It's amazing how a series of tiny events can influence the creative process. This summer my husband and I took up a new hobby - gardening! My baby sister has an extraordinary green thumb and this summer she was kind enough to teach us how to build and maintain flower gardens. Just like any hobby, building a beautiful garden or two or three became addictive and the summer's passion!
During the summer, we went on a local garden tour accompanied by my six year old niece (Audrey). I was amazed as she walked me through strangers gardens and told me the names of all the plants -- she just turned 6!
The next week I was at a family birthday party and my sister told me I should stop by her gardens to see the project she and Audrey were working on -- a Fairy Garden!! I had never heard of a Fairy Garden. Later that day I went to see what they were building and I was amazed to see the imaginary world they were creating together. There before my eyes under a tree was this tiny little world complete with a vegetable garden with a wheelbarrow full of tiny polymer clay veggies which looked strangely familar. You see, in the garden were all the tiny treasures my sister had adored as a child -- the tinier the item the more she had loved it. There before my eyes I could see my sister as a little girl playing right alongside her daughter. It was more than heart warming and must admit I was a little envious as I have teenage boys!
I was amazed when I returned home and picked up the current issue of the DownEast Magazine and low and behold in the middle of the magaaine was an article with pages upon pages of Fairy Gardens -- surely this was a sign of a wonderful twist for our 2011 Spring Collection!
I must say that the rest of the summer was a journey into the world of Fairy Gardens and their history.
Including a trip to a Garden Fairy Festival at the Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. If you have a daughter, niece or granddaughter, I highly recommend attending one of these festivals. It was a magical day!
At the festival Audrey made a magic wand at the craft station and got a set of wings and a crown. Unfortunately, we just missed the fairy dance lessons in the rose garden but this didn't stop Audrey from dancing through the gardens and casting magic upon the flowers . . .
. . . or posing for a picture or two -- sign of a child who has been photographed for scrapbook pages since birth!!
Yes, I did also take photos of the flowers at the gardens -- here is my favorite photo!!
Our current team of Illustrators, Mary Grosse and Amy Tedder, began working on the Fairy Garden concept, illustrating Garden Fairy Seeds and Garden Fairy Wishes after CHA. One Saturday afternoon I was surfing blogs when I stumbled upon a colored image that I adored. I had been looking for a illustrator to add to our design team for months -- when I followed the links it took me to the Copic Creations Challenge blog and Elizabeth Dulemba's images were the feature of the week. I followed the links to Elizabeth's Coloring Page Tuesday images and fell in love with the fairies and illustrations. It just so happened that Elizabeth was also looking for a stamp company to create stamps ... and JustRite Cling and our Fairy Garden Collection were born!!
It pays to take time to next smell the flowers and listen to the creative pulses of the world. As you can see they lead you to wonderful designs!
Today we are introducing another one of Elizabeth Dulemba's JustRite cling stamp sets, In The Moonlight:
JustRite design team member, Sharon Harnist, has this sample to share -- an Autumn Fairy "thinking of you" card:
The beautiful stamp frame included in this set matches Spellbinders Labels Fourteen (middle, or #3 die) perfectly and all the phrases in this set fit in it! For more details on how Sharon created her card, please visit her blog, PaperFections.
Blog Candy Alert -- we are already working on our 2011 collection and we would love to know what you would like to see next from JustRite or Elizabeth Dulemba. Leave a comment on this blog post and one lucky winner will win In the Moonlight and a set of our Clear Acrylic Blocks! Blog comments will remain open until 9 am EST on Monday November 15th.
This is the perfect size starter set for use with JustRite Cling Stamps or any cling or photopolymer stamp. 1/2” thick, laser polished, rounded corners, beveled edges:
• 1.25" x 1.25"
• 2" x 2"
• 2.5" x 3.5"
Next week we will share with you the wide variety of Fairy Gardens you can design!
EDITED: Comments are now closed and the winner will be announced shortly!
