Birdhouse {with JoFY and Eclectica³ Darcy Stamps by Linda Cain}

Hi there everyone! I'm Linda Cain, and I'm back for another PaperArtsy project!!! I love it here! Such an eclectic group of fun and talented people to play with.

The Birds are going crazy in our garden with all the rain and prospects of worms to grub around with. And if you've known me for very long, you know that houses, be they bird or otherwise, are one of my passions. 

I started with a plain wooden birdhouse that I did my best to sand and make smooth. Then I picked 3 bright, light, and opaque colours to base coat sections of the house. This just shows the testing of whether I liked the colour combo or not. It proved to be a "go."

Here I chose Lilac, Guacamole, and Bora Bora. I used 2 coats to get good coverage.

I added the Crackle Glaze to the blue sections, and when dry, painted on the darker colour Inky Pool. I LOVE the way it crackled!!! I also used a sanding block to take paint off the edges for a more Shabby Chic look. Next I added Eggplant with a dry brush and a sponge to the edges of the Lilac painted areas. It was a bit harsh here, so I sanded it back as well.

I mixed up some Guacamole and Grunge Paste to use with the Lin Brown stencil PS002 on both roofs.

  

I used the JOFY09 stamp set shown here on the top with olive green archival ink.

JOFY09

Then I rummaged through all my Darcy stamps  EDY05, EDY06, EDY07 and EDY08 for just the right size stamps to fit into each little area of the house on the bottom section.

EDY05

EDY06

Bubbles, Leaves, Butterflies, Flowers....whatever will fit into the area you have. Don't ya love the round stamp that fit around the holes??? Too cute!

EDY07

EDY08

Here's the best tip I can give you:  Cut a piece of left-over plastic packaging to a size that will fit into the area you want to stamp. Use it to stamp your stamps instead of an acrylic block. It lets you get a nice clean stamped image in a tight spot.

The other thing I did was to trim my stencil to fit on the lower roof. Taping it into place was much easier this way.

After everything is stamped up with different colours of archival inks, go back and either paint (I used a bit of Haystack and Claret) or use permanent markers to add more colour.

I also used some of Darcy's minis, EM03 and EM05. 

EM03

EM05. 

I used Black, Red, Blue and Olive Green Archival inks because once dry they are permanent, this means I can spray this with a sealer, drill a hole in the top to add a piece of twine through, and hang this little house in a tree out back.



That's it for me for today. Hope you get some inspiration to make a little birdhouse of your own. They really are fun, easy, and the birds will love you.

Your Friend in ART,

Linda

Huge thanks to Linda From PaperArtsy, this is such a delightful project. cheerful and quirky, what little birdie could resist. Great tips on how to work in awkward to reach areas too. 

If you would like to join in our weekly challenge with any of this week's guests who have blogged since Sunday night, then join in to link up your creativity HERE you will go in the draw to win PA stamps of your choice! You need to link your entry by17:00 (London time) Sunday 3rd Aug 2014