Kristy-lee Masters, the founder of Flutterby Rainbow, shares her journey from retail to spiritual coaching, driven by a deep love for nature. Combining horticulture with soul realignment, her seasonal flower-craft boxes promote holistic wellbeing, while plans for bespoke offerings and online resources aim to further connect individuals with the beauty of the natural world. MysticMag has the pleasure.
Can you please share a few details about yourself and your professional journey?
I am Kristy-lee, a Royal Horticultural Society Level Two graduate, a lover of botany with a deep connection to the natural world. For the past six years, I have been working 1:1 with clients all over the world as an Advanced Soul Realignment Practitioner, Spiritual Life Coach, Crystal, and Chakra Healer.
I have taken a funny old route to get to where I am now, I have a background in retail and customer service management, with an immeasurable love of the spiritual and metaphysical! After the birth of my daughter fifteen years ago I made the decision that I would Home Educate my little bundle, that has been a joyous ride! It was during that time I founded an educational blog where we charted our connections with the Earth and Mother Nature in a holistic way – this was the original Flutterby Rainbow. As my daughter grew our focus changed slightly and the blog fell into disrepair and remained in the ether for quite some time.
In 2018 whilst I was still Home Educating, I was called into the role of teacher in a different capacity – through helping others step into their Divine Self-Expression with the power of Soul Realignment and Spiritual Life Coaching. This shift was two-fold, it was wrapped up as part of my own healing journey and it was about reigniting my Gifts. The emphasis has always been about imparting knowledge and that has taken different forms during different parts of my own evolutionary journey.
How did Flutterby Rainbow come about and what’s the story behind it?
The creation of Flutterby Rainbow goes back 12 or so years ago, and started its life as an educational blog, centred around teaching in nature, it captured my daughters’ adventures with the natural world, with growing flowers and crafting with them – it was nature-craft at its very finest!
As my daughter grew her passions naturally shifted and Flutterby Rainbow blog was popped into the ether archives – dearly loved and never forgotten. I knew that at some stage I would reconnect with Flutterby Rainbow and combine it with the joy that I have when I teach others about the being at one with nature and growing flowers, as well as facilitating the reconnection to the playful side of us that comes out when we allow ourselves this connection – which is inherent in all of us.
One constant in my own life has been my love for growing flowers, this has been with me since I was a child, being outside as a baby with my Mum gardening instilled a deep connection with the natural world. No matter what has gone on around me, no matter what I have faced from an emotional, mental, or physical perspective I always return to the connection I have with Mother Earth.
The ability to plant my feet on the ground and place my hands in the soil has been deeply healing and it is this that forms the basis of Flutterby Rainbow – healing through creating a connection with flowers, crafting, and therefore oneself. Thus, my love of nature, growing flowers, drying flowers, and playing with them led me to train with the Royal Horticultural Society. I have now graduated, dusted off Flutterby Rainbow and I am about to launch my first offering that connects us back to our centre through growing flowers and playing with them!
What is the role of nature in our wellbeing and what’s your approach to it?
The natural world and all that it has to offer is deeply, deeply healing. We know that there is an interconnectedness between ourselves – that etheric thread that joins us together, joins us with the stars above and with Mother Earth below. We are now so much more aware of the massive array of benefits that being in a green space can provide – whether or not that is your own sacred space in your backyard or garden or in the wider locality of a park or even an avenue of trees – regardless of what that outer connection looks like for you, the effect that it has upon our mental and emotional wellbeing is incredible and well documented. In the UK doctors are now offering Green Social Prescriptions for those that are struggling with their mental and emotional health. Mentally we know that that there is a benefit to placing your hands in the soil as it is said to help alleviate depression because of the organisms that reside there and that is just one side of the coin!
The other side is the benefit it has upon our physical health, there are numerous studies now that highlight the physiological advantages of being in nature; it lowers our cortisol levels (stress hormone), reduces our heart rate, can lower blood pressure and it is excellent for cognitive function! Physically horticulture and gardening are very good for us – just 30 minutes of active gardening is said to have the same benefits as playing a game of badminton!
As I have a background in the spiritual and metaphysical my approach is very much based on cultivating the connection with the Divine and Mother Earth whilst harnessing the mental, emotional, and physical side that growing flowers, harvesting them, and playing with them offers us.
What do your seasonal boxes contain and what’s the difference between them?
We know that the basis of Flutterby Rainbow is creating the connection with the natural world and growing flowers to play with. We do this through working with the seasons. Seasonality is hugely important – no matter if we are looking at eating what is in season or bringing flowers into the home either as cut flowers for the vase or for drying and crafting with.
This is about sustainability. It is not sustainable from the Earth’s perspective to have flowers flown into whatever country we reside from around the world just so we can have a vase of roses in December. We are keepers of the Earth, here to take care of it, it is our responsibility to hand it down to the next generation in good order – regardless of what has gone before us. There is a huge carbon footprint attached to the import and export of flowers. I believe that we can change this one person at a time, and that is why Flutterby Rainbow’s floral-craft boxes are seasonally based because we want to work with what nature is providing for us at a specific time of the year. And so, working with the seasons makes sense!
Each box thus, is designed for a particular season.
Grow & Nurture is the spring box – designed to us get growing during the springtime, all the flower seeds in this box are chosen because they are perfect for sowing during March, April, and May! This is about new beginnings, so included is a flower-press, tutorials via The Flower Garden (Flutterby Rainbow’s online teaching portal that comes with the boxes) as well as all the crafting materials to make a springtime card for a loved one.
Bloom & Nature; the summer box – based around the same ethos as the sprint box but this one works with the next season on. By now we’ll be harvesting some flowers sown in the spring and sowing a new batch of seeds too that are perfect for June and July sowings! Craft in this box is based around making window decals and hanging mobiles. And just like the spring box – everything is included!
Nourish & Restore; the autumn box contains bulbs to sow before winter comes along, this box is about the harvest! The craft focus of this box is wreath making! Teaching tutorials based around how to press, dry, and store your beautiful blooms via The Flower Garden portal, the shift now changes slightly to embrace those cooler days and nights and we get a little introspective through meditation and journaling.
Comfort and Joy; the last of the seasonal boxes is centred around crafting for the holiday season – dried flower baubles, story writing by the fire, there are some seeds we can start off over winter, but the focus of this box is wrapping ourselves in a blanket of love.
What is in store for Flutterby Rainbow going forward?
I love this question! Going forward Flutterby Rainbow will be offering bespoke build-your-own flower-craft boxes, from a design perspective, some people who love growing their own flowers like to colour coordinate their gardens and growing spaces so we will be offering boxes that have specific colour themes – one of those that is in the pipeline is called “Cosmos” and has been designed by my daughter – it’s a beautiful take on the colours of the night sky!
The Flower Garden online portal will continue to grow with an emphasis on the design element of creating a flower garden, as well as guest contributors and mini-workshops led by those in the flower-growing and home crafting arena.
To learn more about Kristy-lee and Flutterby Rainbow, you can visit www.flutterbyrainbow.com or her Instagram page www.instagram.com/flutterbyrainbow
