4 Post Fairy Bed

Create a lovely fairy bed for use as a decoration or imaginative play.

The inspiration for this piece was a posting over at The Magic Onions. http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairys-bed.html

Items used:

• Popsicle or craft sticks
• Silk flowers and leaves
• Sea shells
• Fabric paint or glitter glue
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Craft scissors
• Clear acrylic spray (optional)

To make the bed, use the craft scissors to cut one of the sticks in half. Glue down 6 sticks to each piece of the cut half.

Glue down the the flower and leaves to the top fo the bed.

Glue a shell to each corner of the bed on the bottom.

To make the posts, use two sticks and glue a small conical shell about 1/2 inch from each edge so the open side is up. Put a stick in each shell and glue the stick to shell.

Glue a conical shell to the top of each post then decorate with fabric paint or glitter glue.

Glue the posts to the bottom of the bed. Spray with clear acrylic paint for protection from elements if using for an outside decoration.

Monte Cristo Sandwich

Fabulous sandwich for a brunch! I had never heard of this sandwich until I saw a friend a work eating one and she told me how she made it. I made ours savory with mustard and mayo, but it you prefer sweet you can skip that and drizzle with syrup, jelly or jam. Items use:

• 12 slices bread (best if it is starting to go stale)
• 1 12 oz. pkg of ham
• 6 slices swiss cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• Spray oil
• Mustard (optional)
• Mayo or Miracle Whip (optional)
• Large frying pan
• Baking or cookie sheet
• Spatula

Put pan on stove and turn on to medium high heat and spray bottom and sides with spray oil. Mix eggs, milk and cinnamon in a bowl. Beat until well mixed Dip bread in egg mixture on both side and then place in pan to toast for a few minutes. Check to see if toasted and when toasted flip and toast on the other side. Continue until all slices are toasted. Once both sides are toasted, place on baking or cookie sheet and spread and alternate spreading one piece with mustard and the other with mayo.

Alternate putting a slice of Swiss Cheese on one side and 5-6 slices of ham on the other side of the toast. Preheat an oven to 300 degrees.

Put sandwiches together and place in the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Put on plate then serve.

Fairy Bathroom

The original inspiration for this was the following post at http://filthwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/07/fairy-houses-and-fairy-wings-for-your.html The outside was a liquid laundry soap container that was throughly washed and the front has been cut out. I then used some silk flowers from the dollar store and glued them on the outside. On the inside is the fairy bath on the lefthttp://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/2009/09/fairy-bath.html and the fairy commode on the right: http://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/2009/09/fairy-commode.html

Fairy Bath

Make a fairy bath out of shells for a fairy garden or small action figures.

This is a project that I found over at The Magic Onions with a picture tutorial and knew it was perfect for my own fairy garden.

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairys-bath.html

Items needed (all of them you can pick up at the dollar store):

• Bag of decorative shells
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Pick out from the bag of shells 1 large scallop shell for the tub, 4 small scallop shells for the feet of the tub and 1 small conical shell for the faucet.

Position the four samll shells for the feet and test out by putting the large shell until it sits level, then apply glue to the small shells and place the large shell on top of them. Glue the small conical shell to the straight edge of the large shell.

DVD CASE TENT OR LEAN-TO

Turn at DVD case into a tent or lean-to for a fairy garden or small action figures. Items used:

• DVD Case with plastic cover on front and back
• Popsicle or Craft Sticks
• Glue gun and glue sticks

Remove the paper insert from the case.

Start by inserting one of the sticks vertically lining up towards the top and then glue then lift of the edge down with the hot glue. Then insert a stick horizontally on the bottom. Continue then to insert sticks vertically until you get to the middle. Put another stick in horizontally at the bottom and push the other stick slightly out on the other side so each side has approximately the same amount of the stick peeking out on each side. Then continue inserting sticks vertically until the case is full, then lift of the last stick and use the hot glue gun to glue the stick to the case.

Repeat the above steps for the other side.

Tiny Rock Furniture

Make rock furniture for a Fairy Garden or could be adapted used for action figures or small dolls. I had originally seen this over at One Pretty thing and a tutorial with much more clear pictures and instructions are at The Magic Onions http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-fairy-furniture-chair-and.html

Items used:

• 1 bag small decorative stones
• 1 bag large decorative stones
• Glue gun and glue sticks

All items are from the dollar store.

Pick out the stones you want to use for the table - you will need 1 large stone and two small stones.

Pick out the stones to make the chair. You will need two large stones and four small stones.

Use the hot glue gun to glue the two stones to the bottom of table.

Glue the stones to the bottom of the chair.

Glue the top of the stone to the seat of the chair.

Fairy Commode

Make a fairy commode out of sea shells because fairies need to answer the call of Mother Nature too.

Items used:

• 1 bag of shells
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

I got the bag of decorative shells for $1 from the dollar store. Pick out the shells that you want to use - I used 3 small scallop shells and 1 small conical shell.

Stand on of the scallob shells on its side and turn the other one upside down to make the lid and bowl.

Turn the other scallop shell upside down to make a base and glue the bottom of the bowl to the base, then glue the conical shell on one of the sides to create a flush handle.

Sweet Broccoli Salad

I have to apologize for the less than stellar pictures I have been posting lately as my good camera went out and I have been using my old Mustek.

This is a different version that I posted here, but has much sweeter flavor and almost tasted like a dessert salad.

http://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/2009/07/broccoli-salad.html

Ingredients 1 12oz bag broccoli slaw or rainbow salad 1/2 onion, chopped 1 3 oz bag of bacon bits or a few strips of fried bacon, crumbled 1 cup of Miracle Whip 2 1/2 TBSP white vinegar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts

Fly Pod

Upcycle an emply Arizona Ice Tea Bottle into a Fly Pod.

This is another decoration that I made for my Fairy/Whimsy Garden and had originally started out as just another fairy house until I started decorating the bottle and noticed it sort of looked like the pods that were in the the Jeff Goldbloom version of "The Fly" and decided to turn it into a fly pod.

Items used for this project:

• 1 large Arizona tea plastic bottle
• Xacto knife or box cutter
• White Spray paint
• Silk flowers and ribbon (optional)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks (optional)

I started by cutting small holes in the lid, inserted the flowers in the holes then hot glued the stems from the underside of the cap then screwed the cap back on.

I used an Xacto knife to cut out an opening for the pod . You might want to use a box cutter as the plastic is very sturdy.

In a well ventalated area (I did it outside) spray white spray paint inside the opening of the bottle to fully coat the inside white and allow it to dry.

I left my bottle brown on the outside and I thought the black would be to harsh to go with the other items I have out, but for a more realistic look you might want to paint the outside black or silver.

FLYMAN

Turn an action figure into a fly man!

This is basically a version of the Fairy Angel that I made

http://craftsandcreationswithkathy.blogspot.com/2009/09/fairy-angel.html

For this project I used a 20oz Diet Coke Bottle, and made didn't curve the wings but made them for straight to resemble that of a fly and used a blue rubber band around the center of the wings and then around the action figures waist, then used a few dabs hot glue gun between the wings and the action figure to secure them.

Fairy Angel

Turn a figurine or doll into an fairy.

The inspiration for this project by Filth Wizardry where she made a Barbie into a fairy using paper wings (she even has a template for making the wings on her site)

http://filthwizardry.blogspot.com/2009/07/fairy-houses-and-fairy-wings-for-your.html

Items used:

• Doll or figurine
• Clear plastic soda bottle
• Thin elastic or rubber band
• Sharpie markers
• Craft Scissors and/or Xacto knife
• Hot glue and glue gun

For this project I bought the figurine at the dollar store and that was my only cost out of pocket. The plastic was a 20 oz Diet Coke bottle and the elastic was from the tag attached to the figurine.

To determine the size of the wings, I put the figurine next to the bottle and then decided where I wanted to cut the bottle.

I then used a sharpie to freehand the wings shape on the bottle.

Use craft scissors and/or an Xacto knife to cut out the wings. I started cutting the bottle with the Xacto knife, then used the craft scicssors to finish cutting out.

Use the markers to create and color any design you want on the wings.

Slide the circle of elastic or rubber band around the center of the wings and continue until you have just enough stretch to slide it over the figurine or doll at the waist and do so(you may have to try it a few times to get it right - you don't want it too tight or too loose).

Pull up the wings slightly and use the hot glue gun to add small dabs of glue to the figurine or doll to secure the wings, then press the wings down.

MY FAIRY/WHIMSY GARDEN

Items Left to Right Angel fairy, rock frog, toad house, part of an old Winnie the Pooh playhouse, fairy houses and paper bag mushroom, a barrel, fly pod with fly man. In the center is the frog pond with a rock frog on a lily pad. As my garden was obliterated by the lawn service, I decided to make the area a fairy/whimsy garden using dollar store items and recycled items and have entered it into Craftster's Dollar Store Challenge. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=319872.0 I have already posted tutorials for several of the items here and links that have inspired the projects. The garden itself is still a work in process and as I run across inspirations or come up with ideas, I will add to it. Here is another item that I added after the above picure was taken - it is a wooden lean-to made out of a DVD case.