Vintage Birdhouse

I saw this done on an episode of She's Crafty.  They used the hardcover from an old book for the roof and used some of the pages to cover the exterior walls.  I fell in love with the idea, which was originally intended to be used outdoors, but I decided to give it a little tweak here and there to make it more chic and house friendly.  The main difference is the silhouette of the bird, which I added. The one they made just had plain paper from the book and they didn't cut up their pages and place them all over, they used whole pages to cover each side. 

 To get started you'll need:

*A wooden birdhouse

*An old book (I got my at a local thrift store for $2.00)

*Mod Podge

*Hot glue gun

*Acrylic paint, stain, or spray paint

*Optional---silhouette 

(I found my image online and printed it off onto paper.  Then I went over it a few times with a sharpie and cut it out.  You could also use vinyl.

First, I painted all the edges that weren't going to be covered in paper.   While the edges were drying I went ahead and ripped out all the pages from the book I bought.  For a cleaner look you could use an exacto knife to cut it out.  Then, I tore out some pages and cut them into random shapes and sizes.

Once I had all my paper ready I used the Mod Podge to glue them onto the frame of the birdhouse in no particular pattern.  Then I glued my silhouette onto the front.  Once everything was in place I put a thin layer of Mod Podge over all the paper.

Then I used hot glue to put the hardcover of the book on top of the roof.  It would have been better if I had been able to find a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird, but I think the one I picked out looks just as good. 

I am really enjoying the look that this adds to my living room.  It's such a fun little piece to have on a book shelf or fireplace mantle. The best part of it all was the total cost...less then $10.00.