Marvelously Messy : lantern

Fairy elves,

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees,

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon

Sits arbitress.

~John Milton

I spent some time the past day making some little Elf homes to adorn our herb garden and to encourage my Munchkins imagination. These were SO simple to do.

Supplies:

Large Rock (with a flat side)

Wood

Stik All Glue

Hinge and Screws

Paint

Small Hook

Thread

Wooden Knob (for lantern....or chimney too)

Clear Acrylic Spray

Tools Required:

Jig Saw

Paint Brush

Screw Driver

Take some wood and use the jig saw to make a door shape. You could do any shape you'd like: round (hobbit door-shaped), rectangle (modern), pointed (for the elf look), or triangle (just because you're weird). :-) I'm mortified to say that I used a beautiful piece of Cherry wood that I found in our barn....I thought it was just a nice piece of oak, but no. I was mistaken. Oh, boy was I EVER mistaken (according to my husband and my father). Jeesh. Well, it turned out lovely anyway. ;-)

Now it's time to sketch. Make a quick sketch with pencil (lightly) of what you'd like to paint....or, go right ahead and free-hand it with a paintbrush if you are feeling bold.

Paint away!! You should paint the accessories too. To give my doors a more aged look I took a wet paper towel and dipped in it some black paint and lightly sponged the entire door.

Once they're dry you can screw the hinge onto the side and bend the remaining hinge back behind the door. Then, glue the door to the rock securely.

Almost there!! The glue will need to set for at least 24 hours. You can make the lantern by tying some black thread around the little wooden bobble and securing it to the hook (which has been glued onto the rock as well). If you would rather make a chimney, you can just dab some glue on the flat end of the bobble and stick 'er right on top of that rock. To make it more weather proof, you could coat it with some clear acrylic spray (just be sure to cover the rock behind with something so that you don't spray that too). I made two different doors just to try out some of my ideas. Here is the other door, finished with chimney: