Tag Archives: fairy

Make a Garden Trail with Fairies and Bostik

Posted on by Abi

fairytrail1Where’s summer gone?? If someone hasn’t asked you that question in the past week then you must’ve been been hiding somewhere far from human contact. Everyone wants to know when the sun will return and we can get back out of the house to enjoy reasonably pleasant weather. Apparently things are set to improve soon and when it does what better way to celebrate than getting creative with the kids before embarking on a hunt around the garden. With my tutorial you can make a garden trail with fairies and once again enjoy getting out of the house. This was made using craft supplies provided by Bostik as part of their Craft Ambassador scheme.

What You’ll Need

Wooden pegs or doll shapes

Fake petals, leaves and foliage garlands

Bostik Glu Dots

Green pipe cleaners

Miniature basket

Patterned tape

Small cardboard boxes (optional)

largefairy1

Larger Fairy

Begin by cutting a pipe cleaner to create legs. These can be stuck to the bottom of the fairy using a Glu Dot. Cut another two short pieces to make arms and fix into place.largefairy

Wrap some fake foliage around the middle of the fairy and secure using patterned tape to make a dress.largefairy3

Stick flower petals to the back of the head to create a bonnet. Then finish by sticking two larger leaves onto the back of the fairy to make wings.

Larger fairies work brilliantly if stuck onto a small cardboard box within which you can hide small sweets.

smallfairySmaller Fairy

To make the smaller fairy begin by using a glu dot to stick a leaf onto the back of your peg or shape. Wrap the leaf around the fairy as shown in this picture then stick with another glu dot.smallfairy2

Cut off one petal from a fake flower and stick onto the back of the head to make a bonnet.smallfairy3

Place the fairy into a basket.

fairytrail2The Trail

Hide all the fairies at various points around the garden. As I mentioned above I think it’s a nice touch if at least a couple of the fairies are hiding treats for the kids to find.fairytrail3

Variations

fairytrail4Our fairies are very simplistic in their design but you could of course add faces, googly eyes or anything else that comes to mind! We also made variations with fabric cone hats and tops.

fairytrail5

 

 

 

18 Comments (Leave a comment)

Fantastic Fairies! Book Review.

Posted on by Abi

I’m probably not alone when I say that I have always loved the magic of fairies. When I was little I had a fold out pop up book about Flower Fairies that I loved and carried on many trips. So when I had the opportunity to review a book teaching how to make your own I jumped at the chance. The book was Fantastic Fairies and their friends by Julie Sharp.

The book is filled with gorgeous pictures of fairies, mice, toadstools and bugs. But I’ll admit I found the prospect of making the fairies slightly daunting. They are made from surprisingly simple components such as pipe cleaners, but in a funny sort of way that made them seem harder (my experience of pipe cleaners is limited to the basic twisting required in primary school).

I would love to claim a huge success here, but this little lady is all down to my husband (who is a bit of a whizz when it comes to wire).

She took one evening (and a bit) to make. I think she is adorable (and have plans for him to make me many more).

Was she a success? You can judge from the pictures yourself, but I think she was very much a success!

Was there any issues or problems during her construction? The book requires you to reference techniques laid out at the back of the book. This means a lot of page turning and can become a little confusing after awhile. We also found that the tutorial told you to make one set of arms when another was featured in the picture.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, but it does require a fair amount of patience which I hadn’t expected. It’s more indepth and definitely more skilled than you might imagine. This doesn’t mean it isn’t worth having a go at though.

Could the book be improved? As I said earlier the instructions do jump around a bit which is a bit annoying, especially when your trying to master the basic techniques. The book would also benefit from giving you alternatives for some of the materials. We had to improvise with our fairies eyes because we could not for love nor money find any stores that sold ready made pom poms small enough.

I think the fairies and creatures would make wonderful Christmas presents. Perhaps attaching some ribbon to their heads so they could be given as decorations. I am particularly excited to make Bud The Mouse and a fairy toodstool.

Book Details

Title: Fantastic Fairies and Their Friends.

Author: Julie Sharp

ISBN: 9781861084620

RRP: £12.99

Publisher: GMC

Publication Date: Spring 2006.

 

2 Comments (Leave a comment)