Make a Garden Trail with Fairies and Bostik

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

 

 

 

My Three Favourite… Things In My Lounge

It’s our second ‘My Three Favourite…’ post Anne of our sister site and shop AngelEden.co.uk tells us her three favourite things in her lounge. Take it away Anne:

First it’s my fire guard. I was on a walk one bank holiday when I came across a small garage sale. I was immediately drawn to the fire guard, it was covered in paint and had broken glass. I bought it for just £3.00, I intended to try and renovate it, but if I failed at least I had not wasted much money.

The lady who sold it to me said her aunt had worked the tapestry during World War II, but by this point it had stood in her garage for many years. I removed the broken glass and vacuumed the tapestry. Next I stripped the wood and then applied several coats of wax. Once it was cleaned up I realised that the colours of the picture suited my lounge perfectly and it now has pride of place on the hearth.

I love the shape and design of this music stand which is made by Malcolm Smith. It’s carved from Walnut and although I don’t actually play an instrument, I use it to display pictures and books. Malcolm has a small workshop and showroom in Cromford in Derbyshire and it’s well worth a visit.

Finally I love my group of fairies made by Rebecca Morledge. Rebecca does fantastic illustrations, but also makes a whole crowd of fairies and these were made just for me in the colours I requested.

A Magical and Crafty Woodland Competition!

It felt about time for another blog competition so I am bringing you something that I’m particularly excited about!

 

Today we are offering one lucky winner the chance to win one of our brand new Oak Leaf Badge Craft Kits and a brand new copy of Fantastic Fairies by Julie Sharp.

You may have noticed that we have a few craft kits now available at the Angel Eden store. However this is one of our new boxed kits. It has everything you need to make two felt oak leaf badges. How about keeping one for yourself and giving the other to a friend? This is one of several boxed craft kits that we debuted at  fairs just before Christmas and they were very popular with our customers. They haven’t yet made it to the website, but don’t worry they will be coming soon. If you would like to be added to our waitlist for when they arrive just send me a quick email.

The winner will also receive a copy of Fantastic Fairies by Julie Sharp. You may remember that I reviewed this book last year. I have enjoyed it so much that I felt I had to share it with you all. So to go with your badges you will be able to make some magical fairies. A truly woodland inspired prize.

How To Enter

As usual it’s ridiculously easy to enter our comp (open to readers worldwide!):

1. Follow this blog publicly (using either Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin on the right) and leave a comment mentioning you are following the blog (current followers need only comment). Remenber to leave your email or twitter so I can contact you if you win.

Extra entries – for each extra entry leave a comment to let me know:

1. Tweet about the comp for an extra entry

2. Like our page on Facebook (link to the left)

The competition will end at midnight 17th Feb 2011.