The Bird House Instructions

Remember the birdhouse I made a couple months back, it was the one on the Prima Blog. Well adding the instructions to my blog slipped my mind. But, I promised a sweet lady I would get it done this weekend. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

This was the finished piece

Here's the raw birdhouse from Michael's craft store.

For the first layer I used a cheap brand of paint in a Raw Umber color (which is a dark brown) and painted the entire birdhouse. Let this coat dry a good 4-6 hours or overnight.
I applied a second coat to get it really dark. Again let dry thoroughly.


Next apply a layer of Crackle Medium. This is found at Michael's (or any other craft store) for about $2.00 a bottle. (this is awesome stuff-go ahead and use it for all the chipboard pieces you have laying around to give them a new look)


Apply a nice thick layer to the birdhouse. Again let this dry according the directions on the crackle product. I let mine dry overnight. See how shiny it gets. Make sure it is evenly covered.

Next apply your top layer of paint. I used a cheap .50 bottle of Vanilla Creme. The more paint you apply the better the crackle will look, so go ahead and use a thick coat. This will need to dry overnight.


Soon it will start to crackle and look like this.

After I let it dry, I sanded certain area to make it look aged and weathered. Go specially around the edges and corners. Think about where the weather would age the most if it were left outside.

Next I went 1 step further and used an Antiquing Medium. Again, you can find this at a craft store around $3 a bottle. A little goes a long way with this stuff. I used a cloth and rubbed it in where I sanded it to really make the aged spots appear worn and weathered. I wipe and then removed until I got the desired finish I was looking for.

At this is the end result of the long process of the painting techniques. Remember if you don't like the end result, it's just paint-Sand it smooth and start over.

To decorate my piece, I hot glued some moss to the bottom of the birdhouse and half way up the sides. I used 2 Prima vine flowers (love those by the way!) and attached them by stapling and hot gluing them into place, just bend them around and hide the staples with the leaves. I also used some leftover floral pieces I had at home and just stuck them into place. For the birds nest, I used an already made nest, set it into place and topped it off with a bird. To further embellish the house, I added a Tim Holtz key plate/key and topped it off with a Prima butterfly.

I hope this inspires you create one! Remember I can help you with the painting techniques, just email me or leave a comment on this post. The key to the paint, is let each layer dry thoroughly. Don't try to hurry and skip on the drying time because when you start sanding each layer will lift if it's not properly dried. Give yourself a couple days before you expect a finished result. It's not as time consuming as it seems. The painting will only take 15 min or less at a time.

You can also spray a sealer to the finished project (do that before you add any embellishments).

Good Luck!

Melanie