Sunday, April 29, 2012

Fairy Garden Part III - A Pretty Little Cottage Garden

My newest Fairy Garden with a simple little green cottage and white picket fence.
 I made the two tiny birdhouses from craft sticks. Aren't they adorable. I also made the little white "wrought iron" chair from a roll of floral wire I found at dollar tree. The wire was a gaudy gold color, but it is fairly soft and easy to cut and bend with a small needle nose pliers. I have been experimenting with different glues to find one that is water proof and bonds different materials. E6000 is not bad, but it does take quite a while to dry. I had to keep messing with the legs until the glue was almost set before they finally stayed where I wanted them.
 My most favorite thing is the awesome weathered wood box that Mr. Rainbow Creek made for me. This is one very heavy duty box! It is made from scraps of solid oak that the Tattooed Daddy salvaged from a custom door company he worked for. They had been laying out on the side of the house for several years, turning them into this lovely weathered gray color

We wanted the crate to resemble an old shipping crate so we added the galvanized steel banding around the ends. I love it! Mr. Rainbow Creek took a while to warm up to the idea of building something to look old and beat up. But when it was finally done he was pretty impressed with the final result. 
 Graphics from the fabulous Graphics Fairy were applied using the Citra-Solve method. I tested the method on a few scraps before I got it down. My tip for using this transfer method is to keep a very light touch when applying the Citra-Solve. Be very careful not to saturate the paper or the ink will run and blob. I dipped the brush very lightly and dabbed the excess onto a rag before applying. Secondly, you want to burnish it very thoroughly. Rub, Rub, Rub over every bit of your design and it will make all the difference. I used a craft stick to burnish until my arm was very tired. You can always sand off a little bit here and there to get an aged look if you aren't going to be glazing over it.

Love, love, love this adorable little garden! It has Rosemary, Thyme, Scotch moss, allysum, and a red miniature rose bush that Mr. Rainbow Creek got me for our anniversary. That was at the beginning of February, and I can't believe I actually managed to keep it alive in that little pot it came in for all this time. And it had one bud that just showed up and bloomed a couple of days ago. I hope it will be happy in its new special little garden.
Places to Party:


Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

2 comments:

  1. I had to hop over the minute I saw your title. I am just in the planning provess of making my old vintage wheelbarrown intoa Fairy garden. I have lots of moss starts coming up aroung the garden. I thought I would plant them, take my rosemary back outdoors and plant it. I have a little cast iron fairy and from there who knows. I really enjoyed your little fairyland! The picket fence is so cute. Oh, I have a couple of mushroom picks I thought I would throw in also. I want it to be kind of a woodland. I bought a sign that says that on clearance at roberts. Hoping I can incorporate it somehow. Thanks so much for sharing. I am now a new follower. Going to check out your other fairy gardens. I have a party, Share Your Cup Thursday. Would love if you shared this later this week. Almost forgot, the box hubby made is awesome. Love the text you applied to it.
    Hugs,
    Jann

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