Miniature Spun Cotton House Ornaments

 Hello Friends!!  Hope you all are well! Today I am sharing some houses that I have made for my bird tree.  The inspiration for the little houses came from a Pinterest post from Rosanna at Sweethavensanctuary.org.  This is my first time ever trying to work with cotton covered treasures.  In fact, I had never even seen the technique.  But I have had so much fun learning and making these little ornaments for my tree and decided to share what I've been making with you!

I began with the Sparrow Post house that is my replica of the one that Rosanna Shares in her YouTube videos.  She also has a link to the house template.  I actually made two houses using the template then I branched out and made other sizes.  You can find Part One of her Sparrow Post HERE.

To make them appropriate for my bird themed Christmas tree, I decided they all needed shop or business names that are bird themed.  Easy enough!  I have made six so far and I am not done!  These are so fun to make.  The hardest part is the drying time after gluing the cotton down.  

I began by using my favorite chipboard and cutting out and wood gluing the houses together.

Then covered them with masking tape as the glue mix while gluing the cotton down would just sog the poor houses to death.  The glue mix is simply one part school glue to four parts water.  Most of the time I would squirt a thin layer of school glue to the house and lay the cotton on top, then use the glue mix and a paint brush to dampen and press down the cotton.

I just used cotton balls, unrolled them and pulled pieces apart.

It is a learning process and I am sure professionals would say 

I'm not doing it right, but it worked for me!

It has been so hot the last couple weeks here in Tennessee that I decided just to sit them outside in the sun to dry while I went and did something else for the afternoon.

These are the only pictures that I took when making the Do Duck Inn.  I simply made the duck head out of aluminum foil and hot glued it to the top of my round house.  Then covered it with masking tape and glued the cotton to it.

These are the two made from Rosanna's template for the Sparrow Post.  I found it easier to make one just like hers for my first house.  I am so appreciative for her teaching and style.   It's never too late to learn to make something different and learn new techniques!

I really hope you enjoyed this post and will visit Rosanna's blog HERE and also her YouTube Channel called RosannaMakes HERE.  She is a delight to listen to and follow along and is so very talented.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

XOXO ~Laurie

Miniature Chapel Ornament

 Hey Mini Friends!  Once again, I am in love!  With one of my creations!  I made a little Chapel to go on my Bird Themed Christmas Tree.  It was a little tedious at times because I wanted the siding and shingles to be a little more size appropriate.  But it turned out wonderful and I cannot wait to see it on my tree!  I can't wait to see all of them on my tree.  I think I am up to 11 houses so far and am working on another one.  I also have about one dozen clay birds, which there will be more, and five papier mache eggs that are not really cooperating with me just yet.  BUT!  Here we go on the Chapel!

Isn't she divine?!?!  I believe this is the largest one so far.  She is five inches long by 7 inches tall by three inches wide.  I began by taking ZERO pictures of the pieces being cut out of chipboard.  I usually just wing it in this process anyway.  So, we start with making the "stained glass" windows.  In addition to the chipboard outsides, I also cut out matching pieces of cardboard from cracker boxes to sandwich the stained glass.  The stained glass is made from plastic packaging, black acrylic paint, washable markers and gloss mod podge.

I think the stained glass took three coats to get the color I wanted.

By the way, these little clips are amazing.  You can find them on Amazon HERE.

I covered the inside walls with a thin layer of joint compound.

I tore out roses and florals from my favorite napkins and mod podged them to the inside walls.

I water/paint-stained skinny popsicle sticks for the flooring.

For the altar table I used pre-made very small spindles that I cut down.  I also used the same spindles for the candles on the altar.

And what else does a tiny Chapel need??  Pews of course!  I just cut out shapes from chipboard and tried to make them all the same.  These ornaments are so small that I question my sanity at times lol.  Not to mention my hands hurting.

I did add a tiny piece of black thread for the candle wicks. (not pictured)

As per usual, I took no pictures of making the siding.  But, I used cracker boxes and painted the inside of the cardboard black.  Then, I brushed on the thinnest layer of school glue and while wet painted on the white paint.  I wanted the crackles to be very tight.

I wasn't sure if I was going to add a belfry.  And I thought this one was too big and almost made a smaller one.  But, I ended up trusting the process and used this one.  It does have a tiny bell hanging inside.

Of course, everything on the bird tree has to have birds or eggs somewhere.  So, I made tiny clay pigeons to live in the belfry.

For the roof, I used sandpaper that I painted black.  I cut strips and then cut many snips to make the shingles.  Talk about making my hands hurt!

I couldn't decide on the door whether to use the arched doors or not.  They seemed way too tall.  So, I made a stained-glass piece and made regular sized doors.

The steps are just three pieces of chipboard that I pressed with a small clay tool to look like stones.  The gravel is decorative sand, and the grass is just pieces of green twine.

The pigeons in the belfry.  Also, you can kind of see the bell here too.

What a joy to make!!

I think she turned out wonderful!  What do you think??

I seriously cannot wait until it is time to decorate this tree!

Thank you for stopping by!!!

XOXO ~Laurie