Fairy House Fantasy!

FAIRY HOUSE LANDSCAPE BORDER

by Margaret Riley

Add a painted fairy house to your landscaping…or more than one in various colors. Your neighbors will be envious of your little fairy house (or houses) that can only make admirers smile. The pattern is basic for you to add your own window style, shrubbery, shutters, door, and more. Add a ladybug, who guards the entrance. An acrylic outdoor paint found in craft supply stores is recommended to paint your fairy house(s). Both the front and back can be painted. Suggested paint colors are listed with shading/highlighting colors or chose your favorite colors. If you make multiple fairy houses, make the door rectangular instead of a curved top. The instructions are for all (unless there is something specific with a certain design) with you deciding how the final appearance will be. The fairies in your garden are already excited!

*EDITORS NOTE- Photos will be grouped together throughout the presentation in each color.

SUPPLIES:

SURFACE:

Concrete Retaining Wall Block (not all are exactly alike)

PAINT:

DecoArt® Patio Paint:

(colors are listed for all plus for the house wall colors and window boxes)

Anchor Grey

Cloud White (can be used throughout for highlighting)

Fiesta Yellow

Grey Skies

Holly Berry Red

Honeydew

Pinecone Brown

Sprout Green

Sweet Pea

Wrought Iron Black

Suggested base colors for house walls plus shading colors:

Carnation Pink/Azalea

Coastal Surf/Blue Bahama

Honeydew/Sweet Pea

Coral/Orange Poppy

Summer Lilac/Petunia Purple

Suggested base colors for window boxes plus shading:

(Highlighting done in Cloud White)

Coastal Surf/Blue Bahama

Cloud White/Grey Skies

Carnation Pink/Azalea

Summer Lilac/Petunia Purple

BRUSHES:

Royal & Langnickel®:

FABRIC:

495 Fabric brush (white bristle) flat No. 12 (for the roof)

R395 Round Scrubber Nos. 2, 4, and 8

SOFT-GRIP:

SG595 Short Liner No. 10/0

SG850 Fan brush No. 4

SG150 Shader Nos. 6 and 10 or 12

SG250 Round No. 4

SG700 Glaze Wash 1”

MISCELLANEOUS SUPPLIES:

1” foam brush

Cosmetic sponge (optional)

Tracing paper and pencil

Black or grey graphite paper

Red ink pen (trace pattern onto the surface)

Palette

Water basin

Paper towels

White graphite or white chalk pencil (to draw lines in dark areas)

Ruler

Identi-Pen® or Rotring® pen (optional if not adding sign)

Stylus

White chalk pencil (adding freehand details)

Your Choice of Stencils. (optional for wall backgrounds)

INSTRUCTIONS:

PREPARATION:

(READ THIS BEFORE STARTING THE PROJECT)

Wash the wall block using warm water and Dawn dishwashing soap. Allow to dry completely (at least 2 days) in the sun, if possible, and out of rain, snow, and dew.

Brush on the roof (stiff brush) and preferred house walls color (1” brush or sponge brush).

Trace the pattern with a pencil. (Note: There may be a “lip” on one side of the concrete block. If so, have this side as the front).

When instructed, lay the pattern onto the surface and slip graphite paper between the pattern and the surface. Using a red ink pen, retrace the pattern to transfer the pattern to the block.

No need to paint the bottom of the concrete block. If you are keeping them inside, add felt to avoid them from scratching the floor.

Use a ruler when transferring the pattern onto the surface to achieve straighter lines.

Use the appropriate brush size for the area being painted.

Shading is done on the right side and highlighting is done on the left side (or vice versa in your preference).

Hint: If you have an old lazy susan for a tabletop, place the concrete block onto it to make moving it easier and to keep it from scratching your painting surface. With the weight of the block, you can just turn the lazy Susan to place the block for ease in painting an area.

ROOF AND HOUSE WALLS:

Paint the roof Fiesta Yellow using a #12 fabric brush to push the paint into the top of the concrete landscape border. Do not pull the roof/straw down over the edges as it will be done in the finishing step.

Paint house walls in the desired color (see suggested colors above in the paint listing) and shade along outside edges.

If desired, stencil on a design of choice onto walls in a contrasting color.

WINDOWS:

Optional: Add side windows, if desired.

Trace on the preferred window style.

Paint windows Wrought Iron Black; or if you want light in the window, paint Fiesta Yellow.

If adding curtains, paint in the desired color with a darker color for shading gather lines or add window pane lines in Cloud White or the color of choice. White dots can be added along the curtain edges to appear as lace. Shade along the inside of the window along the white border. Add gather lines to the curtain in a contrasting color (if Cloud White, the contrasting color will be Grey Skies).

Outline windows in Cloud White or the color of choice, which will only be three sides, avoiding around the window boxes. Use a liner brush being sure to apply slight pressure to keep lines straight and to press paint into random indentations.

Float shading color around three sides of each window and at bottom of the window box to cast a shadow onto the walls.

Using a stiff brush, streak on Cloud White reflection on each window if no curtains are

added.

Paint the window box in the desired color…be creative…add hearts, stripes, and dots, or leave it plain.

If you want to add items in “store” windows, paint in the color of choice and add a shading color plus Cloud White for highlighting. Be creative on store window items (i.e. balloons, flower arrangements, dresses, wings, wands, etc.).

DOOR:

Transfer on the door.

Paint the door Pinecone Brown (or the color of your choice). While wet, streak in Woodland Brown and Cloud White. If using another color instead of brown, use colors to achieve shading, highlighting, and wood grains. Do this with the instructions following.

Using a liner brush, add wood grains and board separation lines in Woodland Brown.

Float Woodland Brown on the left side to add depth.

Transfer on the door window of your choice, and paint Wrought Iron Black or Fiesta Yellow.

Add a dot or a curved line of Pot O’ Gold for the doorknob/door handle or do a Wrought Iron Black line for the door handle.

If desired, add two Wrought Iron Black hinges onto the wall and extend them onto the door.

If you want to add a sign to the door, paint a small rectangle (1/4” x 3/4") in Cloud White. Outline in Woodland Brown. When completely dry, add “CLOSED” or “OPEN”.

Door can be done as a rectangle and painted in a contrasting color.

SIGN:

(optional)

Cut a piece of cardstock or heavy paper 1/2" x 3”.

Trace around sign and paint Cloud White or paint color of choice.

Add shading on right side and bottom of sign in Grey Skies. Let dry completely.

Using an Identi-Pen or Rotring pen, add to sign one of these: “Home Sweet Home”, “Welcome”, “Wing Repair”, “Wand Factory”, “Fairy Fashions”, “Twinkle Café”, “Fly-In Café”, or something of your own.

WINDOW BOX FOLIAGE AND FLOWERS:

All window boxes will have greenery done with Sweet Pea for the base color, Sprout Green for shading, and Honeydew for highlighting.

Using fabric scrubber(s), tap on Sweet Pea; then wet tap in Sprout Green for depth, and add Honeydew for highlighting.

Dot flowers in the color of choice. Flowers can be done as dots with a stylus or tapped on with a small fabric round brush.

SHRUBS AND TOPIARY TREES:

Tap on Sweet Pea.

While Sweet Pea is damp, tap in Sprout Green and Honeydew keeping in place shading and highlighting. Add a touch of Cloud White to highlighted side to enhance the shrubs.

There is no pattern for the topiary on the Tinkle Bell Florist house. It’s two separate round balls done with a basecoat of Sweet Pea with highlighting of Honeydew and shading in Sprout Green. The trunk between the topiary balls is done in Pinecone Brown with Cloud White highlighting.

FLOWERS:

A variety of flowers can be added in your choice of colors.

Sunflowers are done with a Sweet Pea stem. For leaves, dip into two greens and touch next to the stem. The flower petals are done in Fiesta Yellow with a touch of Pinecone Brown. The center of the flower is done in Pinecone Brown Center with some Cloud White highlighting. Smiles and eyes can be added for a more whimsical effect if desired.

Optional: A trellis and/or an arbor arch can be added with vines and flowers winding up them.

If a rose brush is desired, add touches of color to low-lying shrubs.

Optional: For the flowers in the florist window, create painted circles or squares for vases. Add green stems and leaves with flowers in your choice color.

PORCH:

On each concrete block, there may be a lip that can be the “porch”. Paint this Grey Skies with some Anchor Grey added here and there. Or paint Grey Skies only.

LADYBUG:

Paint body Holly Berry Red.

Add a soft highlight of Cloud White to the top of the back.

Paint head Wrought Iron Black.

Using a stylus (or toothpick), add Cloud White eye.

Using the fine line end of Identi-Pen, add antennas.

Using the handle end of a small brush handle, add three Wrought Iron Black dots onto

ladybug body.

FINISHING:

Using fan brush, add streaks of Fiesta Yellow downward from top of roof onto walls.

While Fiesta Yellow is wet, add Woodland Brown for shading and Cloud White for highlighting.

Add some shading wall color randomly along roof straw to give more contrast.

LINE DRAWINGS:

DOWNLOAD ORIGINAL WORD FILE HERE.

Instruction,Pattern & Photos ©2023 Margaret Riley. All rights reserved.