Covered Birdhouse Church

This is such a fun project. At Michael's there are awesome wooden birdhouses for sale for a good price. I origianally started out with a more simple project using these Small Birdhouses. But when I was at Michael's a while ago, I saw this awesome birdhouse church and knew I had to get it for my Brother and Sister in law since he is an Angelican Minster. It is just perfect!! I started out painting the church with Light Antique White acrylic paint. Then I did the roof portions with Burnt Umber. After they dried, the real fun started. I've been saving this particular sheet from Stampin' Ups Au Chocolate designer paper for the walls of this birdhouse. It is a bit tricky and really a matter of trial and error to get the right shape cut out. Generally, I take the birdhouse and lay it on the wrong side of the paper. Then I trace around the house with a pencil and cut it out. Then, I push the paper against the birdhouse to make an indintation of where the perch is and cut it out with my hobby knife. I do the same thing for the circle opening and door. Finally, I do a little measuring and estimating to get the paper cut to fit the front. The sides and back are generally a lot easier. I used Mod Podge Matte to glue this on (and I will cover the whole thing later with more but not until the details are added).

I thought the church was a bit plain and needed a bit of color. So I decided to paint the base with some Sage Green acrylic paint. Then when it was dry, I added some green grass, made by using scissors on strips of green cardstock. Then, I used the Stampin' Up Spring Flower Boquet punch to get some Pixie Pink flowers. I added a So Saffron center to each and colored the petals with my pixie pink watercolor crayon (SU) and the centers with my brown watercolor pencilcrayons (SU) to give them more dimension.

Once all those details were finished, then I painted the whole thing with more of the Mod Podge so that it could be put outside if they would like. This is a really simple and fun project! It would even be something that kids (about 8 and older) could do with perhaps a little help getting the front paper cut to fit.

I hope you enjoy this project. Have you made something using designer paper that is out of the ordinary?? If so, feel free to post a like, I'd love to check it out! Thanks for visiting.