Fairy Garden help please

[Bouncy Castle]

Not a lot.

Actually, loadz, but since boss man isn't back from Germany until Thursday, I'm in Skiving Mode!!

[Bouncy Castle]

http://www.miniature-gardens.com/

[Catch-up]

So many goodies!! We actually have a few similar things. I'll try to get some good pictures of them. I was thinking of looking for a little broom, setting it by the door and clearing out the rubble that's collected in the fairy house. Maybe I could get a little scrap of material to put in there for a bed? It's a shame it's so small, but like I said, the fairy houses I've seen for sale don't have doors that open. Love the paper umbrella idea too! You're right, they wouldn't last long but they would look very pretty while they did.

[michelanCello]

Bouncy, those are so pretty!

[Batty]

Love the paper umbrella idea too! You're right, they wouldn't last long but they would look very pretty while they did.

Just a thought, and I've no idea if it will work, but what if you used clear varnish to coat the umbrellas. Would they last longer?

[Tonyblack]

A mixture of white PVA glue and water might also waterproof the paper umbrellas.

[Quatermass]

If I recall, there was a fairy garden cum shop at Bauple. In case you're wondering, that's a tiny...not sure whether I can call it a town, really, between Gympie and Maryborough in Queensland. Macadamia nuts used to be called Bauple nuts, believe it or not...

[Del]

*rolls her sleeves up*

Right then!

Catch-up! It doesnt have to be YOUR idea of perfect for a fairy garden. Let the kids go wild. We made one a few years ago (time we made another methinks!.... perhaps not... this house gets snakes )

We cut out shapes from styrofoam stuff that came around something or other as packaging, and went to the nursery (landscape supplies) and got some riversand. They actually gave us a bucket for free when they found out what it was for. Glued the styrofoam together into a fairy "sandcastle" but any shape will work then painted it in PVA glue and dipped the wet pieces in the dry sand and let it dry out of the weather. Then we glued on shells and baubles and shiny things.

Heres the good part....... that was over eight years ago. It lasted out in the weather for two years and is still under the back deck at this place in one piece. And when a bead or pearl ever did fall off well then .... blame THAT on the fairies!!!! Climbing all over the darned fairy garden while we sleep!!!!!

Buy air drying clay (most craft shops have it) or even oven dried clay to make the tiny things fairies need and when its VERY dry paint it with paints and finish it with PVA glue or clear varnish. Adults tend to get all finicky about these things but kids just love the "doing". And if some things don't last then they get to make more. (sometimes I do believe the fairies take them to their fairy homes) We made the path out of sand and would smooth it down some nights and lo and behold if we didnt find fairy footprints up the path some mornings.... (pssst....chopsticks)

Get some tiny fake flowers from a thrift store if you dont have those cheap $2 import shops that seem to florish here; with those and some fake tiny ivy leaves (or use small leaves off the stems of fake flowers) you can cover the roof of the hut and glue tiny flowers all over the rocks and just about anywhere with a hot glue gun (mum supervising but not taking over).

A clipped pretty teacup or teapot bought for a few pence in a thrift shop can have an opening VERY carefully chipped into it and sanded smooth for a door for the fairies is good too. Or you can use loads of glue from the hot glue gun to make the edge of the opening child friendly, then glue on a few little fake leaves.

We dont have room for a fair sized fairy garden in this house but we did upend a small pretty garden urn we got for near nothing that already had a big piece out of it and put it near a hollowed out log in a garden bed.

It cannot be too cluttered or overdone!

The most magical thing happened one morning..... we found a perfect set of dragonfly wings on the edge of the garden. and NO I had nothing to do with it.

[Del]

And I don't think that Batty's squished fairy is sooooooooooo bad.............

I ummmmmmm I ummmmm I have a fairy myself........ ummmmm....... well you see I brought this really lovely carved wooden cage.... but you know... you cant keep a bird in a wooden cage that delicate.... and it was unsafe for a candle and plants would have sent it warped with moisture.... and ummmm I was in a crafty kind of phase... and I saw this raw ceramic fairy ... in a sitting pose.... sitting.... like she SHOULD have been sitting on a swing... like in a bird cage... and it was so much fun painting it up.... and decorating the cage with ivy and stuff.

In the last house we had her sitting on the writing table just in the entrance of the house with a framed poem Truly and I wrote especially for her.... until Morgan got old enough to read the poem and burst into tears so we had to put her "away" for awhile.

The cage and the fairy are on the wall above me as I type.... the poem is somewhere in deep storage.... but it went something like this....

There were fairies at the bottom of our garden,
So we caught one and we put her in a cage,
We wondered if it would live forever,
Or die of malnutrition and old age.

The fairy got very very angry,
And said some words that children shouldn't hear,
So I gently, reached into her birdcage,
And gave her a great wallop 'round the ear.

...........
....
.... there are more, many more verses.....
each worse than the last.... an evil tale of retribution and revenge on both sides....
.... the fairy didnt win.

[Batty]

If the fairy used bad language then she deserved a clip round the ear!
Fairy nuff, I say!!

[Del]

As anger flared she raised her wand,
The fairy's mood was harsh..............

[chris.ph]

A mixture of white PVA glue and water might also waterproof the paper umbrellas.

pva is waterbased so it will deteriorate, try sbr which is rubber based instead sorry tony

[Del]

Yep. Thats why I told the girls it wouldnt work with our sandcastle chris..... but it lasted two years outside!!!! No idea HOW! and it shouldnt have.

[Batty]

As anger flared she raised her wand,
The fairy's mood was harsh..............

AND ... ????

[Tonyblack]

A mixture of white PVA glue and water might also waterproof the paper umbrellas.

pva is waterbased so it will deteriorate, try sbr which is rubber based instead sorry tony

What's sbr?

I'm always willing to learn.