How to Make a Fairy Garden - Easy DIY Treehouse Fairy Garden

Start with a 12 inch wood panel or shallow tray. For a darker, woodsy look, thin some brown acrylic paint with water and brush it over the whole piece, edges included. It works like a stain and is a good way to use up old paint. If it looks too dark, wipe over it with a paper towel. The colour also lightens a little as it dries.

Turn a mini terracotta pot upside down. This becomes a mossy stump that lifts the fairy house up. Brush tacky glue all over the outside with an old paintbrush, then press reindeer moss onto it. Hot glue works too, but it can show through the moss as it dries. Leave the top of the upturned pot bare, since the house sits there. Let the glue dry and trim any stray moss.

Take your fairy treehouse and set it on top of the mossy pot. Check that it sits level before you glue, then attach it with a good amount of hot glue. The pot gives the house real height, which turns a small ornament into the centre of the whole garden. Now the door is high up, so the fairies will need a way in.

Cut the rounded ends off two craft sticks and trim each to 3 inches for the rails. Cut three 1 inch pieces from a third stick for the rungs. Miter shears make clean cuts in thin wood. Line the pieces up against a metal square so the ladder comes out straight, then hot glue the rungs on. Sand rough edges and paint it with the same thinned brown.

Once the paint and glue are dry, it is time to assemble. Put the treehouse in a back corner of the panel, where it will be the focal point. Add hot glue to the bottom of the mossy pot and press it down firmly. Use a permanent glue as well if the garden will live on a porch, so the house does not pop off later.

Frame the house with a small plant on each side. These mini potted faux succulents came from a craft store for under a dollar each. Glue them close to the house so they look like a garden around the front door. Placing taller pieces at the back helps the garden read well from the front, with the smaller details out in front.

Glue a small fairy gate to the centre of the front edge. Now link the gate to the house with a path. Using hot glue and decorative stones, place a few stones at the treehouse first, then a few at the gate. Work from one end toward the other, curving the path as you go. A curved path looks more natural than a straight line.

Make the path wider wherever it looks thin by adding more stones. Then dab tacky glue between the rocks and press small pinches of reindeer moss into the gaps. It adds colour and hides any hot glue you can still see. Brush off the loose moss when you are done. A small handheld vacuum makes quick work of the crumbs.

Take the painted craft stick ladder and lean it from the end of the pebble path up to the treehouse door. When the angle looks right, fix both ends with hot glue. This is the detail that makes people smile. The fairies now have a way from the gate, along the path and up into their house.

Now for the fun part. Add your miniatures: a wishing well, a bird bath, a wheelbarrow, a tiny beehive and a welcome sign. Place a taller piece like a sunflower in the empty back corner for height. Peel the stickers off tiny ladybugs and bumblebees so they sit flat, then scatter them around for little pops of colour.