Columbus has many visit this type of business, stamp a passport, and collect a prize trails. We have a local coffee trail, craft brewery trail, a local small business trail, and a delicious donut trail among others. I recently learned about a cool one in Dublin, Ohio – The Fairy Door Trail. Dublin goes completely nuts for all things Irish, Celtic, and St. Patrick’s Day. So it makes sense that they start a new trail by putting new fairy doors in their local small businesses in March for St Patrick’s Day just in case a leprechaun would like to use it. Which is mighty thoughtful.
I fell into an Internet fairy door rabbit hole after that and wanted to add another fairy door to my house just in case a fairy, gnome, leprechaun, or hopefully - a Borrower - would use it. I loved the Borrower books and movies as a kid and I often think a Borrow probably borrowed that thing I can’t find (which is way more fun than acknowledging I misplaced it.) If you don’t know what I’m talking about you can read The Complete Adventures of the Borrowers series here. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience)
It’s National Craft Month so why not make an indoor fairy door (or the mythical sprite of your choice) to celebrate?
Let’s make stuff!
How to Make an Indoor Fairy, Leprechaun, Gnome, Elf, or Borrowers Door
You will need:
A gift box lid like this one , shallow container lid, or piece of unfinished craft wood as the base of your door – I used a paper mache frame from my stash.
Craft sticks – I like these wide and thin craft sticks you can cut with regular scissors
Hot glue or tacky glue – If you are using hot glue and a glue gun do your fingers a favor and wear these Hot Glue Gun Helpers finger caps to prevent hot glue burns!
Scissors
1/2 inch unfinished wood cubes like these
1 Round push pin – I used white plastic ball push pins similar to these because that’s what I had on hand. If I make another door (I see many more fairy doors in my future) I’ll probably use these wood ball push pins for the door knob because I think they look more fairy like with a wood door.
Craft paint
Paint brush
Gold paint pen – you can get gold paint pens here or metallic gold craft paint here
FolkArt Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint in Hologram – you can get it here
1 flat back cabochon – you can find a variety of flat back cabochons here
Your Imagination!
Step by Step How to Make it Tutorial:
1. Cut the bottom off your box lid if necessary to make a door shape. If you are using a rectangle box lid this is already done for you!
2. Glue craft sticks to cover the lid and allow the glue to thoroughly dry. Don’t worry if the craft sticks are longer than your door base. We will take care of that in Step 3.
3. Using a sharp pair of craft scissors and an overabundance of caution, trim the craft sticks to the shape of your door base.
4. Use the craft paints and paint brush to paint the fairy door. I used this craft project to try a few new painting ideas. To give my door some depth and natural color fulgurations, I squirted three horizontal lines of craft paint colors on a palette and ran my paint brush through the lines to swirl the paint. I did this as a practice but as I got to swirling I liked what I came up with and knew I wouldn’t be able to do it twice, so I used the practice swirls to paint my door. I allowed the paint on the door to dry before I began Step 6.
5. Use the paint brush and paints to paint enough wood cubes to surround the door to make the door frame. I painted my cubes with two coats of this gray craft paint. After the gray paint dried, I used this black craft paint to lightly dry brush the cubes to make them look more like stone.
6. Apply glue to the push pin to keep it in place and attach it to your fair door to make the door knob.
7. Now for the fun part! It’s time to decorate your fairy door! You can leave it painted from Step 4. I glued a cabochon to my door and added gold swirls with a paint pen. I think it needed something else to bump it up to be pleasing to a fairy (and I’m sure Arrietty would love the sparkles too) and painted it with random paint brush strokes of glitter paint.
8. After the decorated (or not) door is dry, lay the door flat on its back and glue the cubes to surround the door to make the doorway and allow it to dry.
9. Put your fairy (or leprechaun, or gnome, or elf, or Borrower) door next to a wall and enjoy!
If you'd rather buy than DIY, check out the following fairy door ideas - and more! - below!
Did you enjoy this post? Get more like it by subscribing to the Condo Blues RSS Feed or to Condo Blues by Email.
2 comments:
That is so cute!
I adore this magical fairy door! Featuring when my link party opens up!
Post a Comment
I love comments and read them all! If you’re shy and don’t want your opinions made public, you can always email me at condoblues [at] gmail [dot] com.