The Fairies at the Spring Ball

Today Hazel and I had fun with our fairies. While she was playing other things, I made her some new flower fairies and we decided they were getting ready to go to a spring ball. Then I remembered my prize from a dollhouse contest I entered pre-Hazel that I hadn't done anything with since I had Hazel by the time I got it. I haven't done much with my dollhouses since having her, but will get back to it again soon hopefully. She loves playing with them. Anyway, we put it together quickly and I grabbed some fairy lights to decorate it and some rose petals and some of her tree house furniture. Then we had the ball set up. I've had a story going through my head so maybe I'll tell it to you and get it down on paper or at least on a screen.

The Spring Fairy Ball

All the young fairies were so excited to go the Spring Ball. They all were putting on their best dresses--nice fresh flower petals and all. Many of the youngest did not have their wings yet, but Little Pink Rosebud's wings had just grown in so she was really excited to show them off. As one of the smallest fairies she hoped having them would help her feel bigger.

Lily and Tulip had the opposite height problem and since neither of them had their wings yet, they felt a bit self conscience due to their height. They were a bit embarrassed to be so tall and adult looking without wings. Still they put on their prettiest flower dresses and did the best with their green hair.

The Iris Twins were very excited but were not happy they both decided to wear the same color flowers. At least their hair color would enable people to tell them apart and of course Francine's new hat would stand out as well. In fact many of the older fairies wished they had guided her on clothing choice once they arrived--especially Mother Hydrangea.

Mother Hydrangea was dressed elegantly as always and went to help Princess Forsythia and Princess Peony with their clothing selections.

Princess Forsythia took her notes directly from Mother Hydrangea's style. It showed, but she looked beautiful and loved her petal tiara.

Princess Peony was dressed to the nines using two flowers for her gown and her leaf tiara stood out so nicely.

All of the young fairies wondered how the ballroom would be decorated. They had all been by the grand gazebo before but never on a Ball Night. They couldn't wait to see it. Of course it was decorated with fairy lights, flowers, petals and some wooden chairs and a table for refreshments.

Mother Hydrangea escorted the princesses to their first ball. She then chose the chair next to the refreshments to watch all the young fairies dance the night away.

Mother Hydrangea could not believe it when she saw the Iris Twins. Francine's leaf hat was a bit large for her head. Tulip seemed to be blocked by it all evening.

Little Pink Rosebud was so excited to show off her wings, but she hadn't learned to use them yet to fly so she blended in with the pink rose petals scattered on the floor. Truth be told, Princess Peony blended in as well.

They all had the grandest time though. Now they cannot wait until their next ball. At the Summer Ball, the male fairies will be there to dance as well.

To make the fairies, I used a pipe cleaner, a fake flower (or two for some), some roving or yarn for hair, a wooden bead and some of the leaves from the fake flowers. For the smaller type of flowers I also used a piece of felt to make the dress and then decorate with the flowers.

Cut the pipe cleaner so you have about a third for the arms and fold the bigger piece in half. Stick both ends through the bead and push almost all the way up. Put yarn or roving through the pipe cleaner loop as hair and pull the pipe cleaner all the way down so the bead holds the hair in place. Now you can either put a piece of the flower on the pipe cleaners or add the arms (twist smaller piece of pipe cleaner around to be arms. Then do the opposite thing that you didn't just do. Dress in flower petals and then roll ends of pipe cleaners to be hands and feet and to protect little ones from sharp ends. (You can also wrap the pipe cleaners with embroidery floss, but this is time consuming and uses a good amount of floss and I decided not to bother this time. Hazel wanted to play right away. You may need to glue some of the flowers on to be hats, etc. Then for wings glue two leaves on.

By the way, we have been enjoying Fairy Houses by Tracy Kane. It is about a girl who goes on a vacation to an island off the coast of Maine with her parents. They find in the woods a sign about building fairy houses and the rules of the woods. She of course builds one and checks on it each day to see if she can spot a fairy. Instead she sees various animals enjoying her house. It is a very cute book and has a great ending and then at the end has instructions/suggestions on building fairy houses in any season. Sorry I don't have a picture of the book, but apparently there is a series of them.

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