DIY Woodland Forest Fairy

Just in time for spring, my latest fairy design is a DIY Woodland Forest Fairy with a bountiful bouquet of plants in her wings. Fairy wings are always the funnest part to design, and this one takes the cake. The additional leaves and buds in her wings create a lush greenery that makes her look right at home in her enchanted woodland forest.

If you’ve made my other fairies before, you’ll be able to make this one in a flash. There’s the additional step of adding the extra leaves and buds but it’s really not that much more work.

The Woodland Forest Fairy bundle includes the fairy, a hanging notch, two leaf branches and two bud branches.

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Here’s what you’ll need for this project:

Materials:

Cutting Machine
Woodland Forest Fairy Design
Cardstock Paper
Double Sided Tape with Lining
White Glue and Small Paintbrush
X-Acto Knife or any sharp point
Clear String
Scissors

Here are the instructions on how to create your woodland fairy…

Step 1: Cut two fairies

With your cutting machine, cut out two fairies, a hanging notch, 4 leaf branches and 3 bud branches.

The dotted lines along the base of the fairy wings will become your fold lines but you can also go over it with a bone folder to enhance the fold line. Enhancing the fold line will help you in the next step.

Step 2: Attach double-sided tape along fold line

Cut a piece of double-sided tape, about the same length as the wing fold line and about a half inch wide. It’s important to use strong double-sided tape and not the removable type for this step. Then remove the liner to expose the sticky tape.

Step 3: Apply First Set of Leaves and Buds to Tape

Place one leaf branch anywhere within a half inch space on the right end of the tape. The half inch mark is where you’ll want to place your hanging notch later on, so you want to leave this area clear.

Make sure the arc direction of your leaf branch is arcing towards the fairy’s feet. Also it’s important to make sure no parts of your leaf branch is overlapping your fairy’s body, since you will be gluing the two fairies together in the final step.

Just a note for later, the notch does not need to be exactly at the half inch mark. If you place it more to the right (towards the fairy’s feet), the fairy will hang more horizontally. Place it more to the left (towards her head) and she’ll hang more vertically. The nice thing about this fairy is that if you find you don’t like the way she hangs when she’s done, you really can just re-tie your string around any of the branches. When she’s hanging you won’t be able to tell where the string is coming from. Just make sure you tie it around the base of whichever branch you choose.

Now place a second leaf branch anywhere on the other end of the tape, with the arc facing the opposite direction of the first leaf branch. Again make sure no part of your leaves are overlapping the fairy’s head or body.

Next place a bud branch (with the arc in the same direction as the first leaf branch) somewhere towards the center of the tape length. Remember to leave the half inch mark spot open for the hanging notch.

Also as you’re placing more and more branches, try not to overlap the bottom part of the branches that’s on the tape. Overlapping will prevent the branches from being in full contact with the tape, so you will risk having them fall off when your fairy is finished.

Next place a second bud branch beside the second leaf branch, on the left side. This one can go anywhere but again, make sure the bottom of the branch is not overlapping other branches. And again watch that no buds are overlapping the fairy’s head or body. (You can see in the image below I came really close!)

Step 4: Apply Hanging Notch

Finally in this step you can place the notch that we’ve been reserving that space for. Place the stem of the notch on the tape and let the circular loop sit above the tape.

Here’s an image with a ruler just to show you it’s about half an inch from the right edge of the wing.

Step 5: Place a second piece of double-sided tape

Cut a second piece of tape that’s approximately the same size as the first piece or even a little bigger. Place it on top of the first piece of tape and on top of the branches. You want it to completely cover the first piece. Also, like the first tape, make sure the top edge of the second tape is aligned with the fold line of the fairy wing.

Remove the liner on the tape and this time, KEEP THE LINER. You will need it later.

Step 6: Apply Second Set of Leaves and Buds to Tape

Place your third bud branch in between the first two. I angled mine so it leans towards the back of the fairy but any direction will be fine.

Next place your last two leaf branches. Match their arcs to the leaf branches from the first set beneath them. Again make sure no leaves are overlapping with the fairy’s head or body.

Now take that tape liner you kept and cover up the tape.

Step 7: Align Second Fairy On Top

Align your second fairy on top of the first fairy. This is the reason you cover up the tape with the liner, so that you have the flexibility to adjust the fairy as needed until it lines up with the first fairy below.

Once you have the two fairies aligned, with fingers and toes matching, hold down the head area tightly with one hand and then lift the top fairy to expose the tape underneath. Make sure to hold down the top fairy tightly so you don’t lose your alignment. Using an X-acto knife or any sharp point, reach in and peel off the tape liner.

Once you’ve removed the tape liner, press the top fairy firmly down.

Step 8: Glue Fairies Together

In this step you’ll be applying glue to the bottom fairy, then pressing the two fairies together. Do this in parts so the glue doesn’t dry up on you.

I find the easiest place to start is at her arms. Lift the top arms up and reach in to apply glue in her chest area. Most of this area is stuck together with the double-sided tape but you may have a small area that still needs to be glued together.

Then apply glue to each bottom arm. Press the bottom and top arms together. Depending on the type of glue you are using, you may need to press the edges of the arms together repeatedly until the two papers stick together. I find with white glue I have to do this but it only takes a few seconds. If you don’t do this the edges will come apart because the glue is still wet.

Next you can glue the two heads together by lifting the top head and applying glue to the bottom head. Press the two heads together, again keep pressing the edges together until they stay sealed.

Lastly, apply glue to the skirt and legs. You can glue the skirt area together first, then do each leg separately. Especially if you are using white glue like I am, you want to split the gluing up in stages since white glue dries fast.

Step 9: Peel Back Wing Layers

Open wing layers one layer/branch at a time.

Step 10: Tie String For Hanging

After you’ve folded open each layer of wings/branches, locate the notch and tie your string to the notch. As I mentioned earlier, if you don’t like the angle she is hanging at, you can re-tie your string to any of the branches.

Hope you enjoy this DIY Woodland Forest Fairy and please share your images. Tag me on my Instagram @chaivdesign so I can see your beautiful work!