Recent Creations from the home of the Acorn Cabinet

What a lovely few days it has been!  There has been lots of creative energy flowing to us as we tend towards hibernation these bitterly cold winter days.  The Birch Full Moon has just passed and I attribute the positive creative energy to the energies of the moon as she grew from maiden to mother.  I have been drawing again, which is something I have struggled with since leaving art school.  My drawings lately have been more intuitive and reflect my dreams and hidden depths within my unconscious mind.  I rarely draw realistic drawings anymore, but prefer to capture the spirit.  My drawings are influenced by mythology, fairy tales, spiritual matters, magic, etc.  I feel like I have gotten in touch with my inner child again, perhaps from watching my own son explore the world.  It is the most magically wonderful feeling to watch a baby make sense of this foreign place.  Even the tiniest, most insignificant object can be viewed with wonderment and awe.  I am hoping this feeling will stay with me.  Alan and I have both been baking.  Alan made the most scrumptious bread and I just made a lemon cake, which I plan to make for my lovely mum's birthday and Imbolg on the 1st of February.  I've been making birds nests still.  The one pictured below is one of the tiniest ones and one of my favourites.  It is made almost entirely of yarn, thread and reclaimed fabric and feathers from the pet chickens which wander freely in our woodland.  I love the feel of this one in my hand.  It fits perfectly in my palm and has such lovely energy.  I am sure some faery must have blessed it.  It is the perfect nest for leaving wishes.  I see it as a sort of portal. I've been making 'real' nests as well using materials from nature with perhaps just a bit of yarn or thread.  These nests have been inspired by this wonderful book of photographs of nests from around the world.  I was amazed at how different each  nest was.  Some are made from moss, some are more of a beehive shape, some are made from twigs, some are soft and feathery like the fabric ones I have been creating.  The last photo in my post shows one of these more realistic nests.  I have created it on a pine branch.  I am not finished with it yet, and the photo really isn't the best, but I am pleased with the whole process.  I am attempting to make them without any tools, only my fingers and scissors to cut long pieces of yarn.  You really can't tell from the photograph, but it is quite a lot larger than the tiny white nest shown here.  it is the largest nest I have made thus far.  I will try to post photo's of the nest when I feel it is finished.

Front Page Treasury of Etsy!!!!

My dear friend Jessica's lovely necklace was featured on the front page of etsy!!! Congratulations to Jessica and here is a photo of her gorgeous necklace.  I have one of these necklaces and it is so very soft, lightweight and lovely.  It definitely contains some fairy magic.  So for all you magical beings out there, support the arts and buy one of her necklaces or art works from her etsy shop.

Please visit her shop here...
http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheSeabirdsNest?ref=seller_info

Pray to the Moon: Wandering (not far): The Language of Snow

Pray to the Moon: Wandering (not far): The Language of Snow

I can relate to this!

ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT....

My little elf slept soundly and my creature of creativity was awakened.  These are the fruits of my endeavors. Sometimes rocks call out to me, "pick me up and put me in your pocket, carry me home with you," and so I do.  The two larger grey rocks were found right here in upstate New York and the little golden rock...in my beloved New Forest home in England. I believe I will be posting some of these on my etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheAcornCabinet?ref=pr_shop_more

but I am not so sure that I can part with the smaller golden rock as it is so very special to me.  I turned it into a god/dess sacred rock.  With these rocks I peer into them until I see images form.. usually faces appear immediately.  I start by drawing the faces and then I progress from there.  The second picture shows the god side of the god/dess rock.  This was the side that I created first, as I saw the face.  It is also a moon/sun stone as the god is associated with the sun and the goddess with the moon.  

 The largest of the rocks seemed to call out to be turned into an oak leaf/acorn, so I have drawn the sort of logo for my shop.  I have a story behind the silver dots.  These tiny dots appear in my work over and over again.  It all started when I was a child (seven years old or thereabouts) at Stourfield First School.  My classmates and I created masks for a play, "The Firebird", and my mask was very intricate with these swirly dots in jewel tones.  To my child mind/spirit these swirly dots represented magic, perhaps fairy dust, but they were the workings of a spell.  Over the years I seemed to gravitate away from this, but from time to time they would sneak into my work.  During my art school days, I found this style again and it has stayed with me ever since.

I am swarming with ideas, but have far too little time to pursue all of them.  And yet, I have a feeling that most of them will come into being one way or another.

This was my creative spell last night, does anyone else have similar late night creative musings?

My favourite items from a recent treasury which featured my New Forest Lichen photograph.  I adore Times and Mores beautiful forest themed treasury, titled "Scent of the Forest".  Check out her shop and the other shops featured here. http://www.etsy.com/shop/TimesAndMores?ref=pr_shop_more

#1 is Leaf, Verdigris, Green Forest Earrings by Simone Sutcliffe

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SimoneSutcliffe?ref=seller_info

#2 is Solid Natural Perfume Compact by Illuminated Perfume.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/IlluminatedPerfume

#3 is my own art work, New Forest Lichen photograph.  The Acorn Cabinet

#4 is Blackberry Brandy Twig Leaf earrings on antiqued copper backs by Rusty Keys

http://www.etsy.com/shop/RustyKeys?ref=seller_info

#5 is Unique handmade felt hat by Felt Think

http://www.etsy.com/shop/Feltthink?ref=seller_info

Thanks to Times and Mores for creating such a beautiful treasury and letting me be a part of it.  These lovely nature, forest items are just what I needed to see to inspire me to create, create, create.  Must get busy and make my birds nests.  I have started an inspiration book and an inspiration board.  I will post photo's from these soon.  

These pictures represent my day today.  I am working on many projects, but the one I am most excited about involves the crafting of birds nests.  The garden twine was a Yule gift from my mum, and I am hoping to somehow incorporate it into the designs for the nests. 

The second photo is a bit eerie, as I had just changed the sheets and laid out the green quilt which was handmade by my almost mother-in-law when we got a phone message saying she is in the hospital. The next photo was a reminder to count my blessings and stay focused on the positive. It was such a beautiful feeling to write in the snow and to take photographs.  The last three photographs deal specifically with my etsy shops. I left many of my smaller dream catchers and birds nests in the branches of trees around town.  If you are fortunate enough to find them, by all means keep them if you feel so inclined, or gift them to a friend, or leave them for the trees.  But please share, share, share.  Tell others about The Acorn Cabinet and Where The Bracken Grows.  I would be so very happy to get this business going..full speed ahead so that I can remain home with my son.  These photo's represent my day.  And what about yours?

This is a photograph that I took while at college in England.  I call this work of art "Ghosts of the New Forest."  The house in the photograph had been burnt in a fire years before and only the shell remained... now even that is gone.  The little boy in the photograph is almost a teenager now.  I saw a photo of him recently and couldn't believe how much he has changed in the past two years (when last I saw him).  To me this photograph represents those fleeting moments of time.  I sometimes try to hold onto the past, I even try to hold onto the present, but I must learn to let go.  That which no longer serves a purpose for me must be let go of. At this moment in time my spirit is telling me to let go of all attachment and sever those ties which bind me.  When I look back over the years, there was a short period of time when I was still living at home in the New Forest when I feel my life was just about perfect.  It was probably the best time of my life, certainly the happiest and most spiritually uplifting period.  Since then I have had lots of struggles, from losing the most amazing dad in the world to dealing with a brother who suffers with psychosis, to becoming poor and homeless.. you name it.  Throughout it all I somehow managed to connect with my ancestral beings, with the nature spirits, with mama earth.  I never lost faith, never lost hope.. and I got through it.

This photograph reminds me of that perfect time all those years before and gives me hope that I can connect with the ghosts from my past.  Things will never be quite the same again, but more than anything, it's the feeling of hope and happiness and complete love and trust in the universe that I want to connect with again.  I believe that feeling is what I yearn for more than anything.

So my meditation for the evening?  I am going to journey to this moment in time and say hello to my two dear friends and to the forest that I love so well and I am going to say thank you and now it is time to move on to the next chapter.  I am going to practice letting go of all my pain and stress and fear which has been accumulating since I began my latest relationship.  Time to release, time to reflect and perhaps time to say farewell and let's move on...?  I will see what transpires, what message comes to me from the spirit world.

Today was a most magical sort of day.  Although we believe it to be winter, one could easily imagine it to be spring.  It was the perfect day to walk across the heathland in an attempt to find hawk feathers.  There is this hawk that we see every day on our drive into town... always perched in the same tree.  Sometimes there is a pair of them.  Today they were nowhere in sight and even the hundreds of crows that have recently taken up residence had gone off to enjoy the warm weather elsewhere.  It was such a gorgeous day and I was reminded of early Spring in the New Forest (around February) and my routine of walking towards Longslade Bottom from my village of Sway.  I would usually happen upon a pony (or two or ten), so that was definitely lacking, but otherwise the view is quite like the forest.  The breeze was warm and almost, almost I could imagine it to be the fresh sea air that I so miss.  We took the opportunity to attempt to photograph the beauty around us and I will post those photographs here.
We decided to explore around the tree where we so often see the hawk(s) perched.  We found some animal bones and a couple of feathers (not hawk), which was quite exciting.  As we were about to leave we decided to have one last look round and discovered... the remains of a hawk.  I wonder if it is the same hawk that we so often saw and how it met with the hand of death?  I wonder if this means that the hawk totem that has been following me around since my birthday has served its purpose and now it is time to move on to the next lesson?  Time will tell.

A shout out to a friend!!

http://www.etsy.com/people/Snufkin22?ref=owner_profile_leftnav

I was just thinking of my very talented friend who creates whimsical, soft, dreamy, earth inspired art and jewelry.  She has recently opened a shop on etsy.  Her work is absolutely incredible, so please check out her shop. If you  are a fan of my shops.. The Acorn Cabinet and Where The Bracken Grows, then you will love Jessica's shop... The Seabirds Nest.

This is a photo from her shop.

Winter Magic

This is the magical view outside my window.  I feel so very blessed to witness the beauty of winter.  Sometimes I feel so very isolated during the winter months, but I am reminded that it is the time of the year when the goddess slumbers and we must look within and find our dreams. I have many ideas and lots of creative energy, perhaps more so during the winter months as there are less distractions.  In the summer months I am constantly distracted by something I wish to see in nature, such as a butterfly or a leaf, or a wild animal.  When it is so very cold outside, I prefer to hibernate with my hot cup of tea or stew, a nice roaring fire and focus on listening to my own inner being.  However, it is important to look up from time to time, otherwise I would have missed the beautiful scene I have just revealed in these photographs.