Faerie Gardens
Play with your toys. I've had these horses and other animals, as well as the fairies (Schleich, Safari and Papo) hanging out on my shelves for years. Boooooring. So give them a habitat. Put them in and around potted plants. The more weather friendly ones can hang out outdoors, or you can cover them with a clear coat of acrylic. Create faerie houses from random bits of wood, bark and twigs, tule, rope, bits of T-shirts, sweaters and other clothing. Use those river rocks you've collected (*cough enough to pave the driveway cough*). Drop some mermaids into bowls of shells. Rescue and recycle and create magic. Here's some ideas.
You Need
recycled stuff: bottles (glass or plastic), cans, clay flower pots.
toys: action figures (another mission for the Avengers) Schleich, Safari and other faeries, plastic animals
nature: sand, river, bay and beach pebbles, shells, driftwood, twigs, bark, moss (craft shop or nursery)
tools: brushes (springy taklon or nylon, not those limp or bristly things), cups for water, plastic spoons & knives, bowls
ModPodge: can be mixed with sand to make "mud" (mortar, to hold the rocks etc together)
Tule: you can never have too much tule, colorful, versatile and indestructible, you can use it outside too
glitter; always fun, sprinkle inside faerie houses, mix with ModPodge for your own custom glitter glue, paint over top of anything
recycled stuff: bottles (glass or plastic), cans, clay flower pots.
toys: action figures (another mission for the Avengers) Schleich, Safari and other faeries, plastic animals
nature: sand, river, bay and beach pebbles, shells, driftwood, twigs, bark, moss (craft shop or nursery)
tools: brushes (springy taklon or nylon, not those limp or bristly things), cups for water, plastic spoons & knives, bowls
ModPodge: can be mixed with sand to make "mud" (mortar, to hold the rocks etc together)
Tule: you can never have too much tule, colorful, versatile and indestructible, you can use it outside too
glitter; always fun, sprinkle inside faerie houses, mix with ModPodge for your own custom glitter glue, paint over top of anything
Potted Plants and Faerie Models
You could display those Schleich, Safari and Papo faeries and their animals companions on a shelf or...
A Norfolk Island Pine (recognizable from the Avengers Yule Beach Party) becomes a faerie garden (the beach theme wasn't working: the sand kept disappearing every time I watered the tree). The faeries kept sinking into the soil, so I made faerie boardwalks: twigs and boards cut from cedar shakes (any thin craft wood will work, or popsicle sticks). The arbor/arch was made from supple green twigs from my arborvitae (any soft twigs will work), a wooden base, and river pebbles (hot glue the twigs up against the pebbles, on a wooden base). Tiny silk flowers are added. The bed/bower is a wooden box with folded bits of old sweater, tule. The figures are Schleich, Safari and Papo. Last pics are after moss was added.
A Norfolk Island Pine (recognizable from the Avengers Yule Beach Party) becomes a faerie garden (the beach theme wasn't working: the sand kept disappearing every time I watered the tree). The faeries kept sinking into the soil, so I made faerie boardwalks: twigs and boards cut from cedar shakes (any thin craft wood will work, or popsicle sticks). The arbor/arch was made from supple green twigs from my arborvitae (any soft twigs will work), a wooden base, and river pebbles (hot glue the twigs up against the pebbles, on a wooden base). Tiny silk flowers are added. The bed/bower is a wooden box with folded bits of old sweater, tule. The figures are Schleich, Safari and Papo. Last pics are after moss was added.
Faerie Houses (reduce, reuse, recycle)
A juice bottle, an olive oil bottle, a gourd, a tiny box, a canoe shaped shelf: all of these can be turned into faerie houses. The juice bottle here is a Nature's Nectar 100% juice bottle. It has a nifty design detail like a lunette window. The twig arch I used on the first one didn't work so well, the twig kept trying to straighten out (cured with tule tied around the house). The stonework is done by mixing ModPodge with sand (collected on kayaking and beach expeditions, but you can use play sand). Lay the bottle on its side, paint some ModPodge on the bottle, glop down some sand/ModPodge (hereafter referred to as "mud"... what bricklayers and stone masons use as mortar), press a stone into it. Repeat. Cover one side. Let dry/set. (Usually within 24 hours). Turn bottle, do another side. Leave space for windows. For the green bottle, I not only used the bottle's glass for windows, but pressed a piece of agate in as a window. Putting the faerie house on a base allows you to continue the stonework around the base. You can use shells, mosaic glass and other small items. Put some tiny silk plants or reindeer moss around your house (glue on) or create miniature gardens with tiny real plants. You can ModPodge over the top as a protective coating. The glossy ModPodge brings out the colors in the rocks and shells that made you pick them up off the beach in the first place.
Random Indoor Corners
A faerie garden doesn't have to be a potted plant or an entire diorama with moss and twigs and faerie houses. It might be a bowl of pebbles or fossils, a rack of shells, a recycled birdhouse, or a windowsill. Make an environment, a story. Add critters or faeries or mermaids or Elves and Dwarves (or Avengers)(use those action figures). Use your imagination, think like a kid.
click on the pic for more faerie gardens
