Feeling Shabby

As you already know... I'm always a step behind the trends.  Maybe it's because I live in Hilo?  Maybe not... I always seem to like what was cool or has been cool for awhile.  So I've finally caught up with my friends on the whole Shabby Chic trend.  Yes only now.  I think it has something to do with the fact that I don't really like painting all that much and you normally need to lay down some paint on altered projects before you can embellish.

So I broke down, bought a few shabby colors, ordered me some shabby roses and attempted my first shabby birdhouse project.  I found this wood birdhouse at Ben Franklin. It came without the stand, but I've seen many around that have bird houses on stands, so I wanted one too. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any with a stand, so I improvised.  In the wood section, I found a candle stick- go figure!?  But it was the perfect size and height to become my birdhouse stand!  Yay!

First I painted the house portion white. Its more of an off white.  Then I added glitter cause I still needed some bling.  I went with a pink roof and stand- shabby chic pink that is.  Let me tell ya that it was pretty hard  working with such light pastel colors, but I was determined to do it.

After a few coats of paint, it was time to embellish!  I pulled out my recently purchased stash of shabby goodies and armed myself with a glue gun and went to town! 

First let me show you the roof- that's where I started... Added some pearl trim, which was actually a double strip of pearls from Michael's Recollections line.  I am almost out so I need to get some when I go on my next trip! I think it was worth using my hoarded stash for a project that will not be given away.  Now let me point out my little birdie!  I found him at Ben Franklin too.  I was so happy to find a small pink birdie!  She fit perfectly in my bird house- Yay!

Before adding my new friend, I started working on the roses.  I stuck to the whole pink, light pink, aqua and gray tones.  Love it!  Added in a small spray on the left.  Don't know if you can see it but I also lined the bottom of the bird house with pearl trim.

Next is a shot of the stand or candlestick.  My friend Mrs. Lum  had given me that cute vine garland you see wrapped around the stand.  I love it!  I love it so much I got me some more in other colors.  Thanks Mrs. Lum!  Then I added more flowers and a white butterfly cut from glitter paper (you can't see the glitter but it's there).  Added some pink pearl embellishment for the body.  The butterfly die is by CC's Designs.

Here's the side view of the bird house.  Just wanted to show that I used more roses and butterflies on the other side of the house.

So are you now a shabby chic fan too?  I had a lot of fun making this bird house.  It's going in my newly decorated craft room.  I'm still working on organizing it, but hopefully I will be able to share some pictures soon.   Come visit soon for more shabby projects!