Birdhouse Tutorial

It's Finally Here!

After a week of fighting with photos (it has been a long time since I have done a photo tutorial,) I have managed to get the tutorial for the birdhouses up.

I would like to note a few things before we begin. One being that if these gift boxes are not accessible to you but you still want to make the birdhouses, I have found two birdhouse printable templates online. Although they are not the same as the gift-boxes, they could be altered or simply used as is.

Paper Primrose Birdhouse Template
Barefoot Stamper Birdhouse Template

If none of these are appealing, simply do a search for "Birdhouse paper template", it should come up with a bunch. They can be made using any material you are capable of working with.

Secondly, I am still learning, and I do realize that their are better ways to do some of the tasks that have been covered in the tutorial. All I can say is, if you know of them, don't hesitate to share.

The birdhouses we will be making will be a part of a bigger project that is underway, so keep on the lookout for updates.

Okay, that's enough blabbering for now. Let's get started.

Begin

So, if you were lucky enough to find these boxes or something similar, the first thing we must do is cut them in half. I used a simple utility knife to do the job. Don't have to cut it if you do not want to, but I wasn't making it to be a 3-D model, just something I can easily hang on a nail or attach to other items.

Cover the base. I used a thin, white card stock for this. Using glue (home-made modge podge) I painted a thin layer onto the box and got my first side down. I left some over hang and cut it in the corners so these can be folded down onto the bottom of the box. This way, no edges are visible on the bottom and they are less likely to peel away.

 After all of the edges have been folded down, I added another piece of card stock to cover the exposed area on the bottom. Paint another layer of glue over the entire box to seal the edges.

 I did the same to the roof using a different card stock. The card stock for the roof was more difficult to cut, and have included pictures to show where the cuts were made in order to cover the roof with as little pieces as possible.

Now, if you used card-stock that you like, you can proceed to gluing the two pieces together. I however wanted to do an effect, which is why the base of the house is white. This is what I did to get the lace pattern.

I wrapped the box in lace that I purchased from Jo-Ann fabrics a long ago(I love lace). Using a homemade alcohol dye I sprayed the entire box. I will make a post at a later date on detailed instructions on how to make them, but the spray is just alcohol and food coloring, pretty easy to figure out.

This is the result.

 Now we can glue. I recommend using a glue gun to do this, but at the time didn't think of it, so I just used an all-purpose craft glue. Make a thinline at the top of the base and slide the roof on where you want it to sit.

If you used one of the templates, a hole has already been drawn, go ahead and cut it out. I had to sketch mine on using a pencil and then cut it out with my utility knife.

I cut about two inches of twine that I bought from Dollar General. The length should be greater than the diameter of the circle that you have cut. Separate the twist until you end up with strands.

Take it and line it all up. Cutting off any long ends.

Flip the birdhouse, put some glue down, and place at the bottom of the hole we just made.

Cut out a square from black cardstock big enough to cover the hole. Place more glue around the hole and set the black square.

 This is the result. More of a 3-D effect.

Next we are going to make the perch. I managed to find a good branch outside to do this with, but this can be made out of multiple items using different techniques. Cut the material the length you want the perch to be plus another half inch.

Cut a cross underneath the hole where you will want your perch to be. I used a utility knife to do so.

Push the perch into the cross and glue it in the back to secure.

So that is the basic birdhouse. I wanted to embellish mine a bit more so I wrapped some twine around the bottom. Using a line of glue for each wind around.

 I also cut the twine in the back and glued the edges down to secure it.

And that's pretty much it! I added another embellishment ( the pink rose at the peak of the birdhouse) and voila, birdhouse.

A couple of variations using different card stocks and embellishments:

 

Whew, that was a lot.

They are pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it. I will be making another one to be used in a bigger project, which I hope on releasing sometime next week. Spring is around the corner and these would be fun to make with kids, or to decorate the house. Depending on the material they are made out of, they can also be used as a decoration outside and in the garden.

Time to wrap it up!

I will try to do another post before the big project that I'm doing is posted, maybe covering some of the things mentioned in this tutorial (alcohol inks, homemade modge podge, etc.) If their are any questions or comments please do not hesitate to comment or contact me. I hope you enjoyed the first tutorial here on The Neophytes Guide to Crafting and I hope to see you soon!

Crafts and kisses,