Lynn Krueger of Elmira says she always needs to be making art of some kind, and right now she’s making fairy houses.

She started making them a few years ago and just kept on going.

“I just like to collect things over the years. And then I just came across, I think it was an article, about fairy houses. And I thought, ‘Oh, I should try that,’” she said.

Krueger made the houses as a hobby and gave them away to friends. Now, she’s continuing to make them and even advertising them for sale online.

“I (thought), ‘Oh, I’ll just post it and we’ll see what happens,’” she said. “There has been a nice response. So I need to figure out do any of (the commenters) actually want to buy one? And then another one said, ‘Oh, my grandchildren would really like some.’ So I think ‘oh, maybe I’ll make some smaller ones and see. Maybe with a little more thought if someone might want to buy it.’

“I just made them for the fun of it. And do I need a big thing like this in my house? No. Maybe I need to go smaller. We’ll just see. But yeah, people have made comments and inquired.”

She tries to make the houses out of found materials, especially natural-sourced materials, as much as possible.

“My challenge was to try to create something without using too many bought things, and just stuff you find in nature. You’re not cutting down a tree or anything, it’s just what’s around that you can take and not feel that it was still needed in nature.”

To make the houses she starts with a foundation and basic structure, and then builds the house up from there, adding rooms and furniture.  But what she loves the best are making small details in the rooms like a painting on a little easel, a bed with a quilt or a  broom resting by a door.

When she isn’t creating fairy  houses, Krueger works as a teacher at John Mahood Public School in Elmira.

“I’ve always done art. That’s my thing, (being) creative. So this is just one of them. So I don’t know how long I will do it for. But right now I just really enjoy doing it,” she said.

“It’s a wonderful thing to look at nature and enjoy it and be creative with it.”