Happy St. Patrick's Day!

An illustration from our storybook, A Little Lair®.

Mini Gingerbread House.

We decided it might be fun to make a mini version of our gingerbread house this year for the fairies and elves that visit our home.  It's hard enough to assemble a full size house with real gingerbread, so we opted to use graham crackers.
I'm not going to lie, the decorating was time consuming on this one, but the end result is really cute!

I started with a serrated knife to gently cut the graham crackers to the desired shape and size.  Everything was held together with white frosting.  Using a plastic sandwich bag, I filled it with frosting and cut a small hole in the end to pipe on the frosting.  With a pair of tweezers I added some red & green sprinkles (this was the time consuming part!)
The end result - a super cute mini gingerbread house that our holiday elf is sure to love!
Another great way to have fun with A Little Lair®!

Adding Christmas Cheer to your elf door.

At our house we start decorating for the holidays the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I know it's early for some, but it's our tradition, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

This year was no exception.  The tree is decorated, the stocking are hung, and the sound of classic Christmas music fills the house.  I love this time of year!

Our little elf door gets a lot of activity right now from our holiday elf "Mike."  We thought it might be fun (and cute!) to decorate his door too.

Dollhouse miniatures are a super easy and inexpensive way to bring a little holiday cheer to your little door.  These decorations are readily available at most large craft stores and most of the holiday decor is on sale right now too!

This year we kept it simple and added a wreath to the door using a little bit of removable poster putty.  You could also add a string of lights or a snow covered tree.  There are tons of options!

Sources:  Holiday wreath - Lights - Trees

A Little Rope Ladder.

We have been getting a lot of emails from people asking about the little rope ladders that are in some of our fairy door photos. These might just be our favorite little A Little Lair® accessory!

The best part...they are so easy and inexpensive to make! All you need is some kitchen twine or raffia string (widely available at craft/hobby stores) and the ability to tie a basic knot. 

1.  First cut two long pieces for the sides of the ladder. These should be cut to whatever length will help your wee folk reach solid ground. 

2.  Next cut several shorter pieces for the steps.  Make these about 3” in length. 

3.  Working your way down the longer side pieces, double knot each step into place, making them about 1" wide and 1" apart.  This should keep the scale of your ladder just right for the size of your little door.

4.  Trim any excess twine.

5.  Adhere the ladder to the backside of your Lair door with a small piece of tape.

Usually these ladders just “appear” overnight, as though they were left behind by a magical visitor.  

Pumpkins!

I can't seem to resist a mixed bag of candy corn with mellow creme pumpkins!

The boys thought it was absolutely necessary to add a couple "pumpkins" to our magical little door. Now our little visitors will enjoy some Halloween cheer too!