The Project that got away from me

     Have you ever decided to do something you thought would only take a little bit of time and it turned into something bigger? Well that happened to me this summer. I decided I needed to redo our fairy garden. I did a post in October 2014 about it, see: A Dance With Fairies. The problem with the location was the fact it was under a tree. The squirrels kept running through and knocking things over. I thought it would be better if we got it up off the ground. And so the project began. It started with my husband building a frame for a platform to place the fairy houses, etc on. In the notched out areas he placed wood slats.

    So now how do we get it up off the ground? We still had some concrete blocks from when we did the mound (see previous post). But who wants dull ole grey. I know let's paint them.

Before

During (enlisting the help of the grandson)

After

     Here's the finished platform. Over the wood slats we placed wire and then some indoor/outdoor grass carpet. Now I had a larger area then before so of course you need to make more houses to fill up the space.

I bought this little gazebo at Ben Franklin store. I painted it green and glued on the pine cone seed scales, then sprayed with clear coat. The little hanging baskets are made from tooth picks. The table and chairs I made from popsicle sticks and colored floral wire I found at the dollar store. I also made the weather vane on top from the same wire. Below you'll also see some bicycles I made from wire and buttons.

What better use for an old leather boot then to make a house for the Old Lady with so many children she didn't know what to do.

My grandson wanted a castle. I found this one at Michael's. I sprayed it with off white textured paint, then hand painted the rest. I made the draw bridge from popscile sticks and some chain from my jewelry making stash.

After we got everything set up I realized the area was getting too hot from the sun. So of course we made a sun shade. We also have a tarp nearby in case of rain. A fairy land wouldn't be complete without fairy lights. I found some solar string lights on line. We stapled them around the outside edge. Now it looks just as lovely at night as it does during the day.

Our local nursery sells fun things for fairy gardens. When our granddaughter was here for a visit we had to go and pick out a few more things. She and the grandson had fun arranging things. Everything got moved numerous times. Since Rex got his name on the castle she got to pick a house. This was her choice.

     This project started around the first part of April. I think we might finally be done. Or at least until I think of something else.

A thought to ponder: "Your mind is the garden, your thoughts are the seeds, the harvest can either be flowers or weeds."                          William Wordsworth

Participating in: Inspiration Monday, Seasons, Outdoor Wednesday, Grand Social

Garden Therapy: A Dance with Fairies

     This Garden Therapy Thursday post is about something I did recently with the help of my grandson. We built a fairy village. I've had fairies roaming around my yard for several years.

You can see one lurking behind this hollyhock

     These were made from plywood. I found pictures of fairies and drew larger outlines of them. My husband transferred the drawings to the wood and cut them out with a jigsaw. I spray painted them black and voilà, silhouettes.

     The silhouettes were done a number of years ago. So it was time to make the fairies some homes. I bought two wooden bird houses from a craft store. My husband cut out the doorways. Rex picked the colors and painted them.

On this one I used popsicle sticks on the roof but then found I'd glued myself into a corner, so to speak. I didn't know how I was going to finish the roof, then I came up with the idea of the funnel. I'm rather pleased with the outcome. Around the windows we used pine cone seed scales. The door is also popscicle sticks and some findings from my jewelry making. We found small hinges at Home Depot so the doors really open and close.

On this one we used dried moss (from the artificial flower section) for the roof. Rex glued it on in small clumps. After we were all done I sprayed the houses with clear acrylic paint.

Here's the bridge we made. Soak the popscicle sticks in water then place inside a cup or glass to get the bend you want, let dry. The railings are made from coffee stir sticks.

     The rest of the items were bought from different places, local and on line. Once we had all our pieces Rex laid things out to his liking. I thought we would have a little stream under the bridge (colored floral flat marbles) but Rex decided we needed a lake. Here is his vision.

A thought to ponder: The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.     W.B. Yeats

     

Participating in: Tuesday Garden Party