody is a fabulous rascal in the land of Fae. He’s tall – in fact quite the lankiest of the male fairies that I ever did see – and wears long-legged brown woollen trousers with turn ups – which, he tells me, are there to catch seeds!;  an old (but still very serviceable) white with the faintest of line checks,  collar-less shirt – with the sleeves rolled up;  and braces which hold his trousers up and are attached to them with white bone buttons.

He’s a gardener in Fairy Land and has been around for a gazillion years. Well – that’s what he tells me, but I’m not entirely certain I believe him.  To me he looks around his late eighties / early nineties – but hey, what do I know.  I’m only a ”whipper-snapper” according to Peapody!

He gardens every single day. He says that no one else is going to take care of that forest so he has to work every day!   To be honest, I think he just likes to garden – but he also likes to have people tell him he’s doing a wonderful job – so I did, and still do, often!

He used to wear boots. Brown, wrinkled, crinkled, cracked, leathery looking boots with laces, but he said that he’s far too busy and can’t be bothered with boots now and so decided a while ago that he was going to retire his boots and instead wear something more comfy.  He asked Cobwebs the Cobbler to come up with something which he didn’t have to fuss with.  He wanted:  comfy with no laces;  no zippers; no doodly uppy bits; no hobnails; no rivets and no holes.  He said he just wanted to push his feet in and walk.  And this is what Cobwebs the Fairy Cobbler came up with.

Fairy Peapody’s Slippers

They look, to all intents and purposes, like they’ve been crafted from the pods of the peas which Peapody grows to make Pea Pod Soup, and they’re even adorned with peas!

Peapody was thrilled with them when he saw them, and, I’m told, hasn’t taken them off since because they’re sooo comfortable. One satisfied customer I think!

If you’re now wondering what Pea Pod Soup tastes like, Peapody very kindly shared his recipe, scroll down to find it!

Pea Pod Soup

Ingredients:

• A colander full of freshly emptied pea pods, rinsed
• 1 onion or a handful of spring onions, chopped
• A generous handful of fresh mint
• Light vegetable stock
• Seasoning:  a little salt, a little pepper, a little sugar, a little lemon juice
• To garnish: more chopped spring onions and chopped fresh herbs of your choice
• Optional: a little yoghurt or cream (use vegan varieties for vegan soup!)

Method:

1. In a large saucepan, gently fry the chopped onion or spring onions in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes.  Put the pea pods and mint into the pan – discard any very woody stems but there’s no need to chop everything up, this soup will be going into the food processor later on.  Add enough light vegetable stock to allow the pea pods to float about happily. Bring to the boil, then turn to a low heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Check the water level and top up if you need to.
2. Allow the mixture to cool a little and then transfer to a food processor or liquidiser and whizz until smooth. Pea pods can be stringy, so be prepared to run the machine for several minutes and taste as you go so that you can be sure that the consistency is right for you. If all else fails and the consistency is still a bit too fibrous you can put the soup through a sieve.
3. Return the soup to the pan, check the consistency and thin it down with a little more stock if you like. Check the taste and adjust it to suit your own preference using salt, pepper, sugar or lemon juice. This soup can be served warm or chilled. Top with finely chopped spring onions and fresh herbs, or a swirl of cream or yoghurt.

Yes, it’s a genuine recipe.  You really can make and eat it.

Thanks for coming to read and take a peep at Peapody’s Slippers.  I love them.  What do you think?

Have a truly beautiful rest of your day all.  ~ 

I ~ ‘Shell’ ~ keep you in my Heart.

I ~ ‘Shell’ ~ keep you in my Heart
made by Cobwebs

This brooch pin was completely inspired by that little piece of shell you see ‘stitched’ into the heart, with polymer  ‘thread’.

It was such a beautiful little thing,  which I’d found on a beach some years ago.  I brought it home with me and popped it in my desk draw for safe keeping, and promptly forgot about it.  Never gave it another thought until I found it  years later when I tipped the contents of the draw out to have a darn good clean of all the general flotsam and jetsam which cluttered the draw.  It was full of things which I didn’t have a place for, so everything and anything which I didn’t have a home for all went into that one bottom draw of my desk.

When I came across this little bit of shell the memories came flooding back of that holiday years earlier.  It totally warmed my heart and made me smile.

So I decided that I had to use the shell in a way which gave it the importance it deserved. …  …  and this pretty brooch pin was the thing which was born from the memories, love and warmth the shell brought back to me.

Made from polymer (apart from the shell), and then dusted in three colours of Mica powder to bring about the rich warmth which represented the warm smiles the shell had brought to my heart.  The little roses and leaves are made from polymer too.

Have a great start to your coming week!