Learn how you can make a fun outdoor fairy garden for your front porch or back patio that is super simple, fun, and inexpensive to make.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Cricut for Cricut. All opinions are 100% mine.
Outdoor fairy gardens are a fun, whimsical, and playful addition to your deck or patio. Fairy gardens can be found as large parts of an outdoor space or even just a small bucket sitting on your deck that house miniature sized plants, flowers, houses, and figurines to allow fairies to come and bring fortune for your family.
We were inspired by my mother-in-law’s house where she has four buckets of fairy gardens, which also included a gnome home. Our kids absolutely LOVE going over to Grandma’s house to see all of these different garden vignettes.
When I let the kids know that we were making our own outdoor fairy garden, I could believe how excited they were. Sure, we have an amazing garden that they also tend to. I didn’t think the kids would get as excited as they did in making a fairy garden.
In this post, I’m going to share with you how to make a whimsical fairy garden in a bucket that includes customizing the name on your bucket!
How do you make an outdoor fairy garden?
Building an outdoor fairy garden requires a container that can withstand the outdoor environments. The container can be a serving tray, galvanized bucket, vase, or saucer. Fairy gardens generally contain a few live plants, rocks, shells, moss, glass rocks, and figurines. The accessories on display should be adjusted to the size of the container.
Outdoor Fairy Garden Accessories
The fun in creating a fairy garden is being able to find accessories around your house before going shopping.
I’ve often found a great selection at Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Big Lots. Also, local nurseries will carry fairy garden accessories, but at a premium.
Below are the common supplies you’ll need to make a fairy garden plant:
Bucket or Container
You’ll want a bucket or container that coordinates with the space that you’ll want to keep the fairy garden.
Planter Lift Insert
These lift inserts that I get are amazing. They allow you to LIFT your container so that you’re not having to waste space by adding more dirt.
Potting Soil
The goal is to have 1-2 actual plants that make up the outdoor fairy garden. Fairy gardens should have a real botanical in them.
Rocks
The rocks will add dimension and depth to your fairy garden. Glass rocks can be used to add a turquoise stream to your fairy garden. Large, neutral rocks can be used to make mountain visuals.
House, Bridges, and Pathways for Fairies and Gnomes
Often, you’ll find that people either have fairy villages or gnome villages. The houses are often the most expensive part of accessorizing a garden.
Real Plants like Miniature Trees and Succulents
Having a real plant is part of the fun of a fairy garden container. Often, people will use low, small flowering plants or even succulents to spruce up their containers with color.
Twinkling LED Lights
Twinkling LED solar lights allow your garden to become more magical at night.
How to Personalize an Outdoor Fairy Garden Container
You can personalize your fairy garden even further by using a cutting machine. I used a Cricut Maker to do a few things to our fairy garden. I absolutely love how they turned out!
Cricut Maker is seriously the ultimate smart cutting machine. It cuts everything from delicate crepe paper all the way to basswood. It is versatile, product line continues to grow, and really easy to use.
The versatility of the Cricut Maker allows me to create anything at anytime, along with Cricut’s full library of projects in Design Space. With the Cricut Maker, I’m able to just make just about anything on a moment’s notice.
Outdoor Fairy Garden Accessories with Cricut Machines
The Cricut Maker has been an amazing machine in my crafting space because I’ve been able to complete so many projects with it. It can cut over 300+ materials, including wood and chipboard. I have a future project for garden markers that I plan on sharing too.
You can also make a ton of different projects, including gnome houses and fairy houses, that are all available in Design Space. They have a fairy house, chipboard house, and even a school house that you can make to use for your outdoor fairy garden. You can even make a water fairy with your Cricut machine.
Outdoor Fairy Garden Signs with Cricut
You can create miniature fairy garden signs with your Cricut machine as well using the natural wood veneers that they carry.
Outdoor Fairy Garden Container Village Name with Cricut
In order to bring a little more personality and flair to the fairy garden container, I decorated my old galvanized bucket with the name of our fairy village, aptly named “Nickerson Village”. It’s our family’s last name.
I used the Cricut Maker to cut out a stencil using stencil vinyl using this font. I loved how it turned out. FYI, I’ve also written how to make a stencil with Cricut for another project.
How to Personalize an Outdoor Fairy Garden Sign
Supplies for Outdoor Fairy Garden Personalization
- Cricut Maker, Cricut Explore Air 2, or Cricut Joy
- Machine Mat
- Burnishing Tool
- Font (this is the one I used)
Materials for Outdoor Fairy Garden Personalization
- Stencil Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Painter’s Tape
- Dark Spray Paint
Instructions on Personalizing Your Outdoor Fairy Garden Container
- Measure your container’s width and height of what you want the sign to be.
- Create the stencil in Design Space using your favorite font.
- Cut the stencil out using your Cricut machine.
- Clean off your container.
- Use transfer to remove the stencil from the backing.
- Carefully move the sticky part to the container and place it in position.
- Using the burnishing tool, put some pressure on the stencil and carefully remove the transfer tape.
- Cover any other areas with painter’s tape as needed to prevent over spray.
- Spray on the paint following the instructions on the can. Use 1-2 coats as needed.
- Allow to dry for an hour.
- Carefully remove the stencil and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to bring my fairy garden indoors during the winter?
If a fairy garden contains perennials, trees, and shrubs, they need to be able to go dormant in the winter. This can be done by bringing the container into a garage or basement that is unheated from between 31 and 50 degrees Fahrenheit. If a fairy garden contains succulents, you’ll need to ensure that the succulents that have been chosen are hardy for your zone. It is highly recommend to bring fairies and houses indoors over winter in order to preserve the pieces from cracking due to cold weather. In warmer climates and zones where the temperature does not dip below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, fairy gardens may be left outdoors.
What does overwintering fairy gardens mean?
Overwintering a plant refers to the process that plants react to winter environments and conditions like cold weather, freezing temperature, ice, and snow.
Inspiration for Outdoor Fairy Gardens
I wanted to share with you some photos and ideas on what you can do with your own fairy garden! I feel like the photos that I display here don’t do the vignette justice as it looks in the store.
Trust me when I say in person, fairy gardens look way more amazing than in photos!
Summary About How to Make Outdoor Fairy Garden
I hope I inspired you in making your own outdoor fairy garden and gave you some ideas on how you could make your own. Adding fairies, houses, cars, bridges, gnomes, and dragons can make it extra special for your kids to hang out in your outdoor living space and garden with you.
Outdoor fairy gardens are a whimsical way to add some charm to your outdoor living space. I mean what’s more magical than a fairy garden?
Other Outdoor DIY Projects You Might Like
- Cheap Outdoor Cushions DIY Makeover
- Embedding Sprinkler System into Garden
- How to Pressure Wash Teak Outdoor Furniture
- Decorate Patio on a Budget Ideas
How to Make an Outdoor Fairy Garden and Customize Container
Materials
- Cricut Maker, Cricut Explore Air 2, or Cricut Joy
- Machine Mat
- Burnishing Tool
- Font
Tools
- Stencil Vinyl
- Transfer Tape
- Painter's Tape
- Dark Spray Paint
Instructions
- Measure your container's width and height of what you want the sign to be.
- Create the stencil in Design Space using your favorite font.
- Cut the stencil out using your Cricut machine.
- Clean off your container.
- Use transfer to remove the stencil from the backing.
- Carefully move the sticky part to the container and place it in position.
- Using the burnishing tool, put some pressure on the stencil and carefully remove the transfer tape.
- Cover any other areas with painter's tape as needed to prevent over spray.
- Spray on the paint following the instructions on the can. Use 1-2 coats as needed.
- Allow to dry for an hour.
- Carefully remove the stencil and enjoy!
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