My daughter turned 3 last week, and what an amazing 3 years it has been with her! Every day has been full of new experiences and lots of learning, both for her and for me.
For her birthday, she decided she wanted a fairy birthday party. (Perhaps more accurately I decided that was the party I wanted to throw for her, and I got her to agree to it. But she was happy, so that's all that matters, right?) When I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was going for more of a woodland/flower fairy rather than fairy princess theme, she sent me some info about
fairy doors. What a wonderful little world to enter into! So perfect for the imagination of little minds. They remind me of the
Thorne miniature rooms in the Chicago Museum of Art. If you are ever in Chicago and you like tiny things, I highly recommend a visit.
So, inspired by the idea of fairy doors, I wanted to create invitations that would capture the idea of entering into a little tiny fairy world.
At a library book sale recently I found a copy of
The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker in great shape. It's a wonderful book of flower fairy poems and illustrations from the early 1900's, and it was exactly the inspiration I needed. I scanned one of the images that reminded me of my daughter, and wrote a little poem of my own for the invitation.
I used brown and metallic stamp ink to mark up the edges, and decoupaged each one to give them a worn and vintage feel. Although they were tiny, about 4" square, I wanted them to be sturdy too so I stained some balsa wood and glued them onto the back side. Then I lined wood grained paper with cork, and cut them to make arched doors. I scored the sides to make a hinge so it would be a double door that opened in the center, and inserted rhinestone brads for the door handles and wire leaves to close them. I placed each invitation into a moss green organza bag and filled it with dried lavender, eucalyptus leaves, and rose petals, which made each invitation a keepsake sachet.
I was really happy with the finished invitations, and I received a lot of great feedback about them (along with many people telling me just how crazy they think I am). I would love to hear your thoughts about them too!
My daughter turned 3 last week, and what an amazing 3 years it has been with her! Every day has been full of new experiences and lots of learning, both for her and for me.
For her birthday, she decided she wanted a fairy birthday party. (Perhaps more accurately I decided that was the party I wanted to throw for her, and I got her to agree to it. But she was happy, so that's all that matters, right?) When I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was going for more of a woodland/flower fairy rather than fairy princess theme, she sent me some info about fairy doors. What a wonderful little world to enter into! So perfect for the imagination of little minds. They remind me of the Thorne miniature rooms in the Chicago Museum of Art. If you are ever in Chicago and you like tiny things, I highly recommend a visit.
So, inspired by the idea of fairy doors, I wanted to create invitations that would capture the idea of entering into a little tiny fairy world.
At a library book sale recently I found a copy of The Complete Book of the Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker in great shape. It's a wonderful book of flower fairy poems and illustrations from the early 1900's, and it was exactly the inspiration I needed. I scanned one of the images that reminded me of my daughter, and wrote a little poem of my own for the invitation.
I used brown and metallic stamp ink to mark up the edges, and decoupaged each one to give them a worn and vintage feel. Although they were tiny, about 4" square, I wanted them to be sturdy too so I stained some balsa wood and glued them onto the back side. Then I lined wood grained paper with cork, and cut them to make arched doors. I scored the sides to make a hinge so it would be a double door that opened in the center, and inserted rhinestone brads for the door handles and wire leaves to close them. I placed each invitation into a moss green organza bag and filled it with dried lavender, eucalyptus leaves, and rose petals, which made each invitation a keepsake sachet.
I was really happy with the finished invitations, and I received a lot of great feedback about them (along with many people telling me just how crazy they think I am). I would love to hear your thoughts about them too!
