Make a Little Bird-house!

Hello and Welcome to Magpieheaven. It's been rain interspersed with sunshine today in my Magpie Garden. These are some of my favourite roses - they fade so fast, I just wanted to share them with you before the wind and rain takes away their beauty!

I've been thinking a great deal about gardens now that the Summer approaches, and that combination of pinks and oranges and greens with the blue of the sky that always suggests summer days to me!

I'd wanted to decorate my own bird-house for some time so I was delighted when I picked up a  reasonably priced one at Ally Pally and I decided I wanted to re-create some of those garden colours on it. Also Fashionable Stamping Challenges were asking for 3D creations this time, so I wondered if I might be able to enter my bird-house in their current challenge here.

After sanding down, I applied a couple of coats of Little Black Dress as a foundation. At this stage my son asked if I was creating a funeral parlour for the birds! I had a plan, I told him, which included Crackle Glaze! Now I have to admit to being completely carried away and sadly no 'Work in progress pics' were taken. As I worked I found myself singing the old They Might be Giants song that was a favourite of my son when he was four years old: 'Build a little Birdhouse in Your Soul'. Do you remember it? You can find the lyrics here or see it on You tube. Surreal madness, or is there some method there? Maybe I'm going crazy, but I suggest the singer represents a little blue nightlight and he asks the child he protects to have a special place for him in his or her heart/soul: a metaphorical bird-house sanctuary for the blue 'canary' glowing nightlight that watches over the child while he sleeps! Anyway, I think I put something of my soul into my birdhouse and I tried to make it represent a magical haven!

I chose PaperArtsy Bora Bora Fresco Finish to give that blue sky feel to the roof - all that black now shows through the Crackle to create contrast! My butterflies are die-cut from a Sizzix die in thick card and then painted and stencilled with a mix of Cheesecake, Yellow Submarine and Tango Frescos with Inky Pool to edge them. I then stamped with Lynne Perrella images from the PaperArtsy LPC range before dipping them into Versamark, sprinkling with clear UTEE and Shabby Blue Frantage and melting them until they were glossy. Their centres are cocktail sticks coloured with Sapphire Treasure Gold. To give a weathered, shabby impression, I stamped over the roof with PaperArtsy script stamps from LPC028 and an Ink and the Dog mini script stamp. I was beginning to hope that little birdhouse would strike a chord with someone!

Here is the door into the soulful bird-house! It looks big and heavy, but the ancient keys are in the lock and it's easy to step inside - art unlocks everything! I used Grunge Paste coloured with a little Guacamole Fresco paint and then sprayed with Hey Pesto and Tinned Peas to create an impression of grasses around the edge of the building.

I cut the door from corrugated card, using a Tim Holtz arch die-cut. The sentiment from Lin Brown's PaperArtsy Eclectica range was stamped using Potting Soil Archival onto tissue and then fixed to the door with Satin Glaze by PaperArtsy. I used Grunge Paste for the tendrils about the door. The butterflies are punched out of card using a Martha Stewart punch.

I hoped this flower with its beautiful Lynne Perrella lady at the centre would echo my orange climbing roses as they stretch towards the sky!

From what exotic lands has my resting blue butterfly flown?

 I took what my son was now calling The Butterfly House into the Magpie Garden where the idea of the 'bird-house in your soul make' was born! Here you can see how I used Tim Holtz's trellis, painted with Yellow Submarine and embossed with Verdi-gris embossing powder. There are images of different Lynne Perrella ladies on this side. There are some Tattered Pine Cone Roses; some Retro Cafe Art Gallery toad stools and more butterflies - including one on a curly wire like a cuckoo from a clock! Just like the song, my bird-house was turning a plain wooden bird-house into a fantasy creation.

Pictured on my glass-topped table it could be a boat-house in the centre of a lake!

Another side view!

Back indoors to photograph this side, as the sun became so bright the shadows were making it difficult to get a clear photo!

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch 
Who watches over you 
Make a little birdhouse in your soul 
Not to put too fine a point on it: 
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet 
Make a little birdhouse in your soul

I had such fun creating this 3D piece, I should like to enter it in The Fashionable Stamping Challenge #73 to create a 3D make, which you can find out about here.

Thank you so much for stopping by the Magpie Garden today. Have a lovely weekend! If it's a Bank Holiday where you are, i do hope the sun shines brightly for you on Monday too!