The Impatient Crafter : DIY birdhouse

Craft Wars Inspired (Junk Drawer) Ocean Dreams Birdhouse
Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate
"Teen crafted, Mom approved."

My mom is going to be on an upcoming episode of TLCs new show Craft Wars and she's making projects every week with other contestants from the show inspired by the theme of the week before. Last week's Pop Craft challenge was to make a junk drawer themed birdhouse. We had two of these old birdhouses sitting in our yard, so we decided to both decorate one. I used her paint scraping technique in colors that fit my style and added some things from our 'junk drawer', some sea shells from our last trip to the beach, old buttons and a seahorse metal charm. Layers of mixed acrylic paint colors from Crafty Chica, Scribbles and Tulip are all sealed under Aleene's Spray Sealer so this can go outside. I can't wait for a bird to move in!

Materials
Old wooden birdhouse
Seashells
Old buttons in colors to match
Seahorse or ocean themed metal accent
Number tape (7 gypsies)
Blue, black, copper, white and brown paints (Crafty Chica, Tulip and Scribbles brands)
Aleene's Turbo Tacky Glue
Aleene's Spray Acrylic Sealer (matte)

Tools
Scissors
Butter knife or palette knife

If you are using an old birdhouse, clean off any debris and lightly sand. If a new birdhouse, sand lightly.

Mix up paints to make several shades of blue, grey and tan. Use a butter knife to add paint to house door, roof and sides in layers, starting with the darker colors and continuing until you're happy with how it looks. try not to smash the colors together, layer them on top of each other instead.

Use Tacky Glue to glue shells around your door frame.

Glue buttons around opening using more Tacky Glue.

Glue Seahorse to Door with more Tacky Glue. Yay, Tacky Glue!

Run tape along edge of roof on front and sides. Cut to fit.

Spray with sealer, apply several coats allow them to dry in between each layer.

Last week on TLC's new crafting competition show Craft Wars, contestants were asked to create a birdhouse that was functional and attractive using items from the Michael's craft closet and things one might find in a junk drawer. They only had one hour to get the job done, which is cra-zee. I, on the other hand, have the luxury of time and being a Monday morning quarterback, along with my other Craft Wars Vets. (Soon I too shall be risking craft fail on national TV and everyone else can second guess what they'd do if they were me!) I tried to stick with the theme, practical junk drawer birdhouse, using stuff you would find in my junk drawers, like bottle caps, dominoes and buttons combined with items you could easily find at a craft or hardware store. I had a blast turning a drabby ancient birdhouse into a fabby new home any Smoky Mountain bird might enjoy inhabiting.

If it were crafty...and slightly eccentric...that is.

I didn't put a bird on it, but I hope to put a bird in it!

Wah, wah.

So here's how I made my house and come back Wednesday to see the AWESOME house my daughter made for iLoveToCreate. Is this a craft fail or a crafty delight? Well, my fine friend, that's totally your call. Visit the links from some of the other Craft Wars Vets below!

Ingredients
One crappy old wood birdhouse
Dominoes
7-Up Bottle Caps (edges hammered flat with a rubber mallet)
Metal house numbers (I used Tim Holtz idealogy numerals)
Copper chain (cut three lengths to fit sides of house and edge of roof)
Old buttons
20 Gauge copper Artistic wire
Letter beads (to spell "put a bird in it")
Acrylic paints (bright green, teal blue, sage green, metallic copper-I used Ranger and Liquitex)
Alcohol inks and metallic mixative (lettuce, bottle, stream and pesto and copper mixative)
Large detailed stencil
Sealant (do not use spray sealer on alcohol inks...or you shall be sad...instead use a brush on sealant to protect from the elements)
Glue sticks

Utensils
Palette knife or butter knife
Stencil brush
Flush cutters
Round nose pliers
Chasing hammer
Bench block
Bench block pad
Hot glue gun
Ink applicator and felt pads

These old birdhouses required some brushing down to remove dirt and debris, now they're ready for a new lease on life! NOTE: No birds were relocated for the making of this project.

I used a butter knife like an artist's palette knife to scrape on chunky layers of paint. Starting with the darkest paint and moving to the lightest. Using the knife prevented them from mixing together like they would with a brush. I am now madly in love with this technique and looking for other things in our house to ~~attack~~ ~~disfigure~~ improve.

I used Ranger alcohol inks dabbed in the corners of a felt pad on their applicator to put layers of color on the front and sides of enough dominoes to cover the roof of my house.

I repeated the ink and paint process with some bottle caps, adding texture using blue metallic paint. I liked how that looked, so I added that to the drying dominoes.

Use a large detailed stencil, stencil brush and copper paint to add another layer to the house. Don't worry about being perfect, this is meant to be really organic and shabby in appeal. Or if being perfect is your thing, rock on with your bad self!

Use hot glue to attach the dominoes across roof of house. Try not to burn ~~the crap out of~~ your fingers whilst doing this...as I did. Because I always do. Yay, hot glue! Oh and remember the judges on Craft Wars HATE glue strings. I, however, overlook them because life is too short to worry about a few glue strings.

Use ink to add some color the the house numbers like you did with the dominoes and bottle caps, then attach them along with the chains and buttons to the front of the house.