Gardening with an Enchanted Twist

(Family Features) 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.

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, moss and tiny figurines will make your garden complete.

Fairy Garden Broken Pot

Crafting time: 3-5 hours

Skill level: Intermediate

Supplies and Tools:

• Planter container with broken edge
  
• Smaller pots to fit inside
  
• Packing peanuts or bubble wrap
  
• Small bag of brown moss
  
• Bag of Spanish moss in Basil
  
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  
• Sitting fairy
  
• Mini birdhouse
  
• Resin swing on a tree
  
• Green bushes
  
• Green trees
  
• Little resin house with moss
  
• Resin stepping stones
  
• Resin sitting bench
  
• Wire cutters
  
• Red succulent plant

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.

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.

Naturalist Fairy Garden

Crafting time: Weekend project

Skill level: Some experience necessary

Supplies and Tools:

• Unfinished wood tray
  
• Small can gold spray paint
  
• Old rag or paper towel
  
• Small can walnut wood stain
  
• Sheet of green floral foam
  
• Old serrated kitchen knife
  
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
  
• Sheet of adhesive sheet moss
  
• Wood hut
  
• Bag of small pebbles
  
• Package of stepping stones
  
• Bottle of clear nail polish
  
• Bag of assorted round mosses
  
• Artificial pine trees
  
• 2-3 medium white birch rounds
  
• Fairy garden accessories such as teeter-totter, small bridge, twig archway, garden shepherd hook with hanging basket, woodland animals, etc.

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.

Measure width of opening between sides of tray. Transfer measurement to green floral foam and cut with serrated knife.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Add additional fairy items to fill out the scene.

Find more inspiration to create magical little villages from start-to-finish at joann.com.