26 Comments
User's avatar
Tamsin 🍂's avatar

Thank you. You have taught Floella a wonderful way with words. And I’m so proud of the frog she has grown into.

Expand full comment
Floella Fairy Frog's avatar

Thank you, dearest Tamsin. I carry your stitches with me in everything I do - quite literally! I shall try not to get too grand about it… but I am rather pleased with how I’ve turned out.

Expand full comment
Tamsin 🍂's avatar

I think you should be very proud of yourself, indeed, but also a little humble, which I feel you are. May you forever know you are loved.

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

Thank you for your letter Tamsin, for creating such wonderful magic in this world - I am delighted over and over by your froglets and so happy to share my desk with Floella. I think that, now I have let her loose in Substack, they’ll be no stopping her!!

Expand full comment
Susie Mawhinney's avatar

PS I have just sent a link to my daughter... she is a frog princess!

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

The best kind of princesses are frogs! 😘

Expand full comment
Susie Mawhinney's avatar

Oh my goodness! Who could possibly resist Floella frog "wand bearer, with a fondness for tea, storytelling, and snug corners." I don't think I've ever seen quite so much cute creativity in one place!

Tamsin and Emily, would you please tell Floella, I too am a serious watcher of weather while I wait for tales to appear in the mist, or perhaps more precisely at this time of year, the heatwaves in the sunbeams, it is important work and needs writing down. I think we just might be soul sisters!

Thank you so much for sharing beautiful souls 💛xx

Expand full comment
Floella Fairy Frog's avatar

Dearest Susie,

What a joy to hear from a fellow watcher of weather! I couldn’t agree more, it is important work, and the heat-haze and sunbeams have been full of half-formed stories lately. I’ve been trying to catch them in my notebook before they dissolve.

To think I have a soul sister out there, peering into the mist with a teacup in hand — well, it simply makes my day. Thank you ever so much for your kind words. 💛

All my love,

Floella 🐸 x

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

Oh Susie, what a beautiful message, thank you. I am always enchanted by your poetic weather watching. I’ll be sure to pass your words along to Floella — she’ll be utterly delighted to know she has a kindred spirit keeping an eye on the heat-haze and waiting for tales to unfold. I suspect you might be soul sisters indeed. 💛 xx

Expand full comment
Jo Sundberg's avatar

Utterly gorgeous! I adore Floella and relate to the things that matter to her : "She writes about the things that matter most to a small frog with a desk: the weather, the feel of good paper, the best way to brew tea, and the tiny wonders we might otherwise miss."

Thanks for sharing Emily and Tamsin. 💛💛💛

Expand full comment
Floella Fairy Frog's avatar

Oh Jo, I adore you too, utterly and without hesitation. I would be delighted to write you a letter, if you’d like one. Just say the word, and I’ll begin at once.... perhaps with a weather report and a biscuit recommendation. 🐸💌

Expand full comment
Jo Sundberg's avatar

💛

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

Dear Jo! Thank you. I am quite in love with her too - from the moment I first saw her picture on Tamsin’s Notes. I’m glad that you enjoyed this little tale of froglets 💛✨

Expand full comment
Klamo's avatar

Tamsin, What beautiful creatures you create!

Emily, Thank you for sharing.

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

I’m so pleased you enjoyed reading Klamo, thank you 💛💐

Expand full comment
Tamsin 🍂's avatar

Thank you Klamo

Expand full comment
Kerani Arpaia's avatar

Emily, your reflections at the end of this post really struck me. I've often gone in circles (usually during times of insecurity, comparison, or high anxiety) where I wonder why I bother to share my art and stories online. Am I brainwashed by social media into needing a dopamine fix? I sit millennial craving for external validation? That push-pull between doing something for myself and wanting to post about it has been disorienting.

What you said about joy seeking company and the collective magic of sharing creativity settled on me like an inherent truth. I've always felt value in sharing creativity online, and I think you are spot on. When we share art, it grows into something bigger than ourselves. We can make from an internal, soul-work place, but that magic grows even bigger when we release it into the wild.

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

I have felt the same so many times, Kerani. So strongly - "That push-pull between doing something for myself and wanting to post about it has been disorienting." I don't think I consciously realised until sharing this post about the joy I feel from Tamsin's little froglets, and how they have grown, and then, what if that applies to my own art and creativity as well...

Expand full comment
Kerani Arpaia's avatar

I think it's a drive most of us who share art online have: to create something that's larger than ourselves. That doesn't have to mean fame or going viral, it can just be one step beyond our immediate circle. There's something so magical about knowing that something you created touched a stranger and made an impact on them.

Expand full comment
Sara Santa Clara's avatar

"Yes, creativity is soul-work, but it is also a kind of collective magic. And when we let it go, it grows."

And you, dear Emily, as well as talented magician yourself, are like a magic-maestro, bringing others' magic together and sharing it with the world.

🤎🤎

Emily and Tamsin, thank you for sharing Floella - what a fabulously fluent frog!

Expand full comment
Floella Fairy Frog's avatar

Why thank you, Sara. It’s delightful to make your acquaintance. Any friend of Emily’s is a friend of mine 🐸

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

Thank you so much Sara, you are always so kind - I think that being here on Substack is what has taught me that creativity is collective magic, and I am so pleased to be connected to, and friends with, wonderful creatives like you. Much love xx

Expand full comment
Kimberly Warner's avatar

Your creations are adorable Tamsin! And Floella is indeed in a good home, I’m sure Emily keeps her plenty engaged with stories and friends. ❤️

Expand full comment
Floella Fairy Frog's avatar

Oh Kimberley, how kind you are! Emily has told me about your felted Elder Beasts and I am both intrigued and utterly entranced. Do they take tea? Are they fond of stationery? I would love to know more.

There is no shortage of stories, friends, and tiny adventures here. Though I must say, I suspect an Elder Beast encounter might be the highlight of my year 💛

Expand full comment
Kimberly Warner's avatar

They take sun tea that falls from the sky. ;) I think my Rex kitties are more the indoor, cozy tea drinkers, catnip tea, that is. :) Oh how fun would it be if I could make thousands of Elder Beasts and plant them all over the world for people to stumble upon. Your creations would very much like to sit under their shade.

Expand full comment
Emily Charlotte Powell's avatar

I try Kimberly 😘💛

Expand full comment