Nightingale Angels - Support for healing & Healers

Needle felted angels made with natural fibers and colors, holding a singing bird charm.  Small, sturdy, standing soft sculptures to give to people in need of comfort, such as going into the hospital or recovering from an illness.  These angels are also perfect to give to those who administer the care.

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A dear friend and mentor of mine who is a beyond-talented Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner, helped me create these lovely angels.  She wanted a small angel that was easy to give to people who were in the hospital, that was sturdy and simple.  People need a little help, a little reminder that they are being held with love and support, even if we can't be there in person.

As we talked about it we realized they are perfect for nurses/caretakers as well.  They work so hard and often don't get the support or thanks they so emphatically deserve.  Having so many family and friends who are caretakers, it is personal to me.  I see how hard they work, how much they care, and how worn out they sometimes get.  They are heroes, every last one of them.

Deb came up with the name nightingale angel, and I of course immediately jumped on the bird aspect of it as well.  They are a perfect fit.

Florence Nightingale is of course a very important figure in the world of nursing and healthcare, for both people needing comfort and an inspiration for those who provide it.

The nightingale bird, a simple brown thrush, also fits perfectly with bringing comfort and support.  He is unassuming and nothing flashy to look at, but has an intricate, complicated, and lovely song that he belts out at night, when many others are asleep.

I was delighted when I found these "vintage" charms of a singing bird, they fit so well with the look I was creating with these simple, natural colored angels.  I was able to get quite a few of them, but will be on the look out for more simple, vintage singing bird charms.

I created them with 3 color accents: pearl, pale yellow, and red-brown.  The card they come with (above) is blank on the back so you can write a message, or have me write one if you are sending her to someone.  I can also just put that it is from you.

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“Live life when you have it. Life is a splendid gift-there is nothing small about it.”
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​“Were there none who were discontented with what they have, the world would never reach anything better.” 

​~ Florence Nightingale

​The Darkling Thrush,
​by Thomas Hardy
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I leant upon a coppice gate
    When Frost was spectre-grey,
And Winter's dregs made desolate
    The weakening eye of day.
The tangled bine-stems scored the sky
    Like strings of broken lyres,
And all mankind that haunted nigh
    Had sought their household fires.
The land's sharp features seemed to be
    The Century's corpse outleant,
His crypt the cloudy canopy,
    The wind his death-lament.
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
    Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
    Seemed fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
    The bleak twigs overhead
In a full-hearted evensong
    Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small,
    In blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
    Upon the growing gloom.
So little cause for carolings
    Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
    Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
    His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
    And I was unaware.

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Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was a British nurse, a pioneer of modern nursing, and a noted statistician.

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I encourage you to learn more about this amazing woman!  (You can click the orange to go to Wiki)

During the Crimean war, Nightingale gained the nickname "The Lady with the Lamp" from a phrase in a report in The Times:
She is a "ministering angel" without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow's face softens with gratitude at the sight of her. When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.[29]