On Holidays

Just a quick note to inform that from today until July 7th (Monday), I will be taking a holiday. My birthday is next week, on Friday, and I thought it was the perfect excuse to take a very needed rest and finish some personal projects, that of course I will be showing after this week. Orders will be filled but emails and commissions will have to wait a week! Until then, be joyful, glittery and fun!

Featured Artist: Amy Sperry Faldet

Amy Sperry Faldet is one of those people who bring some extra light and joy into this world. Painter, mixed-media creator, jewelry maker… this joyous and clever woman knows no fear of leaving her comfort zone and trying new ways to express the abundance of creativity from her soul. I met her through her Flickr photostream, and since she has just opened her Etsy shop (link below), I thought it would be a good idea to make her a little interview so you can start including this artist among your favourites, as I already have!
She also writes a wonderful blog called Scatter Joy (link below again ), where she scatters not only joy, but also intelligence, reflections, beautiful photographs of hydrangeas and vintage kitchen items (both a weakness for this Witch), and thoughts that come from a serene, loving and compassionate mind - my favourite kind!

She was kind enough to answer these little questions:
- I’ve seen in your Flickr pages that you enjoy many different types of crafts: when did you start crafting and why? Where are your musings to craft?
I know that I have always loved creating, especially drawing, but if I had to narrow it down to actual times and influences, there are two portals I walked through to get where I am at creatively and inspirationally. The first world that opened my eyes and mind to art was college. I took my first drawing class there and was introduced to the 17th century by another astoundingly vibrant and intelligent Professor. She laughed alot and loved the 16th and 17th century like children. You could feel it. She and my art teacher, Mary Alice, by believing in my thoughts and artistic abilities made me see myself with different eyes.
The second world of inspiration I walked through was a world seen from the eyes of 3 of my childhood friends that I am still friends with today. On a trip with them I brought necklace and ring supplies to make and yarn and they were my muses because they were absolutely magical in my transformation that weekend. I knew after that trip that my artistic goal from there on would be to spread compassion, kindness, beauty and joy. It has been my goal ever since. and it will guide me always.
Actually, that’s why I looked into flickr and created my blog - it is also the reason I started the Etsy shop with such whimsical necklaces.
- You have just opened your Etsy shop - can you tell us a bit in advance of what you’ll be selling? Will you stick to jewelry or will you add other items?
You just can’t take life too seriously wearing a painted, glittery, domino, necklace on your neck. I think since Lorianne put hers on and looked so full of all the joy and peace I want to scatter, I will always make them. But, I plan on putting my prints, altered art and tins on Etsy, too.
- Name a book, a movie and a music album that are crucial influences in your art.
The artists that influence me are DaVinci, Botticelli, Arthur Rackham, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (especially Sidonia von Bork and Pygmalion and Galatea III) and John William Waterhouse (Ophelia)
I listen to Colbie Caillait, The Cranberries, The Corrs, Enya, Ziggy Marley, and I’m Alive by Celine Dion when I can during my artistic sessions.
I won’t go into the books that influence me because I am a true bibliophile, (I even like their smell) and I couldn’t list them all. Let’s just say Shakespeare, Robert Herrick, Christina Rossetti, and fairy tales are what I live for.
If I can bring a little more peace and light to the world with what I do, then that is the direction I will always go. Scatter joy.

Her Etsy Shop
Her Blog

Scrying - New Print Available

Scrying is the term used in parapsychology that describes the practice of seeing into the present, past and future using a crystal ball, a black mirror, a water surface, etc.

A beautiful, haunting woman seems to be deeply entranced while holding her crystal ball next to her celiac plexus, one of the most powerful energy points in the physical body. Is she peeking into the future, or the past?
Find it at My Little Magick Shop in Dawanda

The Place Where I Work

I took this pics today at The Old Riga Tea Bar, the place where I make my Tarot readings every Tuesday and Friday. Before you enjoy the eye-candy, keep in mind that 90% of what you see here was made by a team of crafters, which includes the two owners, a Fine Arts teacher, a metalsmith and my husband, who made the electricity work. The wood and metal pieces were from salvage and all the furniture and ornaments are either handmade by them or re-made from salvaged/thrifted pieces.

You enter through a tiny, shady terrace…

To find this superb work of art… the cabinets in the lower bar’s wall hold a collection of Clive Barker miniature deluxe figurines.

Every room is crowned by a wonderful chandelier…

Pretty details in every corner…

My little table…

and the wonderful moroccan-style patio.


And here’s Domingo, one of the most kind, generous and hard-working human beings I’ve ever met.

As you can see, I can call myself a very lucky person. I love this place, I love this people, I love my consultants!

Free Wallpaper For You Witches

Click on the Flickr image, go to “All Sizes” and download the 1280×1024 wallpaper.

New At The Shop: Downloadable Book Of Shadows Pages

The name of Book Of Shadows has nothing to do with the “dark side”! As Witches were prosecuted for centuries and oral transmission of knowledge was not always possible, these kind of texts were kept in the “shadows” - that is, hidden. Thank the Goddess, today Witches can work freely (at least in some parts of the world), and technology and Internet are the new realms of potions and spells!

To be honest, I’ve always had my favourite spells, articles and such in a normal ring binder, protected by plastic folders. A leather binded book is very beautiful, I admit it, but not very practical! As you grow as a Witch, your tastes and knowledge of herbs, spells and potion will change, or pages can get dirty when you work outside, or you need to perform at a consultant’s house and you simply don’t want to carry all your book with you, just the spells you need. You will be permanently adding content - and believe me, you don’t want to go back to a book you wrote ten years ago to look for one specific herb description! I’ve been there and, my dears, it’s been a real pain in the broom.

Pack of three downloadable Book Of Shadow pages: left page, right page and chapter page, all in a voodoo/santeria style for your most secret spell bags, hoodooing recipes, bayou spells, magick chants… or just your thoughts and emotions. You can even print them to write a beautiful letter to a friend!
You can find the Dawanda listing, and all the details about the product, HERE.

New Items At The Magick Shop

I just finished listing a new batch of products - phew!
A Deluxe Gift Bottle of the Perfect Skin Rose Water - I’ve used a vintage bottle, ornamented with silver charm, pearls and faceted beads and adorned with a millinery flower. The cork has been wax-sealed.
The box, which was made specifically for this bottle to prevent it from moving during shipping, was collaged and painted.


Three new Bohemian Perfumes: Ruby, Rossetti and my first unisex blend, Pixie:

Citric fruits with a touch of coconut and maracuja will bring the pixie in you right into the tropical rainforest! Earthy but with a fun touch - just like a pixie is!

The scents of citric fruits, apple and chamomile bring you the smells of a country afternoon; this is a soft and calming fragrance for those guys who prefer a natural way of life.

Ruby is a bad, bad girl! Using the bewitching scents of pineapple, coconut and vanilla, she spreads her mojo around with this intense, wild and sensual perfume. Fire and Earth zodiac signs are the most likely to enjoy this fragrance.

… And finally the smudge sticks are dry and ready for you!

If you’re interested in any of this items please visit My Little Magick Shop at Dawanda.

Full Moon Ritual

My contribution to Ed’s (gaywizard123 on flickr) and Lorianne’s (Plumevine on flickr) ritual: herb tea sweetened with Oshum’s honey and homemade mulled cider to celebrate with the glorious full moon.

The moon is a paper mache piece I got as a gift more or less 20 years ago.

Now, crawling to bed….have sweet dreams!

Perfect Skin Rose Water Recipe

Due to the heat of burning candles in an altar, flowers don’t last much on them. The roses I got on Saturday were already fading, so this morning I had the perfect excuse for a little bit of recycling making my own version of rose water. My own skin is very thin and sensitive and tends to dry, so I can’t use commercial beauty products - no problem! One of the best things of being a Witch is the amount of recipes you can experiment with, not only for potions and magick, but also for health and beauty.

Pic taken five minutes after finishing it.

Ingredients:
- Fresh Rose petals
- Essential Rose oil, 3-5 drops per jar
- Sweet Briar Oil (Rosa Rubiginosa), one tablespoon per jar
- One tablespoon of alcohol/vodka per jar - this is optional because it’s used as preservative only.
- One lemon slice per jar
- Distilled water

- Sterilized jars - mine are recycled; I boil them first and then rub them with alcohol - pay special attention when cleaning jar lids, because most moulding comes from there.

Pic taken 1 hour after making it - see the change in the colour of the water?

Recipe:
- First, take petals off the roses, discarding stamens, and cut off the white part of the petal, where it “hooks” to the flower stem.
- Fill up the jar with petals and add the oils, the alcohol and the lemon slice.
- Add boiling water, filling it as much as you can, and close tightly - be careful and use a dishcloth to help you tighten the lid, the jar will get hot as hell in seconds!
- Let it cool, filter and then keep in fridge - without the alcohol it lasts about a week if managed carefully; with the alcohol, it can last for months if kept in the fridge.
- As it cools, you will see how the water gets into a wonderful deep red colour - this only happens with red and dark pink roses, which are the ones traditionally used for rose water.

Properties and use:
This water is hydrating, relaxing and healing for the skin. It is perfect for dry skin because the Sweet Briar Oil is used to lessen eczemas, scars and stretch marks; it is a wonderful soothing balm for sun burnt skin also. The little addition of alcohol and the lemon slice will dry and purify spots and unwanted grease on the skin, so anyone with acne or allergic swellings can use it too. It also has anti-oxidant and anti-aging properties - and of course smells like Rose Heaven!!!

It can be used as a face mist, body mist, added to bath water… anyway you like! I personally use it after a very hot shower, and also before putting on any make-up (make-up dries my skin a lot). Avoid contact with eyes, mouth and genitals.

Finger Painting

My husband is in the way of becoming a pro tattoo artist, so he takes most of his free time sketching and improving his drawing skills. I don’t know if you know this fact, but most of the tattoo artists that I’ve met hardly did any drawing or painting before learning how to make tattoos, and that is his case too.
He usually sketches with a pencil on his tiny sketchbook. I asked him today why he never uses colour pencils and he answered he thought he was “not ready yet”.

Whaaaaaaat?????????

An artist can’t say not ready yet. I took out a roll of paper and my acrylic paintings and asked him to join me on a good finger painting session.

He was shy at first - he is a shy person in everything - but after a few minutes he was enjoying it completely… and I have to say I enjoyed it as much as him. He told me he felt liberated after finishing it.

Our hands, covered in muddy paint. This pic is more romantic for me than a wedding picture. Actually I’m printing it and framing it so he never forgets this day, this experience. Call it silly, I don’t care. But before you call this silly, give it a try with your loved one.