{"id":2531,"date":"2016-11-30T13:25:01","date_gmt":"2016-11-30T13:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2016-11-30T13:26:56","modified_gmt":"2016-11-30T13:26:56","slug":"gardening-with-an-enchanted-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/gardening-with-an-enchanted-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening with an enchanted twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the stress-relieving capabilities and health benefits of gardening are well known, a twist on this timeless hobby offers a way to add charm and a whimsical feel to your home and garden. Creating an enchanted fairy garden can boost imagination and offer a family-friendly way to hone your green thumb.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo courtesy of Jo Ann Fabrics<\/p><\/div>\n

These miniature landscapes, often hidden in a secluded area of your garden or planted in decorative containers, are an easy way to refresh your interior or exterior decor and can be revamped seasonally to align with any design theme. The possibilities and styles are endless, so to help you get started, the crafting experts at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores created these fairy garden projects featuring a host of tiny details to bring your scene to life. Pottery,\u00a0moss and\u00a0tiny figurines will make your garden complete.<\/p>\n

Fairy Garden Broken Pot
\n<\/b>Crafting time: 3-5 hours
\nSkill level: Intermediate<\/p>\n

Supplies and Tools:
\nPlanter container with broken edge
\nSmaller pots to fit inside
\nPacking peanuts or bubble wrap
\nSmall bag of brown moss
\nBag of Spanish moss in Basil
\nHot glue gun and glue sticks
\nSitting fairy
\nMini birdhouse
\nResin swing on a tree
\nGreen bushes
\nGreen trees
\nLittle resin house with moss
\nResin stepping stones
\nResin sitting bench
\nWire cutters
\nRed succulent plant<\/p>\n

Tightly fill bottom of planter with smaller pots and packing peanuts or bubble wrap. Cover packing peanuts\/bubble wrap with moss, gluing in place with hot glue.<\/em><\/p>\n

Place fairy items as you desire, securing with hot glue. Trim bottom of plant to a 1-inch stem and secure it in place with hot glue.<\/em><\/p>\n

Naturalist Fairy Garden<\/span>
\n<\/b>Crafting time: Weekend project
\nSkill level: Some experience necessary<\/p>\n

Supplies and Tools:<\/strong>
\nUnfinished wood tray
\nSmall can gold spray paint
\nOld rag or paper towel
\nSmall can walnut wood stain
\nSheet of green floral foam
\nOld serrated kitchen knife
\nHot glue gun and glue sticks
\nSheet of adhesive sheet moss
\nWood hut
\nBag of small pebbles
\nPackage of stepping stones
\nBottle of clear nail polish
\nBag of assorted round mosses
\nArtificial pine trees
\n2-3 medium white birch rounds
\nFairy garden accessories such as teeter-totter, small bridge, twig archway, garden shepherd hook with hanging basket, woodland animals, etc.<\/p>\n

Flip wooden tray over so bottom is facing up. Spray paint bottom and sides gold. Allow to dry. Using old rag or paper towel, rub on wood stain sparingly, allowing gold to show through stain in areas. Allow to dry.<\/em><\/p>\n

Measure width of opening between sides of tray. Transfer measurement to green floral foam and cut with serrated knife.<\/em><\/p>\n

To create hillside for house, cut green foam to resemble a hill with highest point in back corner of long side of foam. Slope downward to create impression of hill toward a river, and contour other side to go slightly uphill, forming river bed. Hot glue foam to bottom of tray. Add foam at top of the hill for more height, if desired.<\/em><\/p>\n

Place sheet of adhesive moss on top of foam, cutting out areas for river and hut. In river area, apply path of hot glue and dump pebbles on top. Use bigger stones on sides to create river bank. Pour bottle of nail polish onto riverbed, brushing stones to look like water.<\/em><\/p>\n

Place hut at highest point, gluing it down with liberal amount of hot glue. Nestle bushes and trees around hut, varying sizes of round mosses and trees, and hot glue in place.<\/em><\/p>\n

Glue white birch rounds behind hut for backdrop to glue trees and shrubs around; giving off appearance of a hut nestled in the hillside. Attach bushes to outside of sidewalls. Glue stepping stones in place to create path to river.<\/em><\/p>\n

Add additional fairy items to fill out the scene.<\/em><\/p>\n

Find more inspiration to create magical little villages from start-to-finish at joann.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While the stress-relieving capabilities and health benefits of gardening are well known, a twist on this timeless hobby offers a way to add charm and a whimsical feel to your home and garden. Creating an enchanted fairy garden can boost imagination and offer a family-friendly way to hone your green thumb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2533,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1236,1448,1449],"class_list":["post-2531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight","tag-design","tag-gardening","tag-landscaping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2535,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions\/2535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}