American Girl Gardening Bench With Accessories

I am very excited to feature a very talented lady today. Her name is Rachel and she put together a very detailed and beautiful tutorial for us on the accessories that go with the American Girl Gardening Bench that we made last week.  Here is what she has to share with us:

Today, we’ll be recreating the sunshine garden bench from American Girl’s most recent release. From the minute I saw the authentic version, I knew I had to create my own. Here’s the list of materials you need to get started: – Go check out the tutorial for the bench itself here. –

Supplies Needed:

1. Gardening Bench (which you should have already made :))
2. Tacky glue and scissors (Aren’t these standard?)
3. Yellow, Light Pink, White, Lime Green, and Purple Paint (I purchased mine from Joann’s for $.79 each) Green and pink pens for the detailing on the birdhouse
4. A birdhouse, I used one that already had a stick attached from Joann’s for $3.99 in the unfinished wood section – (optional)
5. Little blue bird, I bought mine in a pack of six from Hobby Lobby’s floral section for $3.99. Since I only used one for this project, it was roughly $.67
6. Pink and yellow flowers, I got mine from the Joann’s floral department for $1.29 each. I modified the stem length slightly to make the pink flowers appear shorter than the orange flowers
7. Brown clay or other preferred substance to use as dirt for your plants. I opted for a block of brown clay from Hobby Lobby for $7.99, but it was $4.79 with my 40% coupon
8. Brown flower pots, I bought mine for $1.29 each in the Joann’s floral section.
9. Butterflies, I originally bought a set from Joann’s but found more accurate ones from Hobby Lobby which I ended up using. It was $2.99 for six and they were in the floral section as well. Since I only used three for this project, it was $1.50 for them.
10. Bee and ladybug stickers, I bought mine for $2.49 each from the Joann’s scrapbook section.
11. Hexagon paper mâché box from the Joann’s unfinished wood section for $1 for beehive
12. Wooden dowel from Joann’s unfinished wood section for $.59 for beehive
13. Beehive backdrop, I opted for this one: Beehive Backdrop Printable, but you can use any beehive backdrop you prefer
14. 1 sheet of brown card stock and Seed Packet Printables for seed packets, I opted for this seed packet design:
15. Little beads to create the sound of real seeds for seed packets
16. Gardening tools, I got mine from the Hobby Lobby Spring Section. I purchased a watering can for $1.79 and a set of smaller gardening tools for the gardening spade that were $2.99 but since I just used the gardening spade, it was only $1.
17. Clear Command sticky hooks, you can buy them pretty much anywhere and I already had them on hand. You can also use cup hooks

Total cost: roughly $30

Now for the tutorial. Start by painting your birdhouse pink and white, if you’re not good with paint lines, I recommend using masking tape to type off the area and remove after you finished painting. Next paint your paper mâché box yellow. Then paint the bottoms of one of your pots yellow and the other pink. (optional) Paint the unfinished wood part of your gardening spade your desired color. The authentic version has a lime green spade but I opted for an electric blue one, it’s up to you. Allow to dry. Once dry, draw on the detail of the birdhouse with your pink and green pens, add little blue bird, and two little ladybugs on the bottom. For beehive, cut your wooden dowel into three pieces, one about 1 inch long and two about a 1/2 inch long. Glue pieces together in the shape of the handle, let dry and then glue handle to beehive. Paint handle yellow when dry. Cut beehive backdrop to size and glue inside beehive. Add bees. After that, begin shaping your brown clay around your flowers. To streamline the removal of the clay after it’s been shaped into the flower pot, line the flower pot with plastic wrap. Shape the clay into the pot and after removal, add any details you’d like such as texture and then bake according to clay maker’s instructions. Be sure not to bake with flowers attached, I promise the hole where the flowers go will not close up. Print and cut out seed packet stencil out of card stock and desired decorative seed packet design for the front. Glue seed packet design to the card stock and glue packet together to finish. Add beads or seeds inside. Apply clear hooks and ladybugs in desired places to bench. Arrange everything on and around the bench; you’re done!