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