I've had this bird cage for a number of years and couldn't figure out how I wanted to use it. Now, for the first time in my life I have a safe place to live and I can be a bit more creative and have fun decorating for the seasons. And...I finally figured out what to do with this one...at first I was going to do like a patio scene but I wanted something more relaxing so here is a tutorial for how I made it...
First I cut a cardboard piece that fit in the bottom of the birdcage. I glued a piece of fake green carpet on top and added stones to create a patio. (I was thinking of using the homemade fountain but I changed my mind. )
I started with little slivers of thin balsa wood, cutting them to size and gluing them together.
I used the lines on the cutting mat to try to keep the pieces as square as possible.
As the glued dried on the bench and table I cut fabric for a pillow, hand stitching it and stuffing it before completely closing it.
I had found a skein of small trim that was the perfect size for fringe on my little blanket. I glued it on with tacky glue and let it dry.
Next I folded the blanket and glued it so it will lay better on the seat. I also glued some trim on the pillow.
I glued the two bench pieces together using a small chair to hold the seat upright as close to 90° as possible.
I glued together the table legs.
I set the stone tabletop on top to see how it fits. Seeing that the one edge didn't cover the wood completely I took the side off, trimming it enough to fit in between the table legs.
It was so tiny that I had to use the tweezers.
Then I added the arms and front legs to the bench.
When the glue was dry enough I painted both pieces with an antique white paint. The paint itself was so old it was thick and grainy but I decided that that will just add even more texture.
I wanted to create some straw bales so I found a YouTube video that showed me how which you can check out here:
I had this coconut fiber I had found somewhere along the way which was perfect. I cut it into little pieces for straw.
The person in the video used foam but since I didn't have the right kind I used some small wood blocks.
I covered one side at a time and pressed them into the fiber 2 or 3 rounds so that for the most part I couldn't see the wood. I had to let it dry in between coats otherwise almost more fiber would stick to my fingers than where I wanted it to stick!
When I had enough fiber on the bales I let them dry before painting over them with yellow paint to make it look more like straw bales.
Popcorn is my favorite snack so I thought there should be a bowl of popcorn. I had seen an idea in one of my miniature groups of using styrofoam for popcorn and painting it yellow. I used a tiny metal teacup and removed the handle to make a bowl before gluing in the styrofoam and painting it yellow.
Then I glued the blanket, pillow and bowl of popcorn into their places.
On the little side table you can see a tiny enamel ware tea cup with "tea" and a book. The tea is brown acrylic paint with the white stem of a fake flower as the teabag string and it has a tiny piece of paper on the end. The book is made of a piece of wood covered with a piece of fabric. The orange you see is a tiny piece of ribbon and I wrote on a sticker for the title.
When the paint was dry on the straw bales I used embroidery floss for the string and trimmed off the ends. The sides with the knots would be placed down so the knots would be hidden in the finished product.
My fall theme colors are peach and mint green so 2 pumpkins got painted. I gave them 2 coats because I didn't want the dark orange color to show through.
The firepit is made out of a battery powered flickering tealight painted brown and the flame removed. Then I covered it with tiny pebbles and put some tiny logs on top for the campfire.
For the pumpkin stems I used tiny tips of twigs, gluing them on with tacky glue.
I painted some tiny flowerpots white, stuffed in a little bit of fake diorama moss and dabbed paint on the top for mums.
For the Indian corn I use tiny pieces of skewers, sanded the one end round in the shape of an ear of corn. The bag of mini pumpkins had been tied with raffia so I just cut little pieces off and glued them on the end of the skewer pieces.
Then I tried to find the brightest and most realistic colors of acrylic paint I had and with one of my smallest paintbrushes I put little dots on each piece of skewer to resemble Indian corn.
Now it was time to start putting it all together.
I stuck a cat in too to add to the coziness of the scene. A cat waiting patiently for its human to come and join them.
Doesn't it look cozy already?
Next it was time for the trees. I found 3 twigs to use and glued on fake diorama moss for the foliage.
Another tree...
The small tree...
I wasn't sure at first how to fasten the trees but I eventually thought of using thumbtacks. I stuck the thumbtack through the bottom and then speared the tree trunk onto the thumbtack. So far it hasn't been a problem.
I dotted the foliage/ shrubbery with yellow and red paint so it has a fall look.
I had some tiny beads that I thought might make a nice string light. They were even fall colored.
I put a tiny bit of glue on each piece and laid a piece of thicker string across. It was a bit of a pain I will admit...
I hung them between 2 trees. I found the sunflowers at the dollar store and since the stems were only thin wire I wrapped a piece of wired fake ivy around it so the glue would hold a little better. They were the perfect fit!
After everything was glued on I took off the firepit to ease the weight so I could put it in the birdcage with out damaging anything. I also wanted it to be removable so I could access the switch to turn it on and off.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. And if you are a miniature making person ,I hope you got a few ideas as well. Thank you for reading! If you create something similar I'd love to see what you come up with! I might get ideas from you!
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