Turning Birdhouse into Haunted House fit for a Party!

Hi crafters!

Have you SEEN some of the prices for Halloween items like spooky houses?  Well, after deciding I wasn't going to spend $40-$50 for one at a certain store who shall remain nameless, I went home and rummaged through my storage till I found an old blue + white  b i r d h o u s e .  Giving it a look-over, I realized it would make a cool haunted house!!!

So - - here I am beginning, and while I am not done {have to run out to buy some orange buttons! and maybe a spider or two}...I can show you what I have accomplished so far!

Birdhouse purchased on sale. Very much what I need to create a spooky house!

First - my BEFORE PICTURE!    Here's the birdhouse the way I purchased it - on sale, 70% off - sweet!

 Now I DID PAINT IT and basically EMBELLISH IT to transform  it into a cool HAUNTED HOUSE - here's how!

PAINT YOUR BIRDHOUSE

You will need: black and colour paint - use Halloween colours.  Water and saucer. Cheap Artist Brushes.

1. Paint it black on the roof. I am leaving it non-shiny, or 'matte' looking.
2. Paint the house itself, and I painted mine PURPLE!  Not lovely-liliac purple, but real deep purple!
    But - here is the trick!   After the first coat of purple, take some black paint and water it down a tiny bit - not runny, but just thinner!  Now take a brush and paint it around the edges - and crevices - basically where the shadows fall!  And be sloppy!  You don't need a nice straight edge - but a "creepy" edge - so just slop it on fairly quickly.   Now - blend it towards the purple - or conversely, paint some purple (watered down) back towards but I prefer to paint the black in feathery strokes {again, don't be neat} towards the body of the house.
3. Paint the steps, edges black and then some strips of purple paint over top - so you get a bit of both in streaks!

GLITTER THE PAINTED BIRDHOUSE

Now - the fun part - GLITTER!!!!

You will need a pan, old container, white school glue, black + matching colour glitter for the paint colour you are using, old 1" or small brush.

4. Mix a half-half mix of white glue + water! Use an old saucer or throw out plastic bowl, lid, anything.
5.  Get some glitter ready - I am using PURPLE.
6. Using a sponge brush, or a wide paint brush - quickly smooth over the glue mix over the house - DO IT IN SECTIONS - and then, shake your COLOUR GLITTER  [such as my purple] all over the wet glue section, and tip off the excess glitter into the pan.  Pat it slightly with your fingertips so the glitter becomes really stuck. REPEAT all over the house body - not the roof. Unless you want it glittered everywhere.
Let dry.
7 Now - the BLACK GLITTER - go back and brush the glue into the 'shaded' areas and sprinkle on the black glitter, pat and let dry.

Here is my purple painted glittered house. Note the crevices are painted with black and black glitter. 

DECORATE THE  ' HAUNTED HOUSE 

OK - this is where I am at this stage - I am NOT DONE - but I will continue this week!  I am having guests over for a Halloween Cupcake Decorating Party - along with my home-made Pumpkin Ice Cream! So it has to be on the table!!!

I decided buttons were the easiest place to start!  So I brought out the glue gun and found some black buttons.  I am " winging it " as far as placing the buttons on -  there is no one way to do this - feel free!

You can place some glitter inbetween the buttons. 

I will need a trip to the store to get some green and orange buttons - worthy of Halloween! 

Next - buttons of another sort - ROSETTE BUTTONS made from paper and brads, glitter, etc. 

Using a small section of craft papers, I scored strips of paper, and folded them accordian-style, wrapped them into circles and attaching them to a back support - and there I have a bunch of them!

And a cool trick!   Using Martha Stewart's Vine Branch Punch - I made some climbing vines!  After the first one or two which I glued to the house - I made a second set of them where I trimmed them to make the vines more "creepy"! 

All you do is trim off some parts, and clip other parts to make them pointy or claw-like! 

See the difference?

Instant Vines!  

And the edge of the roof is trimmed with adhesive-backed, velvet scroll ribbon tape - whew, what a line! But that is what it is....see - 

Not the easiest thing to do, I must say!  But if you want it to have a cool effect, some times we must suffer, lol!

Dressing it up with the Paper Rosettes!  

And HERE IT IS!   So far anyways!  

Meanwhile - - see if you can quess what I plan to do with it!

It's a branch I found this spring!  I have cleaned it and chipped away at it with my rug cutter.. 

....hmm what can it be????   

HAVE A HALLOWEEN PARTY!

Invite some friends over then get ready with easy-to-do party preparations!

First I set the mood with some decorating....bring out the Halloween decorations and a candle here,

a witch there, some lights - voila!  

To add to the experience, whip up some candy boxes using our Stampin' Up! Candy Box die 

for the Big Shot. Just don't forget to add some treats inside, lol!

Allow your guests to have a role in decorating their own cake or cupcakes!

It is super easy to purchase a basic ready-made cake or cookies for all that matters, 

and provide some decorating supplies yourself. 

Here are the winning results the ' girls ' did!

AND HERE IS MY BIRDHOUSE AND THE BRANCH!

To be honest, I had already made the orange paper ROSETTES much earlier!  

It pays to make something like these because you know you can always use them somewhere. 

The branch was painted gold and the rosettes were in pairs with the branch between each set. A 

final attention to detail was to add some decoration to most of their centers! But the 'tree' is

background to the house and adds some nice height to the whole table!

Well, we had a very lovely time of it -  homemade pumpkin ice cream and all the candy we

could stuff (well, you know what I mean, lol) 

THANKS FOR READING MY WHOLE LONG POST, :)