Gnome's Home.

Happy Valentine's Day for yesterday! It was so lovely and warm here in Southern California that we packed a picnic lunch and headed up to our wonderful Arboretum. We climbed trees, watched peacocks, collected treasures and, as is our tradition, built a gnome home.

We couldn't resist... this mushroom was just begging to be played with...

First, we collected seed pods that would make perfect little gnome beds. K found two large leaves for a carpet. She put the Mommy Gnome and Daddy Gnome's bed on this smooth, cool carpet. The Baby Gnome's crib was special and went on a particularly pretty, square stone that Mr T found. Periwinkle blankets were found and soft frilly pillows.

Then the larder was stocked with berries and figs.

And then the table set. A little yellow beetle came to see what we were doing.

Small, clean pebbles were collected for Stone Soup... K assures me Stone Soup is a firm favorite gnome meal.

A funny, spiky-looking pod was collected for the gnome family to hang their winter coats on and, Voila!, our gnome home was complete.

I do admit that it was very hard for us to leave behind all the treasures we had collected. K was VERY torn between keeping her 'special collection' for herself and leaving it all for the gnome. I'm happy to report that, in the end, her generosity won out and there will be one happy gnome family in the Arboretum tonight. We hope they had a lovely Valentine's Day... a pretty candlelit dinner at their mushroom table, listened to the mosquito symphony and then cuddled up warmly in their cozy little beds. Now that we are cuddled up warmly in our own snugly beds, we sure are happy that we left our 'special collection' for others to enjoy.

Blessings and magic.

A Magical Mushroom Hunt.

We went on a mushroom hunt this weekend. We set out in the hopes of finding as many strange and wonderful mushrooms as possible and, boy, we were not disappointed!

This was the first one we spotted. It was just like a fairies shade umbrella and we decided that it must be a local fairy picnic spot. We pictured the fairy family sitting comfortably in the shade of their mushroom umbrella while they ate their nasturtium sandwiches and drank their dewdrop tea.

Mr T got so carried away with his imaginings that he had to search the mushroom more closely for fairy evidence.

Next, we found a gnome village...

Perfect little white gnome muchroom houses. We discussed how gnomes like to live in a community as they like their friends to live next door. K, in particular, thought this was a good idea... that way, she could play with her friends all day, every day!

The next find was a fairy throne. There had obviously been a fairy ball the night before and this comfy white mushroom is where the Fairy Queen sat. It 's fairy tradition that the Fairy Queen sits on a raised throne to let her watch all of her pretty fairies dancing the night away. Don't worry, she dances too, but when she is tired, she rests on her lovely soft mushroom throne.

And now for the find of the day... a goblin lookout platform! It's very rare to actually see these. Goblins usually leave very little clue that they have been around... this was clearly left by a lazy goblin! Goblins climb onto these platforms to survey the land around them. As we all know, the higher you are, the more you can see. A goblin climbing this platform would be on the lookout for fairy treasure, gnome jewels or elf gold. We do wonder if he got SO excited when he actually found some that he completely forgot to dismantle his platform and hence left it out for us to find?

Isn't it a most curious looking mushroom?

So, next time you are out on a walk with nature, see what treasures from the fairy realm you can find... I am certain you will be happily surprised!

Blessings and magic.

Silent Saturday.

Amazing antics of Arboretum Ants.

Blessings and magic.

How to make a Fairy Garden.

Today we made a magical, miniature, Fairy Garden.

As you can see, Kitty's Fairy Garden was looking a little worse for wear. You can read about how it got this way in this post, The Magical Fairy and Gnome Garden Challenge and Giveaway.

To clean it up, First, we cleaned out all the dead moss. We have used an old wine barrel for our Fairy Garden. Kitty loves the big size as she plays in it for hours but you can use a much smaller container such as a planter, a tin basin or even a salad bowl. You do, however, have to make sure that the container has a hole in the bottom for proper drainage. Drill a hole if your container doesn't have one. You will be watering your Fairy Garden often and it is important that it can drain adequately.

Once you have picked out your container, fill it with potting soil, leaving it about 6 inches deep.

Next, plan how you want your Fairy or Gnome Garden to look. Kitty drew a detailed map, indicating where she wanted a hill and a valley, were the pond would go and even where she wanted the path to be placed.

We propped the plan up in the papyrus and got to work landscaping our garden. We created the hill on the left by mounding the soil and the valley in the middle by grooving the soil.

Mr T was in charge of finding earthworms in the veggie garden to put in the new Fairy Garden. He was very good at his job and found quite a few...

Earthworms are optional. They are great soil aerators and help for good soil drainage (plus, they give the little one something to do so that he doesn't keep destroying the soil hill you have so carefully built...)

Now, it is time to plant your 'trees' and plants. When choosing plants for your Fairy Garden, be mindful of the scale you are after. You want it to look like a miniature garden. Moss is the main ground cover and too many other plants may detract from the mossy atmosphere. Let your imagination run wild as you choose plants that you think might attract the fairies in your neighborhood. We used an immature Tea Tree for our tree. We know that it will want to grow very big and we need to trim it often to keep it stunted. The tree sets the scale of the garden and makes for that miniature feeling. If your garden is in a smaller container, a shrub will have the same effect as a tree. Also, keep in mind the color combinations... silvers, light greens, dark greens, browns... we like as many colors as possible as it adds texture and interest to the Fairy Garden. Another consideration when choosing your plants is to make sure the combination you choose all like the same amount of sun and water. If you are going to be using moss, remember that moss likes sun to part shade and lots of water... make sure you choose other plants that like the same. If you are going for a desert garden appeal, pebbles, rocks and various cacti look wonderful, but do make sure that too many prickles won't deter your little one from playing in his garden.

When your plants are in their place, set in your pond. Your pond can be any smaller container. We used a coconut shell but you can use a glass bowl, a porcelain bowl, a metal bowl... anything that lends itself to the magic and natural feel of your garden. Do not place your stones until you have planted the moss.

With the pond in place, it's time to plant your moss. We used a whole moss flat that we bought from Home Depot. Carefully break off chunks of moss and contour it over the landscaped hill and valley, around the pond and the tree. Remember to leave space for your path.

Then set in your rocks and pebbles for your path. All at once, your Fairy Garden looks like the magical wonderland that it is.

Water your Fairy Garden well...


And then put all the little fairy and gnome bits and pieces in place...

A rock that we painted into a toadstool. (we made this toadstool rock here)

A bench, a table and a chair.

An arbor...


A few fences and your Fairy Garden is complete!

Can you believe that we found all the above fairy furniture at various garage sales? If you have none, fret not as I am going to be showing you how to make fairy furniture over the next couple of weeks... a tiny table and chair, a fairy or gnome house and even an arbor. As we all know, things are much more magical and valued if we have made them ourselves!

Here are a few photos I couldn't resist taking... can't you just see the little fairy or gnome taking a skinny dip in the pond?

Resting comfortably on the moss?

K has been playing in her new Fairy Garden all day.


And we suspect that the fairies and gnomes will be playing in it all night!

Be sure to create you own Fairy or Gnome Garden and enter the draw to win some magical creations... Click on The Magical Fairy or Gnome Garden Challenge and Giveaway for the rules and more info.

Blessings and, especially, magic!
Donni

A House Made of Sticks.

We visited the Arboretum on Sunday. As we have been reading the story of the Three Little Pigs, K decided to build the gnomes a house of sticks (there wasn't any straw to be seen nor were there any brick but sticks there were plenty.)

She made them a comfy little bed of yellow leaves, with fluff for a pillow.
Two grand feathers mark the door.
She set a little table with Spekboom leaves (sourly scrumptious) and a yellow bell flower and an orange bell flower. Doesn't the feast look inviting? There are two little logs for chairs.

She wanted me to get a photo of what a gnome would see upon finding such a house. Do you see the chimney?

Here is the proud contractor. She builds a good house of sticks, don't you think?

To see our other Gnome Homes, look here and here.

Have a magical day.

Building a Gnome Home.

It has become a tradition when we go to the Arboretum, to find some way of surprising the gnomes who live there. This time, we built them a home. It was great fun finding all the things we needed from the forest floor. Our Earth harbors so many treasures!

First, we collected bark and put it against a Yellowwood tree trunk to create a cozy lean-to for a gnome to use as a bedroom. It needed a bit of interior decorating, which K found in the form of cotton fluff and periwinkle flowers.

See how comfy a gnome would be in there, all nestled into the leafy carpet?

We were satisfied that it was well hidden and camouflaged... a passing troll or giant wouldn't even notice it under the clump of blue flowers! Do you see the snail-shell light-shade in the top left hand corner of the photo, fitted into the tree? K thought it best the gnomes have a light they could use if the fireflies didn't pitch for work one night.

We found an old brick that was perfect for a picnic bench. And two little stump stools.

A soup bowl was discovered under some leaves (the gnomes are having nut soup tonight) and was put in the center of the table. And, as we just knew it would be a girl and boy gnome who'd find this little house, we set the table with two small bowls and periwinkle forks.

Have you ever seen a periwinkle fork? Next time you pick a periwinkle flower (the flowers that are decorating the roof in the first photo) dissect it with your nail until you reach the stamen. Fairies and gnomes use periwinkle stamens for forks AND paint brushes. You can see the periwinkle fork in this photo... it is at the center bottom of the brick table.

Then, A Good Man and T helped us collect Yellowwood fruit to enclose our gnome home in a protective magic circle. We cast a spell that only good gnomes may enter it.

Imagine the little gnome couple walking along, holding hands. The girl gnome would sigh and say to the boy gnome... 'I'm so tired... wouldn't it be nice if we just found a cozy little home?!' The boy gnome would exclaim... 'LOOK!' as he pointed to the Yellowwood fruit circle. They would run to it in utter excitement and the little girl gnome would put her hands on her hips and declare, with a saucy little smile on her face... 'Aren't we just the luckiest gnomes in all of the Arboretum!'

You can read about our last gnome surprise is here.