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May 3, 2013

Fairy Houses - Cork Fairy House Tutorial


Our latest fairy house is made of a toiletpaper roll, sturdy paper and cork!
I'm very happy with the result because it is made of recycled materials, 
very light and easy to make even with children.
When you are working with children I recommend preparing the paper houses and corkslices in advance so the children can do the painting and decorating.

Here is my tutorial for you;


Required Materials;  
                                                
- Toiletpaper roll
- Sturdy paper
- Glue and optional a hot glue gun              
- Waterpaint (earth tones)
- Scissors and pen
- Small plate size app. 20 cm
- Corks
- Sharp knife or small handsaw
- Decoration like moss, birch bark,
   tiny branches and snailhouses
- Optional; materials for a fairy
   (felt, pipe cleaners, wooden beads)


1 - Cover the toiletpaper roll with the sturdy paper.
2 - Fold the paper at the ends inside the roll.
3 - Create a circle on a sheet of the paper using the plate as a template.
     Cut it out with scissors and make a cut in the circle all the way to the center.
4 - Create a cone by overlapping the ends of the cut and secure them with glue.
5 - Glue the cone into the top of the paper roll.

These cute little paper houses can also be used for all kinds of different crafts,
 like covering them with fabric or hanging them by threads.


6 - Use a knife or a small handsaw to cut off slices of cork. At this point I started glueing the slices of cork onto the roof of the house, but later I realized that it is better to paint the house first. Let it dry completely and then start adding the corks.
7 - Start at the top of the roof with half slices and work your way down using whole slices.
8 - Now you can fill the cracks between the cork slices with dried moss.


9 - Add some glue with a glue brush and press a bit of dried moss into the cracks using a small stick or the end of a teaspoon.
10 - For the window you can prick a hole in the paper roll and cut out a square with your scissors.
11 - Cover the window frames with bark and paint the inside of the rol in a warm fairy color.
Finally you can create a chimney from a branch, bark and a snail shell.
12 - Optional; create a tiny fairy using this pattern or use another figurine to look out of the window. (I have painted the felt of this fairy afterwards with watercolor paint and a brush)


And there it is a new sweet fairy house! You can hang it or place it on a fairy 'tree' like I did. I used a thick birch branch of app. 25 cm long and 5 slices of birch and 5 corks to create this 'tree'. Using a hot glue gun I attached the slices of birch around the branch using the corks as crutches. Then I glued the branch onto a terracotta plate and decorated it with moss and birch.

In the evening when a small beeswax candle is burning in front of the fairy house it is simply magical!

Shared on;
The Magic Onions - Friday's Nature Table
Natural Suburbia - Creative Friday
Made by Joey - Sharing Creative Ideas
Like Mama Like Daughter - Eco Kids Tuesday
Frontier Dreams - Keep Calm and Craft on

28 comments:

  1. Oh my... your fairy house is gorgeous! Please consider sharing it with us at Eco-Kids Tuesday... either this week or next!

    http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/search/label/Eco-Kids%20Tuesday

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  2. Thank you Hannah, I will :)

    Have a lovely weekend,
    xx sas

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    Replies
    1. I am still in awe! That little snail hat makes me smile everytime! Thanks for sharing with us last week at Eco-Kids Tuesday! Hope you stop by again today!

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    2. :) Thank you so much Hannah and I will stop by today!
      xxx sas

      Delete
  3. I am sooo making this, along with your gnome home :)
    My son would rather make an elf house or gnome home, as it is the more "manly" thing to do, lol! He has been collecting unbroken snail shells for chimneys and planters and such.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha this really made me smile, but perhaps it is time for a 'manly' outdoor gnome home hmm.
      Thank you for the inspiration I will post the outcome!

      So lovely to hear he is collecting snailshells for chimneys and planters...heartwarming hihi
      Have a lovely weekend, xx sas

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  4. How beautiful! Thanks for sharing on Creative Friday, Natural Suburbia:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Linda !
      And thank you for hosting Creative Friday, I have already discovered some wonderful new blogs.

      Wishing you a lovely weekend,
      warm greetings xx sas

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  5. What a really nice idea and so easy to rebuild.
    Best greatings from Bavaria
    Susi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm very happy with it too because of the simple materials and it is very easy to customize the design.
      For the next one I'm going to use snail shells for the roof :)

      Thank you and have a wonderful weekend,
      warm greetings from Holland xx sas

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  6. Oh how wonderful! You are so creative!! We will try this for sure :-)

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    Replies
    1. Would love to see your version, I'm sure it will be just lovely!
      Have a great weekend and thank you,
      xx sas

      Delete
  7. thanks for a great tutorial - and I adore the little snail shell hat on your fairy

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    Replies
    1. You're welcome Jennifer
      - I'm always happy when I find these tiny snail shells!

      Have a lovely weekend and thank you for stopping by,
      xx sas

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  8. Sas, you continue to amaze me with your sweet little homes. How ever do you come up with so many different versions?! Each one has such character!
    Thank you for sharing with the Sharing Creative Ideas readers!
    ~ joey ~

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    Replies
    1. Oh, thank you for the lovely compliment Joey!

      My inspiration is always linked to the materials I can get. Yesterday some neighborhood kids brought me a basket with snail shells , so now I'm trying to to create something with these shells!

      Thank you for hosting Sharing Creative Ideas and a hug from Holland,
      xx sas

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  9. Lovely post and tutorial. I Google 1+d it.
    --Karen from Bridgit's Bell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, so nice to see you here and thank you for Google1+ing it :)
      I should look into that soon, I'm still not familair with Google1+

      warm greetings
      xx sas

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  10. Your house is so cute, and looks like it is much more complicated to make than it is.

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  11. My thoughts exactly hihi!
    Thank you for the lovely comment

    warm greetings
    xxx sas

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  12. Looks just out of a dream! What a gorgeous fairy house. Thanks for sharing.
    Luciana

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your lovely compliment Luciana!
      xxx sas

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  13. Oh what an absolutely wonderful fairy house! I just popped over from Frontier Dreams KCCO post and I'm so happy I did. This is going to be so much fun to try making with my daughter :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So nice to see you here Rosina,
      I prepare the houses in advance and my toddler son decorates them, he loves it!

      Have fun with your daughter,
      warm greetings xx sas

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  14. Replies
    1. Thank you Dee,
      nice to hear you like it :)
      xx sas

      Delete
  15. This is also super cute! My cousins grew up in the Waldorf tradition and I was always so jealous of their cool crafts.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for the lovely comment!

      I'm very happy with it myself too because I can use this base for all different kinds of houses :)

      warm greetings xx sas

      Delete

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xx sas