Fairy Houses - DIY Egg Carton Fairy Bird-Houses

My new idea of creating these fairy (bird-)houses made me so very happy this week! For a while I had been thinking about a way to recycle our empty egg cartons and then I came up with these bird-houses, that look lovely in all kinds of decorations like table pieces, trays with herbs and flower arrangements. They also make lovely ornaments.

Here is how you make them:

1 - Collect some egg cartons. 

I used a 6 piece egg carton and made 2 houses out of it.

2+3 - Cut the center cones from the egg carton, using scissors.

4 - Now cut the remaining cups from the egg carton. 

The same amount as the cones, 2 in this case.

5 - Glue the cones and the cups together.

6 - The 2 bases are now finished!

Now my favorite part starts... the decoration! I glued the houses on a stick first so I could paint them easily. I used water paint to paint the houses and moss and a small branch to finish them.

When you work with children you can prepare the houses in advance. Place the houses on sticks in a bowl surrounded by materials like water paint, glue, moss, small branches and snail shells. Then let each child paint and decorate their very own fairy bird-house.

The houses can be placed outdoors on a roofed terrace for example but they are not waterproof. Thanks to their size they look lovely anywhere in or around the house too and they also make lovely presents. I hope you enjoy these tiny houses as much as I do!

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Made by Joey - Sharing Creative Ideas
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Like Mama like Daughter - Eco-Kids Tuesday

Fairy Houses - Moss Fairy House

This moss fairy house is a cosy and safe home 

to all the tiny magical creatures of the moss lands.

It is simply made of a toiletpaper roll base covered with bark and moss. 

You can find the photo-tutorial for the base here.

Once your fairy house is ready, glue it on a slice of birch
to keep the toiletpaper roll dry when you water the moss.

 By adding and changing small decorations like e.g. planters from snail shells, 

birch branch step stones and tiny ladders,

you can make the moss house an even more enjoyable place to be!
(and to look at from your couch of course! :)

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Fairy Houses - Snail Shell Fairy House Tutorial

This week some neighborhood kids surprised me with a basket full of snail shells!

They asked me what I would make with all these shells and I told them that I would try to make another fairy house but this time a house for the Snail Fairy.

This fairy house is built exactly the same way as the cork fairy house but this time I used snail shells instead of cork slices. Finally I painted the shells with a non toxic coating to enhance the colours but you can also use olive oil. Don't oil them in advance otherwise the shells won't stick with the glue.

For the complete step by step photo-tutorial click here

The fairy houses are very light and easy to attach to any surface, this time I used dried bark. I'm in love with the soft tones and spiral forms of these snail shells, each one is unique... just perfect for a fairy house!

Have a magical day!

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The Magic Onions - Friday's Nature Table
Natural Suburbia - Creative Friday
Made by Joey - Sharing Creative Ideas
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Fairy Door

Snail Fairy

This Snail Fairy mama is the guardian of the snails in our garden.

She polishes the snail shells and helps to repair the shells that are damaged. In return the snails offer her their used snail shells and let her ride on their back. My son loves to polish snail shells with olive oil to help the Snail Fairies.

Download the tutorial for the basic Fairy pattern here and for the baby here. For the headdresses and baby crib you can go on a treasure hunt with your child and search in your garden for empty snail shells. I am always amazed by the beauty and diversity of the shells.

Have a lovely slow weekend my friends.....

Flower Fairies - Pussy Willow Fairy

Today I made this small flower fairy scene from a pussy willow branch. For the fairy I used my flower fairy pattern and I gave her a headdress made of pussy willows. The pussy willows are attached with sticky beeswax so I can easily replace them by other flowers. The base is made of an Ourico Pod (a coconut or small flower pot would work great too) filled with floral foam, and a dried birch bark surrounded by moss and spanish moss.

Every week I can simply change the scene by adding new flowers and creating a new flower fairy by changing her headdress. So simple and she looks just lovely on our dinnertable!

Flower and Nest Fairies - Free PDF-pattern download

Here are some cuties I wanted to share with you. The flower and the nest fairies. These tiny fairies are only 5 cm tall and are the guardians of the flowers and bird nests.

Required Materials;

- 2 pipe cleaners (2 x 3 cm)

- 1 wooden bead 9 mm

- 2 wooden beads 3 mm

- wool felt scraps white

- beeswax scrap

- tuft wool roving in the color of the felt

- scissors

- (embroidery) thread

- needle

- eco glue

- feathers and moss

- a copy of the free pdf-pattern (click here to download)

The basis for both the fairies is the same. Use the pattern to cut out 1 jacket. Cut 2 pieces of pipe cleaners of 3 cm each and place them crosswise + on the table. Wrap the vertical pipe cleaner one time around te horizontal pipe cleaner. The baseframe is now ready.

Now sew the jacket and attach the head and arms. For more detailed instructions click here. Finally take a small tuft of woolroving and place it horizontal in the jacket. Fold the pipecleaner around the wool and fold the ends of the wool down together. Wet your fingers a bit and make a tip.

You can decorate the fairy with feathers (for wings and head decoration), flowers and moss. I use beeswax to secure the decorations so I can replace them easily once they are withered.

The nest fairies are flying around small quail eggs and the flower fairy is flying around a basket with white Muscari flowers (her jacket can easily be pushed over a stalk).

I hope you will enjoy these tiny fairies as much as I do. They make great gifts and are lovely in all kinds of flower and table decorations. Enjoy!

                   

                            

Gnome Homes

The past days we had so much fun creating these gnome homes!

I wanted to hide them in our garden but our son loved them rightaway and now we have gnome houses next to the fairy gardens in our livingroom.

To create the houses we used birch branches in different sizes and combined them with Ourico Pods. (These are the pods that contain Brazil Nuts). The chimneys were made from pieces of wood and snail shells and fixed with beeswax. The flower containers are also made from snail shells and can be filled with water. Oh, once you get started....

You can also use small terracotta flowerpots or baskets to create roofs. 

There are endless possibilities, but for the gnomes it is only important that their homes are made with loving care.

Fairy Vegetable Garden

For weeks I have been longing to start with the small container vegetable garden in our garden again. But it is still freezing cold overhere in Holland and I have to wait. 

In the meantime we enjoy our fairy vegetable garden.

Last week the lovely garden equipment for the fairies arrived and my imagination runned wild. Now our little friends have all the garden tools they need...except perhaps for a wheelbarrow.

These little scenes look so lovely on our breakfast and dinnertable!

In egg cartons we grow all kinds of sprouts.

And tiny baskets and buckets are filled with herbs and seasalt. 

All we need now are some wheelbarrows for the cherry tomatoes...

Joining Nicole on Keep Calm Craft On

Fairy Spring Garden

A fairy spring garden makes a lovely spring decoration

and is ideal to create with children!

1 - Fill a bowl with small plants, moss, some stones and wood. (It is exciting to go on a treasure walk with your child in the morning to search materials for the spring garden).
2 - Place a water bowl in the center. Add small stones and surround it with moss or grass.
3 - A screw or nail into the branch makes the doll stay in place. Mint is ideal to use as waterplants and cress or grass make dreamy accents and are easy to grow.

By adding small objects like a ladybug, a snail or a butterfly 

you can change the scene from day to day. Enjoy!

p.s.
Just saw this beautiful Root Children Spring Garden from White Oak and Sagebrush.

Tutorial Wee Felt Folk - Free PDF-pattern download

These lovely wee people I hold close to my heart. They have given me and my family so much joy and add some magic to our home. In almost every corner of our house you can find a little fairy scene and everyone who comes to vistit us is enchanted by them. So I warn you, once you get started....

Required Materials for 1 woodland wee person;

- pipe cleaners (1x 4.5 cm,  1x 5.5 cm and 1x 11 cm)

- 1 wooden bead 15 mm

- 2 wooden beads 5 mm

- wool felt scraps

- beeswax scrap

- tuft wool roving (for hair)

- mini tuft of wool roving or a thread of wool (for the shawl)

- scissors

- (embroidery) thread

- needle

- eco glue

- acorn cap or chestnut shell

- a copy of the free pdf-patterns (click here to download)

1 -  For the legs, cut a piece of pipe cleaner of 11 cm and fold it in half. You can use the ruler on the pdf-pattern for this.

2 -  For the arms, cut a piece of 5,5 cm and for the neck a piece of 4,5 cm.

3 -  Slide the piece for the arms between the legs and insert the piece for the neck on top.

4 - Wrap the legs around each other a few times so that a body is created and the arms and neck piece are tightly attached to the body. Fold one end of the neck upward and wrap the other side downward around the body.

The base frame is now ready!

5 and 6 - Cut the pattern for the trousers out of the felt (click here for the free pdf-pattern). Fold the trousers/legging around the legs and sew it close to the legs with a blanket stitch. You can tuck the trousers legs or otherwise cut them a bit shorter before you sew the trousers together.

7 -  Stitch for the zipper seam a on a and b on b and before you tie off, wrap the thread around the waist two times to secure the trousers. It is also possible to stitch the zipper seam first before you stitch the trousers, just see what works best for you.

8 - Choose a pattern from the pdf model A or B and cut the pattern for the jacket out of the felt. 

9 and 10 - Slide the hole on the neck and check if the sleeves fit the arm length. The arms should be a little bit longer than the sleeves so that you can attach the beads for the hands. Check if the arms are equally long and adjust if nescessary. Sew the outer edges under the sleeves and side of the jacket together with a blanket stitch. See the pdf-pattern for more details.

11 - Put some glue on the ends of the pipe cleaners at the sleeves and slide the beads for the hands on the pipe cleaners. Put some glue on the neck piece and slide the bead for the head on it. 

12 - Divide the piece of beeswax into two small pieces and shape them into little shoes (simple oval shape). Press the legs gently into the beeswax shoes.

13 - Glue a tuft of hair on the back of the head and glue the acorn cap on top of the head on the hair. Glue a tiny string of hair on the forehead and tie the ends of the hair into two pony tails. 

14 - Finally for the shawl, you role off a small tuft of wool between your fingers into a wire of about 6 cm long and wrap it one time around the head. If you want you can carefully cut some fringes on the bottom of the jacket of model A.

Enjoy your new friend!

I hope you will enjoy creating these tiny characters as much as I do, 

warm greetings sas

        

Fairy Fishpond

Today I made a new fairyland scene, now we have a sprite fishing in a tiny fishpond in our  kitchen windowsill. Our son was so happy to discover the little fellow.

These scenes really add something magical to your home or garden 

and are so simple to create for children too.

 For this scene I have used a drip tray for flower pots. The 'waterplants' are made of basil and a seedling sandwiched  between two pieces of rock crystal. The sprite has shoes made of beeswax so he can stand firmly on the rock. The float is made ​​of a pin which is pinned in a ball of beeswax. And the fishing rod is a small branch with thread and is attached between the hands with some beeswax.

You can also place the tray with water in a large bowl with earth and let a reed of watercress grow around it. Children will love to water the little seedlings and watch them grow. 

Or add simple walnut shell boats made of leaves, branches and beeswax. 

Here are some more fairyland scenes and I wish you all a magical weekend!