Scrapbook Paper Decorated Birdhouse

Years ago, my son bought me this birdhouse for Christmas. He found it at his school Bazaar, paid 50 cents, and gave it to me knowing I love "make it pretty" projects. At the time however, I had a cat who was a very proficient hunter, and felt bad louring birds to their death. He has since passed away, and I just remembered about the birdhouse that has been waiting patiently to get beautified.

I have some fake dollar store flowers, scrap booking paper and mountains of glitter, so I decided today is the day I get this project finished!

First you need a birdhouse. This one seemed to be a first attempt, maybe from a kid? It's heavy and well assembled, just not aligned completely. Also, my dog chewed on the perch, so I'll have to fix that.

You will need white multi-purpose glue, a paintbrush, scrapbooking paper, a knife,a cup to mix with, scissors, large Popsicle sticks, Guesso, glue (I used gorilla, you can use Krazy glue or anything sturdy), a hard plastic straw, fake flowers, glitter, glitter paint, sticky gems, sparkle tape.

Mix the multipurpose white glue with water at a 50:50 ratio.

Paint this mixture over the side of the birdhouse.

Place a piece of scrapbooking paper flush against the top edge and smooth down.

Using scissors or a knife, cut the excess paper and press down the edges.

Repeat on other side.

I needed to replace the perch anyway, so I cut it off with the knife before I applied the paper.

Paint on the glue/water mixture.

Place the paper firmly against the wood and trim the excess.

I ripped the top of my paper and needed to patch it up. I used a corner of the same design paper and cut along the edges of one of the flowers, then pressed it into place and smoothed it down with more glue/water.

The get the entrance hole, I poked my fingers through and painted the edges down with more glue/water.

Using the same technique as the sides and front, glue the paper onto the roof.

I used a different pattern on each side.

The side with flowers had leaves that extended past the center so I cut them out and using some of the glue/water mixture, smoothed them down over the plain side.

I tried gluing a different pattern of paper on the wood edges, but it was too rough and textured for anything to stick. I therefor applied a heavy coating of Guesso, and will use glitter paint on it after the Guesso dries. Birds like glitter right?

For the new perch, I was looking for a chopstick, but instead found an old (but very solid) wiggly straw.

Cut the straight part off the straw and glue it beneath the entrance. Hold it tight until the glue is dry enough that you can leave it without it tipping over.

When the glue is completely dry, cut off a single flower from the bouquet of plastic dollar store flowers. Place the stem into the hole in the straw.

Take 5 very large Popsicle sticks (you can get them in almost any craft section), and lay them lined up on a flat surface.

Cover the bottom of the birdhouse in glue and place it gently on top of the sticks.

Add more glue to the front of the Popsicle sticks (to help hold them together).

When the glue is still wet, place assorted flowers against the front of the house.

Wrap glitter tape around the perch if you don't like the color of the straw.

Paint the edges of the roof with glitter paint.

Paint the Popsicle sticks with glitter paint.

Sprinkle glitter over the "garden".

Press sticky back gems around the entrance.

Paint over the entire birdhouse with a layer of the glue/water mixture.

Let dry.