As an update on longevity of various objects outside in AL...

Micro popsicle stick items last about 2 yrs. A coating of urethane would double that, and probably a coating of many kinds of paint. Painted clay objects last maybe as long, 1-3 years. Coating these with urethane didn't help much. Lightweight objects (like corks with tiny plants in them) blow around too easily. Plastic things fade & becomes brittle.

Painted wood, rock (duh, right?), glass, & metal objects have lasted longer. And a tiny stained glass window made of shrinky dinks is still in service. The little $1 painted resin items have been worthwhile.

I don't mind a slowly revolving selection of mini items, so things don't get too boring.

Apparently Hobby Lobby has a fun selection of tiny items. I was going to order some things online but there is no threshold where they do free shipping, so I'll wait until I can visit in person, hopefully soon.

It's been 9 years since I started mini gardening and I thought by now places that sell tiny plants would have more tiny gardening items to go with them, but maddeningly, the two worlds seem to remain almost exclusively exclusive.

Do you have any fun new details lately? Aging reports on some items you've been using for a while?

Super creative Tiffany!! Worth an acorn for sure!! I don't have the fine motor dexterity to do things like that but anytime you can make all your own items for displays it's so much more rewarding to look at the entirety of a project! Well done!

Thank you so much! : ) !

Check your DG's. I found some cute mini stuff on clearance, 75-90% off. I don't know if they do things at the same time @ every store, but that's my report from here.

I don't think a micro F3 tornado went through here, probably a squirrel, which would be bigger in proportion than Godzilla. A claim with "gnome home insurance" has been filed. LOL! I tried to decide if anything was missing, but I'm not sure. Just hope there are no looters!

That happens here, too! But I think it might be rats at night, not squirrels during the day since this always happens at night.

Here in my neighborhood, squirrels get blamed for everything, but I am quite sure it is nightly visits by the rat rodents instead. I've never seen a squirrel bother anything in my yard except the bird feeder.

That's possible. Or cats, wind. IDK when it happened, sometime in the past season of heat. I have zero interest in spending enough time outside to notice much when it's hot.

Yesterday it was gorgeous and cool enough to put on long sleeves & pants instead of bug spray but I gave up on doing things pretty quickly because I was getting attacked on my forehead, ears, and hands. I feel like a prisoner and the mosquitoes are the guards.

Ugh! I hate mosquitoes too! They are the worst along with no-see-ums. I am ready for some much cooler weather. This has been one hot, hot year in Florida!

It is frustrating. The mini gardens stay outside but I bring at least 150 pots inside and getting them ready while getting all ate up before the first frost is a test of my dedication.

Browsing threads and saw this. I don't actually create mini gardens with small plants but I do enjoy putting fairy or gnome doors around. Right now, they're all inside but some of the "little details" would easily work outside and for mini gardens so I thought I'd share here. Actually, if you put 3 coats of a good acrylic sealer on anything it'd most likely last outside. I had some plaster ornaments I'd coated and left out for 4 years before I got tired of them and simply tossed them. One winter was a more than 40 days in a row of rain (I remember all the weather people enjoying their biblical puns) and yet they did fine.

A simple to do I'll be making more of is chairs from Champagne corks. Just nab the lower wire that circles the cork, remove it and use it to make the chair back. Then paint.


I'm trying to decorate most of the chairs but have a bunch I'd not yet done. I have doors with decorations for most holidays. These are buttons (shank snipped off) and beads on the chair.


Another is lanterns just with craft wire on the spool from JoAnn or such. The lantern is a flower bead, with a crystal looking one inside and then more beads on the stand part. The base I'd made wasn't strong enough - have to re-do that part. I do have different colors of lanterns for the different seasons - Halloween is the only one I'd found beads I liked along the base.


I usually get the doors unpainted and then paint them and say a chair or birdhouse to match. Just showing pieces here -don't have all the season / holidays photographed.



For indoors, I like to take a box and put wood / brick or such paper on it and glue the door to that - it can go on bookshelves and elsewhere easily and adds a nice "house" touch. Still more parts not done but you can see the idea.


I have a few styles of doors. Need to settle on a charm or button for this chair and I keep meaning to print little banners to string. The ones with salt and pepper shakers decorate in the kitchen. Odd little laminate shelves at the ends of oak cabinets.


There are also all kinds of windows you can get.


Small easels (often sold for wedding place numbers or such) can hold signs.


Kind of a dump of a lot of pics. All the buttons, beads, gnome and papers from JoAnn's. Doors, windows and these garden things online. This pic all the gardening bits are pushed together until I stage them.


Tossing in part of the Christmas/winter one to finish this off.

Terrific ideas! So darn cute and easy to make! Thank you for Sharing!

Maggie, those are wonderful!! The chairs are especially cute!

I've used urethane with great results for wood objects that will be outside. Have you used that? I'd be curious how they compare, acrylic vs. urethane. I don't know much about those things, might even be the same thing already.

I have some fairy doors. I'll take a pic of them as soon as I remember and it's not dark.

Tiffany I use the term acrylic loosely. Urethane is great. I've done marine varnish, known to yellow a little, and all sorts of sealers. I haven't stuck with one brand or type.

OK, thank you very much : )

My grandfather had a wooden row boat he set into the bay every year. I figure if sealers could keep that afloat sitting in the water, they work for garden pieces.