Tabletop Steampunk Fairy Garden in a Cricket Box

After crafting the Woodland-inspired gift boxes
from paper-mache,
I believe I'm on a creative roll.

I've had a couple of brass cricket boxes for a while now, that I aged with bleach, because I very much prefer dark brass with patina, versus shiny and bright.
I had intended to sell them empty after I darkened them,
but reindeer moss was sitting nearby,
and started a chain reaction.

Plain ol' brass cricket box is now a tabletop 

Steampunk Fairy Garden.

So many materials that are fun to play with,

look great together,

and just plain make an instant statement.

Chartreuse reindeer moss & Tamarack cones

equals natural elegance!

But I couldn't stop there.

I added a homemade toadstool,

created with pulpy paper, a piece of twig,

and brown German glass glitter.

After that step, I decided the background

looked dark and empty,

so I created a rustic fence using more twig pieces.

Finally, the coppery brass was whispering 

"Steampunk" to me,

so I dug into my chain stash for this

textured chunky perfection.

As for the construction,

I secured styrofoam to the base

to hot glue everything to.

I wanted the lid to be fixed at just

the right angle, so I twisted some semi-stiff wire, 

wrapped it with brown floral tape,

stuck it into the foam,

then hooked it to the lid through a cutout.

I enjoyed making this so much, that I'll craft another one

with the smaller box.

This treasure is now available in my Etsy shop.

Join me on Instagram!

@MagiaMiaEtsy

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