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

Tin Foil Jelly Fish Craft

I love this super cute, jelly fish craft for so many reasons. Our TIN FOIL JELLY FISH were inspired by a trip to the Baltimore Aquarium and the girls' fascination with "The Jelly Fish Invasion" exhibit. (Super cool...if you are anywhere near Baltimore, go see it!!!) I love that this craft costs nearly nothing to make and L learned all about textures and rubbings while coloring the foil. And I LOVE the way our jelly fish look hanging in our kitchen window. If you can, place them near an air vent...when the air kicks on the jelly fish will come to life, dancing and swimming in the sun!

"The Jelly Fish Invasion" at the Baltimore Aquarium...

Materials needed:

-tin foil

-permanent markers

-egg cartons

-other small, plastic containers (think applesauce, olives, etc.)

-string or fishing line

-painted stick 

-tape

-scissors

-paperclips

-nail or sharp-tipped tool

First, cut your egg carton into little jelly fish shapes.

Next, take a few sheets of tin foil and have your children color them. This is a great opportunity to make rubbings. L colored on the patio furniture and bricks, over tree bark, on the textured sidewalk and on her slide. Not entirely necessary, but why not!? Your kids can also try making different patterns if coloring on a flat surface...stripes, dots, swirls, anything goes!

Cut the tin foil into little squares and have your kids wrap the egg carton cut outs with the foil. You may have to help them smooth down the outer edges. 

If you have some small, plastic containers to use as well, first poke a hole in the center. Next, cover the containers with the foil too. 

Cut strips of tin foil and tape the strips, 2 or 3 at a time, to the inside of your jelly fish. 

Using a nail or sharp tool, poke a hole into the top of each jelly fish.

Now, it's time to hang your jelly fish up. I knew ours would go in our kitchen window, so we hung the jelly fish along a painted stick. You could also make one large jelly fish and hang the smaller ones underneath. That method would be cute if hanging your jelly fish up under a light, in the center of a room.

We hung our jelly fish by stringing them onto fishing line and tying the line to a paperclip underneath each one. Some hung on their own, while others had a second jelly fish hanging underneath. Get creative and have fun with it! 

When doing projects like this, it's definitely easier to have the jelly fish hanging while you are tying them on rather than laying flat on the ground. 

Put them up to display and enjoy!!!

Pine Cone Flowers

Have I mentioned before how much I love Fall?! So many things to find and create with...like these mini-pine cones! I've been thinking of making "pine cone flowers" for months now, and when L and I found these miniature ones it was a done deal. 

Materials needed:

-miniature pine cones

-twigs (the more lil knobs and branches the better)

-acrylic paints

-hot glue gun and glue

First, choose what colors you'd like your "flowers" to be...we choose multi-colored! Paint each little pine cone as you like. Set aside to dry.

Next, paint your twigs a mixture of dark and light greens. Allow to dry.

Once everything is dry, you can assemble your pine cone flowers. Using a hot glue gun, put a little dab of glue on the tip of a twig. Quickly press and hold a pine cone in place. Repeat until all your pine cones are used up. 

So cute, huh!? Arranged in a little, antique bottle they make a sweet gift for a child or an adult.