HOW TO MAKE A BIRDHOUSE/A CHERRY ON TOP

Good morning! Nicole here with a fun project I created. I've been wanting to decorate a bird house for a few years now...not an outside bird house, but something for my craft room. When I saw the Birdhouse from Mintay, I thought it was time to play!

To begin, I glued all the wood pieces together using wood glue. Next, I let it dry for about an hour. After that, I applied a good amount of white gesso all over the birdhouse using a paintbrush. I let it dry over night.

After the gesso was completely dries, I grabbed a variety of floral, polka dots, and geo shape stencils to created the patterns using a palette knife to pull the clear modeling paste through the stencil. I used the stencils all over the birdhouse to add texture. Before I painted the birdhouse, I placed the die cuts on the birdhouse to get an idea of the design and exact colors I wanted to paint the birdhouse. Blue is my favorite color...so I started with the blue. Once the paste was completely dry, I used sponges to paint with the stencil butters all over the birdhouse. The textures from the stencil and modeling paste look amazing! I used my fingers to layer the colors over the texture sparingly, waiting for each color to dry first.

I continued adding color until I was happy with the birdhouse. I totally forgot to take another photo of the birdhouse with all the colors!! But you get the idea...

I used glue to glue down all the die cuts. You can use a gel medium for this as well. This was so much fun to make...My fingers were messy, but it was worth it. When I was finished, I notice the inside was not painted...so I sprayed inside using Mixed Media Gloss Spray.

Here is a close up of all the colors used throughout the birdhouse so you have an idea. Isn't this so pretty!? I'm loving all the texture as well.

 

Here is a close-up of the side of the birdhouse. I layered a variety of die cuts using Art by Marlene's Golden Collector's Book. There are so many fun creatures and elements in this book and the die cuts just pop out of the pages making it super easy to play with... No fussy cutting needed!

For the other side, I just layered it up with more fun elements...I used foams squares to pop some of the elements up to add texture and dimension.

Here's a closer look at the top with all the layered die cuts. SOOOO Fun.

This little cluster makes me feel like a kid again...so fun, and cute. What do you think? Are you inspired to make one of your own? It's so much fun.

Thank you so much for visiting today. I hope you found this project inspiring!! Click here for the full list of products used.

Nicole

REACH FOR THE STARS/A CHERRY ON TOP

Good morning friends! I'm excited to share my very first few pages in my art journal. I've been wanting to give art journaling a try for a while now and thought, now is a good time to do it. This month, the design team is hosting a YouTube hop featuring projects with shapes... perfect for art journaling! Click here to see the videos!

I am using a variety of products from Art by Marlene to create these fun pages! Seriously, I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed playing with all the fun things...I played with acrylic markers, stamps, stencils, die cuts, and stickers...and oh, it was o much fun!

To begin, I used acrylic markers to color the paper. Next, I tore a piece of patterned paper and glued it onto the page. After that,  stamped some images all over the page. Then, I glued down all the pretty die cuts and stickers. Super simple, and fun! Be sure to check out my process, here. 

For this page, I used the acrylic markers to color the page and then I stamped the background stamp over the painted page to add florals in the background. Next, I glued down all the fun embellishments. Honestly, the hardest part of this process is choosing the colors for the background and stamp...

This is the inside of the book. I didn't like it being white so I thought I would create an entry page... Loving the purple, blues, and fuchsia together with the pop of black and white. Isn't this page so striking!?

I love that Art by Marlene's die cuts pop right out of the book...No need to cut them out!!

What do you think? Aren't these fun. I just love the vibrant colors, flowers, creatures and shapes on all of these pages. I can't wait to share more pages with you in the upcoming weeks. Thank you so much for visiting today and be sure to check out my process video, here.

Nicole

SANDY BEACH TRAVEL NOTEBOOK SPREADS/PRETTY LITTLE STUDIO

Good morning, friends! Nicole here with two travel journaling spreads I created using the You are My Sunshine collection. I just love this collection...it makes me so happy.

While I was looking for some papers to use I came across the Sunshine Mixed 6x9 paper with the puppy and thought it went perfectly with the photo...and the second Sunshine Mixed 6x9 paper has little pink paw prints!! I'm in love!!

Both spreads include a big title from the Berry Sweet summer Word Ephemera. I LOVE these words...they look so good on these spreads and they fill in white space nicely.

The butterflies are another one of my favorites...I can't get enough of these beauties. I layered two together and stapled them to add dimension to the layout.

I stapled a small heart die cut to the speech bubble and popped it on the layout using foam squares to add dimension.

The cloud with the hearts is super fun...and I managed to sneak the little birdie on here as well. I just had so much fun making these two spreads.

I placed the label at the bottom to use as my journaling. LOVE these 100% Sunshine Ephemera. They are so perfect. I hope these layouts made you happy! They sure are delightful. Thank you so much for visiting today!

Nicole