Miniature Camper Birdhouse

 Good morning friends!  Well let me just tell you... this was a fun one to make!  My vintage camper is slightly bigger than the rest of the bird house ornaments for my tree but I love it all the same.  Plus I didn't actually make a separate hole for a bird to get in to.  But somehow there are eggs inside!  

Let's get to it shall we??

I traced an old plastic egg container to get the shape that I wanted onto chip board.  Initially there was not going to be a cut out for the door.  If I had thought about doing a screen door I would have cut it out before I glued it together.  But, sometimes plans change as you go and that's ok!

I used corrugated cardboard for the outside to give it ridges.  Luckily, I found a piece in my stash that just peeled right off. 

I simply used printed paper from the craft store for the walls and floor.

Can I just say how in love with this screen door that I am???

Also, these fabric clips are extremely handy!

These are the louvered windows, and I have to say that I wish I had used the under, less shiny side of the aluminum foil.  Too late now!

Underside details and construction don't really matter when you're not going to see it.

I didn't really show the ceiling planks in detail.  I cut pieces of cereal box and painted them.  Then applied my favorite rose napkins using Mod Podge.

The flamingo pictures I printed from Pinterest then made the frames.  

You can see my tutorial for easy frames HERE.  

I made the little cabinet similar to when I made the Apothecary Boxes.  

You can find that tutorial HERE.

All of my bird houses for my All Bird Christmas Tree have special eggs.  They are simply aluminum foil and air dry clay.

I painted a little rug made from drop cloth and added some tiny seashells and a pretty jewel for added shine.

At this point in construction, I asked my husband if he would like to see the inside of the camper before I closed her up forever.  Like a good boy he said yes :)  He also suggested adding some turf which got me thinking in a different direction about the base of the camper.  

All closed up!

I bought some faux turf from the Christmas ornament section at Walmart a few years ago.  I simply glued it down to a piece of chip board for my base.

The wheels are made from the inside of Scotch tape.  I lucked up and cut it just perfectly the first-time using garden scissors.  You can also see the string that I painted and used as trim on the outside edges.

I painted them with chalk paint just so the black paint would cover well.  I also made them some hub caps from cardboard.

And since I had flamingos on the inside, I felt I needed some on the outside!

Their necks turned out a little rough but I love them!

The little chair I made similar to my vintage lawn chair post HERE.

I added a step and trailer hitch and glued her down to the turf.  The chair looks incredibly crooked in the pic... and maybe it is!  :)

Here's a look at the hitch.  The wheel is a button and a hold punched piece of cardstock as the center.

Here is a back view.  You can see the hole where you insert a Christmas light.

I also used rhinestones for the brake lights and side lights.

This is the view of the inside with a Christmas light sticking through the back.  You can see a lot better when it's dark, but I seem to not be able to remember to take pics at that time of day.

And that's her folks!  My cutie vintage camper ornament for my Bird Tree!

I just love this one!!!

Thanks for stopping by today!  

XOXO ~Laurie

Mini Stone Cottage Birdhouse

 Hello sweet mini friends!  Today we have a mini stone cottage birdhouse that I made for my bird tree.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  A bit of challenging fun I should say.  I am currently hooked on Pringles chips and have managed to include a few empty cans in my stash and what better way to use them but for bird houses?  This one is a little bigger than the other five that I have made so far.  Also, pardon me for the large amount of pictures here lol.

I had a couple of different "how am I going to do this" moments.  First with making something stick to the surface of the outside and inside of the can, and second with the roof.  So, here are some pictures of the house along the way.

I tried on another can just painting the inside.  It just wasn't working like I wanted. So, I used Mod Podge and covered the whole thing in paper towels.  Luckily it did stick so I moved on to adhering torn up eggs carton "stones" to the outside using wood glue.

Oh, I went ahead and painted the outside and inside before I added the stones so the white paper towels wouldn't show through.

I used clay to make a wooden-like frame for the hole.  

I let it dry on a spare can so the shape would hold.

The roof was throwing me for a loop.  I wound up just cutting some triangles and taping them together.  It seemed like it was going to work so I used strips of cardstock and glued them on the inside seams.  

I used my favorite napkins with the roses and lined the inside walls.

I used a piece of soft pink fur and glued the edges to a cut piece of round chipboard, then stuffed it, for the base pillow.

After the stones on the outside were dry, painted and gloss Mod Podged, I used joint compound to fill in around the stones.  I have found that a couple coats of Mod Podge added to the stones first makes it easier to wipe off the joint compound with a damp paper towel.

I also went ahead and used my rose napkin on the inside of the roof.

I added some cereal box pieces (like my other house HERE) for the shingles on the roof.

I used metallic acrylic paints for the shingles.

I scanned Pinterest for cute bird pictures and found some with crowns that I thought were cute!  I made some frames for them and painted them with metallic acrylic paint.  You can find my method for making the frames HERE.

For the little pillows, I used pieces of chipboard and glued on fabric that I stuffed and stitched a little knot in the middle then added a rhinestone.

And of course, the house has to have eggs!

I added ivy vines using floral string.  I gave each leaf a little buttermilk paint around the edges to give it a variegated look.

And I couldn't leave the bottom blank!

And that's her folks!  I now have six little bird houses for my bird Christmas tree.  It's not going to be enough!  I feel like I need at least ten, maybe twelve, houses for the tree.  

Thank you for coming along with me on this project!  It has been really fun so far and I have lots more to do!  

XOXO ~Laurie