Altered Birdhouse
It’s my friend Marie’s birthday tomorrow (Happy Birthday, Marie!) and I wanted to give her something special but something that didn’t cost a lot of money (I didn’t want to set that ‘gift precedent’ where she feels obligated to buy something for me on my birthday). I had a plain wooden birdhouse that I picked up a while ago and decided to alter it for her.
But wait – first, let me show you the card. I’ve mentioned before how much I love Paula’s Kit Club – I had a GREAT reproduction vintage postcard and some charms that I’ve been wanting to use from her birthday kit:
I just LOVE this monkey and dog! And I thought they needed some party hats and balloons, too.
But back to the birdhouse – I started by painting it a coffee color. Then I took some K & Co. paper and decoupaged all the sides and the roof, leaving a border around the edges for the paint to show through. I also painted the bottom border with a sand color and added some stripes and polka dots.
Once the birdhouse was covered with paper, that’s when the real fun began – embellishing! I also added some thick, grosgrain ribbon around the edge of the roof and some thinner grosgrain ribbon to the front and sides. I added some glass glitter to the roof top and some buttons to the front and back edges.
I wanted to make the birdhouse about Marie, so I put her name on the front on top of a little frame around the bird hole:
The colors look a little dull in the photos, but they are much softer in person.
On one side, I added some tiles with her address and a little family embellishment:
And I added the names of her family and dog on the other side:
On the back, I put her initial, a repro postcard of the Eiffel Tower (she loves Paris), a little martini glass charm (need I say more?) and even a little watch sticker because she and her husband run a watch repair business:
I had WAY too much fun making this project – it was nice to get to play with some of my other supplies and embellishments.
Watch out – who knows what I will be embellishing next!
Love it, love altering!