Thank you for the kind remarks. As I've said in the past, this is the best forum on the Web!

The beach house was a request from a friend. She wanted a fairy house as a Christmas gift for her daughter. After much discussion, we settled on a beach theme. Her family had made a vacation trip to Hawaii that summer and her DD was enraptured with the ocean,the beach, etc. Her DD, who is 9or 10, also enjoys drawing, dancing, and nature in general. She's the "greenie" of the family. So all these things combined to give me a theme and ideas to draw from.

I decided to do a "beach house", if I had known how tricky it was going to be I might have given it more thought. Actually, I probably wouldn't have given it more thought. I would have allowed more time to complete the house though!

I did a Web search on "beach house" and was floored by the many types there are and the different materials used.I had no idea of the variety available. I kind of smashed them all together and came up with a basic idea. I also decided to try and do a 3D house, with an interior and exterior so I could incorporate the young lady's favorite things. I've always just done the exterior of fairy houses before. I drew my interior inspiration from photos on the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii's website. (Looks like a fun place to visit!) So armed with ideas and having no real idea of how to bring them to completion I ventured out into the world of commerce to find materials.

I was hoping I could find a base at my usual hobby store and, thankfully, I came across this item, see first photo.

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It's one of those decorate-your-own-birdfeeder kits. Not really functional as a birdfeeder but lots of potential for fairy digs!

After some remodeling I had this for a base for the wee house, see next photo.

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From this point I finished the interior first, then the roof and then the exterior. The roof was attached at the end.

The roof is covered with sections of corn husk, the exterior sides are raffia.

The "tutu" inside is actually a reworked scrap booking item. I cut off the tulle tutu that was originally on it and replaced with a skirt made of flower petals. I think it was from a gladiola. I used the calyx from the same flower for the little blanket on the hammock.

The hammock itself is made from a piece of woven grass place mat that I found at the $ store.

The "bead" curtains are made of little shells I had left over from a necklace restringing project.

Yes, those are real freshwater pearls in the little shell "shelves", another restringing leftover.

I hope this helps. If I missed something,let me know.

: )

oh wait, I wear glasses

8 )