Semi Permanent Indoor Fairy/ Gnome Garden: Mailbox, Ladder and Sign

Marc Erick
by Marc Erick
4 Materials
2 Hours
Easy
Greetings ! If you are following these posts, you know that I am in the middle of making a gnome village which I'm building into my entertainment stand. It's taking a little longer than I expected because I keep changing it up and adding things! 😊 I began with a bonfire and bridge and continued from there. In this post, I made three little items to go into the village; a mailbox, ladder and sign. After this, it's time to put it all together! (that is, unless I come up with, yet another, project for the village 😊)
ANYWAY, the materials I used for this project are: a wine cork, several small branch/sticks, small pieces of thin wood (balsa) , moss, left over paint, 2 small rocks, scrap Styrofoam, tacky glue, xacto knife, Sharpe markers (thin) and a paint brush.
For the ladders, use two thin sticks about the same size, mine were about 7 inches long, and lay them side by side. Take another thin branch and cut into equal lengths, about an inch or so. Then, simply 'dot' tacky glue, evenly along each stick (longer ones) and gently press the smaller cut pieces down, creating the steps.
Next, brush tacky glue (or modPodge) over the entire ladder. This will give it some added support and a nice finish.
Allow to dry completely and we're done! You now have a simple rustic ladder... or a fence! I think it could also be used as a train track! 😊
Now we'll make the mailbox and sign. We'll do this kind of together, as they are similar . Begin by taking a small piece of Styrofoam and glue it to the top side of the rocks. This is the base of both projects. Then, paint the Styrofoam any dark color ... really doesn't matter what color, we just want to cover up the white!
For the mailbox, take the wine cork and cut it lengthwise, making a bottom for it. Then, make a cut from the top edge down to the bottom, almost all the way through, allowing the cut piece to fold down for the door of the mailbox.
Next, I painted the cork, using the same paint as the Styrofoam, added some detail (border, nails) with a sharpie. I cut a little flag out of cardstock, using an xactoknife, and attached it to the wine cork.(needed my readers for this step😀)
Using a bit of tacky glue, gently push the cork into a small stick. The one I used was about 4 inches long, with a small 'y' at the top.
Gently press the bottom of the branch into the Styrofoam/rock. Next, add moss to the base
And there you have it!
The rock gets buried in the soil . My apologies for the awful pic 😊
Now for the sign... Begin the same way as before with the Styrofoam and rock, making the base for the sign.
Using the thin wood, (I used scrap balsa wood) cut out your signs using an xacto knife or scissors. I made three of these, about 2 inches and kind of 'distressed' each side.
Brush 'em with tacky glue and allow to dry. This is important, it will keep the ink from bleeding when you do the lettering.
After they have dried, write your message using a sharpie. Give them another coat of tacky glue for shine. Glue the signs to another small twig or stick, gently press the bottom of the twig into the Styrofoam/rock base and finish by adding moss.
And now you have a sign for your fairy or gnome garden!
I hope you enjoyed these little projects and it inspired you to create your own gnome or fairy garden! You can check out my[url= http://www.hometalk.com/diy/outdoor/garden/se... house[url/] too!
Now I just have to put it all together and complete my indoor gnome village!😊
Thank you so much for viewing and have a magical day!
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