Fairy Fest Goodies

I got lots of neat things at the Fairy Festival this weekend.

Among the miscellaneous items I bought were some pieces of artwork, all of them by this artist. I'd seen the original of the mermaid painting on the right at an art fair in Iowa and loved it. When I saw she had little prints available, I had to pick one up. I also got some postcards to give to my girlfriend and friends at school. Then I found a dragon's blood soap, which is great, seeing as I can't burn the incense, some sachets to hold crystals, and a pentacle charm which I'm actually going to use in a Night Vale Girl Scouts cosplay.

In terms of crystals - because I just had to get some - I got two pieces of Sunstone, a Labradorite sphere, a Fluorite point, tumbled Rhodonite and Moonstone, Andara Crystal Glass (which was actually a gift from a man advertising his service as an energy worker), and a Citrine point.

Finally, I picked up this little hummingbird pin. The hummingbird is actually velcroed to the pin, so it can be swapped out with other accessories, or attached to headbands, clips, etc. It's so cute, and it's my favorite color, so I had to grab it.

Posts on the stones are upcoming. In the meantime, hope you're all enjoying your summer!

August 8th, 2016

The World of Faeries Festival was this weekend! I was so excited to go; after a long, difficult summer of family crises, I was really looking forward to some down time out in the open air with magical people and surroundings. The theme this year was Seasons of the Faeries. Participating children got a calendar, and then could go to each of the twelve month fairies (I was February) to play a game and get a birthstone sticker for the corresponding calendar page.

Me as Amethyst, the February fairy.

Destiny, the Season Changer fairy.

Hazelnut as Corra, the November fairy (she also did a lot of the season changing, as Destiny wasn't feeling the best).

The Blue Rose Mermaid.

One of the vendors' daughters with Natsu, the iguana dragon (check out her mother's work here).

Raincloud made it out with her boyfriend - I haven't seen her in forever!

There were some funny little field mice scurrying around the park.

Kaladin, the stilt walker.

The Statue Lady.

Bubbles...!

A vendor, Sara, working on a fantastic watercolor painting (view and purchase her art here).

Fairy Godmother Rose with her right-hand gal.

The river - we had perfect weather. Warm, but with a steady breeze and some cloud cover.

After the fair closed last night, the cast went out to dinner at a local buffet (photo credit to Hazelnut).

And last but not least, a group photo of a bunch of the cast (photo credit to photographer Mike Smith).

I met some cool new people and got to reconnect with a lot of old friends, which made me happy. I also did lots of shopping, so posts on that are upcoming. I'm very glad I got to go, and I'm already looking forward to next year.

The World of Faeries Festival 2015

The Fairy Fest was simply amazing this year! The theme was The Eleventh Hour: A Journey Through Time, so of course I wore an updated version of my steampunk fairy costume, while Destiny went with a lovely red and blue outfit of her own.

(That's me on the right.)

Destiny borrowed a pentacle necklace of mine until she could buy her own.

We heard fantastic music from award-winning Native American flutist, Randy Granger (pictured), a Japanese Taiko drumming group, the band Patchouli, the "Harp Twins" who do contemporary music played on harps, and more.

There's always so many interesting characters...

...and fantastic creatures...

...and if one looks carefully in the fairy garden...

...one might spot a little hummingbird up in a tree!

Destiny bought herself several things, including these stones:

From left to right, these are Labradorite, Rose Quartz, and Citrine.

I also bought myself many exciting things, but those will get their own post. 

The weather could not have been better (except for a thirty-second downpour Sunday afternoon), and we met up with many delightfully Pagan vendors, some of whom we already knew and some of whom were new this year. All in all, another amazing weekend!

June 16th, 2015

And we're off! My family and I are on our way to the Boundary Waters, where we will be camping for a week. We've only been on the road for three hours, and have many more before we arrive, so I have plenty of time to get some reading done. I've started off the day by finishing my book of Celtic mythology.

Title: The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends
Author: Peter Berresford Ellis
©1999

I've spent around the last week reading this anthology, and have really enjoyed it. Ellis has a personal connection to the stories he relates, and he succeeds in capturing the original Pagan spirit of these tales better than in many interpretations.

The myths come from throughout the British Isles, with legends from:

• Ireland
• Isle of Man
• Scotland
• Wales
• Cornwall
• Brittany

The stories cover The Shining Ones, the gods of the Celts, and tells how they were eventually usurped and relegated to the role of the sidhe (shee), the fairy folk. They tell likewise of many heroes and quests, of ghosts and enchantments, of mermaids and sea-maids, and of castles and ancient forests.

I had never had the opportunity to read any of these stories previously. Some of them I had seen summarized, or heard referenced in songs, but it was great to finally be able to see the originals. I feel like it fleshed out a big gap in my understanding of western mythology, and would definitely recommend it.  

I'm going to try to not use up more of our data plan, so I will leave it at that, but have a great week everyone, and I'll see you on the other side.

January 26th, 2014

Lionfish Mermaid

A bit of Pagan art for you all. Pretty decent for my first time using Prismacolor markers, wouldn't you say?