The fab folks at
Alpha Stamps are hosting a
12 Days of Christmas event. I'm a lucky duck and got the number 2 to work with. I decided to stick with tradition (sort of) and make two turtle dove houses.
They're pretty darned cute and I'm going to show you how you can make your own!
Grab an old teacup and a chunk of florist oasis. Shave, cut and trim the oasis until it fits snugly into the cup.
Glue the oasis in place and then cover the top with white glue and create a mossy lawn. This is just loose moss, but you could use sheet moss as well.
Next I added some beautiful
Mica Fragments - Pearlized which look just like antique snow. You could leave this step to the end but I found it easiest to do it at this point. Now your base is complete!
For the little house, I've used
Paper Mache Birdhouses. To make life easier I simply pulled out the perch and worked with it as a flat surface.
I covered the sides in different papers from the same colour pallet for interest and added a cute
Ruffle Edge Trim - Cream.
The roof is made using
Velvet Ric Rac. Starting at the bottom edge just apply strips. When your glue has dried you can just snip off the extra rough edges.
To hide the cut edge, I applied a
Thin Fleur Dresden Border. That background? It's
Aesop’s Fables - Tortoises and Hares Collage Sheet. Using an image for the background is a great way to add visual interest to a piece.
To the peak of the roof I added a
Black Zig Zag Dresden Border, and rolled a piece of coordinating scrapbook paper (this is the reverse side of
Botanicabella: Birds in Paradise) and a couple of vintage buttons to finish it off the ends.
Now for the real fun part. Adding embellishments! Whoever said "Less is more" probably wasn't a crafter. Here I've added,
Brass Turtle Doves, paper embellishments and
Clear Acrylic Bead Sprays.
To create the stand I took a piece of wooden dowling and painted it white. Then I wrapped a ribbon around it (I used
3/8 Inch Iridescent Ribbon). A perfectly striped effect!
Top your striped dowel with a
Small Wooden Box Foot, and affix it to the bottom of the house. When dried, you can push the dowel right into the oasis base and it should hold your house firmly in place.
Finally I added some Christmas Pixies and paper trees to my scenes. I used my new favourite, the
Little Darlings CS Sheet. This sheet really is fab! Each of the kidlets appears in twice, once in reverse, so that you can paste it back to back, leaving a clean and neat backside. Add wings and crowns and you're turtle doves will have their very own little pixie guardians.
Here's the materials list for both houses in case you want to make your very own:
Old teacups, Florist oasis, Glue, Moss, Buttons
