Get Out and PLAY Event - Day 20
Everyone that knows me understands my deep love of everything miniature. While I was hoping my daughter would take an interest in miniatures as well, I was thrilled when I realized that she might love them even more than I do. Because of our shared love {and my apparent need for yet another hobby}, we decided we were going to create a miniature fairy garden in our backyard this spring.
Because, really, what kid doesn't want to create a miniature world in their own backyard?
I didn’t search long to find our inspiration for the fairy garden, because Plow & Hearth, one of my favorite stores ever, had the perfect starting point. Sold in either a "fairy town" or "fairy village" set or in individual pieces, Plow & Hearth has the cutest little fairy village accessories ever. From windmills to cottages to official fairy mail, the collection has everything you could possibly want for creating a fairy haven.
While it didn’t take me long to find the fairy accessories, what did take long was deciding which of their collection I loved the most. I finally decided on getting our town in pieces instead of a set because of the great prices as well as the fact that I fell in love with some of the individual buildings which were too adorable to pass up. And, when our collection of goodies arrived, it was even cuter in person.
Unfortunately, our plans for a garden in early spring were shattered when the words “frost” and “snow” and then “rain” made it into every weather report for months. Luckily, my daughter enjoyed playing with the fairy village in the comfort of home so much that she forgot they were actually supposed to go outside. So, when the weather cleared and we were finally able to bring the accessories out to dig and create, the look on her face was simply priceless.
From the ground work all the way to the finishing touches, the fairy garden we have created has been a fun project for the whole family. Whether we are dreaming up new additions to the design or are outside digging in the soil and learning about nature together, the memories we have created together are truly incredible.
Now that the project is complete, I love watching our daughter play in “her” garden for hours, finding bugs and worms as well as playing with the little accessories we’ve added throughout. Even though we are incredibly happy with the way it turned out, we are always on the hunt for more additions to the town and have found that the creative process is just as fun as actually playing with it once it’s built.
Are you interested in creating your own mini village? Of course you are!
Here are some tips to get you started:
- Start with a shady part of your yard. We chose a spot right under a tall tree, so she could play out there for hours without being out in the direct sun. Added bonus: the tree just makes the garden feel even more magical and like it’s her private “world”.
- Prepare the ground by removing large stones, sharp objects, or large plants that would look out of place in a miniature garden. We dug up all the grass out of that portion of the yard and then brought in transplanted moss to act as fairy “grass” and then planted some great ground covers that will eventually spread and become a lush fairy landscape. If you would like to grow your own moss, you can even buy a great “moss milkshake” from HearthSong
- Add some height to your design. We used rock planters and turned them upside down to act as hills for the houses to sit upon. You could use large stones, mounds of dirt, or simply build your fairy village on a slanted surface.
- Place the houses, buildings, and accessories from Plow & Hearth in town formation. We put the wishing well and fairy mail station in the center of our design, the working windmill on the highest point, the two cottages around the well, and the mill house along the “river bank” to add to the village feel, but part of the fun of creating your own town is that there is no wrong way to design it!
Add in extra botanical accents like small-leaf herbs and plants, or small budding flowers. For our garden we chose the blue star creeper, thyme, and some cute little succulents, as well as some green ground covers that were all sized appropriately for our village scale. Note: If you have young kids, you can get some great edible options for these and, as a huge bonus, you can actually eat what your kids grow!
- Have fun building and creating little accessories on your own. For our design, we added hand painted pinch pots, fused glass stepping stones, a twig trellis, some mama-made polymer clay gnomes and mushrooms, handmade garden markers, and some $1 store mini animals and plastic fence, all of which make the garden simply enchanting as well as fun for hours of play.
- Sit back and adore.
If you have a small child, have a love of miniatures, or simply have a lackluster yard, a fairy village from Plow & Hearth is a great way to add interest. Whether you are sprucing up an under-utilized portion of your yard or are giving the kids their own place to play and dig, you are sure to create what is quite possibly the coolest garden hideaway ever.
Find the whole miniature fairy garden set at Plow & Hearth as well as hundreds of other decor, furniture, and accessories for making your home and yard a haven. http://www.plowhearth.com/
Thanks to their generosity, one lucky Rave and Review reader will win a $50 Gift Card to spend at Plow & Hearth!
To Enter: Simply visit Plow and Hearth and tell me what you would buy with your $50 gift card.
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A big thank you to Plow & Hearth for providing the garden accessories for review as well as offering a giveaway to our fabulous readers. All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this very Rave Review. Pictured: Miniature Fairy Village Working Windmill, Miniature Fairy Village Alpine Cottage, Miniature Fairy Village Woods Cottage, Miniature Fairy Village Wishing Well, Miniature Fairy Village Mill, and Miniature Fairy Mailbox from Plow & Hearth
