A Real Life Fairy House

A Real Life Fairy House

I don’t know about you, but this year has put me through the ringer. I’m not even sure what that means, but I went through it, trust me. I barely passed algebra, and now I’m trying to help my fifteen-year-old daughter solve quadratic equations. Yeah I knew if I didn’t find something for me and fast, no one was going to make it out alive. Pandemic or not. Some days the walls seemed like they were closing in on me. I still had my art and my dreamcatcher hobby and business. But it was crowded, like get out of my space crowded! Everyone was home, ALL the time and it was only the beginning.

I have been making dreamcatchers for a few years now. My house is full of rag rug strips, string, beads and hoops. I needed somewhere to go to be still or to create. Being still in nature is an inspiration for my whole creative process. Listening to the birds and putting my feet in the moss, I cannot do one without the other.

Luckily, I am blessed to have a creek right behind my house which I frequent every day. I go there to think; to be alone, and to play! One day in May I was doing my usual hour break from the house and was just sitting in the rocks and sand, pondering what I would do and where my space would be. My eyes and heart were both startled by a big hazel tree that fell across the creek.

It’s as if someone slapped me in the face and finally woke me up. I started to see what was right in front of me all along. It was on now, there was no stopping me.

I hadn’t had a clue what I was doing yet. But I was determined more than I have ever been to build something for me. Something that would make me happy so I could be happy for all of them. I had never done that before. It felt selfish. But that quickly passed! I started planning it out in my head, I could see it so clearly. The free spirited little girl in me started to come out to play. I really missed her and felt so happy to see her and feel her again.

I believe in fairies, just so you know. I love them and some days think I am one. When I see all of these beautiful fairy garden potted plants. They make me so happy. The moss, the fairies and the little tiny furniture. It’s all so whimsical and magical. I wanted one of those. A real life fairy house! My dreams started getting much bigger. I felt confident and excited which was very different for me. Like Pippi Longstocking thinking, "I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.”

Every day, I came to the creek with a different intention. Structure, decor, rocks, moss. It was like clock work every day. The robins waking me and the blackbirds and wood peckers screeching last call. I weave my dreamcatchers there and weave on my house as well. I built it piece by piece and branch by branch with my twine, fiskars pruners and fiskars blunt tip child safety scissors. I kept the scissors in my pocket for easy reach and I love the children ones because I’m pretty much five and they fit in my pocket with my rocks and stuff! It is now my sacred space studio. As I built it, they started to come. The other real fairy friends came, and kids I have never seen in the creek. It is a magical, magnetic place that made me dream much bigger than I ever have. You feel free here. Some moments I am here alone and others are spent with my children here weaving willow on it or helping me put moss down. Some days we just play fairies and leprechauns. Did you know that elves are fairies too? It’s true! All we need to do is intentionally breathe and play a bit more and let that little boy or girl come out. They miss you. We can learn everything from watching children and birds in my opinion.

I sit there creating now in my sacred space. Wow, It is a space that I made for me to be happy. I listen to the birds there and create whatever my soul feels it needs, in order to be fed that day. It all makes sense there, and I see the bigger picture. I hope you can see it too. It’s so beautiful. I did this for me, for my happiness because I finally understand how important that is. I built my own real life fairy house! You truly can create your own happiness. You can do whatever you want to do. In building it, it built me, and we passed algebra too!! To the fairy house we go to dream big, play and explore.