Anything But Cute Challenge #14--The Birds and the Bees

Hello crafty friends! It's time for  new challenge at Anything But Cute where our talented  and always fun Niki of Pawsitively Creative has chosen the theme 'The Birds and the Bees'. I decided to make a little bird house and use my new Dina Wakely Little Birdies stamp set. I love these little birdies, but they border on being cute. Cute, of course, is not allowed at Anything But Cute, so I had to be sure to make them realistic looking. Beware: it's another photo heavy post--my apologies--there's no simple way to photograph a 3D piece. Welcome to the Love Shack!

Here is how Niki describes her challenge:  With the lovely warm weather in my neck of the woods, I am seeing so many wonderful birds and bee's, so I would love to see those in your mixed media makes! Pull out those bird stamps, think of feathers and maybe some honeycomb. Or you could even go for a non-traditional interpretation like a family crest that has a bird emblem on it. The sky is the limit but NO BUTTERFLIES please!  

Please be sure to pop over to Anything But Cute to see what my amazing teamies have created to inspire you!

I started by designing a template for the house and cut my pieces from chipboard from my cat food box. I am quite proud of my attempts at making my own birdhouse design, even if it is a little wonky! At first I thought I would be painting the actual chipboard, but I changed my mind and decided to make papers to cover it.  For the inside of the house, I used a wood grain printed paper from my stash and knifed a mixture of gel medium and Stampin' Up embossing glitter through Tim Holtz Honeycomb stencil. Once the gel was dry, I heated it to melt the powder. This is so shimmery in real life.

I die cut a piece out of a mop up paper from my stash  trash for the upper corner using Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlit honeycomb and reinserted some of the little interior pieces randomly. I painted in some of the other honeycombs and left some empty.  I applied Ranger Crackle Accents and DecoArt  Crackle Glaze in some of the honeycombs and DecoArt Liquid Glass in others. I smudged on Distress Crayon in Vintage Photo to accentuate the cracks, and then around the heat embossed honeycombs, as well. It's a little dark, but that's OK; it's going to be covered up mostly.

For the paper I  used to cover the outside of the house, I created a masterboard. Starting with one of Tim Holtz' newer mini stencils in a wood grain, I blended Fossilized Amber Distress ink through the stencil. I dried and realigned my stencil to apply Distress micro glaze over the pattern. I applied Antique Linen and Cracked Pistachio Distress paints randomly all over and wiped with a dry paper towel in a vertical fashion to simulate a wood grain. I then swiped my Distress ink pads (Frayed burlap and Walnut Stain) down the paper in vertical swipes direct to paper, and wiped with a clean, dry paper towel in vertical strokes once more. The micro glaze resists the paints and the inks, allowing some of the original grain to show through. I flicked on water and dried with a heat tool.

I added stamping using an Artistic Stamper Honeycomb Background stamp and Archival ink in Potting Soil. I again wiped to remove the ink from the micro glazed areas. I also stamped the accompanying bees from the same set this time using Antique Linen Distress paint, although they are very hard to see (I know they're there).  Now, add more micro glaze through the Tim Holtz Splotches stencil. I made a puddle of watery ink using Vintage Photo Distress ink and water on my craft mat and placed the masterboard into the puddle. I heat dried and wiped the ink from the micro glazed circles.

Lastly I added Distress crazing Medium in random areas, and through a TCW wood grain stencil, dried and smudged on Distress Crayons in neutral colors. For a final bit of visual texture, I splattered with Distress paints in Rusty Hinge, Black Soot and Antiqued Bronze. Once the masterboard was done, and pieces cut out, I adhered them to the already assembled house. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the completed masterboard (the photo above was taken before the Splothes and TCW Woodgrain stencils were used.

For the roof, I ran card stock through my wavy crimper (when's the last time I used that?) and painted with Antique Bronze Distress paint. While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled with brown Embossing Puffs and heated to melt and bubble. I flicked on Peeled paint Distress paint and added Peeled Paint stain to one end, spritzed with water and allowed it to run down. When the card was almost dry, I crimped it once more. Before adding the roof to the house, I threaded a chain through a hole I made.
Most of my outdoor shots are blurry because I hung the birdhouse in a tree, and the wind kept blowing it. 

The birdies were stamped with Potting Soil Archival ink on Ranger Distress water color paper, and I swiped on some microglaze where I wanted the areas to stay white. I water colored using Distress inks in Rusty Hinge and Salty Ocean and fussy cut. I sat the birds on branches I cut using a Tim Holtz oldie but goodie Bird Branch die. Before cutting, I added vintage book page to Grunge Board, and once cut, smudged on Distress Crayon in Walnut stain. I know it looks like I forgot to ink my edges, but I did. I used Frayed Burlap to edge everything, but it shows up pretty white in the photos. The words are also upside down, because when I was designing this, originally the branches were supposed to be on opposite sides, but I changed my mind again when my roof style changed. When designing a 3 D piece, your mind always has to think through all the steps in advance, and my mind just doesn't work like that when I create! (I believe the white spot on the bee's head is a reflection, because I just don't see it when I look at this in real life, but then, I'm halfway blind!)

The leaves are die cuts (Impression Obsession) from paper I prepared using Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress stains. The flowers are Tim Holtz Tiny Florals Thinlits and cut from paper I prepped with Dylusions Lemon Zest spray and Abandoned Coral Distress spray. I also used my marker spritzer and Walnut Stain Distress marker to add some texture.  I added a couple of fluffy flowers from my stash.  The three bees are stamped in Archival Jet Black on heavy weight water color paper colored with Mustard Seed and Antique Bronze Distress paints and fussy cut.  The wings on the little honeybees were colored with Tumbled Glass Distress marker, and I added a second set of wings stamped in black Staz On ink on scrap waste acetate packaging, fussy cut and dried with a heat tool to allow them to shrivel and curl. I smudged on Distress Crayon for a little sticky honey look. That bluish spot you see on the wing is actually a reflection.

The brass toned hearts are from my stash, and I heat embossed them with white embossing powder, and the bow is hand dyed seam binding, colored with coordinating inks and stains. The hearts are a little fuzzy because I dropped them on my filthy floor when the powder was still a little hot. I liked the texture.

Here's one last look at my Love Shack. I hope you will pop by     ABC    to see what my talented teamies have created for The Birds and the Bees and that you will find times to join the challenge! The birds and the bees have sure been buzzing and flapping around my home--we have a garage full of fledgling House Wrens! The peeping is driving my cats crazy (and my husband!)

I hope I have inspired you in some way to enter 'The Birds and the Bees' challenge at Anything But Cute!

I would like to enter my bird house into the following inspirational challenges:
The Artistic Stamper June's Creative Challenge-Red, Blue, and Yellow Although it is not screaming red, I used Abandoned Coral on the flowers. Stamping: Listed throughout the post, but I did use the Artistic Stamper Honeycomb and bees stamp set.
Stamps and Stencils Floral Frenzy I know my birds speak volumes, but I hope my blooms stand out enough to be accepted into your challenge.
Our Creative Corner A Beautiful Mess My mess was made on my masterboard with so many layers of inks, paints, sprays, crayons, crazing, Micro glaze and splatters.
A Vintage Journey-Texture or Embossing Paste My paste is homemade; made with gel medium and embossing glitter.
Mixed Media Monthly Challenge #25-2nd Year Celebration!! I chose Dimension April's challenge #23.

Thank you for stopping by today and for all your lovely comments! I read and appreciate each and every one of them! 

Hugs and Blessings!

Sara Emily