My Woodland Nymph

 Mara was invited to go to a birthday party today. They were asked to dress up and told their would be a costume contest. Mara decided that she would go as a woodland fairy/nymph.

 The leaves are still beautiful around here (but falling fast) and Mara loves creating things with them. So she made a headwreath with leaves and flowers that we still had blooming in our gardens.

 I thought she should use woodland products to wrap her gift as well so I helped her with that. We couldn't find leaves big enough so we did have to use a under-wrapping of recycled brown paper. Then I wrapped mullein leaves around and tied them on. I finished it off with a couple of acorns and a birch tag.

Mara, ready for the party.

A side note... I am so happy that Mara is not afraid to be herself - to be different if that is what it takes. When we got to the party we found that pretty much nobody else really dressed up. But I figured Mara would do fine and she did. And yes, she won the the contest of being best dressed :-).

I included this with my Zero Waste series because I think it fits. Here's why:

• Items like leaves and flowers can just be composted after use.
• No plastic packaging was required for this costume or gift.
• We used what we had instead of buying things.