DIY FAIRY HOUSE

I'm not sure about those of you with girls, but our girls love fairies. At Grandma's house there is a fairy room (she was inspired years ago for the grandkids to come). But they started to really love fairies when their other Grandma gave them "Secret Of The Wings" for Christmas last year. It was a hit from the git. They love watching Periwinkle and Tinkerbell and all of her friends. I actually don't mind watching it with them. It's really cute and there's not a whole lot to fast forward. Vidia is a bit grumpy but we can talk through some of those parts and turn it into a lesson.

So we got hooked on all of the Tinkerbell movies. "The Great Fairy Rescue" inspired this little fairy house project. I love the house that Lizzy made in the movie. She handled it with such care and now I know why. They aren't so simple to put together. It took some hours to gather the fixin's with the kids and create. With Spring on its way, it will be an ongoing project including it in the garden.

SUPPLIES
Wood Structure - Birdhouse, or gazibo
Small Saw
Brown Paint
Sponge Brush
Scissors/Garden Cutters - Tough ones that can cut sticks
Twine
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Fixin's - Sticks. Pinecones. Leaves. Nuts. Acorns. Snail Shells. Pods
Rocks

PROCESS
1. I wanted a structure that they could actually use and have their fairies walk into so I needed something that was larger than a standard $1 birdhouse. I opted for a gazibo-like birdhouse from Joann's (although, I can't find it online). I also wanted wood so it wouldn't rot out too quickly.
2. Saw out one support post for a larger door and entrance.
3. Paint it brown so it blends well with the sticks and outdoors. My daughter loves painting so this was a good time to include her.
4. Measure one stick against the structure and snap or cut it down to size. If it's a bigger stick, you can score the stick with the scissors and then use the counter edge (if it's a tough material) to help snap it in half.
5. Cut a lot of sticks that same size. I probably used about 60 sticks.
6. Start gluing the sticks with the hot glue gun next to eachother, side by side. If they don't meet up perfectly, no worries, you can add another layer of sticks to fill in the gaps.
7. Between two posts, you can create a window by adding two small sticks horizontally and building the sticks on that wall up to the window.
8. With the wall in place all the way around there should be a large gap where the one support post was sawed out. This is for the door.

9. Take apart a large pinecone and cut off the raw eges of each "shingle".
10. Starting at the bottom of the roof, hot glue each shingle on, side by side, all the way around. Layer by layer until you reach the top.
11. Near the top, I left a space for some bark chunks to be glued into place. And then some rope bits around the "chimney". This was originally a hole in the top of the ball that held the rope loop in place. Later, I'll turn that into a more interesting chimney with acorns and stuffing for smoke.
12. For the door, I tied a large piece of twine around the last stick on the left of the large opening. One at the top and one at the bottom. I tied the knot in the center of the large piece of twine, leaving two even long strands. These are used to connect each stick to eachother creating a large swinging door. If you run out of twine, no worries, just tie on a new piece of twine and secure the knots with hot glue.
13. The last stick needs to connect to the stick on the right of the large opening. With the left over twine, I knotted the remaining until it was near the end and then a connected the top and bottom with a button. I'm actually probably going to redo this part because I'm not sold on how it turned out. But it works for now, the door closes.

Not shown: Insert some moss inside on the floor. Any wood parts that are still exposed can have leaves glued to hide them. You can then make a mini pillow, blanket, even a treasure box to carry the fairy items to the play area.

My hope is to create a little fairy garden within our garden, so that it is surrounded by plants, dirt and a little rock path. Maybe make a little postbox, fairy sign for the door and some furniture. I've seen all kinds of cute fairy house fixings out there so the ideas are endless. That's why this project may go on for a while. Once we get into the garden, I'll update.

Welcome Fairies!