Vintage Shabby Birdhouse, part 2

Yesterday, I posted a quick pic of my Vintage Shabby Birdhouse (my All Things Tim group's February project). For this group, my goal is to incorporate Tim Holtz's products and techniques into each project and to create a wide array of projects from month to month. If you're already a follower, you may have seen our projects over the past six months. It's been nothing short of great fun for me, and it appears that the group is pleased as well. And for the first time, I will have a few kits available on my Etsy site in the next few weeks, so stay tuned for that announcement here on my blog.

Today I wanted to share with you how the birdhouse project came together. It all starts with a Crafty Secrets Sweet Chips Chipboard House. This little house kit comes with many pieces for making a sweet little house. Scalloped borders, windows with shutters, doors that swing open, birds, and lots more.

The main house piece looks like this. I used Tim Holtz's 12th tag technique (of his 2011 12 Tags of Christmas) for the house. I began by stamping a background with Archival black ink. This floral flourish comes from Tim's Artful Flight stamp set.

I knew I wanted the house to be pink in the end, so I did a color wash of Fired Brick Distress Stain over the stamped house. 

Tim used his new tissue paper on a roll which I do not have, so I used many rows of tissue tape instead. I did not crinkle it, just taped it straight across. (I tried the wrinkle effect and ended up taking if off. Just didn't work with tape the same way as the tissue paper.) 

Although I don't show a few steps here, I first spread a layer of Glue & Seal (matte finish) over the tissue tape to seal it. After that dried completely I put a wash of Picket Fence Distress Stain over the whole thing and let that dry. Finally, a smear of Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles with my finger over most of the surface. I put that aside to dry thoroughly.

For the rooftop, I pulled some Baby Pink card stock from my Close To My Heart paper stash and ran it through the Vagabond with this Texture Fade of Tim's. I don't save the packaging, so don't know what it's called exactly. I did it twice for each side of the roof.

I purposely chose Close To My Heart's card stock because it has a white core. I sanded the raised areas to expose the white. Perfect for my shabby pink and white birdhouse.

I glued each piece to the two roof sides and trimmed as necessary.

Hard to see here, but I spritzed the roof with Pearl Pearls mist to give it a bit of shimmer, and the illusion of a pink tin roof was just a bonus! Another bonus is finding that the rosette ribbon in Tim's trims fits perfectly  onto the length of the five scallops on this roof. I didn't have to trim and adhere the rosettes individually. Just a string of five glued down.

The house was cute but I knew that I wanted it on a pedestal of some kind, so I went to my local Hobby Lobby and found just what I was looking for on the wood cuts aisle. I painted them white with spray paint and with my finger, added a touch of Salmon Paint Dabber here and there for a soft pink distressed look. Once all that was dry, I glued the pieces together and sprayed the whole thing with Perfect Pearls mist.

For some accents, I added a few of Tim's metal corners to the pitch of the roof after a rubbing a little Snow Cap White Paint Dabber over the decorative surface. Under that you'll notice a paper rosette. I used some of the blue card stock from Tim's Vintage Shabby paper pack and cut the smallest rosette from his Mini Paper Rosette Alteration die. I used half of the length for each side of the roof.

Although some cute little chipboard birds came in the Crafty Secrets kit, I opted for Tim's Caged Bird Alterations die and cut two from Grungeboard. Since I didn't have yellow paint, I cut two more birds out of Buttercup card stock and glued them over the Grungeboard bird pieces. I stamped the flourish on their bellies (Urban Grunge) and then did a quick swipe of Snow Cap white over everything and rubbed some of it off with damp paper towel. I gave the edges a soft distressing with Black Soot, then added a dot of silver glitz for the eyes.

The fence around the perimeter was cut from Grungepaper. It worked out nicely that each strip of Tim's On the Fence Alterations On the Edge die fit the length of each side of the base with just a slight trimming. I cut four fences, painted them with Snow Cap White, and then crackled them with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. After it was completely dry, I rubbed a bit of Tattered Rose distress ink on a blending tool into the cracks, then heat set it. Once I adhered the four fence pieces, I didn't like the exposed seams where each piece met, so I added this wonderful soft pink crushed velvet ribbon around the perimeter. 

I was happy with the house at this point, but felt it needed just a bit more something. I had played around last month with shrink charms when making jewelry in our All Things Tim group, and after everyone left, I continued to experiment and play with the shrink plastic and thick embossing powder and made several flowers and leaves. (Tim had used a similar technique in his 11th Tag.)

So I think I will save the making of my shrink charms for another blog post. My fingers are tired and my coffee needs nuking. Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for stopping in. 

Here's one last look at the birdhouse...