A very hot hello all of you crafting Helmar readers. Kristina here with my latest blog post, a three storey rainbow fairy house made entirely out of Popsicle sticks. I have wanted to make something like this for over twenty years, I honestly just never had the right glue for it. The first time I used Helmar's Premium craft glue, I realised this was the glue that would do everything I wanted for my fairy house. So let's begin!!
First off the items required for this project:
Helmar Spray Adhesive
Helmar Gemstone Glue
Helmar P.V.A Professional Woodworking Glue
Helmar Fabric Glue
Helmar Premium Craft Glue
Popsicle Sticks, a lot.
Glitter, your choice of colour.
Craft Knife
Dremel (not required, was just handy).
Lots of decorations, like small flowers, rhinestones, xmas beads, anything your imagination desires to decorate the house.
Cotton wool balls unpeeled for the roof as snow.
Some wood for the base, or you can make the base from Popsicle sticks. I used Ply wood.
Procedure:
To begin with it is necessary to glue together the popsicle sticks and let them dry. I started by gluing two sticks together, then when they were sturdy I glued them to another set of two popsicle sticks as shown below. I used Helmar Premium Craft glue for this and most of this project. It dried so quick, I had no problems with walls falling down. I was actually so happy.
I also rubbed some of the wood glue on all the panels of the walls just to give them the extra strength that the wood glue should give. It worked like a charm. Once you have the required amount of sticks glued together to fit the base board, go ahead and make your design. I cut out one window before I glued that wall on to the base, and I decided where my front door would go.
I used both Premium Craft Glue and the Wood Glue to adhere the walls to the base.
**Make sure if you want any boards, or interior designs on the windows or doors, do it before you put the roof on. Yep, guilty as charged here. I can say it is definitely easier to do this without the roof on**
The whole process is gluing all the sticks to the base board, and cutting out the windows required and making the door. To make the door I just left a gap of about 6 Popsicle sticks, then I glued three sticks on one side slightly open, and three on the other side even more open. Using the Premium Glue for the initial bond then the wood glue for the strength.
The Front Doors.
After the base seemed dry enough, about 2 hours, we are very hot here in Australia at the moment, so in the colder areas it might be a longer wait. I began the roof/second storey floor. It is the exact same procedure as I did for the walls, the only thing that needs to be thought about is it you want a verandah and where you want that to be. Just so you can make sure that you have the sticks overhang in that spot. Much easier to do it now, than later. For the roof I glued two sticks across the row that was glued together, just to keep them straight and give them more strength, as pictured below.
I wanted a large verandah on both short edges so I made my overhang quite large. I put Premium Craft Glue and Wood working glue onto the roof and stuck it on to the bottom level.
Then I just began the second storey the exact same way as I did the first. Just make sure you plan your windows and doors.
Almost finished the building part, and then on to the imagination part, the decorations!!!
For the top of the second storey walls I used a firm but light weight cardboard (the insert out of a soft drink box). I glued this on, and the final part of the house building is upon us. I wanted a pointed roof, but if you want a different kind of roof, go ahead and do it!! I used Helmar Premuim craft glue to join two sticks together. I did approximately 20 pairs, because I calculated how big I would need the roof by counting the sticks on the second storey. I put glue on the base and top of two sets of two sticks, leaned them on an angle on the roof cardboard and added some woodworking glue to ensure it's strength. The picture below shows the angle of the roof. I just followed the step of gluing sticks to another two sticks until I reached the end.
Now for the time to let your imagination go wild. Decorate the windows with any trimmings you want. I used Helmar fabric glue to make the curtains and to glue them to the house. Anything that requires fabric I do recommended using the fabric glue, it just works so amazingly well.
I made this verandah fence just by using off cuts and gluing them across the verandah. I did warn the fairy involved that I am not a certified builder and it may not be amazingly perfect, luckily she is a hippy fairy and didn't much care. Yes I have made up a whole story about this fairy, it helped me to decorate her house.
I used Helmar Gemstone Glue to apply the door knobs (large rhinestones) and any other beads and gems I wanted applied.
No my fairy has not lost her legs lol, she is just sitting down. She's a hard working woman!
Curtains and gold embellishment glued on with fabric glue. Go crazy....have fun.... go overboard! I did. I have made a YouTube video on the whole process of the making of this fairy house.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfinjhDF0ww&t=44s
Just one last note, while making this fairy house my two youngest boys seemed to hover a lot over me. Then they saw my stash of wood and embellishments and they just started to glue and glue and design their own houses. We all had so much fun sitting in my garage just building our houses, it was a great family night in. They are both so proud of their houses, they too used Helmar glue. So sit down with your kids, grandkids, dogs (yep my pugs definitely had to sniff and knock over everything) and have a wonderful and memorable day with Helmar, creating a fairy house. I am so thankful for the premium craft glue, I couldn't of done this house without it!
Here are my wonderful boys and their awesome creations! So proud of them.
Thank you for reading, watching the video of the making of this fairy house, and I cannot wait to show you my next project. It's based on Christmas (shhhhhh).
