Thank You for a Lovely Tour
Thank you for inspiring us! Thank you for creating lovely projects using Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons. Summer is welcome in the fairy forest.
We appreciated everyone who joins our journey. Seeing fairies and crafts from around the world is a dream come true. The fairies hope to make your seasons fun and magical :)
If you would like to travel the world with fairy crafts, visit these links:
We Bloom Here: http://webloomhere.blogspot.com/2019/06/forest-fairy-crafts-blog-tour.html
Clever Chameleon: https://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/forest-fairy-crafts/
Annette Bay Pimental: http://www.annettebaypimentel.com/how-to-nonfiction/
The best adventures are shared. Thank you for joining us :)
And we are currently contacting a winner for our giveaway. Once we have permission to share, we’ll let you know who won ebooks of both Forest Fairy Crafts books. Thank you to everyone who entered. We appreciate you!
And congratulations to ebook winners of Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons. We wish you magical crafting :)
*Post contains an affiliate link. Should you choose to purchase, a small amount returns to the Forest while your pricing remains the same. Thank you!
Summer Party Blog Tour
We are celebrating summer with a Blog Tour!
Travel the world to visit with Fairy Crafters and see what they create using Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons. We’re inspired to see what they enjoy about fairy crafts.
With students home for summer, days may feel extra long. Fairy crafts are entertaining for quiet time on a hot afternoon. Then, when the weather cools, take your crafts outside to play and build them houses.
We know that children need to keep reading through summer break. Books like the Fairy Crafts books give valuable chances for meaningful reading with lots of photographs which support understanding. Kids love having fun while reading :)
Follow all the updates for inspiration!
June 9 Welcome https://www.forestfairycrafts.com/journal
June 11 C&T https://www.ctpub.com/blog/
June 12 Annette Bay Pimentel http://www.annettebaypimentel.com
June 13 We Bloom Here http://webloomhere.blogspot.com
June 14 Clever Chameleon https://www.cleverchameleon.com.au/blog
June 21 Thank You and Wrap Up https://www.forestfairycrafts.com/journal
Now, for awesome news! We get to give away ebooks of both Forest Fairy Crafts and Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons! We will select a winner after the blog tour ends. Each host gets to giveaway a cope of Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons- visit them for more chances to win!
Winner wins ebook versions of Magical Forest Fairy Crafts through the Seasons and Forest Fairy Crafts sent via email. Perfect for summer crafting :)
To enter, comment here. For additional chances, enter where the Giveaway Announcement appears on
Facebook with a comment, like, share
Instagram with tagging a friend
Twitter with a Retweet or Quote Tweet.
We hope your summer is filled with magic :)
Winner will be chosen by random number on June 21. Ebooks are sent via email. Good luck!
My boy’s favorite craft from the book is the Shooting Star beanbag. He loves it because it’s “easy to catch.” We love crafts that are fun to play with later in the day :) What’s your favorite seasonal activity?
Forest News and What's New in the Etsy Shop
I met this pretty fairy this week.
Her colors are perfect on days with overcast skies. She reminds me that spring will be here soon! Our winter is terribly mind here in Northern California this year with drought conditions. But I still use warm socks and cozy pajamas. I look forward to sunshine and flowers.
I made her especially for the yearly school auction. Asia and I both teach at a public charter school. The Nevada City School of the Arts is also our childrens' school. We donated this fairy, a signed book, and a natural supply kit to A Matter of Taste. If you are in the Nevada County area, this event is a treat for everyone. We'd love to see you there :)
I also updated our Etsy Shop.
We now have Natural Supply Kits, which have all the goodies that you need to make a fairy, little fairy, gnome, and treasure-keeper in our book (except glue and colored pencils to draw faces). These kits now have wool blend felt. The felt has lovely colors and is soft and wonderful for keepsakes. We also added cotton pipe-cleaners (again, soft). Asia and I put together each kit. Each one is unique. This makes them a little tricky for listing- I need photos for each kit, but I love how there isn't one exactly like another. The color combinations get me every time- I want the blue and lavender, no- maybe the green and pink. Choose yours before it disappears :)
I also created Fairy Kits by request. This kit has the supplies for one fairy.
This is a perfect gift idea. I even create the body since that can be tricky. Children can have fun sewing the hat and creating their own magical doll.
Both kits depend on the Forest Fairy Crafts
We also learned that our projects appeared in two magazines. Yes, two! We were in Kiwi magazine. Thank you for the lovely review! And we are in BYou magazine. So exciting to see the fairies, gnomes, and crafts in print!
We are so grateful for everyone supporting the Forest. These little treasures mean the world to us and we appreciate being able to share them with you :)
*note: the link to our book is an affiliate link
Holiday Fairs 2013
Doesn't it seem like the holidays arrive earlier every year? I usually make Thanksgiving my moment to kick into the holiday season, the start of a flurry of activity and fun... It seems like Halloween has become that moment now.
Perhaps because we are in the gifting world- and we love to make gifts and help children make gifts. So we have planned our December. We hope that you can join us at one of these events. We will have books, craft kits, and a few surprises!
We will be at the Yuba River Charter School Winter Faire on Saturday, December 7. We will be focusing on Waldorf crafting here- bringing a lot of natural toy-making supplies like wood buttons and wool felt. You can learn more about this fun event here.
Another new event for us will be the Nevada City Craft Fair on Sunday, December 15. We are excited to share the holiday fun with other artists at the Foundry. And we love the flyer! More information about that fair is here.
The next week will be busy at our school celebration, the Nevada City School of the Arts Winter Revels, on Wednesday, December 12. We love sharing our crafts with the students and parents that have made the crafts in class. They inspired us to write our book :)
We are very busy making all the goodies for these fairs. If you live outside our forest-area, you can always find our Etsy shop. I will be busy updating it (though things may disappear as they are bought locally :))
I also have a very exciting giveaway planned for December. I am not in any rush for the holidays, but I must admit that I do love them!
Thank you for supporting our forest :)
Autumn in the Forest
Hurrah for changing leaves and crisp mornings. We love the bright colors of fall, the blazing oranges and reds. We also love the shadowy colors of fall, the dusky purples and deep burgundies.
We haven't been able to post that much because we are busy creating these days. We have a few craft fairs booked for December (more on that soon). And the book is selling well! (thank you!) But the fun needs to be shared.
So happy October!
We have new things in the Forest. The first is that we now offer custom greeting cards with our images. When you go here, you can choose an image and design it however you like. You can order one, or a box of ten or more. I am excited to try them. I will be adding more holiday images as we get closer to the season.
We have also been selling kits locally and in our Etsy shop. The response is an overwhelming, "Thank You!" And as I prep for our own holiday crafting around here, I appreciate the effort the kit will save a lot of families. The kits do not include directions (they are meant as a companion to our book). They have supplies to make at least four different projects. If you are crafty, most of the supplies are probably in your stash, but if you are traveling, or just starting to craft, these kits save a lot of time.
My current challenge is choosing colors! I want to keep our inventory simple (pastels, woodland, seasonal) but they we go to the store and find turquoise and magenta. And what about angels? And winter?
Oh, the ideas are endless. The last special one for this month is the Spooky Crafty Kit with purples and black. Perfect for zombies and witches. I only have one left in our Etsy Shop.
I am adding petals to the kits, too, because the petal fairies are so much fun!
Speaking of petal fairies, I have too much fun making my own fairies :)
They're even harder to offer for sale. I fall in love with each and every one of them. Especially her...
She has this little smirk that makes me happy. Every single time I see her :)
I don't really want to send her off to a new home, but she is available here.
I wanted to make a pink and black fairy. And she kept adding details. She wanted sparkles. Gold thread in her hair. A wide-brim hat. And she has this sweet and sly look about her that reminds me why I craft. We can make magic :)
Speaking of magic, my girl has inspired me to create a little for her and her friends. This year, the big new thing at school is animal tails. And this is before the Fox song :). They wear tails to school almost every day. They asked me for cat tails. And Ian asked for an orange cat tail. Their friends want more, so I made a few extras.
And the more realistic, faux fur cat-tail...
I am getting the cat-tail posted (hopefully soon). The orange tail in is our shop :)
And we have exciting plans for the holidays. It's a secret for now, but I am working with one of my favorite magical artists... Lucky me :)
Time to enjoy this fantastic autumn! I am sending great fun and spooky-sparkles your way :)
Forest Fairy Supplies Solved!
How many times have we gone to the store, or ordered online, then sat down to make our craft, only to realize that we forgot one very important thing?
Too many times, honestly.
So we came up with two solutions that will hopefully help you, too.
The first is a free resource that is a great companion to our book. The Forest Fairy Supply Checklist is a PDF file listing everything you need to make our crafts. You don't need all of these things at the same time, of course. A pocket-gnome can be made with felt, string, peg person, needle, and glue. But if you want ideas, or wonder what to add to your Fairy Workshop Stash, this is a great place to start.
Click here to download the Forest Fairy Supply Checklist
We are not fancy enough to check off your items digitally on the form- the best way to use this is to print a copy and check off what you have with pretty pencils :)
In case you are giving the book as a gift, or you don't have a Fairy Workshop Stash (yet), we also put together starter kits that have everything you need to dive right into crafting in our Etsy shop.
We were inspired to create these kits at a birthday party. "I love the book," said a friend, "But I don't have anything to make anything!"
So we created the Forest Fairy Starter Kits. These kits have everything you need to make a fairy with a felt outfit, a child fairy, peg gnome, and critter. For now, they use craft-quality felt (good for play). We are working on versions with wool-blend felt and flower petals for fairy skirts.
Since we love colors, we added a Halloween Kit and a Christmas Kit as well.
We can see these being great companion gifts with our book. They do not come with any directions, but they would be perfect for any felt projects (inspired by our book or elsewhere). You could, of course, put together your own kits for favorite children in your life (using the checklist and your own supplies). Children love seeing all of the goodies collected together.
A great invitation to crafting :)
We hope that these resources give you the tools and ideas to start making your own crafts!
Win a Signed Forest Fairy Book
Thank you for helping us create a magical forest! Our book officially releases today! Happy book birthday to the Forest! The fairies and friends are so excited! We are hearing from you that the book has clear (and pretty) directions! Which makes us happy-dance!
Thank you for sharing the fairies and friends that you are sewing at home. We love seeing them come alive for crafters!
Thank you for the many wonderful reviews! At Amazon, we already have 5 star reviews, yay! I was so nervous!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
To celebrate, we want to give back to you, our community. We want to give a signed book. And since our friends in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, and all over the world, were the among the first to buy our little patterns on Etsy, we will ship internationally. Hurrah! The book will be signed by Lenka and Asia. We are happy to write a personalized dedication.
We haven't offered a giveaway in awhile (busy creating the book) so let us know if you have ideas or questions for us. Copy and paste this link into your HTML code if you would like to embed this widget on your site: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/NjU5MTYyNTYxNjZmNGY3ZDMzOGEwZDQ3Mjc5M2FjOjM=/
Welcome to the Forest :)
Congralutions Sadie! Your book is on the way! :) Thank you everyone for entering!
Fairy Crafts at Book Expo America
We are featured giveaways with C&T Publishing this year at Book Expo America! We have been busy creating a collection that is on its way to New York. I hope our crafts share with everyone how fun and magical they are in person :)
Asia sewed favorite Treasure Keepers. Little cats and owls have pockets for keepsakes...
A moon is a favorite beginner sewing project- the heart and sun are beautiful too (I still want to make a mobile with these one day :))
She also sewed five Animal Treasure Keepers. These sweet little bags can have a handle, or not, and they are become friendly companions.
I added ten fairies to the collection- five girls and five bumblebee boys.
The girls together~
And the boys~
I love how each fairy gets a personality. Even the bumblebees had their own quirks that made them uniqiue. I love the discovery of creating them!
I had fun with the girls, getting to give them a personal style. I knew they would be displayed as a group, so I laid the felt out to see the palatte working together. I also wanted to show how the fairies can be gentle and softly colored, or vibrant and bright. I had a good time coordinating the different outfits to be a stand-alone while working within the group. I also used the same varigated pastel crochet-thread to keep them similar.
I did add a decorative ribbon with pom-poms for one girl~
And played with the hair and crown designs for the rest. They were an absolute delight to create :)
This fairy has cotton chenille stems from A Child's Dream Come True. I love the different texture they offer. And they are soft, too!
I play with many different materials for fairy-crafting. Pinking shears made the little ruffles on the bottom of her crown. The effect is super-simple to create!
For this girl, I sewed a little star on her hat. Simple is sweet :)
And she is my jewel-tone girl. Her bright colors make me smile :)
I couldn't get the entire collection in a photo- so much together! Asia and I are excited that they get to go to New York and inspire all the book-lovers at BEA. Unfortuantely, you need to be at BEA to win one of these treasures. Happy trails, fairies and critters!
We are planning a few online chances to win our crafts, too! We want everyone to join the fun :)
PS- We saw that our book is shipping now! All of these projects are shared in Forest Fairy Crafts. Enjoy :)
Classes and Workshops for Spring and Summer
I am so, so busy putting magic together in the forest. We are constantly asked about coming to stores or events. So I put together a few favorite activities with different ages. If you would like us to visit your area, take a look at our spring and summer classes to download the PDF.
Please remember that travel expenses are not included in these descriptions. I am planning a trip to the San Diego area this summer, though. Stay tuned! Our calendar is filling up, so if you are interested in us visiting, please email me soon.
Meanwhile, I am working on those extra hat patterns. I better hurry off to Fairyland!
Our First Book Arrives
An exciting week in the forest! These beautiful flowers arrived on my doorstep. And flowers are always a celebration. I love flowers! The flowers didn't arrive by themselves, though. No, they were from our lovely friends at C&T Publishing along with a first copy of our book! And I just discovered there is a preview of the book, sharing pages here. So you can understand why we are happy-dancing!
Holding the book after all the months of writing and crafting and editing and sewing was a strange, marvelous feeling. They took our fairy-world and made magic. We love the layouts and colors. What a treat to see all of the hard work pay off :)
The book releases in late May, which is the trickiest part of showing it off. We took it to school and were asked many times where to buy a copy. A little waiting left...
I loved bringing it to school, because the children saw the wall between books and writers crumble. They thought hard about whether Asia and I had really written a real book. Until we showed them page with fairies and gnomes, their Moon Pockets and Treasure Owls.
"We made ones like that!"
Which quickly became, "When can we make pirates? And mermaids? And ninjas?"
I better get busy cutting felt :)
We also received CDs with all of the photos they used in the book. We had talented photographers work on Forest Fairy Crafts. I take many of our photographs, but the size and scope of this project meant I was happy to get help. We had over 400 placeholders for images in the original draft! Not all of them made it into the book, but still, they got to work with lots of fairies and crafts.
Our mermaids :)
I am busy today sewing sample for our hat pattern PDF that I will send out to everyone who preorders our book. You can order from any favorite book seller. We will simply ask for an order number or receipt copy. We are working on the technology to make this all possible. Amazon will have the book arrive on your doorstep on release day- you can order here
We are visiting local bookstores and craft stores to set up book release parties. And I am ready to celebrate. It's a great day in the forest!
I have many postcards (pictured with the flowers) that I want to send you for helping share the fun news. Simply email your address with Fairy Crafts Postcard in the subject line and I will put one in the mail. Don't worry, I won't use your address for anything else :). If you work at a school or know a group of friends/parents/crafters that may appreciate a postcard, tell me how many you would like and I will do my best to drop them in the mail soon. Thank you for supporting the forest!
All kinds of good news. We will keep you posted as we get closer to the big Release Day :)
Meanwhile, In the Forest...
I know it seems quiet, but we are busy with new ideas here in the forest. I am figuring out logistical details before sharing all the magic. Here is a sneak peek-
I want to thank our loyal friends and fans of the forest who preorder our book. I am making a special PDF with at least 5 hats that couldn't fit into the book. I am working on how I will collect, keep, and send out emails to everyone who sends a receipt (I don't care where the book is purchased) or order number. I haven't figured out logistical details of organizing it all though, so save onto those emails. All receipts will be honored :)
Stay tuned for details!
The second big idea is from my daughter, Anika. She wants to start a Forest Fairy Fan Club for kids. The club will have newsletters with ideas and inspiration for new crafts. The theme would be Kids Inspiring Kids. We have tons of plans, including Magic Wands and Kitty Ears. Again, it's the logistics of gathering emails, creating the newsletter, and sending it to the email list... I've never done that before. More adventures in learning for me, which I love :)
I also have a basket full of craft kits made by Asia in delightful spring colors to photograph and post in our Etsy shop.
That and I just got a bunch of postcards featuring the cover of our book! I want to send one your way! ... I really need to find a secure way to let you send me address :). Hmmm...
Okay, enough announcements for today. I just wanted to give you a brief tour in our busy forest! And I'm planning classes, workshops, and book signings for the summer. A busy forest indeed!
A Happy Announcement
Such exciting news! The fairies have been hard at work writing a book! Yes, Asia and I have spent this year working closely with the wonderful people at C&T Publishing to collect our favorite patterns, projects, and sewing secrets to create a fantastic Forest Fairy Craft book. We are so happy to share the cover with you!
The book will be released May 13, 2013. But we know what a great gift it will be for holidays and birthdays. Besides, children love to receive suprises after their actual special-day. It's like getting two gifts, the news on the day, and the book when it's released!
You can preorder through many wonderful bookstores and online retailers. Amazon's link is here
The PDF download is here.
Thank you for your support of Forest Fairy Crafts. We are delighted to share this journey with you! We wish you all the best of days :)
The Holiday Catalog
It's been quiet online, but we've been busy in the forest! We have a happy announcement coming soon (can't wait to share, but we have to wait a little longer).
Luckily we don't have to wait any longer for this announcement. The Holiday Catalog is here! We are often asked about what we create, so we figured we'd make an easy way to browse our crafts. The catalog has kits and finished crafts. Everything is made by hand by Asia and Lenka with love.
This is our first catalog, so thank you for being patient with us if there are mistakes. I will post as we sell out of items (which we did last year). I will only be crafting a few fairies this year, so let me know soon if you want to be on the list.
Forest Fairy Crafts Holiday Catalog
The order form will not let us type into the form fields, so you can print and give it to us (if you live in Nevada County), or simply send us an email with a list of your choices. We'll figure out how to make it all work out :)
Happy Holidays!
Etsy Fun
I had fun with our etsy shop today, adding new goodies here. We have a Forest Star Baby, a Rose Mouse Sewing Kit, and a Rose Fairy Blossom Baby Sewing Kit. And I reposted our first fairy tutorial. The holidays will be here before we know it, and winter is the season for fairy ornaments :)
I love all of the seasons :)
The Forest This Week
Asia and I are teachers at the Nevada City School of the Arts, a public charter school in Northern California. Last week was our first week of school. Asia and I have been busy busy busy with the magic of making a big empty room into an unforgetable learning-space. And meeting our new and returning students. And designing fun, engaging, and academic curriculum.
No small tasks.
This week, luckily, I go back to my part-time teaching, so I can return to our forest. We do have news. We get to work with Bamboo Family Magazine with guest blogs and (hopefully) a project for the winter issue. That is exciting.
We're also joining with a new natural toy store coming online soon. I'll keep you posted with those details.
And autumn projects are here. I'm photographing tomorrow so I can share them with you. Hurrah.
That, I'm planning a bunny gnome giveaway (making sure I have the rules straight before posting). And I want to add items to the Etsy shop.
Last night was the new moon. A time to reflect on intentions. And create magic.
Bunny Week in the Forest
Last week was all about bunnies in the forest. My daughter's bunny was in the county fair for the first time. I have gone to the fair for over thirty years, but this was my first time with an animal at the fair. We had many adventures. Lots of early morning trips to check on him and afternoon trips because we missed him :)
A highlight was the Bunny Costume contest. Pumpkin won for Most Enchanting (of course) :)
Anika loved sewing for her bunny.
And he didn't seem to mind getting dressed up :)
He's back in his grassy quiet home. Our magical bunny :)
And my mom and I were Demonstration Knitters in the Textile Building. I loved the renaissance of textile arts. The quilts inspired me with incredible detail, color, and texture. One day, when I have massive time :), I will quilt.
I knitted bunny gnomes.
Fun to make and share :). Today's project is getting the Tutorial posted for all of you. The kids are on an adventure with Grandma so I'm excited to create. Hurrah! :)