Return from the Faerie Realm

Well what a weekend the Faerieworlds festival turned out to be. We arrived Friday afternoon to Mount Pisgah, just outside of Eugene, Oregon. After setting up our tent and applying some faerie makeup (glitter, purple eye shadow and a bindi) we ventured into the festival to participate in the opening ceremonies. We watched a procession led by the most beautiful faery matron with long silver hair and then began the spiral dance (check out this video).

(source)

We drank sparkling mead and conversed with pirate wenches. We danced to the grooves of afro-celtic band, Baka Beyond. 

We walked and shopped all the vendors selling faerie wares. My high school girl self was super excited to see Amy Brown (I was obsessed!) and all the other magical vendors. 

I can't begin to describe the costumes people wore! And I'm horrible at taking photos (I prefer to enjoy things in the moment and though I always bring a camera, I most often completely forget to use it). We saw every kind of faery you can imagine! Tinkerbelles, gypsy fairies, sluttly punk fairies, steampunk fairies, goth fairies, Woodstock fairies.. even a Star Wars fairy! We saw pirates and mermaids, faery villains and superheroes.

But the best part of Faerieworlds was getting to see the King of the the Faeries himself! DONOVAN!

He played a magical set opening with Hurdy Gurdy Man, Mellow Yellow, Sunshine Superman, Season of the Witch and more! AND of course the night ended with the most magical Atlantis! It. Was. Amazing.

And then we got to meet him and have him sign THIS!

James captured this from Futurama's "The Deep South" episode (featuring Donovan) and had it printed poster size. We were completely star struck and he seemed pretty pleased to see his cartoon self again.

Thank you Faerieworlds for such a magical weekend (even if we did end up looking and smelling like true hippies).

Faerie Friday

James and I are adventuring to Faerieworlds today. We look forward to a magical weekend of camping, faeries, costumes, and Donovan! More photos and stories after we return from Neverland.

Peace, Rachel

Artist Love & A Back Ache

Please excuse my absence here this week. I've been struggling with severe lower back pain (conveniently caused by sitting and working at a computer all day). I spent the weekend in bed nursing my aching back, painting and reading How Georgia Became O'keeffe and Mati Rose's new book, Daring Adventures in Paint. Let's just say, I can't wait to paint! (as soon as this back ache goes away).

I recently discovered the work of Stacey Rozich from Seattle, WA and just love her style. I could look at her colorful monsters and the tribal/folk pattern elements she works into her compositions alll day.

Reminder: All Tie-Dye Tank Tops are 30% off this week in my Etsy shop! Enter coupon code HURRAY4SUMMER at check out.

Peace,
Rachel

Summer Sale!

Friday, July 20 through Tuesday, July 31st all Tie-Dye Racerback Tanks are 30% off!

Just enter the coupon code: HURRAY4SUMMER at checkout. 

There are three different colors available (red, green and pink) in women's sizes small, medium and large. Each tank top is individually tie-dyed by me in my studio in Portland, Oregon. These tank tops are made of 100% cotton and are perfect for summer!


Shop Now >>

DIY Summer Flower Crown

You may recognize this pretty flower crown from the Summer Style post I did yesterday. It's been quite a while since I shared a DIY here. I made this fun flower crown 'just because' (it's summer!) last weekend and it turned out so pretty I just knew I had to share it with you all. I used a tutorial by Bleubird Vintage as my guide. Feel free to check out her blog too! See my instructions below.

What You Need:

• Fake Flowers (I got mine at the Dollar Store)

• Floral wire

• Fabric covered floral wire

• Floral Tape

• Plyers

The first step is to make a circle using the fabric covered floral wire that fits comfortably on your head. The fabric wire I used came in precut lengths, so I wound three pieces together to create a circle large enough for my head (this also helped to create a sturdy base for my crown).

Next I chose my first flower. Cutting a small piece of floral wire (about 4 inches), I wrapped the flower tightly around circle base with pliers (please excuse my chipped fingernails!).

Continue to cut and wrap more and more flowers onto the circle, layering them nicely, until you have wrapped them all the way around the circle.

Try it on and take a look in the mirror! Check for any gaps in the crown that may need to be filled in with more flowers. Once finished, wrap floral tape around the entire base of the crown (this helps cover the wire ends and keeps them from getting tangled in your hair). Just be careful as you wrap around that you don't squish or break any of the flowers.

And it's done! This was a fun, simple project perfect for a summer afternoon craft. I'll warn you, if you decide to go out wearing your flower crown (like I did) you will receive lots of squeelly compliments from little girls AND be asked if it's your birthday (I just smiled and said, "No! I'm just celebrating summer!")

Peace & Happy Summer!

Rachel

PS.

All Tie-Dye Raceback Tanks in my shop will be ON SALE starting tomorrow, July 20th! Enter the coupon code: HURRAY4SUMMER and receive 30% off any tank top!

Life Is Better With Friends

I just posted a brand new friendship card in my Etsy shop today! Check it out here.

Summer (Smartypants) Style

I can't tell you how HAPPY I am that summer is finally here in Portland! I am LOVING the sunshine so much I decided to celebrate in Smartypants Style! This is probably one of my favorite outfits this summer and I like to change it up by wearing a green or pink tank top (instead of red).

Outfit Details:
• Tie-Dye Tank Top - Camp Smartypants
• Skort - Free People
• God's Eye & Scout Feather Necklaces - Camp Smartypants
• Bracelet - Unknown (I've had this since high school and don't remember where I got it)
• Mood Ring - Fuego
• Flower Crown - Handmade by me


FYI:
All Tie-Dye Raceback Tanks in my shop will be ON SALE starting this Friday, July 20th! Enter the coupon code: HURRAY4SUMMER and receive 30% off any tank top!


ALSO:
Stay tuned for tomorrow when I share a DIY on how I made my flower crown!

Faerie-nspiration #3

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

~William Butler Yeats, "The Stolen Child"

Souces left to right: Emily Balivet, Bionic Unicorn, eyesaglow, 1920's Evening Cape, alonewolverine, fragmented-blue, uoa, fletchingarrows

A Fairy Dress

I've had this patchwork silk skirt since I was in high school (I used to wear it when I took bellydance classes). Nowadays it's tattered and torn and packed away in a box. But the fairies helped me dig it out and transform it into a fairy dress perfect for wearing to Faerieworlds.

As a thank you, I created a little fairy shrine in a little empty space next to my porch for the fairies to play...

Faerie-nspiration #2

Each fairy breath of summer, as it blows with loveliness, inspires the blushing rose.  ~Author Unknown

Sources left to right: paperforests, infinite-fashion, kaleidoscopicmindz, shae detar, unknown, browneyedbellejulie, iwastesomuchtime. 

Free Spirit Friday

Source clockwise: butterflieswhispertodeath, alexandraintheforest, “Let’s Make Art” by Marco Angeles

My weekend to-do list:

Finish making my fairy wings

Make a fairy dress

Tidy up my garden

Make kale chips (from the garden)

Draw

Peace, Rachel

My Bedroom

Summer cleaning. Reorganizing. Brainstorming. Crafting. Reading. Day Dreaming. 

Faerieworld Inspiration

I can't believe July is already here. With summer officially underway it's time for me to start getting excited about Faerieworlds 2012. What is that you ask? It's a three day festival in Eugene, Oregon that celebrates faeries with music, hippie organic food, and creative faerie costumes! The festival starts July 29th and this will be my first year attending. I've joked/talked about going to Faerieworlds for years (I totally went through a fairy phase when I was little and still love the idea of fairies) and am so excited to finally go this year especially because Donovan will be performing! 

Costumes are a huge aspect of this festival. Everyone dresses up in elaborate costumes! I've been collecting inspiration for mine for a while now and am finally beginning to put some things together (I will have photos to share soon). Because I've collected so much inspiration (via Pinterest and Tumblr), I thought it would be fun to create some fairy themed mood boards to share throughout the month of July. Hope you enjoy the first faerie-nspiration! 

1. sophistik8ed.tumblr.com 2. Unkown 3. falseeyelashesinfo.com 4. 2headedsnake 5. vintageisforlovers.com 6. Unkown 7. astreamof-consciousness 8. cosmicamerican

(Sources left to right, top to bottom)