Craft Stick Fairy Doors

It's no secret that we LOVE making fairy/gnome things at Our Beautifully Messy House...fairy houses, fairy furniture, fairy doors, gnome doors, flower fairies, fairy folk...need I go on? We just can't help it! What I love the most about making fairy doors and gnome doors is surprising people with them! L and I made an abundance of CRAFT STICK FAIRY DOORS this week as we prepare to spread them around the neighborhood. Of course we enjoy surprising our friends and close neighbors, but what I really love is putting them on strangers' front porches and sneaking them into their gardens! We rarely get to see people discover the fairy and gnome doors, but the surprise, the magic in it all makes L and I giggle for days! We've had a great time making these craft stick fairy doors...aren't they the cutest!?!

Materials needed:

-crafts sticks (big, small, colored, any or all)

-wood glue

-Q-tips

-buttons

Optional materials:

-acrylic paint

-sealant spray

-wire & nails

First, lay out your craft sticks in a door shape. If you have colored sticks, your kids will enjoy playing with patterns! 

Using a Q-tip, put wood glue onto a small craft stick and carefully lay it across your door. If you don't have small craft sticks, you can always cut a normal-sized one in half! It's best to put at least 2 sticks across, but you can play with the angles and directions that you put them. Remember, fairy doors don't have to be perfect!

If you don't plan to paint your door, you can glue a button-handle on now too!

After the glue has dried a good bit, flip your doors over and smear wood glue all across the back for extra support. Let them dry for a few hours or overnight.

Next, if your craft sticks are plain and you want to, paint the doors. We especially like to add glitter paint to ours...helps the fairies and gnomes find the doors of course.

After the paint has dried, glue on button-handles if you have not done so yet. We like to spray our doors with some acrylic sealant as well...makes the wood a little more durable outdoors and gives them a more finished look.

Now for the fun part, hide them around town...or give them to friends! These would make an adorable party favor for both kids and adults! Enjoy!!!

Other posts you may like:

Jam Jar Fairy House /Jam Jar Gnome Home

Doorknob Mushroom-Fairy Houses

Fairy Furniture

DIY Fairy Door...Gnome Door

Fairy Doors & Gnome Doors #2

DIY Citrus Stamps

How cute are these DIY CITRUS STAMPS we made this week? They really were simple to make and the outcome is adorable...perfect for Summer! L and I stamped t-shirts, tea towels, and a pillow case for her bed. Just think of the possibilities... You could use this stamping technique to brighten-up party invitations, gift bags, skirts, shorts, a tablecloth, shower curtain...the possibilities are endless (and sweet)! 

Materials needed:

-an orange, lemon, & lime

-tea towels, t-shirts, etc.

-knife

-acrylic or fabric paints

-flat, plastic lids or plates

-paper towels

-parchment paper

If you need to, iron your tea towels or t-shirts first! Protect your work area with parchment paper. (Usually I use cardboard or old newspapers for projects, but with this one I didn't want the texture of the cardboard to effect the stamping and I didn't want newspaper to discolor my cloth. Parchment paper was perfect!)

Next, cut your orange, lemon and lime in half with a sharp knife. If you like to, cut a little "handle" in each fruit half...makes stamping easier, especially for kids!

Turn the fruit over onto a paper towel, to soak up some of the juice from the fruits.

Next, squirt your paints onto plastic lids or plates.

Dip the sliced fruit into the paint. Blot it onto a paper towel, if there appears to be too much paint.

And press the fruit gently onto your cloth. Too easy, right!?

We experimented and made some of our tea towels patterned, while others we stamped randomly. The random was definitely our favorite...a little more carefree, like all things "summer" should be!

If you have some prints that are more solid looking (a bit too much paint), don't fret...just overlap another fruit in another color on top! It will look like you planned it that way all along!

Instead of stamping an entire tablecloth, you can just stamp tea towels and overlap them as we did here. Looks great on their own or with a solid tablecloth underneath!

Too cute, huh!?! Enjoy!!!

Splatter Paint Fun!!!

While SPLATTER PAINT FUN! can be done anytime of the year, we thought it would be an exceptional craft to do on the 4th of July! This can get messy, so be sure to cover your work area with old newspapers or, better yet, take it outside! I helped L with the cut-outs, but let her do most of the splattering on her own. It's so much fun splattering paint, I bet you'll want to join in the fun too!

Materials needed: 

-toothbrush and/or kitchen scrub brush

-paint

-construction paper

-old cereal box

-scissors

-old newspapers, towels, etc.

First, cover your work area with old newspapers. After all, the paint will splatter!

Next, cut some fun shapes out of your old cereal box. We did some wavy stripes, stars, and a city skyline for the 4th of July.

Lay the shapes atop your construction paper. You can do all the shapes at once or, as we did, layer them. 

Next, dip your toothbrush bristles into paint. Facing the toothbrush downwards (bristles facing the paper) have your kids run their fingers along the bottom of the brush splattering the paint. When splattering around shapes, the more the better!

After splattering is complete, remove cardboard shapes carefully.

If layering paint and patterns, you can now lay more shapes down and splatter with a different color of paint. 

Experiment! Have fun! Make messes!

With the kitchen brush, we didn't "splatter" necessarily. (But you could!) Instead, L dipped the brush into paint and then pushed the bristles down on her paper to make her own, unique fireworks display! So cute and easy! 

For more fun painting ideas check out our page "10 New Ways to Paint"! Enjoy!!!