WYLTC: Sassy Sanctuary

Hello!  It's Krystal from Sassy Sanctuary here.  I'm so exciting to be visiting Melinda today!  I have so much fun with WYLTC each month and these ladies always inspire!  I totally love Melinda's cute bird house and think its a perfect shelf or table top accessory.  I'm currently in the process of re-doing my kids bathroom, so my brain is there.  I was in need of some wall art, so I wanted to see if I could take Melinda's cute idea and make something that could be hung on the wall.  This is what I came up with.

Fun right?!  I'm super excited about it because it was the perfect solution for an awkward space.  Plus, the bath had yet to develop a theme but this is the perfect jumping off point.  The wheels are turning now!

Anyway, as you can see I took the basic birdhouse design and made it flat so it could be hung on the wall.  The branch was created so that the piece would hang correctly against my new board and batten walls.

And the hanging the pictures from it adds that fun personal touch.

So, here is how I did it.

A.  Gather your supplies.  Everything here was made from scraps except the picture frames and peg.  The frames were on clearance at Micheal's and were the kind that are two frames hinged together.  They ended up only costing $2.50 each.  My frames are 5x5.  Anyway, you want 3 frames, a board cut into the share of a house, some slats to cut the roof and base from, and some ribbon.  I cut the roof the easy way making one side 1/4" larger then the other one so I didn't have to cut any angles.  Drill the hole for the bird door and the peg.  If you want to make a branch too, that was cut from leftover 2x1 trim boards and the leaves from 1/4" plywood. 

B & C.  After you cut all your pieces then paint, sand, and stain. 

D.  I also decided to modge podge some scrapbook paper to the front to add some pattern.  I originally planned on putting a quote on the bottom of the house, but in the end I didn't like the way the text looked with the paper.  But if you want to use a simpler pattern or skip the paper, a vinyl quote would be perfect there.

E.  Then I took the easy road and just hot glued all the pieces together.

F.  Hang the picture frames to the birdhouse by stapling them to ribbon along the back of the frames.  I hung it to the wall by screwing the branch into a stud and then hanging the birdhouse to the branch with a picture hanger.

That's it.  It was really a fun project and all the cuts were super simple.  Love those kind of projects!

I think it's such a fun way to display some photos and I'm super excited with how the bathroom is coming along!  Thanks so much for the inspiration Melinda and for hosting!  I can't wait to see all the bird/ birdhouse decor everyone else comes up with!. 

And just like the original, birds can't actually live in this house either.  hehe

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Nice work Krystal!!  I love everything from the branch in the back to the pictures of your cute fam below.   Thanks for sharing your creativity with us all!

WYLTC: Bird House Tutorial

It's time!  Time for my bird house tutorial.  I hope you all have been busy making some sort of bird house decor to share at the linky party on Friday.  Until then let's learn how to make this baby!  I'm a fan of patterns and thought I would share one.  Hopefully it makes this project a little easier.

 I used 1/4 inch MDF.  Why you ask?  Well because I had it on hand and it's cheap.  After you cut your pieces you should have something like this:

Grab your gorilla glue and glue the pieces together.  I started by gluing the sides to the back.  Let's talk about why I am using gorilla glue on the project.  The wood is thin... if I air gun a nail into it it will crack.   Gorilla glue works great for me.  If your working with thicker wood (my measurements won't work for you) go ahead and use nails.

A tip about gorilla glue....at first it's slippy slidy.  If you wait a few moments the glue starts to thicken and you can finalize where you want your piece.   After you get those side pieces on add the front.  Let glue dry.

Meanwhile you can get your roof gluing....Let dry for a few minutes.

Glue roof to house.   Let house fully dry.  

When the house is dry you can sand and paint it however you would like.

I grabbed a chair leg and a couple of castines from Lowes to put my house on.  You could also possibly use a wooden candlestick or go down to goodwill and paint up some metal candlesticks.

Check back Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to see what the other WYLTC gals have made.  I've seen their stuff and it's cute!  Friday we will start a linky party on the WYLTC blog for anything "bird" crafty-like stuff you have made!

Wood you Like to Craft Linky Party Time

It's time for the What Wood You Craft linky party over at CRAFTY SISTERS.   Come link up if you have made a project inspired by the Crafty Sisters tool box.


So many things you can do with this beauty.  Crafty Sisters have listed their linky party rules on their site.  Please read them before you link up :)  Below is a how-to of my version of the project.

Yay!  Perfect for Mother's Day because it makes me happy.  I love simple projects that everyone can do.  All I did is take some old molding someone gave me and cut it to fit my window.

I used Gorilla Glue to hold it all together.  The water bottles added the extra pressure as it dried.

Sand your rough edges and then spray paint the box.  I used Krylon's Heirloom White.  I let it dry... which for some reason is really hard for me!  I always want to get to the next step!  After it is dry, if you would like, you can sand it up again for more of an antique look.  I also took my brown ink pad and inked it up.

I added some flavor to my jars by hot gluing some ribbon around the tops and weaving burlap in the spaces. 

There you have it...my version of the the project! Pick a spot in you house that needs a little beauty and put this project there.  It will make you happy!

Wood You Like to Craft : Under My Umbrella Style

I'm loving the online WOOD YOU LIKE TO CRAFT group I'm involved in.  It's a online crafting group that anyone can be involved in.  Did you guys know if you make the project and link up (over at Sassy Sanctuary) you could win either a giftcard or craft kit just for making something cute?  Yep it's true.  Today I'm going to share my tutorial for how I made my cute little bunnies...

Will someone please copy my bunnies and make me feel special?!  Hop on over to Sassy Sanctuary and link up :)

A while back I did a tutorial for these distressed wood finials.  As I was sitting on my couch thinking about how I would put a spin on this project.  I found myself looking at these finials and could see cute little ears sticking out of them! (click the picture to see the tutorial on how to make the finials)



So that's exactly what I did!

I love, love, love them!!!  Here is how I put my own spin on Krystal's project.
I took the top pieces off of my already made finials.  If you would like the tutorial for how to make them click HERE.

I cut some ears out of 1/2 and 3/4 inch MDF.  Sand, paint and let dry.  I used burlap for my nose and inside of ears.

I used two different patterns for my ears.  Well actually three but the third was so ugly it won't be shown :)  Here is my pattern for the ears, nose and inside of ears.

I then Gorilla glued those cute little ears on!

Have some fun adding style with burlap!

I had my daughters vote on which ears they liked the best.  My oldest (she becomes a teenager on Sunday.  Eek!!) informed me that the ears are not perfectly straight.  My reply "Well...no bunny is perfect!"  She didn't appreciate my joke but I sure got a good laugh!

I like the chubby one!  The poor tall one was so tall he kept getting cut out of the pictures.  I might have to make him a little shorter!

Super easy and cute project. Some bunny loves you!!!

Heart 101 - A 2x4 Tutorial

I love love.  Kinda cheesy right?  I'm okay with that.  Today I made another 2x4 heart project.  It's fun and chunky.  I wonder if that's how people describe me?

Here is how to make this little bundle of love.  Grab 4 pieces of 2x4.  I had these in my garage.  They are 6 inches long.  I traced a heart on my wood.

I then cut the lines on the wood at a 45 degree angle.  Give your wooden heart a good sand.

Paint your wood heart and let it dry.  During that dry time you can do the 50 million other things you need to do.  I won't list all of mine :)  Sand the edges again and I inked the edges of my heart.  Cut some fun scrapbook paper in strips and mod podge to heart.

A wood project always needs a little gorilla glue.  Glue the pieces together and let dry.

You're done!  Lovin' this chunky heart!

Flower Headband Tutorial

As I mentioned before this Saturday my daughter Emma is getting baptized.  Emma decided she wants to wear a beautiful white headband with her dress after she is baptized.  I thought I would make things easy and just buy one but every time I picked one up I thought "I could make that".  Unfortunately my husband has picked it up also so when I want to buy something he often asks "Can't you make that?".  LOL!  So we came home empty handed with a promise that mom would make her a headband.  Here is what I made...



This headband is Emma's cute personality 100%.  I love it but I have a feeling it's because I love this kid so darn much also.

Here is how I made this particular flower headband.  Draw yourself a pattern.

I set my organza over the top.  I'm using white because it's for baptism but you can use any color.

Trace the flower pattern on the organza with a pencil.

Cut out the flowers.  I think I cut out about 9.  The shape of the flowers don't have to be perfect (no one will notice when you are done).   Yes I had to convince myself of that statement too.

Add hot glue to the middle of one flower and add quartered flowers.  When I say "quartered" flowers I mean fold them in half and then fold them in half again.  Don't do this on burlap...the organize is thin and the hot glue will stick to the burlap.

Keep adding quartered flowers until your flower is to your liking.  Cut a circle piece of felt.  Hot glue the felt and flower around the headband.  I got 5 headbands at the local grocery store for about $1.50.

You're done!  Really easy and super cute.

Does the necklace look familiar?  It's from Jen and Amber's Etsy shop JUST BE.  Emma {hearts} this necklace!