My mom is in town for Christmas, which is such a relief, since we couldn't muster up the energy to haul the kids, and the compulsory half of house required for said kids to travel...you know.
So, I was trying to think of a little gift to whip up for my mom, and I came up with THE CUTEST LITTLE SOMETHING...patting myself on the back with one hand while I dominate the home row keys with the other.
Long ago my mom told us that Bob Marley's song
3 Little Birds made here so very happy because it made her think of her three kids: Thad, Tate and me. While we certainly know Mr. Marley didn't write this song about his three kids (let's be real, he would give
The Duggar Family a run for their money with all the kids he had...but, i digress).
As we know, I love me some papier mache (I have said it before, and will say it again, I would papier mache my family, if that sat still for long enough!) and I found this cutie little wooden birdhouse which set the course for the following project:
Printed words of Bob Marley's song 3 Little Birds (tight margins),
brewed tea, wooden crafters birdhouse, crafters moss
Printed words. I was thinking it would be cute to pull some information
of a few species of birds and print that up, if you aren't feeling the
Bob Marley song.
Tear up the printed words into random sizes. I tend to tear sizes
according to the piece I am going to adhere them to. The
birdhouse is tiny, so I took that into account.
Soak the paper in the tea. I tend to start projects in the evening,
so I often leave the paper soaking overnight.
The next morning I set up my little work station...it's about to get messy,
just FYI. I make a glue/water slurry and run each piece of tea stained
paper through the slurry and start attaching it to the birdhouse. This
is where the picture taking ended as I ended up with slurry running
down my arms (I was running out of time, as my mom was arriving shortly)
Slurry:
equal parts water and glue
I didn't cover the roof of the birdhouse, beyond the edges, with papier mache,
so I used that slurry-free section as my 'handle' as I covered the rest of the birdhouse.
You really can't screw this up. I figure a little mess up makes it all that more
'organic looking' which works in a piece like this!
I also used a toothpick to push the slurry covered paper into the areas my fingers
couldn't reach, like under the roof lines.
Phew, hands washed and I set the birdhouse to dry.
Notice that the paper does wrap a little bit up on
the roof, that is just to cover the area that
the moss (next step) might miss.
After the slurry paper dried, I generously spread glue on the
roof of the birdhouse and pressed a torn off junk of the moss
on the roof. I had wrapped the paper a bit on the roof, so it
didn't matter if the moss covered every bit of roof, which I
think gives it a sweeter look.
I am so happy with how this little creation came together. Often what we think will be
totally adorbs, is totally a flop...well, not this time! I know it will make my mom smile too,
as it will make her think of her favorite 3 little bird!
