Clementine

Good Afternoon my sweetlings,
Since the beginning of July I've been taking part in Esmerelda Little Flame's Temple of the Twelve which involves working with 12 colours over a course of 13 months. Over that time we learn lessons by the different challenges that are set for us, to discover more about ourselves and ultimately endevour to understand and accept ourselves.
The colour I'm working with this moon is Green, for each colour there are a set of questions in the accompanying journal and one in particular really struck me for Green.

A Tree or Flower for Green

Find a tree or bush, or even some flowers in your area that call to you. Those with green thumbs might purchase a tree or bush. Every week spend a half hour with it, for as many weeks as you wish. Draw a picture of it, photograph it, hang ribbons in the branches, leave offerings for the faeries there, whatever calls you. Study the type of tree that called you in a book or on the internet. What is most important is that you develop a bond with it. Talk to it (even silently) about your hopes and dreams. Learn from it, be still and quiet, and listen. It will speak to you, even if you don’t realize it right away. Cry with it, laugh with it, just be with it.

You might make a wand from a branch, or press some of the leaves in a book to save them. You might clean the area if it is in a littered park. You might take a friend with you to visit your tree or flower. You might play music to it on an instrument or from a CD player. 

This project is completed when you have a strong bond with this tree or flower, but you may return to it anytime you wish. Write your experiences with your tree or flower. - Temple of the Twelve: Experiential Journal

  As soon as I read this prompt I knew exactly which tree I would choose for the task, it had to be my Clementine tree. Clementine entered my house in the Spring and has been living on the kitchen windowsill ever since then. When she first appeared her company included 2 Orchid's and The Mystery Plant along with some ever present Ivy Leaved Toadflax that seems to make it's way into my house magically. As the year continued she began to collect more plants around her, most of my herbs have spent time around her and in the Summer our Basil plant moved onto the sill for good followed by a pot of dried Lavender from my mum's garden.

When we first got Clementine the man at the plant shop told us to give her sugary water and not to worry too much if she shed leaves randomly. I still remember the first time I saw her, running my fingers over her bark and feeling right then that she had to come home with us, she was mine from then on. We left her for a little while, mostly because we didn't have the money for her to begin with, and I thought about her every day. Whenever we went by the plant shop we would stop and I would look at her, stroke her trunk, the little leaves and wait for the day I could take her home.
As soon as we got her home we put her on the windowsill and I went out into the garden and gathered some of the dried flowers that were out there. I put them on the soil as an offering and ever since then I've continued to do it. I've hung herbs from her branches to dry, with orange, red and pink wool, placed wild thistle flowers and daisies at her feet, kept Amythyst crystals beneath her. A while ago I cut a red tie from a top I had and tied it to her so that every time I see it I think of life, energy, balance. The colours I use when making offerings are always bright, vivid and represent passion to me.

Another reason I chose Clementine is that she has a really amazing energy which you can feel whenever you're around her. There's a playful, almost mischevious spirit to her which seems to respond to you when you spend time around her, especially when taking care of her or leaving things by her. On other occasions there is an absolute still peace to her that spreads through you, especially if you need help or advice. If I'm feeling sad or confused I often go and sit in the kitchen or stand and rub my hands over her, look at her leaves, talk to her or explain things to her. Whenever I do that I get a strong sense of everything being exactly how it is meant to be, it reminds me of the way my mum always says 'if it's meant to be then it will be' or how Steven always tells me 'whatever will be, will be' when I'm upset. There is something really soothing about being about plants when you're feeling low, for me the bright green of Clementines leaves always cheer me up.

The cycle that Clementine, and plants in general, go through is also something that helps me and inspires me. Plants are constantly forging new growth, shedding the old or the dead, making their flowers, fruit, seeds. Some die back in the Winter and sleep, some grow all year around. They all thrive at different times and in different locations. Often if they're in the wrong spot they grow weaker, if they're in the right one they grow stronger and more vibrantly. I think people can learn a lot from them, we can learn to focus ourselves on what we need to do, we can learn to take care of ourselves and we can learn that it's ok to let things go if we don't need them anymore. A plant doesn't keep hold of it's dead leaves, they drop away. I think often people need to do that themselves but we have more trouble doing so, we feel like maybe they might be revived or else feel guilty for letting them go. With a plant it's easy to see that if they keep hold of dead leaves then they can't grow, can't be nourished, can't be strong. The same applies to us all and by watching and connecting with plants I think we can learn to accept that process ourselves.
I think the fact that different plants grow well in different places is also an important lesson because that too applies perfectly to us. We are all different, have different strengths and weaknesses, different things that we enjoy or don't enjoy. Putting ourselves in places and situations we enjoy strengthens us whereas being in places or situations we don't enjoy makes us feel weak. The fact is that not everybody will enjoy the same surroundings, the same people, the same activities, and it's okay to realise that and move yourself somewhere else. Trying new things can teach us so much, we learn new things that we enjoy or don't just like a plant can. We can grow and thrive in strange places that seem completely nonesensical just like a seed can, if we don't try those things, if we don't let our curiosity guide us sometimes, we might never know. Still I think it's also important to realise what you do like, what you feel happy or comfortable with, and have the confidence to stick by those things. A plant that thrives in the shadow or at night will never do as well in the sun, it just isn't built for that, and people can be that way too. Forcing ourselves to do things we don't really want to do isn't good and sometimes we need to accept that those things aren't for us, and defend that which we know is right for us. There is a huge difference between being prepared to try something new and doing something which we know deep down isn't for us.

I remember the first time Clementine got flowers on her, little white things all over. I remember the first thorn I ever found on her, tiny and half hidden behind a huge spruce of leaves. I remember the first time she ever started growing the smallest fruit you've ever seen, how I jumped up and down with excitement and couldn't stop smiling. I remember how that first crop of fruit all got knocked off the plant and how upset I was and how, now that she's started growing new fruit, I'm pretty protective of her. Right now she has 2 clementines growing and the one you can see in the pictures above is the biggest any of them have ever gotten and I'm so proud that I have to stare at it every day. Feeling that way about a plant can seem odd I suppose, yet it's also taught me a lot about the kind of person I am. I'm the kind of person who gets excited every time one of my plants gets a new leaf, the kind of person who thinks nothing of sitting down and talking to my herbs, who thanks them every time I cut a piece off them. The mentality I have for my plants is one that spreads to everything else too, by practicing patience, gratitude and love with my plants it makes it easier to practice it for everything and anything else. It makes it easier to practice it for myself. By reaching out and connecting with plants I find it easier to do so with others, the energy of plants and humans is so different and yet so simillar at the same time. It helps me with my job, it helps me to understand the fundamentals of the earth, of science, of emotions, of energy, of everything.

A Sea of Leaves

Good Afternoon my dears,
Today the weather is bright and sunny so I decided to dress up and go out to play with Chubby. I think he really enjoyed himself!

Hey guys!

It was fun taking outfit shots with a different background for once. I wore the silk dress that has appeared here a few times and then pulled on the tye-dye green and blue dress over the top, or at least what's left of it. It makes a sort of cape which is really fun to wear. 

Who's afraid of nettles? Certainly not I!

I didn't realise that Chubby has the same dots above his eyes until just now... it seems our makeup was the same unintentionally.

Wrinkly horse nose of doom!

I loved the way he had a little leaf hanging in his hair like that. 

Bye guys!

The Colourful Thing

Good Evening my little sugarplums,
It's been a little quiet around here the past few days, last week was really busy! I had my first interview ever and it was also a huge group interview, definitely scary but also quite a confidence booster in the end. I was trying to get a Christmas temp job at Lush and I got through to the 2nd round of interviews and got a trial but in the end I didn't make it. It's alright though, I learnt a lot just from trying out and I felt really good about standing up and facing things I was (and still am) scared of doing.
I also redyed my hair! Or more precisely Steven redyed it for me. I wanted to try out rainbow hair so I went for Pink, Green, Purple and Blue. I did want Yellow as well but couldn't find Yellow dye anywhere, alas!

Getting ready to go out to eat.

The sun got right in my eyes.


Just a quick note (which I feel a little silly making), I've found pictures from my blog on various hair tumblrs and whilst it's a huge compliment to see myself on there and so nice to know that people like my hair I usually find my pictures with no credit or link back. If you're going to tumblyfy any of my pictures please put a credit on them somewhere, thanks!

Dolly Mixture

Good Afternoon sweetlings,
This is a really quick outfit post, mostly to stop me clock watching! I have a secret thing to do in about an hour which I really don't want to jinx so I'm going to keep it to myself for now but I have to say I'm really nervous and honestly kind of terrified! Actually really terrified, eek! The butterflies in my tummy are having a whale of a time though so I'm glad at least they're having fun, I don't get them very often anymore so it feels really weird to me.

Purple, Pink and Black themed outfit. I really like it and it gets bonus points for being soft and comfy, especially the boots.

With Sir Cubby, a really cute doorstop Rhaggles bought for me when he was here. The people in the shop we got him in had named him Chubby and seemed quite sad to see him go so we decided to keep the name. The ring I'm wearing is a 1930s piece that Steven bought for me, I always wear it if I'm feeling a little shaky and now I have a mini Chubby to go in my bag so I can take Rhaggles with me too. Squeek, over and out!

Freeform Crochet: Crochet with Fabric

Afternoon lovelies,

Last week I bought a few skiens of wool online but didn't realise until I got them that they didn't really make much to play with because they're super thick. I started working with it anyway and made a chain and then thought 'hey, I could turn this into a scarf!', because I think that about a lot of things you see. So I decided to try crochet with fabric, something I've been thinking about doing for quite a while now. Since I recently learnt about freeform crochet I thought now would be a good time to do it, really with freeform you can't really mess up, nothing is wrong, you can skip stitches, put lots of stitches in one go, change stitch midwork... anything.

Here's what I came out with, I really like it!

Slub, slub, slub (I like to pretend it's a very fluffy, colourful woolen slug). The green on the bottom is fabric from a dress that I used to have that didn't fit me anymore, it's a tye-dye green velvet type thing. The rest is yarn.

Close up

I used a 15.00mm crochet hook which is an absolute giant of a thing but one of my favourite hooks to work with, I like to have lots of space but with yarn and fabric this thick you really need to use a big hook just to be able to get into the work at all. In all honesty it was quite difficult but I'm also ill and shaking like a leaf in a hurricane today so that might be part of it! 

Rolled up...

Ohh, so you're a Slub Snail? I knew it...

I really do look pretty yuck today but I wanted to show how it looks on.

Vanillary

Good Evening my dears,

Today Steven and I went to an event fair in town, it was called a 'skill sharing' event and had lots of different little stalls where people came and shared what they can do, it was amazing! I was feeling rather rotten this morning and was in no real mood to go out but I'm so glad I did because I came back feeling as though somebody had picked up my spirit and given it a big hug. 

There were lots of wonderful people there, some of the people we talked with were a lady on a spinning wheel who I talked to about the mini spinner I learnt to spin on, two super sweet ladies who were talking about keeping chickens (I got to stroke the most adorable, tame, beautiful chicken in the whole wide world!) which is something that Steven and I have always been interested in and are now planning for Spring (one lady did a chicken run impression, who couldn't love that?), I got to nerd out about Kidsilk Haze yarn with a lady on the knitting stall and then we ran into a lady that Steven met at work yesterday.

This lady is working on something called Revival which embraces creativity and holistic therapies, we got talking and she was just the loveliest lady to meet, her Qi was amazing! How many times can I say amazing in this post? Not enough. She talked so passionately about what she believes in and when I told her about being an acupuncturist she was really eager to hear about it. She asked me to go in and do a talk about my work and maybe give some taster sessions for people and just to get involved with everything if I wanted to and join in with all the crafts going on.

I'm going to do a write up on her work properly soon, she has a pop up shop coming to my city for the Christmas period so I'm really excited to get involved with it. 

Anyhow, I thought I would make a quick post and now I've totally talked your ears off. Sit down, have a cup of Vanilla Tea (it's excellent, I promise) and let me show you my shenanigans.

Here's what I wore today, I've been itching to show you properly ever since I bought this dress. The outfit is actually 3 pieces together, 2 silk dresses layering and then harem pants underneath. Behold!

The yellow and green are part of the first dress, the way the dress is cut and put together makes me feel like a flower when I wear it. The second layer is a long blue dress I bought at Faery Fest in 2010. 

Whoops! Oh well, I'm not showing you anything naughty so this is okay. You can see the layers best here and the purple harem pants underneath, bought at Faery Fest this year. 

Close ups of the print, I love how it has prints all over it but without being too harsh. As I was walking down the stairs the breeze would catch all the silk and make it billow outwards, I felt like a character from Ghibli whenever something major happens to them and their hair just fans out.

A few little things I picked up, A Big Blue Bathbomb from Lush, Eyeliner Gel in Black Magic and an eyeshadow palette both from the market and a set of Gorilla Perfumes that I picked up earlier this week which are also from Lush.

I'm totally excited to have a bath with Big Blue, I've used it before and it smells like a piece of heaven. The eyeliner gel will be great too, I've had my eyes on it for a while now, in the broad sense, and I finally found some that isn't out of my price range. The eyeshadow palette has so many amazing colours in it, I bought it for Top Secret Mission of Next Week actually. The packaging has some pretty excellent Engrish on it, something about a Goblin deluding shadows. 

A closer look at the Gorilla perfumes, I'm going to tell you a little embarrassing secret now. It took me nearly a week to figure out why they had a banana on the cover... 

I've always wanted to buy the perfumes at Lush but for some reason I could never really justify it to myself, perfume is something I rarely buy for myself. However this seemed pretty perfect for me, lots of different little samples go a long way when you don't wear perfume all that often and I also think the bottles are really cute. My favourites from this set are Vanillary, Karma, Tuca Tuca and Lust.