Mini Stone Cottage Birdhouse Ornament

 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

Bird Ornaments Tutorial

 Hello Friends!  Today I thought I would share something other than miniatures.  Every Christmas, my sisters and I (along with nieces and nephews), have Crafty Christmas.  Instead of buying something for each other we make something.  This Christmas I made pans of cinnamon rolls for everybody, and I made clay birds for my sisters and mom.  I love making the birds so much that I decided to keep going after Christmas and hopefully by next Christmas I will have an entire tree filled with birds that I made!  I also snuck in Walmart when their Christmas stuff was 75% off and got a six-foot flocked and snowy tree for ten dollars!  This will be my bird tree!  I also plan on making some whimsical bird feeders and houses to go along with my birds.  With all that said, here are some of my birds and how I made them.

I hope you didn't expect them to not have glitter!  They've got to shine y'all!

First, I use aluminum foil and wad it up into as good of a bird shape as I can.  Heavy duty foil works the best and you don't use as much.  For the hummingbird I hot glued a piece of toothpick before I used the clay for his long beak.

Creative Paperclay is my favorite.  Just using a little water on my hands and molding it into shape is fun.  The not so fun part is waiting for them to dry!  They are usually ready to paint the next day, depending on how thick your clay is.  I really do love checking on the drying process with this clay.  You can tell by color or temperature.  If you pick it up and it is cold it's not dry yet.  

And this is me saying "Don't forget to press a small hole in the top of your bird for a 

hook to hang them up!"

When it's time to paint, I simply use a pencil to mark up my bird marking where 

paint colors will change.  I try not to be too accurate and detailed in the painting.  I could be, but when planning to glitter them up it's mainly just the colors that I want.  Just enough to be able to tell what kind of bird it is.  

This is by beloved Wood Thrush.  My favorite!

When I use glitter, I like to use Mod Podge and mix very fine glitter in the glue then paint it on.  This way the glitter stays on the project and doesn't leave a glittery trail everywhere!

I used one of my bird books for inspiration.

I just love them!  I can already see the tree all decorated up!  I've got a lot to do between now and December!  I also have a Mushroom Tree that I made mushrooms in this same way.  On that tree I also made acorns and pinecones.  

I hope you enjoyed this post!  While I LOVE making miniatures, my creativity does not stop there!  And I can't wait to share my Bird Tree with you next Christmas!

XOXO ~Laurie