Those Who Can't Make...Buy! Even Frugal Fairy Gardeners

I am pretty crafty. Not quite like the girl in the Beastie Boys song, but I can make a lot of different things. Often, when I fall in love with something I see online I can figure out how to make a reasonably similar version fused with my own unique style. However, there are some things I just can’t make. But really want.

One of the craft mediums I refuse to try is polymer clay. For a couple of silly reasons and one sad fact.

One, I am a perfectionist and it would be maddening to be unable to make perfect Oreo cookies or three tier extravagantly decorated cakes. Have you seen what people create out of polymer clay? Simply amazing. Just take a second and search miniature food on Etsy. See what I mean? AMAZING. And adorable.

Two,  this seems like a very expensive craft.

Three, my oven doesn’t work. So terrible right? Even if I invested and began spending inordinate amounts of time playing with clay, I just couldn’t do it at home. And quite honestly, I’d probably be baking a cobbler or garlic bread instead.

So when I come across adorable Fairy Garden delights I can’t make or live without, I definitely buy!

I am a little picky about what I buy or else I might drop some serious cash and worry about rent the following month. Recently I invested in a couple of impractical, adorable food stuffs for my fairies.

Another Etsy search query I recommend if you’re perusing for miniature food is miniature food jewelry. Tweens seem to love sporting mini food accents. Most of these accents are the perfect size for your Fairy Garden and crafted from polymer clay so they will weather the elements perfectly. I found a couple of food jewelry baubles I loved and contacted the seller to see if they could make me a custom item without the jewelry hardware. All of the sellers were able to fulfill my desires and even offered to knock the price down since I didn’t need a chain or earring posts!

Felicia from Oh Lucky Charm creates the most delicious and genuine looking desserts. Her gooey cupcakes and rainbow colored birthday cakes will make you drool! I spotted a grilled cheese necklace charm with toasty looking bread and melted cheese oozing from the middle that I just had to have. 

Photo courtesy of the Oh Lucky Charm Etsy shop.

I also decided I could not live without this plate of s’mores.

Photo courtesy of the Oh Lucky Charm Etsy shop.

I have a little fire pit with a bowl of marshmallows and toasting sticks propped beside a pair of chairs. This plate of s’mores was the perfect finishing touch for the area.

Ashley’s Etsy shop IncredInedible features mouth-watering savory delights like tacos, corn dogs, olives and waffles. She also has the most realistic looking miniature pumpkin pie necklace. I don’t even like pumpkin pie and I found myself needing to buy it. Just look at that crumbly crust.

Photo courtesy of the IncredInedible Etsy shop.

So, if you come across a few cute items you can’t make on your own, pick a few favorites and indulge yourself. You will not regret it!

*One bonus fairy food frugal idea, kids are also very into rubber Japanese erasers that you can take apart and put back together. Some of them are the perfect scale for a Fairy Garden. For less than a dollar you can score a cute, outdoor-safe cake or pie.

Fairy Garden Swings - Four DIY Tutorials

Fairies love to play, especially on swings! They also love variety.

Here are four DIY ideas for Fairy Garden Swings…What do they all have in common? They are delightfully adorable and easy to create!

1. The Tire Swing

This is the easiest! I scored a fat miniature mud tire at the bottom of a toy bin at one of the local thrift stores. (And I got it for free since the cashier was confused on why I wanted a broken toy part.) Just tie some ribbon, jute or string around the tire and hang it from a branch.

2. Leather Flower Swing

Inspired by my favorite Indoor Swing from Urban Outfitters, this swing is simple and adorable. I used a leather flower from a thrift store bracelet find. You can use flowers from sandals, jewelry or hair accessories. Use a needle to thread a string or ribbon through the middle of the flower. Add bead accents and hang from decorative wire or a tree branch in a corner of your Fairy Garden.

3. Wire & Beads Flower Swing

A beaded wire flower sprig can be used for so many different and adorable Fairy Garden items. Try making a swing by attaching two long strands to the ends of a wooden block. I painted this block fairy pink and sprinkled glitter over the top while the second coat of paint was drying. I added glitter glue accents to each of the bead flowers for extra fairy delight.

*Don’t have a beaded floral display hanging around your house? You can easily make your own with beads and thin wire. It is hard to go wrong when fashioning wire and beads. Do not worry about uniformity or balance, creations will look even better when asymmetrical.

 4. Flower Garland Swing

Craft stores have big discounts on their fake flowers at the end of each season to make room for the next crop of faux florals. I used Cherry Blossom-like branches, two wooden beads and a painted, glitter accented popsicle stick to create this whimsical Fairy Garden Swing.

Read This Before You Age Wood With Wool & Vinegar!!!

A few tips and tricks on How To Age Wood…without creating a huge mess or being disappointed.

When I first began creating delights for my Fairy Garden, I used a lot of popsicle sticks. I liked how they were pre-cut and functioned like mini boards but hated the way they looked like a kindergartner's craft project. Then, I saw a few posts and tutorials on how to instantly age wood. I was so excited! I ran right out and bought steel wool and white vinegar.

I love how the popsicle stick age using steel wool and vinegar but there was a lot the tutorials and articles left out. You can create a huge old mess if you’re not careful. So before you try it at home, read this for some tips and tricks…

1. Buy the right kind of steel wool. There are a few choices at your local grocery store. Get the kind without soap. I misread the label and had to scour my stove top and two pans to use up the gooey blue soap in my steel wool. The solution worked just right anyways, but you will save time and energy by carefully reading the package.

2. What ratio of steel wool to vinegar is best? I could not find a single article explicitly stating how much of each to use. I filled a pint jar with vinegar and added one steel wool pad. This was perfect.

3. How long do you let the solution sit? Overnight is best. Just screw the cap on and let it sit. I don’t know if the cap is necessary, but the solution smells like blood and is really strong. This prevented my whole house from reeking like a crime scene. The next day dip a piece of wood in and see how it "ages." If you like the way the woods looks, remove the remaining steel wool from your jar. This will keep your solution from getting darker and darker over time.

4. THIS IS SO MESSY! This solution “ages” wood because it actually stains the wood. This will also stain your fingers, nails, clothing, moss, counters, sink and anything else porous. Use gloves! The fingers were the worst, the skin under my nails was grey-brown for a few days. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get rid of it. Good news about your counter top, the stains scrub out using a bleach based cleaner and some steel wool. The best tip is to do this craft outside. In none of your favorite clothes.

5. This will not stain all wood products. It will stain popsicle sticks, bamboo skewers and toothpicks. It will not stain chopsticks from Panda Express or cute wooden blocks from Michael’s. Use a test piece of wood to see how it reacts to the stain before you get all of your mini building supplies in order. Also worth mentioning, if the wood gets wet in your garden the stain can leak and stain surrounding items, like glue or moss.

6. That being said, the aging is not actually “instant”. The final color is not apparent until the wood dries. This can take an hour or so. Be patient and wait to see how your wood transforms. I like to dip the wood into the solution the night before I want to build and let it dry overnight. Please note, wet wood glues horribly.

See how each piece of wood stains differently?

An aging rope bridge crafted from bamboo skewers and cute jute ribbon.

Fairy Garden Mini Life Hack #2 - Dryer Lint Smoke Stacks!

Dryer Lint Makes A Perfect Smoke Stack!

It’s the finishing touches and details that really make your Fairy Garden stand out.

Batting (pillow stuffing) or dryer lint makes perfcet smoke stacks. Adding some to your chimneys is super easy! Just glue a small piece of batting or lint into the top of your chimney. After it dries you can shape it by tearing, pulling or trimming with scissors.

Watch it “waft” in the breeze!

Thrift Store Find #2 - Fairy Garden Kitchen Stove

Thrift Store Find of the Day!

I scored this miniature plastic pet crate for 25₵!

What did I do with it?

I’m currently working on my Fairy Garden kitchen area. I really needed a stove or oven and decided to transform this into a place for the fairies to make some delicious food. I painted the crate black. I also painted several wooden blocks from the mini knock-off Jenga game I found at the Dollar Store. I used the blocks to make a stove top. A remnant of a swirly wooden piece was perfect as an ornamental stove pipe. The burners were created from two shower curtain grommets and the knobs crafted from a vintage button and two snaps. Four wooden beads from an old bracelet for feet and the fairies are ready to do some baking!

DIY Tutorial #1 - Easy Fairy Garden Vegetable Plot

Fairies love growing food in their gardens.

Here’s an easy, inexpensive tutorial for creating a little patch of fancy fairy vegetables for your Fairy Garden!

Materials & Supplies:

A Chunk of Styrofoam

Glass or Plastic Beads

Sprigs of Plastic Greenery

Potting Soil

A Small Pot

A Knife

Outdoor Adhesive

A Nail

    

1. Cut the Styrofoam. You will want a piece that fits into the pot, but not snugly. Make sure you leave a good ½ inch or more between the top of the pot and the height of your foam. A sharp kitchen knife will slice right through Styrofoam. It doesn’t have to be cleanly cut or look pretty, you will be covering it with dirt.

2. Cut small pieces of the greenery, one for each bead. Make sure the stems fits into the beads. Leave enough stem to fit all or half way down into the bead.

3. Cut or poke holes into the Styrofoam. Use a nail to make holes where you want the bead veggies to go. Make sure part of the beads will fit into your holes. I used oblong beads so my holes were deep enough to hold half of the bead.

4. Put adhesive into each hole.

5. Place a bead into each hole. Position them exactly where and how high you want them. Once again, don’t worry about globs of glue showing, these will be well hidden by dirt.

6. Dip the greenery stems into the adhesive and slide each into the top a bead. Let everything dry according to the drying time on your adhesive. Once everything is immovable, it is ready for Step 7!

7. Place the Styrofoam into the pot and cover with dirt. Use dirt to position the tops of the veggies where you want them. If you want them higher, put dirt under the Styrofoam.

8. A light sprinkling of water will settle the dirt. And because you used an adhesive designed for outdoor use, you never have to worry about this creation getting wet!

Additional Ideas:

*If you want straight rows, try gluing beads to a tongue depressor.

*Make a few extra veggies to put in a basket, wagon or wheelbarrow near the patch.

Thrift Store Find #1 - Fairy Garden Bowling Pins

Thrift Store Find of the Day!

I scored this bag of miniature bowling pins and two green marbles for $1!

What did I do with them?

As you know, fairies love glitter! And playing games. I covered the bowling pins with glue and dipped them in a pink glitter mixture. The finishing touch was a sparkling rhinestone on the top of each pin. I glued them on a flat, triangular rock. Positioned in a mossy corner of my Fairy Garden, the fairies now have a place to enjoy a little lawn bowling.

Fairy Garden Mini Life Hack #1 - Gluing Mistakes

Uh-oh! You left a Fairy Garden creation alone to dry and it shifted. You now have something resembling what you intended. But not quite. Here are two tips to transform any gluing mistake into something adorable:

Add a lichen accent. Fairies love moss and lichen and other tidbits from nature. See this impractically adorable Fairy Garden sink cabinet? I positioned the sink in the exact middle, left it to dry and when I returned the shell sink had slid and shifted. Oops. I should have used some popsicle sticks as drying guides but it’s too late now. No need to fret! A strategically placed piece of lichen fills the gap and looks like I intended it to be askew all along!

Add some glitter!  You may not love glitter, but fairies do! Have a gap or a hunk of unsightly dried glue? Add a drop of fresh glue and sprinkle with fairy dust. Tada! You totally meant it to have a glitter accent.

Other fix-it up ideas: Add pebbles, beads, a button, a tiny pine cone or bit of lace. 

A Few Practical Tips and Ideas For Beginning Fairy Gardeners

Fairy Garden Inspiration, Tools, Glues, Paints, Key Items and THE ONE Thing You Need to Buy Today….

When I first got into the world of fairy gardening I discovered a multitude of tutorials and ideas for making miniatures. I read, pinned and got started. I made a bunch of cute stuff.

Completely wrong.

I used the wrong glue, the wrong tools, and the wrong paint. My stick ladders and stairs fell apart within days. Paint chipped or slid off creations. It was totally frustrating.

What I didn’t find out there on the nifty World Wide Web were some basic guidelines and tips to help me avoid novice fairy gardener disappointments. Where was the blog dedicated to helping new Fairy Gardeners learn the craft?

So to help YOU avoid wasting your time, money and materials on cute things that will fall apart within days (or hours), I present to you: A few practical tips and ideas for beginning fairy gardeners.

1.      Inspiration

Before you EVEN get started go get inspired! Spend time looking at the tiny mystical worlds others have created. This will help you get an idea of what you want your mini world to look like. There are a dizzying amount choices. Rustic. Charming. Modern. Desert. Woodland. Farmland, Glittery. Luxury. Bohemian. Creepy. Gypsy. Elfin. See what is out there and try and figure out what your dream world looks like. This will help you look for the right materials and help you focus your creating when it is time to begin crafting your own fairy garden. Keep in mind your ideas and themes will change and morph as you delve deeper into creating your impractical yet adorable miniature world. 

Branch out your search terms. Sure you can jump on Pinterest and look up “fairy gardens” for hours but you’ll be missing a ton of other inspiration sources. Don’t forget to try terms like dollhouse diy, miniatures and 1-12 scale. Dollhouse enthusiasts are making AMAZING tiny things for their indoor dream worlds. Although many of the tutorials you will find will be inappropriate for an outdoor scene, you will discover how minis are made, awesome ideas for reusing crap from your recycling bin and generally, be amazed and inspired. Once you kind of have your theme nailed down, add those words to the search terms as well.

Check out the Fairy Garden Delights my bestie and I are collecting on Pinterest!!

Oh and leave Pinterest every now and then. Force yourself to open a new window and check out Etsy for the ultimate source of inspiration. Be forewarned: You will want to buy everything and spend an inordinate amount of money. Hold back for now. Browse the millions of tiny adorable things people have for sale and be prepared to be impressed and inspired.

Don’t forget to pin your faves as you go along so you can refer back to them later. As you start creating you will discover what you can fashion yourself and what you absolutely cannot and will not be able to live without buying.

2.      Tools – Four Must Haves & An Invest-In Must

So what kinds of tools do you really need to create miniatures? There are four must haves.

A Box Cutter – Perfect for cutting straight lines, mat board, Popsicle sticks and other items.

Wire Cutters – These are so handy! You can use them to cut metal, twigs, sticks and many other things.

Scissors – A no-brainer right? If you can, have a pair dedicated to Fairy Garden creating. This way they will always be right where you need them. Hunting down a pair of scissors several times a day is a big ‘ol waste of time!

Needle Nose Pliers – Get a pair with tiny, smooth tips if you can. These will be useful more often than you can imagine….they will help you bend, fold, break and hold.

A hobby hand saw - Fairly inexpensive and very useful for cutting wood.

           

3.      Glues & Sealers

Here is where I really didn’t know my stuff and needed some advice.

If you plan on watering your fairy garden, even just once, invest in glues and sealers designed for outdoor use!

Do me and your future Fairy Garden creations a favor and put your Elmer’s Washable Glue, Krazy Glue and hot glue gun away.

Don’t even bother using them. Both the Elmer’s and Krazy Glue will just fall apart the moment water hits the area you glued. Not fun.

As for the hot glue? Here’s what I learned: Most are low-temp so you can use them safely and not incur 3^rd degree burn while you craft. The low-temp glues do not hold up to elements such as a soft stream from your watering can. These creations will fall apart too. I know you can purchase a fancy high-temp glue gun that may or may not hold up in outdoor conditions, but I have yet to invest or experiment….

So what kind of glue do you need? I recommend investing in two kinds. Please note that I am not loyal to any brand, I am not claiming any particular brand is the best. I can only tell you what I purchased and what works for me. I live in a tiny town with limited choices and I got what I could.

            OUTDOOR WOOD GLUE – This is very important. After you get the hardware store employee to show you where the sandpaper is, ask where the glues and sealers are. Look for a bottle with both of the following words: WATERPROOF  and EXTERIOR. You need a glue designed to keep wood glued together outside. I ended up with Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue.

           OUTDOOR ADHESIVE – This will come in a tube and smell terrible. But it will bond rocks, metal, plastic and anything other than wood together. Use wood glue for wood. Use Outdoor Adhesive for everything else. Words to look for: IMPERMEABLE, WATERPROOF, CLEAR, and OUTDOOR. I chose E6000 Industrial Strength Adhesive and love it.

           One last glue tip: Read the directions. And then follow them. If the bottle says don’t stress the joint (the spot where you’ve glued) for 24 hours, don’t push, pull or poke the joints for 24 hours. If they say wait 4 days to use outside, wait 4 days to put your properly glued items into your Fairy Garden. Directions are there for a reason: To help you glue properly.

           So you made some cute stuff, glued it with the proper outdoor glue while following the directions, now what? You might want to apply an outdoor sealer to protect your artistic adorableness. A sealer will help wood, painted items and even some paper hold up for a long time in your Fairy Garden. I’ve been using Mod Podge Outdoor Sealer. It even works perfect as a glue for paper, fabric and thin sheets of cork. However, this Mod Podge gunk is a sticky mess and I recommend checking out this blog dedicated to Mod Podge. Super helpful.

4.      Paints & Brushes

             Brushes -  I recommend having a handful. It really sucks to wait for your one brush to dry while you have six other items screaming for paint. I am not that patient. Any old brushes will do. Grab a package with a few different types and sizes from the craft aisle of your local drug store. You don’t need fancy expensive ones from the boutique art supply store. Save your money for cute stuff on Etsy.

               Paints – The first big splurge I made was a set of 24 small pots of acrylic paints. Awesome! For everything BUT PLASTIC.

            Acrylics are great! Permanent, bright, and they cover well in 3 coats or less. However, they are not designed to be used on plastic. I made a really cute Fairy Garden BBQ out of a gumball machine plastic container. But every single time I touched where I had painted, the paint came off on my fingers. When I put a mini plastic chair I painted into my garden, the dry paint turned liquid and just ran off when water get anywhere close to it.

           

            If you plan on painting plastic (and trust me you will, because there are so many cute plastic thing to use in your Fairy Garden) get some enamels. Enamel paint is designed to stay on plastic after it dries and it can also be used on wood, metal and other surfaces. They can be more expensive so I initially I bought black and forest green, two versatile Fairy Garden colors.

5.      A Few Really Key Items To Keep On Hand

            Skewers & Toothpicks – Not just for building stuff! I always have a skewer or toothpick on hand when I’m painting or gluing. Don't even dip the brush in without having one within reach. You’ll want to use it to wipe away excess glue, fill tiny holes or gently move items without bumping everything like a finger might.

            Sandpaper – Get some 120 Grit paper. That doesn’t make any sense to you? Ask the helpful guy at your local hardware store, he’ll explain it and walk you right over to it. Sure you could get a variety but I have discovered this is the perfect, all-purpose texture for sanding small Fairy Garden items.

            A Chunk of Styrofoam – Weird. But totally free (just keep an insert from a package or new electronic) and completely necessary. This will be your favorite drying rack. Stick a few of those toothpicks or skewer chunks in the Styrofoam and hang or prop things up while they dry. Make sure it has a flat bottom, or else your stuff might fall over and get smudged or stain your floor and furniture.

6.      One Last Thing You REALLY, REALLY Need…

            A caddy. Seriously. Go buy one today. Once you begin to amass the above tools and items you are really going to want  a place to keep them all. A caddy with a handle and some divided spaces will keep you from going crazy trying to find stuff. Also, it keep your table tops, corners and bed from resembling a post-craft tornado state of emergency site. Believe me, when you want to put a coffee cup down or crawl into bed after a long day of creating impractical yet adorable creations, the last thing you want to do is move a pile of sticks, a baggie of glitter, two paintbrushes, a tube of glue and seventeen wine corks. Besides, even just a couple of pebbles in your bed can make for an uncomfortable night of sleep and a smattering of little tiny bruises.

Okay, you’re off to a good start….go get creative!

Tips For The Frugal or Broke Fairy Gardener

If you are anything like me, you have a couple financial obligations. Rent, cell, food, gas, student loan interest. And the essentials of course, beer and/or wine.

Your new fairy garden hobby can totally interfere with your best laid budget plans if you’re not careful…

Guess what? You do not have to buy everything. Really! I have mastered the how do I get stuff without spending much money question. Without stealing. (Okay, hardly ever stealing. And our definitions of “stealing” might differ a bit, so quit judging.) Also, there are several great strategies for spending as little as possible for some really cool items. Or, items you can turn into really cool things.

My favorite, fantastically frugal ideas to help you source some good materials for your fairy garden:

1.      Thrift Stores!

Frequency and timing are everything! You can go one day and find nothing at all. But don’t leave discouraged. Go back again, and often. You might hit the jackpot the day they put out a whole bag of dollhouse furniture. And be friendly with the staff. Employees who know and like you will keep their eye out for goodies you might like.

Areas to hit: kitchen wares, home décor, magnets, picture frames, electrical and plumbing, jewelry, Christmas junk…just about every section but books…however take a peek shoppers put stuff down and leave it all the time.

And my favorite: Scrape the bottom of that toy barrel. This is where you will find small items that have sifted through the other crap and lay in wait on the bottom. Think tiny dishes, animals, fake food erasers, all kinds of mini treasures.

The best part is when you take a handful of random small items to the check out, the cashiers often don’t know what the heck to charge you for what looks like junk so they say things like

            “How about a quarter?” or 

                   “Um…you can just have that stuff.”

My favorite bottom of the toy bin find so far? A mini roasted chicken! The fairies were stoked, they were getting kind of sick of dessert….

2.      Dollar Stores!

Ugh, I know shop local and all but this saves you so much money. If you have tons of rainy day money saved up, by all means purchase where you feel most morally comfortable.

But if you’re trying to save some money  go ahead and peruse the dollar store for basics like toothpicks, BBQ skewers, LED votives, popsicle sticks, mini figurines, glitter and that handy caddy you so needed YESTERDAY.

It is kind of amazing the weird stuff I have scored at the dollar store. Like a mini Jenga knockoff game with perfect, pre-cut wooden blocks to paint and build with. Look down every aisle because you never know what is hiding in plain sight. For a dollar.

While we are talking dollar stores, don’t forget the Dollar Sections of Other Stores! You can find great things on sale for a dollar. You can scrape up a couple of dollars in coins for some tiny jars, glass pebbles or burlap ribbon.

3.      Yard Sales!

One man’s junk can totally be your fairy treasure for cheap.

4.      The Ground!

Yep. Look down.

So. Much. Free. Stuff.

Nature drops cool things. For instance twigs, moss, lichen, feathers, pine cones, seed pods, leaves, sticks, shells, sand and rocks. Score!

Let’s face it, litterers drop a lot of lame things but occasionally some really cool things. And you can help our grand planet by picking up the trash and reusing it in an attractive ecofriendly manner. Double score! I’ve used castoffs like washers, bottle caps, lone beads, barrettes and random pieces of metal in my fairy garden.

And sometimes people just lose tiny cool things. Once I found a pair of hot pink platform flowered Barbie heels at a park just lying abandoned by the monkey bars. Adorable score!

A bit advice. Maybe look twice. I went for what looked like a cool amber bead outside Safeway the other day and picked up what I hope was just a Dayquil Gel Cap.

Have any other tips for saving money? Share!