Altered Birdhouse

Posted by Kathy Torrence on Oct 4, 2007 in Cards, Crafts, Other items |

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:

Marie birthday card

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:

Birdhouse front

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:

Birdhouse address

And I added the names of her family and dog on the other side:

Birdhouse names

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:

Birdhouse back

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!

1 Comment

Annie
Oct 5, 2007 at 5:19 am

Love it, love altering!


 

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