Hi there!  It’s hard to resist the urge to have a faerie garden. It’s difficult to resist the delicate miniature versions of items in every day (or not so every day) life. You can spend hours, or even days, pouring over pinterest for ideas, but when it comes down to it, it’s a bit overwhelming. Just how do you start?  Sure you probably have a ton of ideas, but it may be a little more of a challenge to put it all together.

I began working on my idea of themed kits for faerie gardens.  I had decided that since I have a more typical faerie garden of my own, I should create a sea-side display so that I could present elements of the kit in a proper environment.  Seeing seashells in dirt isn’t really going to give you an accurate idea of what it will look like, but seeing it in sand, well, that’s a whole other story!

Since this display isn’t my primary garden, I wanted to have it with little to no upkeep.  I began planning out different aspects of the display in my head first, when I realized that I could use the entire process as a learning experience for fellow enthusiasts as well.  My first hurdle was to find a container that I could move about easily but would be sturdy enough to bear the weight of the decorations.  I spent a week looking for anything that fit the bill.  I found the perfect plant saucer on ebay. It was a great deal and was exactly the size I was looking for.

Getting Started on Your Very First Faerie Garden

Materials:

• 15″ Plant Saucer
• FloraCraft Foam Disk 15/16 in x 15 7/8 in
• 1 Seaside Kit
• Assorted artificial plant picks
• Small Pebbles
• Assorted decorations

Steps:

Using the base of the plant saucer as a guide, we traced a circle on the foam.

The excess foam was carefully cut away, and the rough edges sanded down so that the foam could fit snugly inside the saucer.

Using a wooden spatula, I chiseled the area I had designated for my “water.”  I wanted to make sure that it was deep enough that the pebbles wouldn’t go flying over the edge of the saucer when it was moved or bumped.

I also lightly sanded the area where I would put the sand so it wouldn’t be displaced with the slightest breeze.

I sanded the entire surface in order to smooth out ragged cavities I had created.

I added my light blue pebbles first to make sure I had estimated correctly and to see if I needed to chisel any additional area out to accommodate the amount of pebbles I had.  I used the sand to cover the remaining styrofoam and adjusted my pebbles to create a more “natural” shoreline once I was satisfied.

Since I was not using live plants, I was able to move forward with my design although it would have been out of order for a typical faerie garden creation.

I started with my larger decorations first, making sure I had them in appropriately the right place so that everything I wanted to use, could fit.  I ended up making slight adjustments toward the end.

And finally, I added my artificial plant picks.

Have questions? Comments? We’d love to hear from you.  If you liked the tutorial, feel free to share it and help others get started on their very own Sea Side Faerie Garden!