Inspired by a Book: Fairies, Fashion, Flowers, Gardens

I do so love it when I find PudStar doing something that has been inspired by a book: happy parent/teacher/librarian moment! Much better than when I find her with a Sharpie pen.

‘Fairie-ality: The Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand’ is a book I purchased for myself several years ago. It is a fashion collection for fairies. A visually stunning and gorgeous coffee table book for those into fairies and/or fashion! You can see some of the fashion collection here and the image below is from the ‘Vintage’ collection.

When I first purchased it I spent weeks pouring over the pictures, and when PudStar found it on the shelves she did the same.

Anyway she’s not looked at it for a year or so, but the other day I found her sticking fallen agapanthus flowers to paper and drawing fairies around them. She had done a great job and she was super impressed with her picture. ‘Fairie-ality’ came off the shelf again. Ain’t books grand: forget about them for a while and then rediscover them!

I love the agapanthus in my garden. They are plants from my grandparents farm and every year when they flower they remind me of my grandad, who was a wonderful gardener. He loved the beauty of plants, and wasn’t one to rake up fallen leaves or flowers. So in honour of him I always let flowers fall to the ground and create a coloured carpet. PudStar would have loved gardening with him. She and nan grow things together…currently I’m working out where to put the five leopard trees they grew from fallen seeds, and this afternoon she corrected my planting technique: “NAN TAPS THE BOTTOM OF THE POT TWO TIMES!!” 

I love that I have some of my grandads plants in my garden, and if we ever move some of the agapanthus, stags and elks are coming with me. Nan and grandad planted gardens wherever they lived, and they lived in many places. I like that there are lots of gardens that have my grandad’s agapanthus.

The amazing photograph of bee eaters is by my good friend Lyndal. Among many other things, she is an amazing wildlife photographer, who recently went and took photos at the Steve Irwin Reserve at Cape York. She is also one of the ‘wise women’ I talk of!

Title: ‘Fairie-ality: The Fashion Collection from the House of Ellwand’
Publisher:Candlewick Press
Age Range:all ages
Themes:fairies, fashion, fashion collections, seasons, flowers, nature.

Click on title links or cover image to purchase.