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 Barn Ornament

 Howdy Doo Friends!!  Let me just tell you, I have been having some fun around here.  I currently have three new ornaments to blog on!  YAY!  Also, I have decided, as all of these are for my Bird Themed Christmas Tree, that as long as they have bird eggs, birds on them or in them or just a bird itself, it's OK to be on my bird tree!  As long as that's settled, here is my precious little barn dance barn.

This little gem stands 3.75 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches long.  Going back to 1:12 scale after this is going to seem like making items for a giant!  

As usual, I made this one out of chipboard.  I cut the pieces out and didn't take any pictures of that part.  But I covered the insides using scrap book paper from my stash. For the "wooden" siding and flooring I had to do a few samples.  I wanted the weathered look but couldn't decide what basecoat color I wanted.  I chose my chocolate shimmer that I love so much and went with a mix of red and red shimmer acrylic paint on top.  I simply painted the brown and let that dry then went on top with school glue and painted on the red while the glue was still wet.  That is what gives the crackle effect.

The flooring has the same brown undercoat with mushroom and buttermilk paints on top.

I also went around the edges of the red planks with a paintbrush and the mushroom paint for dimension and used my brown ink pad to go around the edges of the flooring planks.  I cut each strip 1 centimeter wide.

I went in with the glue around the inside edges and sprinkled saw dust because that's what is on the floor of a barn dance!

I wanted a party banner for the inside so I found a tiny, thin piece of lace from my stash and draped it around the inside of the barn making sure that the front piece could be seen through the doorway.

I made the tiniest hay bales I've ever seen using cut blocks of balsa wood, glue and sawdust.

The rooster, hen and chick came from a yard sale years ago.  They are cast iron and have little wires for legs which is perfect to stick them down in something.  So... there are my birds on this piece!

I also thought that a tiny barn dance needed a couple of instruments.  At this point I believe I have lost my mind!  I don't own the tee-tiny paint brushed needed to make these look really real.  So, they turned out a little sloppily painted but the eye will never know at a distance.  I made a Bass and a Banjo!  I drew a Bass shape on a piece of cereal box and cut it out, then glued that to another piece, and then two more cutting each out along the way and painted it.

I also went to my computer and looked up county fair, circus and just old posters for the inside walls.  And, for the outside banner, I found a blank banner online then added Barn Dance, Saturday Night to it and glued it to the front.

Here you can see the finished instrument in the corner waiting to be played.

The plant in the corner and also to the right of the front doors is just twine that I cut and brushed.

Here's the banjo.  It is just four hole punches glued together, and cereal box cut and glued together for the stem or whatever it's called.

The roof is deconstructed cardboard that I pulled off both of the top and bottom layers because I wanted to stretch it out more while gluing it down.  I originally wanted to paint See Rock City on the roof.  I tried it and it did not look good.

I also made a disco ball from a bead with glued on glitter and a longhorn skull made from wire and air-dry clay.

I mixed black paint with gunmetal metallic paint for the roof and added a bit of rust using paint.

And there she is!  Ready for the Barn Dance!

If you like this one or have any questions, please comment!

These are so fun and really don't take that long to make.

Thank you for stopping by!

Got any more ideas for my Bird Themed Christmas Tree??  Let me know!

XOXO ~Laurie