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This may be a little off topic altho has a decorative aspect.

I noticed on the MMF's thread that Fairy gardens were one of the topics and wondered if there was much interest. I made one a few years ago and collected info which I'll share in case anyone is interested. I decided it was too much bother to maintain so haven't continued with it but think some of the ones other people make are cute.

This link immediately came to mind. It belongs to a poster on another forum who makes and sells adorable fairy gardens.

This link shows more pics and tells a bit about how she makes them.

I've also noticed a lot of pics of fairy gardens on Pinterest so if anyone is interested they can google 'pinterest fairy gardens'.

Lucky, Thank you for the link. I enjoyed watching a portion of the slideshow. I did try to look on Pinterest, but that place arouses my ADD...too much repetition...too much dross.

Here's a little gnome with his house that I put into my planter with herbs.

Wow, I never realized they were so popular. They are adorable.

I see lots of tiny things at the thrift stores that would work for these.

These fairy gardens are precious! As a collector of minis and a bit of a gardener, looking at these photos have stirred my imagination. I have lots of minis that are packed away and would be wonderful accents in pots like some of these. Thank you for sharing!

Here is my fairy garden -- in an old wheelbarrow -- I made the fairy house -- and I have a couple of fairies in their garden. It's pure whimsey!

Martha

Linderof, that is adorable. What did you make the fairy house out of?

It's hypertufa -- I sometimes get battery candles and put inside -- it's neat to see a light in the house at night. Need to get some thyme to add to the garden this year!

You can buy them (I think Charleston Gardens has one) but they are like $300!

Martha

So Martha, from what I can see, you have to make the recipe yourself for hypertufa? you can't buy it?

What else have you made with it? and did you sculpt it by hand or did you have a mold?

I love your little house and an added light would be so whimsicle at night. Love the idea.

Gracie, where did you find your little house? it's sweet too.

Victorian Girl, I wish I were as talented as Linderhof. She's a terrific inspiration. My house came from a job lot of houses that I won on eBay. I'm sure they were originally some sort of collectible, but I bought them because they were inexpensive and the right scale. The little gnome came from Etsy and wasn't a bargain. So many of the hand-made items are very expensive, as Martha mentioned. It's better if you can spy things that will work at thrift stores, dollar stores and the like.

Oldhouseluvr, Do get your minis out and show us what results from your imaginings. I love to see pictures.

Martha, I haven't been over to your blog lately. Time for a post on hypertufa and building fairy houses?

These are adorable, i bet my daughter would enjoy creating one of these with me. I've been thinking of creating a little terrarium.

I hope those who make fairy gardens will post pics. They are such a creative thing to do and no 2 are ever the same.

Graciepj, that's a cute little house and gnome.

Martha, I like your fairy garden in the wheelbarrow. Perhaps I will make another in an old wheelbarrow I have. I made mine in a vintage tin bathtub and felt it was too large. A wheelbarrow can be moved around if necessary which would suit me better.

Hypertufa is fun but I've only ever made containers with it. Martha's little 'thatched-roof cottage' is very creative.

Thanks for posting this..I was getting ready to make a terrarium, but now with all this inspiration, I am going to do a fairy garden instead. Think I will do one inside in place of the terrarium, with the small indoor plants, and make a larger outdoor one for the patio.

The hypertufa is peat moss, vermiculite and concrete I think. Our garden club had a hands on class and I made a ball (which looks really good in a planter) and another object that we use to feed ground birds! I took a class in the fairy house construction at a garden center about 100 miles north of us. They had all the forms -- we just watched and did as we were instructed. The class wasn't cheap -- $95 as I recall but already constructed houses cost around $300 so I thought I got a bargain and it was fun!

I do have a couple of hypertufa planters -- not big ones but they look really old -- like some of the old cement containers that we saw in England. I didn't make them I bought them -- one at an Estate Sale and the other here at a charity auction.

Martha

I love fairy gardens! When I saw this post I decided to look through my storage room to see if I had anything left from the days when my kids were young. I used to make them fairy furniture and little houses to put in our garden. They loved it! Fairys and summer go together to me, and gosh.... I have so many memories flooding back! The kids would run in from the garden and tell me they needed chairs, or a table, or whatever, and I would ask them to gather some sticks or whatever, and then we would sit together and I would make them what they wanted.

Well, I found the box, and it wasn't all good news. Some of the things had fallen apart, or disintegrated. I thought I would share some of what survived though. Some things are now wobbly, and faded, but I thought you might enjoy them anyway.

Here are some surviving chairs. The larger one is for the fairy queen, and the others are dining chairs for regular fairies.

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Here is a little tea set made out of seed pods and flower petals that are dried and seeds and the curly parts of grape vines.

This is the queen's tea table.

(Oh, gosh these are taking me back!)

Here is a table I made for the fairy feast held on Midsummers Eve. Again, seed pods, and other little bits of nature made up the dishes.

Fairy dining. The structure behind is a fairy house made from sticks with dried leaves for the roof. I am not sure if you can make it out, but there is a pinecone chandelier with birthday candles.

Here is a little fairy bed/nest that my children used to nestle in the branches of some bush or another. It was for baby faeries - so they could sleep while their parents danced at the fairy ball.

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The fairy queen's scepter made by one of my daughters, or maybe one of my sons, I can't quite remember. Nice and glittery isn't it!

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Another house structure that didn't quite make it.

Oh, gosh, again, the memories. Thanks for bringing up this topic. SO much fun!

Cocok, How charming and sweet! Thanks for posting the photos.

Those are really cute. That would be something fun to do with my daughter.

Cocok,
What a beautiful Fairy garden setting! I love the items and you have me thinking about what I find around my yard!

The items you made are wonderful and so creative! I love all the pieces, but the structure with table and chairs is so sweet! And the chandelier is just darling!

Thank you so much for sharing! What a sweet thing to do with children!

You should create a shadow box (perhaps with glass front) now with these things to bring back memories of summer! How precious!

Linderhoff,
I just love that setting in the wheel barrel! How sweet is that? A self contained world for Fairies!

I think this thread is wonderful, has me daydreaming of possibilities!

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Cocok -- how creative and what memories for your children! You really made fairy gardens!

Martha

Hmmm. Gracie and Linderhof, you have me inspired...I never thought of PLANTING a little container with tiny plants....what a great idea for -perhaps- a new version of fairy creations for my grandchildren. Love, love, love the images you posted.

And Mary Ruth, what a great idea about the shadow box. I never thought of that either. Would certainly preserve the past pieces, and it would be fun for my kids.

Just chuckling to myself....I saw this photo all over the web this week. Apparently it is from a showroom at High Point. I actually think it is a very exciting wallpaper - so graphic and large scale, but my first thought was......Oh, maybe I need to make a fairy bed for my grandchildren....

Doesn't it look like that! A fairy bed in the garden!

Ha ha, fairies on the mind.

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Cocok, your little accessories for fairies are wonderful! I'm sure your children enjoyed them.

When I did my fairy garden I was very much into making glass garden totems so made a couple for the fairies as well.

Here's the fairy umbrella -



Up close showing the fairies under the umbrella -



And here is a tiny totem to decorate their garden -

Cocok, That oversized graphic does make the bed seem like it is a miniature.

Lucky, your tiny totem is so cute.

Lucky,
Love that Fairy totem! how cute is that!

cocok,
YES make a Fairy bed! I love that photo! I would love to do that in my bedroom (headboard wall) BUT I do not have the strength in my arms anymore for that kind of work... LOVE the leaves!

Lucky, I fell in love with fairy gardens a couple of years ago and started collecting pieces from thrift stores for mine. Your tiny totems are precious.

Gracie, your gnome and home is too cute.

Martha, it was a picture of your wheelbaroow, or one similar that was one of my inspirations.

coco, you made some darling pieces and I'm sure your children have many fond memories of those creations.

I have found various houses and accessories and just keep adding as I find items I like.

This is an over all view of what I have named "Fairie Knoll" under a crabapple tree in my backyard.

I have a couple of photos to share so will identify the last one.

Candy

The blue door is made from a plaque I bought at Doll. Tr. I cut off the bottom, scored the lines, cut hinges from a pop can, door knocker is from an old earring, and the door knob is the top of a wooden clothespin. Pine cone pieces are the over door decor.

Most of the fairie homes are ceramic tea lights, although a couple are just small houses.
I found them all at different thrift stores.
The white path is a sack of decorative pebbles from Doll. Tr. and some of the bushes and trees were in a sack that I think was model train decor, also a TS find.

The bridge over the "pond" is a TS find as was the mirror I used for the pond.

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Christmas Candy -- you have the BEST Fairy Garden -- what attention to detail!

Last one:

The path on this side is a sack of knobs from the TS and I just stuck them into the ground.
some of the mushrooms in the foliage are garden junk items I combined to look like mushrooms and then painted. One is actually a heavy ceramic mushroom I bought at a garden store.

The GK's like to check it out andd see if they can find any fairies peeking out, LOL

TTFN,
Candy

Christmas Candy,
Oh my that is a precious Knoll! How precious for the GK's to use their imagination on! I can tell you loved working on this!

Christmas Candy, Your fairy knoll is amazing! Thank you so much for posting pictures of it.

Love it. very charming.

Wonderful! I wish I had the patience to make these When I was at the Rhode Island Spring show this year, there were a few fairy houses & gardens.

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Rocky,
what a cute atmosphere in that little garden! Love the arbors! I like the box one too, the color green on the box is nice. Oh I see the kitty keeping an eye on the birdhouse!
That bark work is amazing!

What a nice show in RI, thanks for sharing the photos!

DH came in last night and surprised me, I had mentioned the Fairy Gardens and how I wanted one in my herb bed, just a small one. I thought he wasn't listening...
he gave me a Solar yard light! It changes to about 4-5 colors gradually and is not too bright. We have small Frogs in the herb garden and we put a few faint lights to attract bugs for them to eat.
Wasn't that sweet? Now I have a lamp post! Large, but it can be the 'moon'.

At first I asked if it was my Scepter??? I knighted him anyway... He said 'no, for the Herb bed Fairy Garden, for the frogs'!!! Gotta love a man who LISTENS and CARES about little frogs! He IS a keeper!

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So many cute ideas for fairy gardens. I'll have to remember to pick some wild moss and add it to mine.

Mary Ruth, your new solar light will add a lovely ethereal touch to a fairy garden. I have some solar lights and will try one in my fairy garden when I get it done.

Rocky, Thanks for sharing those pictures. There's some good inspiration to be found there.

Mary Ruth, How sweet of your husband to not only think of something he knows you might enjoy, but to act on the thought.