Fairies Come Out To Dance At Night

When I built this last garden, I didn't plant any flowers, just trees and bushes. I just wanted to create some shade to border the parking spaces for day swimmers. As much as I love flowers, they are a lot of work. I seem to have as many gardens as I can handle right now, so I resigned myself to just mulch.

I needed a "fence" of sorts to stop cars from bumping the trees in an effort to get the most shade. I was thinking of some rustic posts, with maybe rope or chain to define the area. HeWho procures material looked at me blankly ( a technique he employs when he doesn't want to do something).

Fortunately, I have the ability to repurpose items on hand. Stumps we have in abundance. We usually split them into firewood, but we have plenty and I needed a barrier. The next step was to actually move them to the designated area. Another blank look from HeWho mows and I employed the use of the hand truck ..... after nagging him to fill the tires with air. I can move anything on wheels. I have moved them by rolling them before, but that was in my younger days and I didn't have as far to go way back then.

I re-used some landscape timbers and then it struck me that the stumps looked like potential fairy houses. The granddaughters were scheduled to come and I just knew they would love to help me create a fairy village ...... that didn't work out so well, but it didn't stop me. I used found items. Horseshoes make great doors. I painted them for frames and used popsicle sticks for the doors. I didn't buy them and I know they are inexpensive, but I collected them. HeWho loves popsicles provided the raw material for doors and windows.

HeWho loves ice cream is a big fan of Dove bars. Those sticks have a different shape. I cut them in half to make shingles. I found some 2" tiles and used those to create sidewalks. It is hard to see, but this front door is adorned with witches brooms and tiny pumpkins.

Thrift stores are great sources of raw materials. There is a tiny bird house above the door on this stump. I am scrounging around for something to make a sidewalk with and this house needs windows.

Always a work in progress. I will add more photos as I make more progress with the village. I found an interesting branch that I used to make a tree. I found a toy motorcycle and borrowed the wheels to make tire swings. No pictures yet.

Christmas décor will be going up soon. This will be fun with tons of miniature lights and tiny trees.
I am already gathering vines for wreaths. My biggest challenge will be securing all these tiny things. The wind here is mighty.

So, here you go, Val, as requested, the fairy shanty town!