Little Chapel Of Love Birdhouse For My Valentine

You Will Need

- PROJECT BUDGET
- Reasonably Priced

Recycled Cardboard + Sheet music = Love
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My Winter Craft challenge entry was inspired by the little bronze birdie you see here; I bought him at a thrift shop and he needed a home. All of the sheet music I had was romantic, so that inspired me to make it a valentine, too.

The base is made entirely of corrugated cardboard, covered in sheet music from a German love song (since hubby and I spent so much time there I thought it was appropriate), antiqued and then embellished. When you look inside the hole, there is a heart shaped photo of us and the lyrics "True as the stars above..." The roof is removable, so I can put a battery powered tea light inside so that it lights up the picture. It will also be filled with little love notes, perfect to keep and read later when we get cranky with each other:) There are a bunch of in-progress and detail shots on my flickr if you are interested. Hope you like!

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Once you gather your supplies, start by sketching the walls, floor, and roof of your birdhouse onto cardboard.
The front and back walls must match, both roof pieces must match, and the side walls must match. Cut all walls and roof pieces with an exacto knife. Cut a bird-hole in the front wall to your desired shape or size. (Mine is a heart.) I free handed all of this and you can play with any shape and size you like!
Apply a line of hot glue to one edge of floor piece. Attach one wall. Apply a line of hot glue to one edge of the wall piece, attach the joining wall. Apply glue to join new wall to the floor. Continue until all 4 walls are attached. Don't worry too much about gaps or messy glue, since you'll cover this up later!

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Once the glue has set, go crazy with your embellishments. I used Mod Podge to decoupage sheet music to the inside and outside of the structure. Than I used rubber stamps, glitter, gems, rub-ons, and other embellishments for the outside.
For the perch, cut a wooden grilling skewer to desired length and use the pointed end to drill it into the front wall, just below your bird-hole. Remove the skewer, dip it into paint or glue, and then glitter. Once dry you can add your birdie and put the perch back into the hole.

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Assemble and embellish your roof. If you want it to be a permanent fixture, attach it with glue to your house. If not, fill it up with love notes or poems, add an LCD light or whatever you want and leave your roof open!