Fairy Garden

Fairy Garden

July 18, 2013
Recently I returned from visiting my sister in Dallas, Texas.  While I was there she and I visited various greenhouses and this is what inspired me to make a fairy garden.   I looked and viewed several ideas before deciding how I wanted to make mine.  I didn't go about this in a normal fashion.  First I built the house I thought I would like!  A bit backwards but the garden was going to center around the house so I needed to complete this first.  My sister's house is on the left and mine is on the right.
Once I made the house I began looking for a container.  I was very disappointed when looking for containers as their prices were astronomically high.  I then decided I would look for a container after I bought various plants that I liked.  Upon purchasing the plants at a local greenhouse I also came across the prefect planter and it was priced right!  Since I spent the majority of the money on plants and container I had no other choice but to make furniture.  I started simple.  

I decided to make a table (from rocks) and chairs.  The chairs are a single wooden sewing thread spool cut in half.  The chairs were painted pink to draw in fairies.

The cup and saucer were purchased from hobby lobby and glued to the table.  Once the table and chairs were completed I then decided to make a bed.  I have a type of disorder that I think I can make anything and do it fast............that isn't always a good thing, but in this case I put together a bed relatively quickly.  

 The quilt fit very nicely on the bed.

 Behind the bed to the right you can see the wishing well that I put together.  This didn't go near as quickly or smoothly!  I burnt my fingers 3 times and had to redo the top to make it scale with the house.

 I used a sewing thimble for the bucket.  Now I needed an arbor.  My sister sent me a photo of an arbor she said she had made for her fairy garden and my jaw dropped.  It was exactly what I wanted.  I never told her I had put one together very quickly and it looked really bad (I dumped it back into the supply bag).  I used some vines from an old grapevine wreath.  I soaked them and selected smaller branches that possessed a little arch to them.  Once I made my rectangular form for the base I was able to glue the arched branches from base end to base end.  I then clipped small arched branches to glue randomly across the
arbor to make a crisscross pattern.

 

Base of the arbor

 I still didn't know what type of container I was going to use or what type of plants I would find.  I live in a rather remote part of the country so I was going to have to do with what I found.  I came across the container while browsing for plants.  It was perfect for me as it was unconventionally shaped.

 I don't have photos of the plants I used, but I will try and list them for reference.  I bought succulents, a bonsai tree, and moss.  I clipped the succulents and drove a pencil in the dirt to make a hole for each plant I was planting.  Once I decided where the house and tree were going everything started to fall in place.  I built a walk from the front door to the end of the planter.  I branched off and made an arbor to cross through before getting to the table and chairs.  I placed the bed with the quilt under the tree as I would prefer to sleep in the shade verses full sun.  On the opposite side I placed the wishing well.  Near the wishing well I placed a bench (made from an old piece of wood with rocks used as legs for support), and a ceramic mushroom.  I placed dried green, brown, and cream colored mosses throughout the design to cover bare spots.  I had two small tongue depressors used as signs.  I used sharpie to write, "Welcome and Believe".  I glued the wood to hair pins and stuck them in the foliage.  I had a small seashell my son had brought back from a trip.  I glued it to a hair pin and stuck a dragon fly charm on the edge.  It is the bird bath.

Seashell birdbath

Finished garden