Fairy garden!

I spent hours these last few days working in the yard.  Pictures of that will come along with future posts.  Today, however, is about something much more fun than hauling wheel barrows of dirt around.  Fairy gardens!
A few years ago, I ran across this sweet story.  I'm a sucker for whimsical storybook stuff.  Never outgrew the little girl laying in the top bunk reading her life away I suppose.  Closer to 50 than to 40, I still read children's books!  Someday when I have grandchildren, this will seem "normal."  In the meantime, I have a very imaginative inner child.  And so, fairy gardens.


Susan!



This is Mac's girl Susan and I have taken advantage of her girly nature and the fact that she has a five year old little sister & talked her into planting a fairy garden with me.  Turns out, daboyz weren't interested.  So off we went to Joann's to hunt for fairy garden supplies and found everything we needed to start our project.  Oh my goodness, this is one of the most fun hobbies ever!  At least if you're inner seven year old is demanding attention *grin*.  Let me give a little disclaimer as I know some folks are a bit disturbed by the fairy part of fairy gardening because of the rise in the Wiccan religion.  This is not a reflection of an actual belief in fairies or worship of nature.  It's just a charming miniaturized garden that someday those aforementioned grandchildren will be enthralled with.  Sort of like dollhouses, which also call out to me (maybe a winter time project?)  From start to finish, we spent less than 30 minutes arranging and planting our tiny garden and if you ask me, it's adorable.

Cute, right?  The 'shroom house and gazebo are simply birdhouses we picked up at Joann's and removed the hanging ropes.  We glued moss to the roof of the gazebo.  The live plants are ground cover and the moss is packaged for indoor or outdoor projects (I want to pick up some live moss, Lowe's didn't have any.)  It's hard to see the detail but the shrubs are miniature fake bushes and the gnomes are resin.  The frogs are Susan's Inspirational Frogs, if you look closely their flower pots say faith, hope, love.  Oh, and here's a view that shows you the picket fence~

Fairy gardens are all over the Internet and Pinterest if you are truly interested.  They can be planted in beds, like we did, or in containers.  You can spend a lot of money on this little hobby, like all hobbies.  We started off with about a $40 investment but you could spend much less.  After we planted it, I went on Amazon and spent $10 more on a cement bird bath, bench for the gazebo (at my mom's request,) and a tiny red tin bucket.  Not only is this charming and whimsical for your inner child, or an actual child should you have one ;) but it's a way to garden without the physical work-out of human sized gardening.  You could even plant a little container garden inside your home! 

Some people are just not wired for the world of imaginary villages and fairy tales.  They'll think this is pretty silly.  Which is fine because silliness is a very important aspect of enjoying life if you ask me!  As for me, it's just fun. 

Don't be surprised if this little garden keeps growing into a village!