Tuesday's Tutorial

Last Monday, I featured these adorable bird nest decorations.

The idea for these bird nest plaques came from the catalog Country Door.  As promised, here is a quick tutorial of how to make them.

Step 1:  Purchase 2 wood plaques.

Step 2:  Paint the outside of the wooden plaques.

Step 3:  Cut music sheets to fit slightly inside the 2 wooden plaques.  Several people have asked...I found the music sheet paper on E-bay.

Step 4:  Ink the outside of the music sheets to give them a semi-antiqued look.

Step 5:  Using Mod Podge, attach the music sheets to the plaques.  Let dry.

Step 6:  Using a paper towel, lightly apply a brown paint to the sides of the plaques.  With a clean paper towel, wipe off excess paint.  This will continue the semi-antiqued look.

Step 7: Hot glue bird nests to the front of the plaques.  I purchased my bird nests (instead of making them) from Wal-mart.

Step 8:  Hot glue the bird eggs to the inside of the nests.

Step 9:  Paint the bird nests a light blue to match the outside of the plaques.

Step 10:  Using a stencil brush, blot brown paint onto the blue eggs.

Step 10:  Display and enjoy!

This post is linked to Tuesday's Tutorial at Hope Studios.

Decorative Clipboards

Remember this post?  For a quick recap, I declared this "The Year of the Handmade Gift."  I'm a little nervous about creating all these gifts, so I decided to get a head start.

I began with my nieces and nephew.  They are all pretty stinking adorable, aren't they?

Well, Lilly and Will (the oldest) started kindergarten this year.  They are constantly writing in the journals and creating everything they can.  So, I decided a decorative clipboard and notepad would be great for the two of them.  Being that Ella and Libby mimic anything the older two do, I created one for them too.

Here is a quick and easy tutorial on how to create these for yourself!

Although you can use a traditional clipboard, Michaels sells clipboards with removable metal clips.  I purchased these (slightly more expensive...about $1.50 each).  After detaching the metal clips, spray painted the outside of the wooden boards.

Next, spray paint the metal clips a color that coordinates with the paper you want to use.  Hint, you may need to use a fingernail file to remove any excess spray paint that hangs over the edges.

Cut paper down to approximately 1/2 inch less than the size of the clipboard.  Ink around the sides of the paper with a coordinating color ink pad.

Using a foam paintbrush, add Mod Podge to the back of the paper.  Attach the paper to the clipboards.

Use a roller to remove any air bubbles.

Add a layer of Mod Podge to the top of the paper and clipboard.  Allow to dry and repeat this process.

Reattach the metal clips to the clipboard.  Cut a circle and attach the initial of the child to the punch.  Attach the circle to the metal clip with Mod Podge (using the same method as above).  After the circle punch is dry, paint Mod Podge over the metal clip.  Allow to dry and repeat the process.

Lastly, I attached some ribbon to the top for a decorative touch.

Initially, I was worried about how to make a "boy" version of this project...until I remembered Will's insane love for the Georgia Bulldogs.  So, I used "Super G" paper and left off the ribbon to create a male version.

Here are the other three finished projects.

    

Next up...the notepads that match!