Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

August 11, 2015

My First Fairy Garden

I haven't been able to get the Highfield Hall exhibit out of my head and have been dying to try my hand at a fairy garden.  

Found this old wood basket in the crawl space under my mom's house and she said I could have it, so I cleaned it up.

My first thought was to build the garden with the basket tipped on the side but I couldn't get my items to fit well, so it was back to being flat.  The only thing Russell asked me was to try not to glue anything to the wood b/c it's such a nice antique piece and he didn't want the integrity ruined.

After googling some pictures and ideas, I went to the craft store and got blocks of green oasis, a moss mat and some fake ivy and flowers.  Those fit nicely into the bottom of the basket.  All I glued was the oasis blocks to each other and then tuck the moss over it, and stuff ivy into the gaps and between some of the wood slats.  

The house is made from about 2/3 of a toilet paper roll, on which I glued wooden sticks, which were done with a light brown paint wash and cut to fit prior to gluing.  The roof is made from brown card stock formed into a cone with moss glued on it, and an acorn cap on top.  I had that metal fairy door for years, just waiting for the right project.  I added a purple metal flower to the top of it, and also glued some light green moss to the roof (which I plucked off a tree in my yard).  Then I glued the whole house to a rock, and put more light green moss on either side to hide the glue that oozed out from under the house.  Dipped into my rock collection for the stepping stones.  All are glue to the moss.


The house looked funny without windows so I used a couple silver metal gears, behind which I glued white lace to look like curtains inside.

Here is the yard.

Basket of flowers which really aren't to scale when you look at the other pieces but hey, it's a fairy garden.  Magic is at work!

Wind chimes made from a bead cap, chain, bugle beads and wire.

Finally, a garden bench, made from a silver finding, wood and silver beads, and a gazing ball made from an orange bead on top of a clear push pin.  There are a lot of things you can buy for your fairy garden projects, but I really had fun poking through all my bead and finding boxes to see what I could make myself.  

These are addicting....I want to make more!

18 comments:

  1. I want to create a fairy garden in my "witches" circle (garden). Maybe next summer.

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    1. You should definitely do it! If the time ever comes when I can do one outside, I guess I'll have to find weather resistant items. And it probably would have to be disassembled for winter too.

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  2. it turned out so pretty!! you're a natural!

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    1. Thank you so much! I hope to do another one!

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  3. Hey JoJo,

    How enchanting and your creativity will bring out further magic in your garden. The wee folks will sing songs and dance in such an enchanted place.

    A fairy good post and I thank you! :)

    Gary

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    1. Thank you so much Gary. :) It was a lot of fun to make.

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  4. Wonderful. Maybe it's time to watch or read Gulliver's travels!

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    1. Thank you! I tried to read that book and found it so dry I couldn't get through the first few chapters. So much easier to watch it. My husband likes the one with Jack Black but I prefer the older version.

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  5. I want you to make more. These are so heartwarming and make me smile. Plus, I'm glad Gary came by. This made me think of his magical gardens.

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    1. Thanks Robyn! I would like to make more but I am running into a bad storage issue. I don't even have room in my house for this one. It's on the floor under my craft table.

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  6. Anonymous12:46 AM

    You have done a wonderful job JoJo. Your garden looks small and cute. The way you have utilized the things made be surprise. You have nice creativity.

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    1. Thank you very much! You are so kind to say. It was fun to make it and I'm always sad when fun projects come to an end.

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  7. Very clever JoJo and very pretty. You certainly are creative.

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  8. I love it! The house is adorable, the wind chimes are impressive, and that is the best mini gazing ball idea.

    The fairy garden came out really well, plus you've got a design that's portable and where the moss is all contained. Excellent!

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    1. Thank you so much!!! I did google a bunch of ideas and stuff to see if people make their whole fairy gardens from found objects or buy the miniatures and it looked like a pretty even split. I was too eager to start the project to wait for miniatures that's why I made my own.

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  9. The wooden basket was an ideal container for your creative Fairy Garden.
    JoJo with your talent for crafting and your amazing imagination, you really could open your very own little "knick-knack" shop. Bet you would have a lot of customers.

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    1. Thank you so much! Unfortunately this area is full of shops like that. So many of them go out of business too b/c there's too much competition. I had thought someday of having a shop but the rent alone is crazy. I'm not sure I'd sell enough stuff to cover my overhead. My friend Rita told me that the wood basket is called a hod and used to collect vegetables from the garden, then hose them off in the hod and the water and dirt would go through the spaces.

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