Saturday, July 05, 2008

The Fairy Life

Hi Knitters,
Behind a large bleeding heart bush in our backyard are two brand-new fairy houses.
My fairy-loving daughter and I constructed an archway out of an old basket handle. We wound pieces from her collection of natural wonders around the arch. I wound some green cotton around the archway to hold the stems in place. This will be placed at the entry way to one of the fairy homes.
This house was made out of an old birdhouse I had sitting in my studio. We covered it with pieces of birch bark and leaves. The roof is covered with flowers and some hay-like stuff I had in my studio. Where I got that I'll never know.
The house is sitting upon a terracotta pot covered with leaves. While all of this was drying my daughter built another fairy house using other finds from her collection. We used glue and a staple gun to apply the pieces to the house.
This house is made from sticks tied together up top to form a tent-like structure. Included here are seashells, pine cones, rocks and feathers. Some sand from the sandbox forms the path to the door. There is a seashell bed with a cut piece of white fleece for the fairy pillow and blanket.
After the birdhouse dried it was placed on the other side of the bleeding heart.
Now we'll just have to wait and see....
...if any fairies claim these for their homes, fingers crossed.

I wish I was 9.
best, susie

19 comments:

Betz White said...

so sweet, they turned out great! any fairy in her right mind would surely move right in!

Anonymous said...

How TRULY lovely!

Peggy said...

What a cute idea! I'll have to see if my girls want to make some fairy houses for our garden.

Jani said...

You wish you were 9 - I wish I was a fairy! What a magical world your girl has created - I'm so glad you shared it with us. :^)

Terrie D. (StarSpry) said...

Those are great! You should have fairies in no time :)

ellen said...

Your lovely daughter enchants me with her wide eyed gaze and love of nature's beauty. I'll bet she would love my collection of bird nests.
Thanks for sharing. I enjoy my visit every time!

Jennifer said...

Creativity certainly runs in the family. I have a question about the bleeding hearts plant. Do you cut it back after the flowers die? My plants are looking pretty sorry (and truthfully a bit of an eye sore) but I don't want to trim them back and kill them. What do you do?

Susan B. Anderson said...

Jennifer,
I do absolutely nothing and I don't have a clue about how to take good care of the bleeding heart plant. Mine seem fine without any care.
Sorry, I'm no help on this.
susan

Jeannie D said...

Oh my! These Fairie Houses are so wonderful! My friend and I are making "scarecrows" next week to keep the groundhogs and bunnies away from our gardens...do you think they will frighten the Fairies as well? ;O)
PS You're still 9 when you need to be!

Annie said...

How enchanting! LOVE your little collector and her imagination. She is so precious. Have you seen the site urban-fairies.com? go look and show your daughter. Also, google "wee fairy doors" and read the NPR article.
You'll have to get her the book "Fairy Houses...Everywhere" and try to get your hands on the documentary "Kristen's Fairy House"
So much fun!

Annie said...

A couple more books...has she read Gail Carson Levine's Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg and the sequel Fiary Haven & the Quest for the Wand?

Annie said...

Sorry...one more book I thought of that my school kids have enjoyed: The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood by Barb Ullman.

Sara in WI said...

How wonderful!

Judi A. said...

I love how you encourage your daughter's creativity! Too often adults are too busy or call a child's ideas silly, and it makes me feel so good to know there is a girl out there whose mother lets her collect twigs and flowers and things and then helps her bring into reality the ideas in her head. I am sure a very special fairy will claim the house with the flowers on the roof because one of those flowers is a Queen Ann's Lace, and no fairy can resist the draw of a queen! I get a kick out of you just happening to have an old bird house and some "hay like stuff" - sounds like there's more than one collector in your family! I do wish all 9 year old girls had a mother like you!

Frauntene McLarney said...

You and the collector amaze and inspire me. My daughter is 4 and I hope that we have such magical things in our future. What beautiful houses and amazing imagination and creativity. I love it.

Anonymous said...

Your daughter is so imaginative and creative! Thanks for sharing with us-
Rene'

Songbird Mama said...

My 3 year old boy loves building fairie houses...every morning he checks their house to see if they have some to visit...
adorable and love the house you constructed!
have fun

Anonymous said...

That's so cute! Have you seen this:
http://urban-fairies.com/
I thought that was cute, I want to take my little cousin up to Ann Arbor, MI to see them :)

Tracy Batchelder said...

At 9 years old, it's more than a fantasy, it could really work. How fun!