Spring Fairy Festival 2012

Read the Auburn Reporter Article!

One weekend after Norwescon, it was a beautiful beginning to Spring.  There were no Barbarians-named-Wotan to be found at the Spring Fairy Festival (though a few loyal pixies did report that he was definitely kindling this year's battle of pranks with aplomb - and we'll get back to that...)


The day began with a lovely parade stroll outside and around the fountain (circles open the gate :) so that everyone could see our beautiful outfits...


...and we rolled into an amazing costume contest from which everyone walked away a winner!  For the first time ever the judges had so many awesome choices they had to have honorable mentions :)...

...and then this lovely Fairy Princess had the pleasure of  hosting two workshops.  In the first, we created Butterfly Terrariums by building moss, flower petals and assorted foliage into glass ornaments for our butterflies to live in...


...this was followed by a wonderful workshop of making Fairy Luminaries.  We transformed mundane candle jars into fae-tastic tea-light holders!


The rest of the day was merriment and revelry with friends old and new...speaking of knew, WHO knew that Wotan hearts My Little Ponies?!


Next stop: Wenatchee RenFaire!

:*¨¨*:Spring Fairy Festival 2011:*¨¨*:

For those that have never been, the Spring Fairy Festival in Auburn, WA is one of my favorite events of the season! I attend every year but this year was particularly special.  First I had the pleasure of leading the Costume Parade around the courtyard and show and instructed a very crazy and fun Fairy Wand Workshop.


The highlight of the show for me this year was having the honour of playing my silver flute on stage with the Faerie Band Green Fay!  Now that I've got a little clip of us, check it out.  The music is great and we'll be at Faerieworlds on June 17-19!!

Spring Fairy Festival 2010

Greetings Blossoms and Sprouts! I have finally trod the silver path home from the Spring Fairy Festival in a ribbon-ly fashion, round-about, by way of Beltane at Crescent Moon Gifts.

The festival was an awesome event with great workshops, vendors, music and fun for the kiddos at every turn. It was such a good turn out this year that I think they might have to upgrade to a larger venue next year which can only result in awesome!

As I wandered around the celebration, here are some of the highlights that I took note of:

--The Fairy Amethina from the Gilded Quill taught a Magic Wand making class for a whole host of Faeries and Elflings, which was a great success and resulted in many glamour-ready magic wands for the spreading of sparkle.

--Blu Pixie also taught a great workshop on how to build your own Fairy Nest. It was a hit and soon, there were nests all over the festival, adorned with creativity and flowers!

--Across the row from Amethina was the beautiful and bright Heather Teakell of Krickets Creation. Heather is the hattress behind these amazing mini tri-corns and tophats, looking awesome in her ivy-arched booth.

--Around the corner from them was the soft-spoken Rachel Pace from Rachel's Fairy Houses. She had a whole new selection of awesome steampunk-fairy rings and amazing new Gypsy Caravans.

ALSO! Rachel has been entered into a contest at Michael's Crafts for the most creative momma-fairy! If you love her work and want to support the community, please go give her your vote here! No signing up is necessary on any mailing lists or anything :)

--The All's Faire gnomes made a showing to invite everyone out to their fantasy faire this June 18th - 20th in Bonney Lake. I know I'm planning to be there!

--There were several performers such as Alexander James Adams (a favorite everywhere), Jimmy Free (amazing solo act), Green Fey (new up and coming band with a unique mellow sound), Adderstone Tribal Dance and Jeweled Scarab Dance Company.

I kept a careful eye out but there were no sightings of Wotan the Barbarian this time around...he must be plotting his revenge for Norwescon!

Fair wind and fair weather!
Aerowynd Flightfeather
Realm Reporter ExtraordinAIRe!
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Norwescon Review 2010

Well my faithful Gilded Quill readers, as you may know, Norweson 33 was this last weekend and the great barbarian Wotan was on the loose. After he was caught licking some crushed Kelpies off his fingers at Orycon 31, Amethina had him thrown in jail by the Mandalorians (that's those Boba Fett types out there)!

As you can imagine, Wotan was NONE-too-pleased. He raged in the cage and swore to get the Faeries back at Norwescon.

True to his word, he starting smashing fae left and right with his great hammer. Not even Amethina suspected that he would terrorize a little baby boggan though! Fortunately...since he's a loud barbarian, his secret plan wasn't very secret and we Fae stick together! When Wotan arrived to register his mallet, he was in for a surprise because none other than the Faerie Queen appeared to lay a geas upon him as she declared this proclamation:

"In this crossroads of creatures, there will be no flattening of Fae!
No gnashing on the Gnomes, or squishing of the Selkies.
You may not bop the Boggans or moosh the Merfolk.
Shiving the Sidhe with cold iron is RIGHT OUT.
You are not allowed to pound Phouka or gank Goblins
And you are sworn to hold your hammer whilst in these borders!"

Then, the Peace Bond Barbarian tied specially made frilly bows all over Wotan's mallet, binding him to agreement. Wotan howled with anger and Amethina flittered with glee that her plan had worked. When he realized what she had done, he gave chase.

Around the merchant's market the two flew! Amethina darted past Eraserhead Press (one of her favorite bizarre publishers) and then ducked into Badger's Den (awesome colored contacts) where that randy Satyr tried to help by gnawing on Wotan's shield (goats like trash).

Around the room they rolled past Art of Wings (where Amethina's faerie-sister Meghann gave her some feather bracers for defense!) and zipped by Cleo Wolfus Design (best Faerie Hair ever!).

A little birdie tipped Amethina off to Wotan's weakness: TOE SOCKS! He hates those things, they gross him out. The Faerie Foo ensued - it was all striped socks, glamour bombs and glitter poi as the Realm was defended by naked twinkle toes and a little help from Faerie friends!

Where you see one fae though...a troop is hidden. While Wotan was busily distracted in the great chase, Amethina's ally from Faeriecon - the Gaoler - secretly found Wotan's cave and set about beautifying it. By the time he was done, it was a perfect nest for any Faerie-loving-Barbarian!

Well, unless you aren't a Faerie-loving-Barbarian (but I heard a rumor that Wotan has a crush on Amethina and just isn't very good at trying to court a Faerie...shhhh....).

After all was said and done, everyone had so much fun that they decided to do it all over again at the Spring Fairy Festival on April 17, in Tacoma Freighthouse Square! The Faerietale Minstrel, Amy Brown, Rob Carlos and a host of other awesome guests will be there.

Amethina will even be teaching the elflings how to make their own Fairy Wand just in case a very very angry Barbarian named Wotan appears!

Vanya Sulie, Faerie Friends (see you all at Spring Fairy Festival & watch out for Wotan!),

Aerowynd Flightfeather

Realm Reporter ExtraordinAIRe!

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Faerie Glammeries :)

I'm feeling rather accomplished, if eager to get back to book sewing. Yesterday I finished two new creations, my Faerie Glammeries. Etymologically speaking, the word 'glammerie' is an amalgamation the words 'gramayre' and 'glamour' indicating these uniquely decorated spellbooks for Faerie or Elvish magical secrets, songs, poems, recipies and so on.

Unlike average grimoires which are often emphasized by their serious formality, Glammeries are crafted to reflect the wonder of the world around us as a conduit of inspiration. Each one has its own really bright personality and if glamour magic is about anything, then it is the alluring and shine.

I was especially pleased with the Citrus Splash Glammerie because I tried out a new technique that worked really well what with the laced ribbon down the spine. Plus I got to use one of my new crafting tools which has been pleasing me to no end :)

On top of all that, I've got at least two more Glammeries waiting to be finished and I researched the three new woods that I've got for wands: Pau Ferro, Monkeypod (or Raintree) and Sweetgum. I should have the latter two up on my sites later this evening.

Spring Fairy Festival is this weekend, starting at Noon and I still feel as though there is just TONS of work to be doing. I've been learning my way through Google AdWords and getting some adverts out there and am considering the same on FaceBook. We'll see. For now, back to the table!

Strawberry Moon Upon Us

Wow. Last week went insane, but in a good way. I was pretty busy getting my blogs and facebook and everything interwebs-ish linked together. I've even figured out how to create an etsy box that will display my product on your main FB page and also in this blog. I really am thankful for everyone's support so far - there is no doubt that every little bit helps :)

I've completed a couple of new cards, Starshine Day (Faerie Holiday) and Strawberry Moon (spring season card). The latter was inspired by my customer Beth Gentry who sent me a lovely email talking about the strawberry moon season. The idea of delicious berries was too much to pass up so I made a card for it, March 25 - April 24th.

Speaking of cards, I've managed to create an application now on facebook that allows for my cards to be sent virtually to friends. Although I am an advocate always of the Art of Letterwriting, in a pinch, I hope that these virtual versions can make someone's day a little brighter! Send one - I'm excited to see it work :)

Plus, I've got a new wood for wands that I'll be unveiling soon: Pau Ferro. It's a nice exotic hardwood and I've got some research to do on its properties before I can put it up but it turns out a very classy wand.

Miscon 23 is now paid for and locked in for vending and I'm in the process of doing the same for Crypticon Seattle. The rest of this week will be spent working on finishing projects and starting some new ones so that I'll be fully stocked for the upcoming Spring Fairy Festival. If you haven't been to that, I'd highly suggest following the link and marking your calendars!