Milk Jug Fairy House

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to be a guest camper in Design Dazzle's Summer Camp series.  I was so flattered that they asked me to join in on the fun!  There have been some really great and fun ideas, so I hope you've been following along.  But just in case you missed my post over there, I'm repeating it here for you.

If you have little girls you know that fairy gardens have been quite popular these last few years.  But, because they're primarily created in container pots or in the yard, they tend to get ruined when it rains.  This little fairy house, made with a milk jug, helps protect your fairies and it's easy to grab and bring inside if it looks like rain is coming.

Here is what you'll need to make one:
- Milk jug, rinsed out and labels removed (Goo Gone works very well to remove labels)
- Faux leaves, moss, flowers
- Exacto knife
- Sharpie (your choice of color)
- Fairy dolls, furniture

First thing you do is outline a door and windows with your Sharpie.  Then, use the exacto knife to carefully cut them out.  Once they're cut out, you can easily dry the inside of the jug with a paper towel.   Then, I used a purple Sharpie to embellish the door a little bit with a leaf garland.

To decorate my fairy house, I used some items I had leftover from a party. These were purchased from The Dollar Tree: faux moss, leaves and roses:

Now's the time you want to cover your milk jug cap with a flower or other decoration.  I clipped one of the roses off its stem. I used a tiny screwdriver to puncture a hole in the milk cap, inserted and twisted the stem to hold it in place, like this:

Screw it back on  the milk jug.  Clip a bunch of leaves off of your leaf garland.  Using a glue gun, adhere the leaves in layers around the top of the milk jug.  I chose to stop after a couple of rows, but you can cover the jug as much as you'd like.  I thought the hot glue might be too hot for the milk jug plastic, but it was fine. Once the leaves are all in place and dry, line the bottom with the moss.

Finally, let your little girl "furnish" the home and put it in a special place in the garden.  Since my original post on Design Dazzle, our fairy garden has grown quite a bit!  The girls are really enjoying it!

I would love to know if you try making one of these.  You can share your photos by posting them on my Facebook page.

**This post was originally published at Design Dazzle on Monday, June 10, 2013.**