Fairy Houses

If you are crafty and like to walk the woods looking for natural objects (hollowed out tree branches, acorns, nuts, pine cones, shelf fungus, lichens, seed pods, vines and the like), you just might enjoy making some fairy houses for gifts or for your garden.  The photos above are some examples from the experts at the United States Botanic Garden in Washington, DC  http://www.usbg.gov/ .  Using them indoors is probably not a problem, thought they should be made of clean and dry materials that are not bug infested (a hour stay in your warm oven might be in order, or a trip through the freezer, to kill bugs and eggs).  Outdoor fairy houses should probably be in a sheltered location and a coat of two of varnish is probably a good idea.  Even so, they might only last a few years before you have to build a new one.  I am going to try it!
Happy gardening!