Our Little Fairy Oasis

The April edition of Family Fun had the cutest idea for a Toad Abode/Fairy House.  My daughter and I fell completely in love with it.  We ripped the picture out of the magazine and it has been hanging on our fridge ever since.

 

Family Fun Toad Abode Project

 

  On Monday, my little girl's sixth birthday, we decided it was time to start our little project.  With apprehension as a non gardener, I entered the gardening section of Lowe's and wandered throughout the whole section.  Thankfully, a few employees took pity on me and helped me find a few of the items I needed. 

 

After an hour of time and $67.00, we walked out with some plants, rocks, a pot base, moss, potting soil, a hose and tiles.  Wow.  Expensive!  If you are going to do this project, expect it to cost quite a bit.

 

Now we had all of the gardening supplies, but still needed a house and some miniature animals and furniture.  I live in a small town, so I'm pretty limited on stores.  Someone suggested the IFA store, which I'm guessing stands for International Farmers of America since I live in a farming community.  I decided to brave it and had quite a bit of fun.  They had baby chicks and so many other things you just don't see in the big city.

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything but bird feeders, but I did luck out and found a hamster house that would work perfectly.  Then I picked up a miniature bunny and frog.  I'm still on the lookout for miniature furniture to put on our patio and a fence, but we can add that later.

 

Family Fun is pretty vague on the items you'll need, so I thought I'd share what I picked up.

 

What You'll Need

• Potting Soil
• Pea Gravel/Small Rocks
• Sheet Moss
• 3 kinds of plants (This is entirely up to you, but make sure you get something that doesn't spread.)
• A sheet of miniature tile from the tile section at Lowe's or Home Depot (They are all attached to one sheet, just decide how big you want it and cut.  I found the cheapest sheet for $3.00.)
• Large plastic plant saucer (Mine was about 20" and already had punch out drainage holes.  If it doesn't, you'll have to drill some holes in the bottom.)
• Bird house (I used a wooden hamster house and painted it.)
• Miniature animals (They have these in every toy section in most stores.  I've seen them at Walmart, Target, and Michael's, but I can't remember the brand name.  It does start with an S though.)
• Miniature patio furniture (We are still on the lookout for this, but Family Fun said they used a Calico Critters toy set.  I googled this and they have this brand at Toys R Us, but no patio furniture.  We'll keep looking!)
• Miniature fence set (Another piece of the puzzle we are searching for.  I guess you can find mini fences at any craft store, but alas, there is not one in my small town.)

And for those who are visual like myself:

 

The hamster house with mini animals and paints.

Our gardening supplies

Basic Potting Soil

The only bag I could find was large, but it was the same price as a small bag of decorative rocks.  So I bought it.

There were a few kinds of moss.  I chose the greenest.  Who knew moss came in bags!?

Begonias and two other plants, but I have no idea what kind they are!

Sheet of miniature tiles

Plastic plant saucer

 

 And then put it all together and what do you get?!

 

The finished product! (Minus the chairs and fence.)

We love it and keep looking outside to see if any fairies have taken up residence.

 This is a super fun (although pricey) gardening project.  I felt like a little girl again as we were putting it all together.  I can hardly wait for visitors to see what they think!

Smiles,
Vanessa