Designing a Fairy Garden

My son and I created our very own miniature fairy garden. It's a fun and relatively inexpensive project.

Supplies
1 unfinished birdhouse; $5
Flat rocks from the creek; Free
Large rocks from the creek; Free
Fine gravel from the creek; Free
1 horseshoe shaped piece of wood from Craft store; 25 cents
Glue gun and 6 glue sticks; Free-already had them
1 bottle of a matte sealer spray; $6
2 miniature 2" fairies from Enchanted Gardens; $3 each
Wooly Thyme plant from Lowes; $1.88
Aurea Irish Moss plant from Lowes; $1.88
6-pack of Dusty Miller plant from Lowes; $2.18
Potting soil (I used a mix of vermiculite, potting soil, and peat moss); $5..I guess.
Container from Lowes; $20
4-pack of miniature turtles from Enchanted Gardens; around 99 cents
1 miniature watering can from Enchanted Gardens; around 99 cents

By far the most expensive part of the project is the container I put it in. I opted for something decorative so I could keep the planter in a southern facing window and enjoy it indoors or on my porch. The finished project took only a few hours. Most of that time was spent glueing rocks to the birdhouse.

How to make a fairy house:

Step One: Glue flat rocks, sticks, bark or other materials to the birdhouse.

Step Two: I coated the horseshoe-shaped wood with glue sections at a time and covered it with fine gravel. I then glued this to the front of the birdhouse as a door. I filled in the gap between the door and the birdhouse with small gravel and pebbles. The perch was used as the door handle.

Step Three: Coat the stone house with a matte sealer. I used two coats.

Step Four: Fill your container with soil and plants. Make sure you leave room to place your fairy house.

Step Five: Add your fairy or other decorative pieces to the garden.

I chose to make my own mushrooms and ladybugs with left over river materials and toothpicks.

Making mushrooms: I coated the tops of mussel shells found at the river with paint (red or orange work well). Once dried I used a toothpick to place white dots on them. Then I used the glue stick to glue two toothpicks together. These were glued to the inside of the mushroom shell. I coated these with the same matte sealer to slow the decay of the toothpicks and keep the paint fresh.

Making ladybugs: I took small, oval rocks. My son painted them red. Once dried I painted the heads black and added black spots. I glued them to a rock and coated these with the sealer to preserve the paint.

Here's how it turned out!