saying goodbye

I am saying goodbye to this little blog of mine.

THANK YOU for all of you, who have been reading about my woodland wanderings and creations!!!

You are able to read about my nature pondering's and creations still on my Robin and the Sage Facebook fan page. I hope i will see you there...

stroll through the forest

Let me take you to the stroll through the forest where i often wander. There is parts of the forest where i have never been , since there seems no end of this forest... Last week or was it this week, i went in part of the forest where i had not seen before. Bird flock where twittering so lovely and the forest looked utterly magical with ferns and large mushrooms. This is part of the forest where i usually come. Years ago the view was covered with sea of trees. But the view is ever so beautiful now also. I can see tiny islands on the sea and faraway landscape, which i love love to look at; i always wander what is there on the other side of the sea... This is the road on to my parents home. it is amazing how the autumn colors the ferns! i love ferns dearly, i find them magical and faery like... and also their leaves reminds me from feathers. Amongst the blueberries stood this giant mushroom, which reminds me from fairy tales and enchanted forests... though, i think every forest is an enchanted realm. Now when i am writing this my heart waits to be in this forest again, i will go there to find some mushrooms again and sit down to admire the breathtaking views. *** and tomorrow i shall begin my new work in kindergarten, where i was working about four years ago! how i wait to be with the wee children once again.

acorn gatherer

Lately i have been creating all sorts of wonderful things of air dry clay. Air dry clay is my "old friend", which i discovered about eight years ago when i begun to create dolls and birds. Now i thought to create some things for my jewelry of it, like leaves, acorns and feathers. You can see above one of my new necklaces acorn gatherer. The idea for these (more to come) new jewelries came from the idea what i would want to wear when i am wandering in a forest; something earthy, fairy and elf like, symbols of nature... This sort of thinking gives me such a inspiration!

Story House doll

...Story House doll is my newest doll creation... Story house filled with tales and memories from the 1800th century. Maggie lives in a story house which is surrounded by a garden, where the apple mint, tea roses and lilac bloom. Maggie is a story teller, who loves to write about little birds, forgotten gardens and wild woodland animals.

Miss Mattie

For such a long time i have been thinking of beginning to create some dolls. Yesterday i was inspired to begin create one, Miss Mattie, though she is an doll danglie or ornament. She is such a lovely Victorian lady. Miss Mattie is filled with organic lavender, so she smells like a summer garden! Now i am *awe* inspired, and dolls fill my thoughts and days. Today i begun to create another doll, with legs and arms this time... i do not yet know what kind of lady she will be, since i rather let the doll create itself, like Miss Mattie did. You can view more photos from her at here.

Tokens of Heart

Yesterday evening my table was filled with things like empty lockets waiting to be transformed in to something lovely, laces and papers.

I begun to layer papers upon these little lockets and then painting them with gesso and pastel chalks ( i think these are my favorite artist supplies). Then i noticed lace on my table and thought to layer the papers with some pieces of lace.

Then i begun to think what i would want to "say" with these lockets? I wrote some of my favorite words with my vintage typewriter, but also things like "lovely day" to keep as an talisman and a "writer" which is very much part of my heart also.

Today i was editing this photograph at picnik. com ( i find this is the best ways to edit photographs) and thought that i need to invent a name for these lockets... 'token of heart' would be a perfect way to call these lockets, which describe the things i "heart".

You can find these little Tokens of Heart lockets at my Robin and the Sage Etsy shop.

....dreaming flowers...

How i love poppies! This was the first summer when they appeared on the garden. These are surely one of my favorite flowers, so delicate and fairy like. This poppy where one of the first ones, i watched how the petals opened after the green shell fell on the ground, magical!

This is the vegetable patch, where also flowers are grown... cornflower's, forget-me-not's, and these white and pink flowers.

...someday i want to plant poppy meadow...

One of the sweetest flowers are sweet pea's. The scent is utterly wonderful. I can imagine fairies sitting on the flowers, wearing bonnets like these flowers...like in Cicely Mary Barker's faery panting

{misty magic}

I took these photographs probably over week ago. On this misty morning i woke up before 5 a.m. and went outside to admire the misty views. These kind of moments are full of magic and enchantment.

A view from the meadow and the woods which i admire daily from the yard.

Such a delicate flowers are these bluebells. Most of all I love wild flowers.

... tomorrow i shall show you views from the garden and maybe also from my beloved fern woods, which have been often part of my writings, but i have never showed photos from the e...

{Some of my Etsy Favorites}

Sea dreaming

Lately i have been once again in a world of sea. I have been for a week here in country side, and i have had just few items to use on my art work; few papers, lots of sea shore findings and natural twine. I just absolutely can not be without creating something in here, when the surrounding is very inspiring... So i created few sea side inspired creations: Sea Shore collage and Sea Sonnet garland.

Home In The Woods This little "cabinet" is most tricky to photograph... i am not sure how to take photo that i would not show on the glass. this piece has a drawer, and i thought it would be perfect for keeping little secrets or favorite jewelries. The little girl behind the glass stands in front of lovely trees, and she reminds me from Alice in Wonderland somehow. The little bunny jumped out of an English vintage real life postcard, and wanted to be part of this "Home In The Woods" assemblage.

nature child

..This nature child loves to wander in the woods and search little miracles... There is always something beautiful, that she can take home. Yesterday she brought shells from the nearby sea shore, cones under the pine and alder trees, moss up from the hills and a tiniest nest with a one speckled egg.

Here is a lady Violet who spends her days in wild flower meadows and wild gardens. She loves to pick flowers dry them and put them on glass bottles. Everyday she writes about her days in nature in to her journal. Lately i have been so very enchanted to work with a moss, cones and nature treasures. I would say that the art pieces where is part of nature, are closest to me, they reflect truly myself...

before i was searcing bird nests from the ground and above, but recently these miracles have come to me. it is magic of nature, i believe! on my last bird mail (blog post) i was writing about my beautiful find, a warbler's nest?. Well, yesterday i felt that i needed to go to that nest and look if the little birdies would have hatched already. when i peeked inside of that nest, i found a little creature without feathers, just little bit soft fur, which i believe turns to feathers. today i went to look the nest again, and found more little creatures hatched. oh, that sight when they thought i was a birdmother and they opened their little beaks for me. seeing these wee nestlings is surely an miracle! ...more bird mail coming later...

look what i found!

few days ago i wished that i could see a nest where would be blue eggs. yesterday i went in a forest behind our sauna cottage and found this most amazingly beautiful nest among the tiny pine tree. when i looked in to the nest and saw glimpse of blue inside of it i cried from joy, i was so happy that nature guided me to find this nest! Inside of this nest is made of moss, feathers and i think white wool, outside is made of old pinebranches. the nest is quite tiny and the eggs, oh! so tiny and incredibly beautiful. everytime i went to look, if i could get a glimpse of the mother bird, but it flied away. At this morning i went quietly to look if i would see the bird, but it flied away once again but i saw it on a tree branches. i believe the bird is somekind of warbler and the nest looks like a warbler nest. i just can not wait to hear, probably in next week when the birds are hatched and calls for food. Hopefully i will be lucky enough to see the wee birds. i had to move some branches before i was able to take these photographs.

middle of waiting trees

Just under a week i spent time in my town nest, and i came back to my parents place. For few days i have been away and there is already more green hues on some of the trees than when i left. Here are some photos of my wee red luggage which is stuffed with materials for jewelry pieces and my new faery collars.

The little 'nature sanctuary' book will be part of my necklace. It is a little journal for own thoughts and dreams. ... some hand made fabric ribbon, where i stiched some green brown leaves. Another piece waiting to use in my jewelry. In these days i have made lots and lots of leaves from felt and other fabrics. I like so much this color combination... Color study for my future work. I love to study how colors go together...

drawing

for a longest time i thought to arrange a little drawing. this necklace will be some of yours. just write a note and i will draw some of your name off the teacup in next week. i created this necklace from odds and ends which i had left to a spring green bucket on my parents place. it is sometimes very refreshing to create things from just few items and see what will come of it...

sky and earth

Here is my latest necklace: 'sky and earth'. Few days ago i took this photograph and it looks like the necklace would have been dropped from a raincloud. It looks like the glass "raindrop" bead would be filled with rainwater. ...yesterday i was sitting next to a window while i was creating this jewelry piece, first i was creating a necklace dedicated just for a sky and passing clouds, but then the colors of the necklace wanted to change. suddenly i begun to use also a green hues. the thought rain connects the sky and earth came to my mind after the colors. i just love the colors of this necklace, which remind me from soft watercolor paintings.

tree sonnet

soon the golden green leaves will decorate the empty branches. the forest will be filled with the sound of a tree leaves, creating the most beautiful song with the birds. i am waiting that moment when i can sit beneath a birch tree and look up and see the green leaves moving with the wind.

{spring birds are here}

in this past week i have been able to say, that spring is truly in Finland. the birds are back, oh, the amounts of birds which i have seen on my parents yard; blackbirds, blue tits and great tits, song thrushes, chaffinches, robins... everytime i come from outside i just need to go look at the view from my window once again. i can spend a long time infront of the windows and watch the birds. i am so thankful that i can be surrounded all of this great beauty. I have seen swans many times and cranes gliding on a sky. spring has brought many blessings, but i think one of them is not the fact that jackdaws are trying to build a nest on the chimney, they make such a horrible noice and somehow they are not one of my favorite birds at all... for few days i have been kept fire burning in the fireplace, trying to make the jackdaws to go away. still i woke up this morning on their noices, and once again lit a fire at the fireplace. hopefully they will disappear in near days. in these weeks i have made many jewelry pieces, but have not posted them on here. i especially love this 'tree nest' of mine, which i made from wind fallen birch branches. i have begun creating a small jewelry "collection" for every bird i love, first i made a wren inspired jewelry pieces.

nature observer

one day when i was next to my art table i begun to create new "naturalist supplies". then i thought, that i must create an shop just for these supplies and my nature inspired art pieces. Nature Observer was perfect name for the Etsy shop. i so much enjoy to create these supplies and share them with others!

wishing

i am waiting the spring to come, lighting my life and surrounding with that beautiful soft golden light. i am waiting what should i do next? i have been asking thousand times from myself what next... where i should go. should i travel with the waves or go against them? i have been so hard trying to find a new job for me. but somehow i feel that nothing is moving, what ever i am trying... i am stuck. i know that this is just an phase, but i have been in this state for far too long, so long that i start to doubt myself and being utterly hopeless. i hate this feeling, although it would be just an one way to move on. in this spring i would want to move away in a much more smaller and much more lovelier town. ofcourse i would want that i would see trees and nature from my windows. the forest would be close by, so i could take a walk in there. the size of this home would not matter, though it would be necessary that the home would be light and cozy. i shall give this wish for the hands of universe and step out for thinking my situation too much...

i have a booth in our local fleamarket/antique shop. i have never ever sold my jewelries at this way, unfortunately i can not see how people react on my jewelry pieces, since i am not there to see it. i have made so many bracelets and will sell also some of my older necklaces, art pieces and vintage and antique items.

i hope everything goes well, and maybe someone will purchase some of my jewelry pieces.

a cup of tea middle of an creating.

this is a piece i begun to creating few weeks ago. some pieces waits for its own time, so i can show them for you. this piece is so very dear to me; it is me. i am daughter of the trees and woods.

cloudy grey

one of my lates necklaces. i just love creating with lace, since it reminds me from victorian era, which i love so much. this piece is very personal one. surrender is such a powerful word.

studio

here are few photographs at my studio. i have been here in solitude for few days. no one to say good morning, except the primrose who looks so very joyful. when i was in countryside i said good morning to the birds and trees, like i would greet my family...well they are my family.

but i like to create things, listen new Antony and the Johnson's album, which has been inspired me so much during these days.