When Spring unfolds the beechen leaf, and sap is in the bough;
When light is on the wild-wood stream, and wind is on the brow;
When stride is long, and breath is deep, and keen the mountain-air,
Come back to me! Come back to me, and say my land is fair!

-The song of the Ents and Entwives in The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Of course, we started with an adventure.

"It's a dangerous thing, going out your door--" especially when fences are involved.

Thankfully, no one was hurt, and the fact that these photos of the fall exist make us very happy.

All a summer dress needs is a cloak and some jewelry and it's fit for a princess!

C. is wearing my Aurora Rhinestone Circlet made with champagne colored silk-- inspired by Princess Aurora in the show Once Upon a Time.

The circlet is made out of braided wire, and the Enchanted Evenstar necklace was originally designed for a custom bridesmaid set.

I was glad to get a close-up shot of this necklace. It's another Enchanted Evenstar design, and still carries a summery beach feel, even when we are in the middle of the woods. (Then again, another friend described it as a necklace for an Ice Queen, so to each his own).

This rhinestone and white satin headband was on my workbench as an unfinished Aurora Circlet, but the three of us decided that it works very well as a simpler headband.

"This picture is basically a movie poster." "YES I've always wanted to be in a movie!"

Portrait of a Queen. (I think that some of these pictures need short stories to go along with them!).

Once upon a time...

"She's like Little Red Riding Hood, without the Red."

"Now, an Elf."

I told them to act like a dragon was flying towards them. Their response was not quite what I expected.

The woods here are, to quote Frost, lovely, dark, and deep. But they are so dark and so deep that we were happy enough to stay on the paths at the skirts of the little forest.

One of my favorites-- L. makes a wonderful princess. The circlet is braided gold wire, the necklace has several flowers and bright green leaves, and you can even see the clasp I forged myself for the cloak. (Haha, you can also see how off the seams on the cloak are, but let's not talk about that, eh?)

A beaded bracelet, and one of the silver rhinestone rings.

This is an armcuff in forest greens!

No play-acting involved: this one IS a spritely fairy, with or without her costume.

Braided cuff and Star Flower ring. :)

This ring is one of the most difficult pieces I've made. It began as nothing but strands of sterling silver and a stone. Several hours of soldering and polishing later, and it's almost exactly what I wanted! The stone has a tiny bit of wiggle, so it's definitely a technique I need practice on. But this is a piece of actual fine jewelry. ^_^

The park has these fabulous giant stone frogs. We had a Thumbelina moment.

We were working with a time crunch; it was freezing outside and the shoot lasted only ten minutes! Thankfully within that time I was able to find a nice corner of their neighborhood to take pictures in, and they were very willing models! These are a few of my favorites from the day.







The baby is coming soon, and the whole family is excited for the first wuzzle! (Have I mentioned that my family is crazy? My cousins decided that the new baby would be our "first cousin once removed" and hence would be our first Wuzzle).

Best of luck to the new family! :)