Tutorial Tuesday - How to Make Fairy Furniture - Fairy Princess Bed

Well, again, my Tutorial Tuesday is a bit late, but when you have kids and a busy family life, sometimes your creative endeavors get put on the back burner.

Anyway, with my 'pot still simmering', I will bring it to front burner now and share how to make a Fairy Princess Bed!

It is very simple and I always use bits and pieces of crafting materials I have in my crazy craft closet.

 Quick Tip-  Re-use those plastic baby wipe containers for crafting scraps!  I have them labeled for ribbon, flowers, beads, stamps, etc.





You will Need:
A small jewelry box with lid
Ribbon
Scissors
Flowers (Dried or Fake-  I use fake when making something for kids so that it can withstand play)
Hot Glue Gun- I use a high-temp gun, but if you are not used to working with one, use a low-temp gun!
Decorative Paper

 

1.  First, take your jewelry box lid and cut only one side of it and remove that end.  See photos:

2.  Attach the lid to the box as this forms a tiny headboard.

3.  Measure the decorative paper and cover the inside, bottom, back and sides of the box.  Remember that you will be adding ribbon and flowers, so it is not necessary to totally wrap everything, just cover what you know will show through the ribbon and other decorations.

4.  After adding the paper, just start covering the bed in layers.  I used the ribbon with beads next and wrapped the edge of the bed in the first layer of ribbon.  Then, I started to picture where the flowers should go and put the first ones on.

4.  I decided to add more layers of ribbon and of course, more flowers.  I added the dark green leaf to form a canopy over the bed.  It is attached on the top-underside of the headboard.

5. To brighten up the bed, I attached one more flower and made it orange and yellow.  Then finally I filled the bed with hydrangea blossoms.

And that is it!  A lovely little fairy princess bed for your own fairy princess.

:-D
Happy Crafting!

Tutorial Tuesdays - How to make Fairy Furniture - Treasures Cabinet

Hello Everyone!

My niece is really getting into fairy things (hooray!) and I LOVE making fairy creations for her.  I am making furniture for her to go with a fairy house I made a while back.  Today I will show you how I make Treasure Cabinets (that are used as Fairy Trading Cabinets during the holidays and there will a post about THAT). 

Most of my fairy furniture is made from 'found things' but this cabinet is sold at Michaels for a dollar.  Kids LOVE that they can open the little doors and actually put little treasures inside.

What you need:

Little cabinet
Crayola Water Colors
Paint brush
Decoupage Spray - High Gloss- Acid Free
Fine Glitter or Fine Glitter Embossing Powder
Markers

Simply paint the cabinet with your watercolors.  Use less water to make the colors more vivid.  The wood is so fine that it acts like paper, so it accepts watercolor readily.  I like using watercolor more than acrylic since it seems more fairy-ish for some reason.  I usually wind up putting on several layers of color to make it pop.  Definitely let it dry before adding more color.  Put unusual colors together- like the ones you find in nature.  Pinks and greens with orange. Purple and fuschia with green.  Purple, green and yellow...just remember that watercolors will run a bit together and unless you want a brown color, put colors next to each other that blend well.  I like blues and greens fading into each other. 

After the cabinet is covered in color and dry, add decorative markings.  Swirls, dots, vines, etc.  I love to add markings that remind me of butterfly markings.  Remember that when you add the decorative touches, they will bleed slightly.  That is OK.  You will trace back over them with marker to make the effect you see on the back.

Once everything is dry again, take it outside to coat it in decoupage spray. 

While it is still wet, sprinkle on the glitter.  The more the better, I think.  It is easiest to open the little doors and spray the insides first and then move out.  Do not close the doors until they are dry on both sides.  The spray REALLY deepens the colors!

That is it!

Fill the cabinet with treasures and your special girl's imagination will take flight!

Happy Crafting,

Tutorial Tuesdays- How to Make Fairy Furniture- Bassinet and Gathering Table

We have a little fairy garden in our backyard full of all kinds of flowers.  I planted them as whimsically and free-form as I could and we love the result.  Very magical and oh, so 'very fairy'.

I added some fairy furniture to the garden including a color changing LED lit table!  The table is for the parents and the little bassinet hanging from the leaves of my cannas offers a safe place to keep a sleeping baby fairy since the parents usually stay up dancing all night.  ;-D
You will need:

• A hot glue gun
• Glass beads (large and small)
• A wedding favor tin with a clear plastic lid
• A large acorn or you can use a tea light candle holder
• Ribbon
• A large carnation or multi-petaled flower you can take apart
• LED light (optional)

Quick Tip-  I get my wedding favor boxes and tins at Michaels craft store using my 40% off coupon.  I can get 25-100 favors for around $10.00 and they are useful for SO many projects!  Jewelry boxes, candy presentation boxes, Christmas ornaments (which I will show you how to do a little later in the year) fairy furniture... 

1.  Heat up your hot glue gun and take out your party favor or wedding favor tin's lid.   Arrange your glass beads on the lid they way you like it.  You are trying to make a glass table top.  Hot glue them into place.
I use a clear plastic lid so the LED light will shine through the glass beads.

2. Take apart your carnation or multi-petaled flower completely.  Do not throw any part of the flower away as we will use it all!  With the two larger layers of petals, hot glue them to the UNDERSIDE of your favor lid.  This will hide the LED light but still allow the light to shine through the top.

Hot glue those petals on the underside.

Turn the lid right-side up, put the LED light in the tin and turn it on.

Set your lid on top of the LED light.  It will not be a tight fit, but will sit well.

3.  Now, for the bassinet.  Take your acorn or tea light (the metal thing that holds the tea light candle) and hot glue ribbon into it so that it can hang on a branch or leaf.  Make sure to NOT use your fingers to secure the ribbon to the hot glue.  Use your scissor blade or popsicle stick or something.  I have burned myself SO MANY TIMES.  ugh...

4. Take the smallest petals from the carnation and hot glue them into the acorn.  Then put a glass bead in the bottom of it and hot glue it in.

5.  Take the long stem from your flower and take the middle sized petals.  Turn the petals upside down so that they look like an umbrella and place them toward the top of the stem.  Take the flower's stamen and hot glue it to the petals so they stay in place.  Glue them from the top as well using other green parts of the flower. Now you have an umbrella!

6.  Find a good place on your acorn to hot glue the umbrella into place. Again, use a popsicle stick or something to hold the umbrella in place while it is adhering to hot glue.

7. And you are finished!  Go put them in your garden and let your kids imaginations run WILD.  :D

Happy Crafting!