Hey girl, hey! I saw these metal birdhouses at Dollar Tree and couldn’t wait to craft with them. And just about everything is from Dollar Tree!
Supplies I used:
Dollar Tree: two rectangle signs, gift wrap tissue, rope, metal bird houses, moss, sanding sponge, craft sticks and small wood blocks called Tumbling Tower game
Debi’s Design Diary: White Swan and Apothecary
Dollar General: (gifted from a friend, last year) chicken wire farm signs
Walmart: Waverly Antique Wax
Stash: raffia, ribbon, scrabble letters, burlap
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Here are some of the things I used to create this sweet project:
TIP: You can make those little chicken wire farm signs by using a Dollar Tree photo frame and put chicken wire behind it.
To create the surface, I first attached the signs together with craft sticks and hot glue.
Then I painted over the front of the signs with Debi’s Design Diary White Swan. You can see the detail in the bottom image. It gives the project a farmhouse look.
TIP: Before painting, remove any embellishments and sand down any glittery accents. You might also remove the hangers from all the pieces.
Once the paint was dry, I painted the surface with Mod Podge. I used the “back” side of the tissue paper so my background wouldn’t be too bright.
Use an iron to smooth out wrinkles. I used paper in between my iron and the project, but our friends suggested using parchment paper.
Once the tissue paper is on the surface, just sand the edges with your sanding block.
I “plucked” off the animals and the result was a frame with chicken wire. We can use those farm animals in another project later on.
I wasn’t sure about cutting that metal stake, but it popped off pretty easily with my tin snips! Be sure to protect your eyes when cutting metal, y’all.
I painted my bird houses with Debi’s Design Diary Apothecary.
TIP: One of our friends suggested staining some craft sticks and using them on the roof of each bird house. That would be cute!
Then I sanded them down just a bit to make them appear weathered.
Whenever I’m gluing something to metal, I always use E-6000 plus hot glue. The hot glue sets up immediately while the E-6000 dries overnight. The E-6000 is a strong, permanent glue.
I used one Tumbling Tower game block (like Jenga, but smaller) for the back of each birdhouse because the roof extends over the back of the birdhouse and would keep it from attaching to the chicken wire.
Then, I hot glued the frames to the surface, spacing them equally apart.
And then glued the birdhouses on.
I used hot glue to put Dollar Tree rope around the edges of my surface.
A little raffia, some moss and a bird gives us an idea of how it’s going to look. I think it’s cute, y’all!
I decided that the frames needed that whitewashed / pickled look, so I painted on some White Swan and then removed some of it with a paper towel.
I’m happy with the frames now, so let’s finish this up!
I used a strip of burlap and put it in the center of the bottom.
Then I selected the letters for “Bless Our Nest” as one of our friends suggested.
I hot glued the Scrabble letters to the burlap.
My hanger extended above the project, so I decided to glue it down and make it shorter.
Here’s a closeup of our little birdhouse wall hanging! I added some raffia, bows, moss, pearls and two cardinals.
I think this turned out great!
I hope you enjoyed this project and maybe even crafted along with me! Let me know in the comments how you might decorate your birdhouses!
Thank you for stopping by,
XOXO-Erin
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