Illustration, formatting if possible and publishing

I want the illustrations the be magical. I am writing it for 4 to 8 year old children. I am in the process of writing another book about homesteading that I would like to cover a larger audience 3 to 10 year old's if that is possible. I have tried Publishing houses but they are so expensive. I want the one on fairies to be a hard cover, that I will need cover art for, and in color, also I would like the whole book to be in color like pink, white, blue, yellow and purple for the fairies. I think I would like the children to look more human as the fairies will look real also. The font for the book should be easy to read but unique like printing but with a slight look of cursive. I would rather it not be just plain old bold faced. I think it would work but if you have any other ideas that you think would be better I am open to suggestions. I am looking into a way to have it published a little less expensively. I would welcome any knowledge about publishing it myself. I think I would like the formatting to be the words and a picture in every two page opening. There is also a little cottage in the story that I would like to be stone with maybe a hobbit looking door, quirky as an older lady lives there that they will visit. I am using my brothers family, mostly the children of which there are 6. I am changing the story as when I finished the first version they had only 4 children. The fairies should be somewhat small and flying around the children to get there attention, and they are kind, happy and fun loving, Thank you for considering my project. I am grateful for anyone who can provide help with my project. I would like to get it done before he has any more children or they are all grown up. I do not know what the cost of this would be, but I am serious in finalizing this book, with two others to follow. If I do not get any inquiries with the specifications I have stated above I will change it to a contest but right now I like the idea of posting it as a project. I forgot to mention that It will start in the backyard of the children's house when the fairies come looking for their help. At the end the children will come home, perhaps the parents are on the back porch, and tell them of the amazing adventure they had and the fairies promised many more adventures to come, thus more books on fairies if it is received well. This book is very important to me so the subject of fairies whether you believe in them or not is to be taken seriously as they are Real! I do not mean to sound self important. The reason this book is so important is because it will have my loving son, his wife and my grandchildren. It has been a dream of mine for many years and now that I have many health problems, Autoimmune Diseases which involve all my organs and exasperated by long term exposure to black mold. I have to be proactive about getting this done as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience in reading all this. If you have any questions please let me know. I have not included the full story as it is my dream and do not want to lose it. If I like your illustrations and you would like to format the book I will give you the full story. This and the other books are so important to me and I realize not everyone will be interested but I want the best and will pay for it. Blessings, Cynthia