Enchanted Woodland Party

I’m getting some projects done for my daughter’s 7th birthday. She wanted a fairy theme yet wanted boys to come as well so we incorporated gnomes and decided to make it woodland themed. I’ve sewn the gnome hats out of fleece (I actually used blankets since it was cheaper than getting fabric by the yard) and the boys will also make beards at the party. The girls will make fairy wings and I still need to complete the head wreaths out of flowers.

I painted a watercolor picture of a gnome in the woods for the invite. I’m really happy how this little guy turned out.

One of the things I worked on today were to toadstool terrariums. They were simple to make and really affordable. I’ll take you step by step and let you know how I did it!

1. First I started out with some wide mouth canning jars. You can use any clear jars you have, I just had these laying around.

2. Add about .5 inch of gravel. I used natural looking aquarium rock I found in the pet store.

3. Add 1 heaping tablespoon of activated carbon, also found at the pet store in fish supply.

4. Add potting soil till the container is 1/3 full.

5. Add moss (I gathered this from around our neighborhood…living in Oregon, we have lots of it!)

6. Add rocks and a toadstool.

To make my toadstools I used Ultra Light Sculpey. This works super well since it’s light and won’t be too heavy. Simply roll some between your palms to make a stem. Roll out a ball to make the top of the mushroom. Then set the top on the stem and squish them together till they resemble a toadstool. The cool thing about mushrooms are that they are organic, so they don’t have to look perfect.

After your little toadstools are sculpted they will need to be cooked. Follow the instructions on the label.

Then you’ll want to paint these after they are out of the oven and cool to the touch. My 4-year-old called these mushrooms “naked mushrooms”. I guess you can think of the paint as clothes in a way. I used a orangey red for the tops and left the stems white.

I decided to add a toothpick (cut in half) to the bottom of the mushroom so it would stay in play in the terrarium. For the toothpick to be inserted, I used my drill to drill a pilot hole. After drilled, simply insert the toothpick and add your cute toadstool to your terrarium! So cute and super affordable! Plus the great thing is that you can use them as decoration during the party and send them home as favors after wards.