Hello my dear blog friends…

Please come with me… back into the realm of the faeries…

I received this very intriguing email today from what must be a Russian music fae…

Dear Tricia !
My nime is Alizbar I play  the harp
my web  is www.alizbar-harp.com
I find  your  wedding with my music

Its very good

Maybe we can do more ? its my work too
Best regards

He has taken the pictures of my faerie wedding and placed them to his music.  I am having trouble uploading his video so after you click here go to the right and under “favorites” click on the video that has this…

picture on it.

I was enchanted beyond words…  I hope you enjoy it!

You can hear the song again and watch him play by going to his web site.   I can see in his eyes how lost he is in the music.  When the song ends he looks around as if he is entering this realm again.  A truly magical man…  I am honored he contacted me..

(If anyone can read Russian fae, I would love to understand the writing on the video.)

Hello Everyone,

I have mentioned a couple of time about how busy my season has been…  well finally I have some pictures to share with you so you don’t think I have just been lounging around on the chaise eating bon bons all summer.

This was a lovely vintage style wedding I had the pleasure of creating a couple of months back.  The couple were just as sweet as the details!

The ceremony was held under the Oak tree at the bride’s family’s home.  We hung lots of whimsical ribbons from the branches.

The guests found their table number by looking for their names on cards clipped onto the “clothes line”.

This is the walk way to the backyard where the reception was held.  We hung lots of pretty ribbons some plain and some with flowers and lots of lanterns and candles.  At night it was lovely!

Some of the hanging posies…  (can you tell were in California by all the citrus?)

The table arrangements were lots of sweet vintage (some actually old and some just vintage in style) containers filled with flowers…

There were lots of fun details, this bouquet was tied to the entrance gate just for fun…

The cake was a flower covered delight!!

The back yard at night…

Some more of the fun hanging bits that were everywhere…

See…  I really have been working,  I will post more weddings and events very soon.  I can’t wait to show you the faerie woodland event I did.  That was crazy fun!!!

All these lovely pictures are from the most talented Katie Moos Photography

By for now…

Hello all my witchy friends…

Sorry to have flown off on my broom for so long… tis not only the witching season but the wedding season as well!!

Now some might get those two confused and I am sure that there are many that cross the line but alas I am fortunate to have only come across one bad witch-bride in amongst 12 years of wonderful Glenda-the-good-witch brides!  I shall save her story for another time.  Truly a dark and stormy night is needed!

I wanted so much to be a part of Vanessa’s Fanciful Twist Halloween blog party, cooking up lots of magical brews and potions, or creating some mystical witches den.

I so love Vanessa’s magical ways and her beautiful blog… to be a part of her lovely party would have been a joy but alas the ladies in the white dresses come first!

So on that note I want to share with all of you pumpkin-loving-witches and magical-muggles (not a oxymoron I assure you) a supercalifragilisticexpeallidotious wedding that I got to be a part of a few years ago.

This bride LOVED pumpkins, I think even more than Vanessa over at Fanciful Twist!

To get ready for the wedding we met her and her family at a pumpkin patch and between her family’s trucks our delivery vans and trailers we hauled away over 2000 pounds of pumpkins!!!!

My husband still gets shaky when he sees a pumpkin…  he’s afraid I will ask him to haul it somewhere and back again.

There were mini piles all over…

On the tables as name markers…

Tiny glittered ones as party favors…

A larger buff colored one we turned into the ring bearer’s fanciful treasure chest…

They were all over the tables as general decor…

And not only did my fabulistic-fall femme like pumpkins she LOVED halloween candy (is this a woman after our haunted hearts or what!).  So of course I filled tall vases with candy corn and stuck branches in them!

She had a desert buffet laid out with pies and cakes and tons of all the most wonderful childhood-memory-inducing Halloween candy.  It was a spread that would have caused any dentist to retire early!  In addition they had a most beautiful chocolate wedding cake.

Her bouquet was filled with…  but of coarse… CHOCOLATE Cosmos (and Lilly-of-the-Valley).  They really do smell like chocolate!

What with all the Halloween/pumpkin/candy/ and delectable treats blog posts out there I thought I would share one of my all time favorite weddings that so fit the season.  Hope you enjoyed it!

Party on my Pumpkin Pals!

For you my little witches…  A Practical Magic inspired  story…

Aunt Louise and Aunt Thelma are enjoying an afternoon of chocolate cake and goodies after spending the day working on their spells.

Conjuring is such thirsty work don’t you agree?

While they’re enjoying themselves let’s take a look inside their workshop…

It looks like they’re cooking up something fun…  lets take a closer look.

Aahh yes… a tincture of Bella Donna…

To be placed in the tiny vials.  Just the thing to help one get a little “shut eye” .

But what’s this?  Well it looks like they’re brewing up a few heavenly concoctions as well…  Crystalized Amber to be turned into the most delicious perfume…

Anise pods for another wonderful tincture…

Rose petals to make a lovely water for toning your skin…  maybe that’s why the Aunts don’t age?

Powdered Sandalwood for incense, that’s a bit of Bella Donna laying on the table just behind…

Bits and bobs for other goodies…  Sage and Ecanacia, lovely teas for the tummy and immune system.

Quail eggs, Dove and Eagle feathers,  you just never know what you will find…

What a magical place… loads of drying herbs and flowers…

Bunches of Sage and a jug of Lavender oil

As much as the Aunts are enjoying themselves…

They are thinking of wonderful far off places…

“Let’s pack our bags and go for a bit of fun…”

“Light the sage…  oooohhh see it’s working…”

The guardian at the gate watches…

“Are we ready?”

“Quick Louise look through the magic looking glass, do you see where we want to go?”

“Oh yes… there it is…”

“Sedona!”

“Only, something’s different…”

“We have wings!!!”

“Louise, look at your eyes!”

“Thelma, your hair!”

“Did you know this would happen?  I think our instincts are getting a little rusty.  Maybe we can find a physic work shop while we’re here.”

“However I do love these wings!”

“Shall we go for a stroll?”  ”Oh do, lets”

“Tea time, not quite as good as midnight margaritas but much easier on the head!”

“So thoughtful of you Thelma to pack the china”

“Shall we go to another magical place?”

“What do you see Louise?”

“Oh that looks lovely over there…”

“Oh I completely agree…  Lets go!”

“After all our own home is beautiful and magical!”

“Just us, these two old bitties living in this big house with all these cats”

“It’s good to be home!”

To see other wonderful Practical Magic inspired blogs go to Practical Magic Blog Party and have FUN!!!!!

Well my goodness…  I didn’t mean to take such a long break but I guess thats what I did!  Lots of weddings this summer and lots of other things going on too!

First I have to tell you I am deep in faerie heaven!

“Faerie Head Quarters”

There is a huge fund raiser for the local Santa Barbara Community Environmental council in October and they hired me as the designer of the event.  Now some may not realize this but when people ask me for a “green” party that means something a bit different to me.  Not only will the party be as environmentally friendly as possible but green to me brings in the mythological forest beings as well.  Soooo…  This party will be a beautiful celtic themed forest complete with hundreds of trees and a faerie queen and the green man and loads of faeries and elves.  Therefore I have been buried in making costumes and fantastical table top “trees” as centerpieces.  Lots and lots of fun.  Here are some of our lovely actors being fitted for their magical transformation.

“Indigo”   

“Moss”

“Moss’s” wings

Details of “Indigo” and “Moss”

The Birch Faerie Queen who rides in on a Unicorn.

Detail of a set of wings made from Indian saris.

In the center where the wings meet I tucked in a birds nest.

Here are some of the mossy eclectic “trees” that will be some of the centerpieces.  They will have hanging candles and lots of small ferns and plants at the base with the addition of mushrooms and more moss.

I love putting in lots of details, here is a birds nest along side a pine cone.

All the while we have been working on the faerie party the house was being re-plastered and painted (it looks a bit like it snowed around here what with the plaster dust and overspray).  This meant that I had to rip off all the beautiful flowers on the front of the house and then in the process of the men working on the house the remaining garden was pretty much trampled.  Now I love an overgrown packed full garden so everything only looked lovely and complete to me in this last year having planted from scratch 4 years ago.   Well I guess I get to have a “do-over” on the garden.  The men just finished last week so I went out and splurged on several large plants (I am impatient and do not want to wait another 4 years!).

I got the most lovely trailing rose called “Flutterby”  with the most beautiful yellow and salmon 4 petal roses.  I also got all my favorites like sage, lavender, rosemary, scented geranium, penstemon, jasmine and a few other goodies.

This is the most wonderful smelling flower called snail flower (I think).  I placed it right next to the front door so every time you come in and out the scent wafts into the room.  I will take more pictures as the garden progresses.

Well if the outside of the house was having a makeover I felt like I needed to address the inside.  I mean if you wash the outside of the car you kind of need to clean out the inside too or it just doesn’t feel right.  Soooo on top of everything else I started overhauling the interiors.

2 years ago we had to evacuate in one of California’s crazy wildfires.  We had enough notice so we literally packed it all up!  It went into storage and I have only just started puling things out bit by bit.  Reworking the interiors meant that I got to pull out tons of stuff and redecorate.  It has felt like Christmas as I open box upon box of my precious goodies that I haven’t seen for 2 years!

My vintage suitcases and fun trunks.  I hung lots of saris and a beautiful Indian lamp.

More saris,  a vintage lamp and one of my pastel and charcoal drawings.  I tried copping one of Brian Frouds art pieces…  boy is that man an artist!!

I also made a Birch branch garland with twinkle lights woven in.  I also tucked in a few hanging crystals and a faerie or two (of course!). It casts the most beautiful glow.

Yea my dragonfly lamp is back!!!!

I hung the Faerie Brides wings from my faerie and elf wedding photo shoot over a lovely cabinet my husband got me for my birthday which is sitting on a vintage trunk.

My Indian Lion chair…

Or should I say Cat chair…

As with the garden the house isn’t finished yet so I will share more pictures as I finish each room.

I have also had the pleasure of creating several fun weddings that I will share pictures of when the photographers give me copies.  Mostly they were wonderful eclectic vintage affairs (my favorite!).

Lastly I will leave you with a picture my girlfriend took of one of my all time favorite rock goddesses, Stevie Nicks.

Remember a post I wrote a while back about wanting more magic in my life?  Well I got it in spades.

I got to go to a Stevie Nicks concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl.  We had sixth row seats but spent most of the evening dancing right in front of the stage.  Very soon I will tell you the full story which involves a set of faerie wings that lead to another set of faerie wings for a very special girl and tons of amazing serendipitous moments.  For now enjoy this picture, this is how close we were able to get!  Can you believe she is 62?  What an amazing woman!

Yippeeee!!!!!!!!!  A Practical Magic blog party!!

Like so many other bloggers out there I had just posted a piece on how much I love the movie and low and behold I find this wonderful site!!!  A On September 25 there will be whole blog party dedicated to the movie and or book Practical Magic.  Everybody will create something in honor of the story and then post it on that day.  We can all zoom around on our internet brooms and check out all the magic!  When I last looked at the site there were over 100 participants!  How fun is this!   Well I did say a while back that I wanted more magic…   here we go!

I mentioned a while back an underwater themed-merman party I had the pleasure of creating and I shared with you some of the night shots my husband took.  Well I finally received the CD from the photographer so today I will share with you the rest of the amazing pictures!

The photographer is Jethro Acosta from Infocus Studio.  His pictures are wonderful… judge for yourself.

This was for a fun gentleman who saw my faerie wedding on the internet and asked me to create a very special 60th birthday party for him.  He couldn’t have been more trusting and encouraging.  I kept reminding myself that he liked the faerie wedding so over the top was ok.  We chose the private beach on the ranch I live on and because it was by the ocean and a beautiful lagoon we went with a fantasy underwater theme.

I wanted the feeling of a coral reef just covered with lots of aquatic plant life in vibrant sea colors like what you would see when you dive at night with lights.   I also wanted it to sparkle so being a bit of a glitter nut I pretty much covered everything with glitter.

I started with Manzanita branches (covered in glitter) for the coral and screwed them to wooden planks.  On the planks I set a few rocks and oversize shells (also glittered).  Then I added tons of moss and smaller shells.

Occasionally I set in amongst the shells a beautiful glass float ball in the colors of the ocean.  I had also picked up at Michael’s right after Christmas some glittered foliage Christmas ornaments thinking I might use them on faerie costumes.  Instead they worked well as some of the sparkly underwater plant life.

The day of the party I added lots of beautiful cut flowers and foliage that were reminiscent of underwater plants.  I used chartreuse spider mums, Kermit Mums, (center of the picture above) Kale, blooming Artichokes (the purple bloom looks like a sea anemone on the left) purple Allium, Lilly grass, Silver Dollar Eucalyptus, green hanging Amoranthus (center right), and a few other bits and pieces.  The combination of the natural plant and flower elements and the glittered exotic items came together for a great effect.

This is a lounge I set up right by the table, you can see a bit of the lagoon in the background at the base of the trestle bridge.

A closer shot of the lagoon and some of the birds that call it home.

Imagine the sound of the crashing waves on the beach just beyond the table with an occasional seagull crying overhead.   Behind you is a beautiful large lagoon with Egrets in the huge Sycamore trees that surround it.  The trees right next to you are up-lit with soft green and teal lights and another light is casting water ripples on the ground around you.  As the night gently falls the table starts to come alive with lots of glowing blue and green lights nestled in the shells and under the glass balls.

I created this effect by placing dozens of LED lights in blues and greens throughout the tablescape.  The lights worked really well under the glass floats exaggerating their already blue or green color.  The table really glowed, the effect was truly magical!

That’s a large crystal geode on the right.

The birthday boy on his private beach for the day…   not a bad way to spend your birthday, don’t you think?

Just thought I would show you some beautiful summer floral arrangements that I have had the fun of creating.Fun, bright, happy colors!

This one feels cool and lovely.

I love the combination of purple or lavender with oranges and mustards.

Every so often I will take a close up of some of the flowers with the idea of painting them later on. I never seem to get around to it, too busy making floral arrangements.

Happy flower filled summer to you!!!

One of my all time favorite stories (both the book and the film) is Practical Magic.  The story is wonderful and sweet and I seriously covet that house!!!!!

The clothing the Aunts wear, the incorporation of magic into everyday lives, serendipitous moments that mean something.  It is all so rich and wonderful!

The kitchen and the room right next to it that has all their potions and plants and tools in it are I think my favorite rooms.  They are light, airy, full of wonderful vintage items and magical things.

I love how the room is open to the outside with lovely blooming branches both inside and out in the garden.  There is a promise here of wonderful things to come.

But then I love the darker richer salon room with all it’s lovely leather and candles and old wallpaper.

The house is both dark and light…  like life and people I guess.

Can’t you just picture yourself curled up in this chair, with a cat on your lap, the blustery wind and rain pounding on the roof a fire in the fireplace, a cup of tea, and a good ghost story?

I have the tea, tea cups, cats (a plenty!) and ghost stories (anything by Barbara Michaels)…  I just need the house.

Every detail is perfect!  I think I could loose myself in here for hours.

All these lovely pictures and thoughts make me ache for more…  not sure how to put it into words, just more…  more richness, more meaning, more magic, more serendipitous moments.  I want to feel full with life’s magic, heady with it’s perfume.

I am working on more wonderful faerie costumes for a huge magical celtic forest themed event coming up soon but I am feeling not truly full and magical enough.  I want to be working with spider’s silk thread, gossamer fabrics and faerie dust.  I want to hear the faeries whispering in my ear.

I go to the beach and I want to get into the water, immerse myself in it, breath it, taste it, see the fish and the coral with all it’s magical color.  But then I want to swim like a mermaid not as I do in my human form.

I want to fly like the birds, play in amongst the tree branches.

I want to see stronger colors… like the mood and color palette of the 2006 film Peter Pan.  The colors in that movie were so surreal and dreamy.

I want to go to a school like Hogwarts and learn…  everything!

I am so blessed in my life, I do not want to sound ungrateful.  I live a life most people would be thrilled with, and I am.  I adore my life, my art, my work, my husband, my kitties, I just want more.  To feel like a child again and run and jump with abandon, loose myself in my imagination and playing.  Do you know what I mean?  Do you ever feel that way or am I just in a funky frame of mind.  My girlfriend and I are planning a trip to Sedona soon.  I have a feeling that will help.  I know all this desire is just a need to be more deeply connected with the universe and my soul, my inner muse.  Just can’t seem to get there.  Wow… cosmic stuff, thanks for listening.

Anyway, I promised several days ago to post my mermaid party pictures, I still haven’t got them from the photographer yet.  As soon as I do I will share them with you.  It was so beautiful.  In keeping with the sentiment I expressed above the centerpieces of this party were so scrumptious, so wild that you just wanted to crawl in them and LIVE there.

To tide you over I will show you these two pictures that my husband took at the end of the party in the dark of the night.  The table glowed with the little lights I set into the centerpieces.   The pictures are a little hard to make out but they convey the feeling well.  Very fun!

See you in my dreams, hopefully it will be in technicolor!

Our newest addition to the family,

Meet Cleo, aka Turnip or Bevie!

I went to the farmers market the other day with only a few minutes to spare to grab some flowers for a friend who was at the end of her life in a beautiful Hospice here in Santa Barbara.  My morning appointment had ended earlier than expected so I was only just able to squeeze in a run to the market before they closed.  As I was quickly picking out some flowers I overheard the vendor speaking to a customer about the kitten she had found and that she didn’t know what to do with her as she was only getting worse.  My concerned cat ears perked up right away and I further heard that the vendor had no money to take her to the vet but that the poor kitten didn’t look good.  A rather long story shortened I butted in and discovered a very dear and pathetic kitten completely unresponsive wrapped up in a towel in the van.  After a bit of fast talking the seller gave her to me knowing I would pay for the care she needed.  I literally dropped everything and ran the kitten to my car, drove my cat ambulance just as fast as the human variety to my vet and ran her into the office.  They saw me bolting across the street and opened the door for me, took one look at her and whisked her to the back.  For about 20 minutes they worked on her without stopping.  They got her back from the brink and told me she had about a 50/50 chance of making it.  They were not sure what was wrong with her but at the very least she was malnourished (her back bone was sticking up like a mountain ridge line), dehydrated, and hypothermic.  If they could get her stabilized then they would investigate further to see if there was a deeper underlying problem.  I went home with a heavy heart.  There is nothing more sad than a sick baby animal.  By the evening she was perking up a bit, although she could not be left on her own overnight.  The clinic does not have an overnight attendant and I was hesitant to bring her to our home until we determined that she did not have any serious diseases. It was unthinkable to possibly infest our 45 plus cats.  Our dear vet Dr Harmon took the little furry bundle home with her and got up every 2 hours to feed and check on her.  To say we love or vet is an understatement to be sure!  Dr Harmon got her through the night and the little sweetie improved quite a bit.  By the end of the next day they determined that most likely she was simply malnourished and dehydrated.  We brought her home but to be completely safe we created a most comfortable home for her in our flower delivery van with the idea that at the end of 5 days we would know for sure if there was anything more seriously wrong with her.  We treated the van as a quarantined area, completely changing clothes when we entered and exited the van.  To see this sweet TINY face looking at us with such big tired eyes just leveled us.  We spent lots of time in the van, typing on the computer, reading and just loving her.  We also got up every few hours during the night to feed her and make sure she was ok.  Well…   I am so relieved to report the she is a most happy and healthy 6 to 7 week old kitten whose back bone is resembling more of a hillock that a mountain ridge line.  She is totally full of beans, running all over the place completely confounding the other cats and generally behaving like a normal sweet kitten.

By the way her name(s) derived from the following, Cleo just came to my mind when I asked her what we should call her.  As soon as I said the name out loud she started purring.  Turnip is because Dr Harmon was having a very hard time getting blood out of her (“can’t get blood out of a turnip”), and Bevie is the name of my very sweet friend that I was getting the flowers for.  She passed away within the week and if it was not for her I would never have gone to the market and discovered the kitten in the first place.  So the tiny little sweet bundle is saddled with a rather long name I’m afraid.

” Boy this modeling for the press release is sooo tiring!”