Birdie's Sweet Spring Retreat: Kathy Clement, Guest Designer

Hello, Friends!  Don't you just love springtime?  One of my favorite things about spring is the return of all those beautiful little birdies.  So while I was having a play with Petaloo flowers and Graphic 45 Children's Hour papers, I remembered a little wooden birdhouse I had stashed away in my Closet of Shame.  I used paints, Petaloo Fancy Trims, and loads of beautiful Petaloo blossoms, stick pins and Fancy Trims to create Birdie's Sweet Spring Retreat.  If I were a bird, I'd definitely want to build my nest in this stylish chalet!

See what I mean?  I created a pedestal base for Birdie's Sweet Spring Retreat with the base of a broken antique picture frame.  The chipped gold base was painted with Picket Fence And Shabby Shutters Distress Paint, and before it was completely dry, I just wiped the edges and embossed areas to let a little bit of the original gold base peek through. I used the ric rac from the Taupe Fancy Trims package to line the "front porch" and the pom poms to the eaves. This gives the house a real Victorian/Shabby Chic vibe that makes me want to sprout wings and move in!

The wooden house was painted with Picket Fence and Scattered Straw Distress Paint, then sanded lightly when dry to shabby it up a bit.  I used scrap paper to create a template of the roof and walls, then lined them with Graphic 45 designer paper (Bohemian Bazaar) and Core'dinations Kraft Core cardstock that was run through an embossing folder, sanded and painted.  I cut a decorative edge on the roof eaves by adding Taupe mini pompoms (Petaloo Fancy trims) and topping them with a border piece from  Children's Hour.  I fussy cut the image from the March Ephemera sheet, inked the edges with Vintage Photo Ink and used foam tape to mount to one of the March tags.  This was glued into a base of Spanish Moss and surrounded with fussy cut Graphic 45 Flowers and a bower of Amber Velvet Pansies, Rose Velvet Hydrangea Picks,Gray/Blue/Purple/Green Faux Dried Minis and Purple Teastained Mixed Mini Darjeeling blooms.

Each side of the bird house is decorated with bits and pieces from the Children's Hour Collection and flowers.  Here, I've combined more Amber Velvet Pansies with Chantilly Lilac/Purple Mixed Blooms.  I love how the rich deep purple of the Chantilly flowers pops against the yellow "siding" and coordinates perfectly with the Graphic 45 stamp.

Here you can see the texture on the roof.  I wanted it to look like a tin roof, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  The pretty designer paper is topped with a tag, a metal bird charm, fussy cut flowers and another mini teastained Darjeeling blossom.

The back side of Birdie's Sweet Spring retreat sports a Graphic 45 pocket and tag, Velvet Hydrangeas, Petaloo Stick pin, Darjeeling flowers and some white Botanica Petites Blossoms.  I just love all the texture and color these blooms add to the project!

Thanks so much for letting me be your Guest Designer today.  Nothing makes me happy than playing with pretty posies, papers and trims! 

Wishing you sweet bird songs, sunshine, and pretty flowers!

Kathy

 

Petaloo supplies:

1110-205 Velvet Pansies ~ purple & amber

1272-161 Velvet Hydrangeas ~ rose

1465-104 Darjeeling Petites x 24 ~ purple

1462-104 Darjeeling Mini Mix x 8 ~ purple

1836-057 Mixed Blossoms x 8 ~ lavender

1138-107 Peony x 4 ~ lav/purple

1105-107 Spring Berry Pick ~ lav/purple

1910-136 Fancy Trim ~ Taupe

 

 

Graphic 45 supplies:  Children's Hour paper & embellishments

Paints:  Picket Fence, Shabby Shutters, Scattered Straw Distress Paints

 

 

Comments

[Maryann Laursen]

WOUW this little birdhouse here is absolutely stunning. I love how it´s decorated, and it´ll look fabulous on any Eastertable or in any Easter decoration too.

[Judy]

Just beautiful Kathy. Thanks for sharing your ideas and talents with us.