Litha Beads - Wheel of the Year

Pictured are the eight seasonal beads I made for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. As it is now Christmas here in the southern hemisphere, which actually means midsummer, we are now in Litha. So as the weather gets warmer we are preparing for family get togethers in the warmth of the outdoors. For this season of Litha I made a set of beads, seen below, you can also read more about this HERE.

As the traditional colours for Litha include golds, oranges, yellows, blues and greens, I decided to focus on the warmer colours of gold and yellow for this, due to wanting a more warmer look, and also because that is all my bead collection would allow for. So to make this I used a total of 45 beads in gold, yellow and pink, because why not pink. I also used a number of mixed quartz stones as spacer beads.

Beltane Beads - Wheel of the Year

Above are pictured all eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere we are now entering Beltane, the gateway to summer and summers here where I live tend to get very hot. Pictured below are the beads I made for Beltane,you can read more about this HERE.

The traditional colours for Beltane are rainbow colours with an emphasis on purples, yellows, reds, green and whites. In making these Beltane beads I decided to limit the colours I used to white pearl beads, with pinks and blues along with pink spacer beads. If you notice, these Beltane beads are very similar to my Ostara beads but with darker pink and blue beads. This is partly due to my limited supply of beads, but I am happy with the result. In total I used 46 beads, not including the pink rhodonite stone spacer beads to create this.

Sailboat with bonus Sea Star #4

It has been a while since I have made one of these sailboats, in the past I have made a few of these sailboats, along with their accompanying sea stars, and this is yet another of those decorative art pieces. My previous sailboats in blue, green and orange can be seen here, here and here. This red/maroon coloured sailboat and sea star, or starfish, was yet another sailboat and sea star set I made as a gift.

I used the same pattern for this sailboat and sea star as I did for the previous three sailboats and stars I made. I also used all the same materials here as I did for the previous three sailboats and sea stars, with the exception of using a maroon colour material to highlight this set. I also used wooden skewers for the mast and boom, as I did with the previous sailboats I made. If you're interest about how this was put together you can read my previous sailboat posts for more information.

The full standing size of this sailboat is somewhere around 12 inches. It makes a cute and unique display piece, along with its matching sea star, and a lovely little gift set for someone who has an affinity for boat, sailing or just the ocean in general. And although made as a display piece, I happen to know these sailboats have experienced some playtime by little hands and have still held up, without getting too worn, which is good to know.

Ostara Beads - Wheel of the Year

These are the eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere where I live we are experiencing Spring, although with the cold wet weather we had today it didn't much feel like it. Below are the beads for the Spring Equinox, you can read more about this HERE.

I made these Ostara seasonal beads using some pastel colours that represent this season, here I used pink, blue and pearl beads along with pink spacer beads. I used a total of 46 beads, not including the pink rhodonite stone spacer beads I used to create this.

Embroidered Star Sign Constellations - Gemini

This embroidered star sign constellation for Gemini was made as a gift. I purchased a packet to these mini framed cards that I thought perfect for this purpose. The actual framed card size is about 9.5cm by 9cm, and the inside window which has the silken navy blue material that I embroidered on with white is about 6cm by 4.5cm. I finished by stamping the word Gemini across the top of the card in blue ink using my alphabet stamps.

Ravenclaw Diadem #3 +pattern

I have actually made two previous versions of this Ravenclaw Diadem, one a simplified version in two colours similar to this one, and another that uses four colours to create a version with shadows and highlights. This Ravenclaw Diadem is very similar to the first simplified version I made, only it features a lacy design, keeping it simple while adding a little bit of charm. I also remade a matching pair of earrings to go with this new design.

The pattern for this Ravenclaw Diadem, including the earring, is below. Although I actually made the earrings and the diadem's gems on a round peg board, I have included it with the pattern below. This pattern is also a wallpaper, and I also have a simplified wallpaper below. To better view these just click on a picture to enlarge it. To download as a wallpaper, click on the picture you want and "Save Image As" to save to your computer or alternatively you can select "Set As Desktop Background"

My Beanie Koala

A new little creature for my ever growing collection is this cute adorable koala beanie. This native animal is so unique and special, I just had to make one, and he fits in right at home with my ringtail possum beanie I made a while back. I actually have a small collection of beanie animals that I plan to expand in the future.

To create this koala beanie I used My Beanie pattern that I have used for all my beanie animals, for the body and feet at least. As with all my beanie animals I then had to alter the ears, and create a nose that was koala like. Creating the ears did give me some trouble, there were a few different attempts at this to try to get it right, or at least close.

For the koala's body I chose a dark blue denim, partly because I only use recycled materials for all my makes and this was what I had, but I also liked the colour as I thought it was close to some of the grey/blue coloured koala's that you see. I then used the same white material for the belly as I have with my other beanie animals.

As with my other beanies, this koala has black safety eyes and is filled with plastic pellets making him fun and toss-able. And at such a small size being only about 11cm long, he is a comfortable size to hold in one hand or to have keeping you company as a unique little paperweight. 

Imbolc Beads - Wheel of the Year

Above you can see all eight seasonal beads I made, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Right now in the southern hemisphere where I live the weather is getting warmer. Today was a lovely warm day to bring in Imbolc, and below are the beads I made for this season. Read more about this HERE.

To make these Imbolc seasonal beads I used the colours of the season, which are white and pastels. Using beads from my supply, I chose white, pink and pearl beads and separated these with green spacer beads. In total I used 45 beads not including the green amazonite stone spacer beads to create this.

Embroidered Star Sign Constellations - Taurus

This embroidered constellation is for the star sign of Taurus. To make this I used white embroidery thread to stitch this constellation of stars on to silken navy blue material, although the material looks more black in the picture. This embroidered pattern was then placed in a small framed card, I brought a bunch of these frame cards that I thought were perfect for this project. The cards are about 9.5cm by 9cm, the inside window with the embroidery measures about 6cm by 4.5cm. I then used blue ink and alphabet stamps to add the word Taurus across the top to finish it off.

Hanging Animal Art Doll - Hare

It has been a while since I made one of my animal art dolls. These animal art dolls feature long jointed limbs and a basic body shape. For this hare doll I altered the head shape then created exaggeratedly long ears, a pompom tail and stitched on pink nose. I have also added little pink safety eyes to match the pink features of this hare art doll.

I was actually in the middle of another project when I received the Forest Fae Messages card deck and was inspired to create this hare art doll after pulling 'The Thimble Witch' card. Her message was "There is magic in beginnings, so start something new", and after seeing the hare doll in her lap I instantly thought of my animal art dolls and decided to take her advice. See my review for this deck HERE.

 

This is a decorative art doll that was totally hand stitched. Made in just one week, that is pretty fast for a hand sewn project from start to finish, fast for me anyway. I also added a loop to the back of the hare's head so this hare art doll is able to be hung, as well as stood on a shelf. But with a full size of about 37cm, I think for now I will keep him sitting on my shelf.

Big-Headed Garden Gnome (inspired by the Harry Potter Series)

For the longest time I had wanted to make one of these garden gnomes with a bigger head to better resemble the gnomes that are described in the Harry Potter books, and so after a long time just thinking about it I finally I got around to making one and I love him.

This garden gnomes pattern has been a favourite of mine for a long time, you can see some previous gnomes I have made HERE, HERE and HERE. Almost all of these gnomes have since found new homes, but this big-headed gnomes stays on my shelf, when he isn't roaming around the garden.

HERE you can see the original gnome made from this pattern on the right and the beg-headed gnome on the left. I used the exact same pattern for both, they have the exact same body, arms, legs, nose and ears. I even used the same materials to create these, the only difference between the two is the head size.

To make his big-headed gnome I increased the size of the pattern pieces for the head to 130% before printing. At first I wasn't sure if it would be big enough, then I worried it might be too big. But I actually think it is probably about the right size and because his body is weighted with stuffing pellets he isn't at all top heavy with a bigger head.

This big-headed gnome is only slightly taller then the original standing at a little under 11 inches tall, and is finished with the same safety eyes as the first gnome I made. Both are so very cute, I cant decide which one I like more. As I said, this is such a great pattern, to make a gnome for yourself you can visit Tiffany Hinnen (aka. Mieljolie) at her etsy store HERE.

Yule Beads - Wheel of the Year

Pictured above are all 8 seasonal beads for the Wheel of the Year. At the bottom is these 8 beads are the Yule beads and as it is now Yule in the southern hemisphere these are the beads I am featuring. You can read more about Yule and how I use these beads HERE.

In making these Yule beads I went through my supply of beads and see what I could use. The colours for this season were obvious, red, green and white, so they were the colours I went with, only I used pearl beads instead of white. All up there are 46 of these red, green and pearl beads, not including the green amazonite stone spacer beads.

DIY Ogham Stones

Previously I made a set of very basic Ogham staves, I called them staves but really they are just a bunch of wooden nail cuticle pushers that I drew the Ogham figures onto. But for what they are, they aren't that bad, just not the prettiest looking. I still intend to create a more proper set of Ogham staves from sticks at some point, but as I had a bunch of these nice little stones on hand I thought why not make a set of Ogham stones.

The hardest part about making these Ogham stones was just finding enough stones that were of a similar size, shape and colour. These stones actually came from my garden, so I luckily didn't have to go to too much trouble to find these. I find it's always nice when you can use materials that you have on hand as opposed to buying too many supplies and materials.

These stones have a natural shine and smoothness to them that is lovely to hold and are a size that is comfortable, especially when grabbing a handful of stones at one time. To create these Ogham stones, I firstly made sure these stones were cleaned and dried, I then simply used a permanent black pen to draw on each Ogham figure. I did try using a gold then a silver pen for these, but the Ogham figures did not stand out very well due to the light colour of the stones. You can read more about using these Ogham stones HERE.

Samhain Beads - Wheel of the Year

I spent some time last year creating these seasonal beads, 8 in total, one for each turn of the Wheel of the Year. Here in the southern hemisphere it is almost Samhain, so these are the beads I made for this festive season. You can read more about this HERE.

To make these Samhain beads I first decided on the colours for this season, black, white, silver, gold, purple and orange. I then had to go through my supply of beads and find colours I had, so I ended up using 46 yellow, purple and gold beads, not including the obsidian stone spacer beads.

Faery Rag Doll #8

It has been over a year since my last post about my faery rag dolls, so I was well overdue to create another of these simple and sweet magical dolls. This lovely purple faery was a special order and I am glad to say she has settled into her new home quite nicely.

As with all these hand-sewn faery rag dolls she has black safely eyes, a blanket stitched fringe and detailed pointy ears. The full height of these dolls is about 24cm from head to toe and the full wingspan is about 16cm. I will have to get back to making more of these magical little dolls.

DIY Ogham Staves

For the past few months I have been trying to learn all about oghams. A very complicated and messy subject, due to the little facts that are actually known about oghams. The only concrete information about the oghams comes from the actual name meanings and the associations of the Bríatharogaim Kennings found in the Ogham Tract. However, there is plenty of opinion and speculation as to what the oghams represented and how they should be interpreted. 

Although there are some consistencies to be found among the many sources I have researched about the the meanings and associations of the oghems, there are still many others that differ or contradict what is found in other sources. Even the names of the oghams themselves have differing spellings. This becomes all the more complicated when you reach the last five ogham fews, which were a latter addition and for this reason not always discussed among literary sources.

To aid my learning I decided to create a physical set of oghams staves. My intention was to create a set from sticks, however as I have yet to procure the sticks I need, and because I had them on hand, I have created an ogham set from wooden nail cuticle pushers. I still intend to create a set from sticks, but for the moment these diy staves will do. They are wood and about the right height I wanted, just a little too skinny. All I needed to do was draw on the ogham figures and I was done. You can read more about using these Ogham staves HERE.

Beads Of 'A Year And A Day' - Faery Beads

'A Year And A Day' is a well known term that has, over time, held many significance's. There are stories in which couples would become handfasted for a year and day, which was a sort of temporary marriage commitment. After a year the couple could then decide to stay together or go their separate ways. It was seen as a period of time consisting of the 13 lunar months plus 1 day, making up the solar year. It was also said to be the length of time one would have to stay with the faeries in their realm, if one was to wander into their realm, before it would be possible to return to the mortal realm.

The instructions I found to create these beads describe using rowan berries threaded on string and finish with a cross of rowan wood. Not living in a country where rowan trees grow naturally, I instead decided I wanted to make these from actual beads. I also personally preferred the idea of creating beads that would last for a year and a day, as opposed to having to go through the process of drying out the berries and hoping the whole thing would not fall apart. I know it might have been nice to use natural products but that was not available to me and personally I prefer these beads that can be handled and worn.

 

Without access to rowan berries or wood, I instead decided to finish of my beads with a bronze star. There was no way I could use silver or iron on these faerie beads, for obvious reasons. To complete these beads of 'A Year And A Day' I used 4 different sized red, or reddish, coloured beads, totalling all up to be 366 beads. The full length of these beads from star to star measures about 133cm, creating one very long necklace if you wish to wear it as such. Though I have preferred to wear it wrapped around my wrist multiple times as a bracelet.

These faerie beads, as I like to think of them, were inspired by Eco Enchantments. The link to the instructions can be found HERE. There is short description about rowan berries and their use in healing and protection, as well as instructions for creating these using actual rowan berries and wood, if you are inclined to do so. Although I have no access to any rowan trees, I was lucky enough to have a small collection of different bead colours and types, so in creating this I used only the materials I already had, including the bronze star charm.