"I've wanted to do this since I started doing fairies," said Lyda, known for the ornately designed fairy dresses she creates, complete with sparkling wings and matching bags for carrying fairy dust. "The idea kind of evolved over time to be about the magic of a family moment with tea parties, and all the extravagance that a tea party has. It's really about all you can imagine."

Her idea sparkled from imagination to reality when Lyda noticed the vacant building tucked between The Hair Gallery and Don Jose's Mexican Restaurant.

"I have this crazy, wild dream," Lyda told Jose Ramos, owner of the building.

With Ramos offering encouragement, Lyda set to work. But not until she had direction from the house.

"About a week into it, I said, 'OK, house, I really want to stay here a long time. I know you've done a lot of things. I just want to make you shine.' And that's when things started coming together," Lyda said.

With her vision leading the way and some fine-tuning from friends, layers of paint and hours of hard work by anyone willing to help, the building's vinyl-covered floor now resembles cobblestones.

"Painting the floor was an enormous job. The kids wanted to help, but didn't want to get it wrong," Lyda said of assistance from her daughter Megan, Megan's friend Zach Walters, and Lyda's niece, Ivy. "We actually had a discussion about relaxing and not being afraid. To just let it happen. You can't over-think these things."

Support beams were covered in papier mache layered on top of cardboard rolls and tomato trellis-shapes, and painted to resemble trees sprouting through the cobblestone floor. Flowers blossom from the trunks. Fairies peer out from unexpected locations.

"The first tree took six hours to just do the flowers. We had to stand back and look and let it evolve," Lyda said. "The second one only took three hours."

It took five gallons of primer to cover the previously dark walls before Lyda could apply a pale pink color that is aptly named "Moment of Promise." A bright pink "Flamboyant" -- "What else?" Lyda said, laughing -- and an equally bright green "Sea Turtle" add accents to trim in the open first-floor space.

Rose petals float above windows, held in place by gathered netting. Snowflakes hover in front of each pane of glass.

Beneath windows, flowers bloom from window boxes built by Dean Jackson, creating a garden-like atmosphere, which, as any lover of fairies knows, is important since certain fairies tend certain flowers.

As a last-minute thought, Lyda and her crew painted a sign announcing the teahouse's location. Then they put together menus, slipped them into plastic sheet protectors, neatly trimmed the edges, punched some holes through which they threaded ribbons matching the accent colors and opened the door for business.

Photographer: McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News Pastry chef Sugayle Geissler and The Fairy Ring Teahouse owner Genny Lyda offer a taste of magic during Saturday's grand opening.

Thanks to the culinary magic of pastry chef Sugayle Geissler of Creative Balance, treats offered might include lemon curd on delicate heart-shaped pastries. It might be tiny muffins that taste like a bite of pecan pie or a flourless creation that would satisfy the more devoted chocolate lover's craving. There's pink velvet cake. There's cheesecake. There are turtles. There's more.

"She's an amazing chef," Lyda says of Geissler's talents.

One corner of the teahouse is set aside for a display of Lyda's fairy dresses, wings and bustiers that come in sizes to fit little girls, all the way to big girl size 20. They also can be custom-ordered. Her hand-knitted hats -- "Nog Bonnets" -- also are available. And so is a selection of baby booties, taken from a pattern used by Lyda's grandmother, Donna Gill. Among the typical baby booties are two unique patterns: black and white Mary Janes and brown and yellow Baby Tuffs based on the popular Homer footwear, Xtra Tufs.

When not serving tea and treats or busy at the sewing machine or with knitting needles, Lyda is taking classes to become a paramedic. She currently volunteers with the Homer volunteer Fire Department. She graduated from Homer High School in 1988 and spent 17 years living in the Lower 48, working in the corporate sector.

While Lyda was living Outside, her brother, Michael, once told her, "You think you're all that, but you're not. You're really a small town Alaskan girl. One day you'll figure it out." In February 2000, Michael was lost at sea. His death changed how Lyda viewed life and, in short time, she was headed back to Homer.

"All I wanted was to serve my fellow man, to do something every day that was significant and that brought me great joy," Lyda said. Looking around at the world she's brought to life in The Fairy Ring Teahouse, at the mother having tea with her young daughter and the 12-year-old boy treating his smiling mother to a cup of tea, Lyda added, "Boy did I get that. One memory down, a million to go."

The Fair Ring Teahouse is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. For more information or to book a special event at the teahouse, call 299-0397.

McKibben Jackinsky can be reached at mckibbenjackinsky.@homernews.com.