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Saturday 30 April 2016

A blue bird for Bethany

Decoupaged birdhouse with knitted bird

The April challenge at Berkhamsted Creative Challenge is All Creatures Great and Small. 


Which gave me a good excuse to complete a project for Bethany which, if I'm honest, was supposed to be a Christmas present.

It all started with a wooden decorative bird house I found in a charity shop. Bethany loves birds (va va's) so I thought it'd be great decorated in her room.

It came as plain wood, although I didn't get a picture of that.

I started with a coat of gesso to prime the wood a bit and give a light under colour.

Wooden birdhouse with coat of gesso

I then repainted the roof in blue to match the paper I wanted to add. With all those grooves I was bound to miss a bit, and if the undercoat was the same base colour it wouldn't show nearly as much.

Wooden birdhouse with coat of gesso and blue roof

I then decoupaged the birdhouse, using deco patch papers. I've had these a while, I can't even remember what the blue was bought for (I know the white I used on the picture frame that was the first thing I ever decoupaged). 

I use a water and PVA mix - it gives a nice matt finish that I like. I've never tried the varnishes you can buy specifically for decoupage, so can't say if they're better, or just different - one day I'll want a gloss finish, or do something for outside, then I'll splash out on the proper stuff.

Wooden birdhouse with coat of gesso and blue decoupaged roof

I tore the paper into pieces, but also made use of the straight edges of the paper, for the edges where the two different papers met.

For the bird, I used a pattern I downloaded from Ravelry, called the Bluebird of Happiness. It's a good, easy to follow pattern, quite simple but fiddly, using double ended needles for something so small.

I had a blue mix yarn, again, no idea what I bought it for, but I did use it to make a squid for hubby last year.


Cat investigating decoupaged birdhouse and knitted bird


Even the cat was showing some interest !

Three card birdhouses in different shapes



And, as Berkhamsted Arts and Crafts has got a variety of birdhouse shapes in that I couldn't resist, Bethany will have a little village, and a flock of birds, to adorn her room.

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