Mushroom Fairies with Red Knock-Out Roses and Sweet Childhood Memories

Hello, Friends!

When I was a little girl, I used to go to our small public library every Friday evening while my mother and father did the weekly shopping. I would carefully roam the stacks of books in the juvenile section searching for just the right books to check out for a week of reading pleasure. We were only allowed to take 4 books with us, so I chose my reading companions with great care. One book was easy to find every single time. I always picked one of the wonderful Andrew Lang fairy tale anthologies I loved so much. There was the Blue Fairy Book, the Red Fairy Book , the Purple Fairy Book, the Green Fairy Book..and so on. A dozen different fairy tale collections to delight my imagination. Now, what does this have to do with paper crafting? Well, Polly’s Paper Studio has the most whimsical digital download of Mushroom Fairies you’ve ever seen. And while I was creating with these delightful images, I remembered the long summer days I spent in the hammock getting lost in those magical Andrew Lang fairy tales.

Don’t you just love this image? This one, of course, is for the Red Fairy Book. I used old book pages to die cut some flower layers (MFT Flower & Leaf trio)I tried a little bit of a different “technique” when making my flowers this time. I sprayed them with red stain, then crumpled them into a ball and left them to dry. Then, I carefully opened them, shaped them just a little with my stylus and layered them together. Finally, I spritzed them with my hand made gold mist.

I filled the centers with seed beads. They add a nice touch of shimmer. Mushroom Fairies love shimmer! To me, these flowers look like the red knock-out roses that climbed up my mother’s garden arbor.

My loopy bow was made with Red Burlap String and Natural Burlap string. I tied a loopy bow with my Zutter Bow-it-All, then squeezed some hot glue under the flower petals and used the tip of my scissors to push the center of the bow into the puddle of glue. Then I arranged the loops the way you see them here. The leaves are hand cut from burlap scraps.

The inside of the card uses a sentiment from the Subway Art Digital Sentiments Assortment. I thought it was a good fit to go with the theme of the card. I also stamped “happy birthday” in Memento Tuxedo Black Ink.

I had so much fun with these fairies, that I had to make another project in honor of the Blue Fairy Book.

I altered a little spiral notebook (4.5″ x 6″) with this sweet image. The little mushroom clothespin in the top left corner can be used as a bookmark. Just clip it where you want the book to open.

I used burlap on this card, too. Burlap and mushrooms…they just go together.

I decorated the inside front cover.

And I covered the back of the notebook with burlap as well. I actually wrapped it around the edge………

………..to create a pocket on the inside. You could tuck photos or coupons or receipts in here. You can never have too many pockets.

And that’s my summertime stroll down memory lane today. I had such fun sharing these Mushroom Fairies with you. And, I’m curious….did you read any of Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales during your childhood? I made it through every single volume…some of them more than once!

Thanks for stopping by!