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Building
a Faery/Elf House
Do
you have faeries, elves, brownies, or gnomes sharing your home or garden with
you? Why not give them a place to stay as an invite.
Inviting
faeries, elves, or other Little People to share your home and yard through a
faery house is an interesting project for both adults and children. Building a
house for them can be as simple or as elaborate as you can please. Creating and
furnishing such as place is an excellent family or personal project, which can
be worked on over a period of time and can constantly be changed!
Having
faeries, gnomes, brownies, and elves share your home has distinct advantages.
These Little People take personal pride in protecting and prospering their human
friends as well as keeping life interesting and fascinating. The Little People
take delight in playing with pets in games of hide-n-seek. They love to
participate in rituals and Pagan celebrations of all kinds. They will even help
in your garden and flowers, creating healthier plants and beautiful blossoms.
There
are two important reasons for having a faery house. One: It lets the Little
People know you would like to have them as permanent, welcome guests. Two: It
reminds you to be aware of their presence.
These
houses can have a prominent place in your home, or you might want to set them
out of the reach of snooping visitors or even near your garden.
To
create a special house for the Little People, you will need:
·
A cardboard box with a lid (doesn't have to be very big)
·
Some poster-board
·
scraps of rich looking material (silk, velvet, etc)
·
glue or tape
·
scissors
·
a sharp knife
·
acrylic or poster paints
·
appropriate wrapping paper
·
pencil
·
needle and thread
With
the pencil, mark out the doors and windows on the box in the shape and places
you want them. Cut the door across the top and bottom and one side, bending the
other side back to create a door. Cut out the windows, leaving narrow strips to
simulate panes if you wish.
If you plan to cover the box with paper, center
the box on a sheet of paper, carefully pulling the paper up over the sides and
fastening it on the inside with glue or tape. Trim the inside edges of the paper
neatly. Then cut holes, for the windows and door through the paper covering.
If
the box is white or a light color, you can paint it to simulate bricks, stones,
or boards.
Cut a piece of poster-board one inch wider than the lid and as long as you want the roof to peak to be high. Lightly score the poster-board crosswise in the middle with a knife so it can be neatly creased to make the peak of the roof. Center the roof with a half-inch overhang on each side and glue into place on the lid. The ends are filled in by cutting out triangular pieces of poster board and inserting it into the ends of the roof. You want the roof lid to be removable so you can redecorate inside.
Faeries
like shiny things, so you might use clear glue on the roof and sprinkle on
colored glitter. You might also glue on dried moss and small fir cones.
Tiny
strips of cloth can be fastened at the windows for curtains and placed on the
floor for rugs. Caps from cans and bottles can become little tables; small
boxes, filled with cotton and covered with velvet material are beds! Let your
imagination go! Furnish a faery house with whimsy and dreams.
You
could also use a tiny silver colored box that was used for jewelry filled with
cotton and with a blue velvet piece of cloth as a blanket and a little miniature
lace pillow.
You
could also make your faery house look like a castle. A castle facade can be cut
out of poster-board, bent and fastened to the outside of a tall box. The inside
could be furnished with a multitude of tiny pillows of rich burgundy, blue, and
gold arranged in-groups around the room. The floor can be covered with
needlepoint rugs. Lamps from beads and jewelry wire could hang from the ceiling.
You
could have tiny goblets and window boxes with flowers. Or even have it look like
a gypsy's wagon!
The
Faery house should be decorated with the changing seasons and holidays such as
Samhain (pumpkins, spider web, spooky cats and ghosts etc) and Winter Solstice
(decorated trees with packages underneath, artificial snow.. etc)
Your imagination is the limit with your Faery House........