Beautiful Budgie Treehouse
Designed By Candice Windham
The first thing my grandmother taught me to draw was a bird, and I’ve been drawing them, designing with them and collecting them ever since. I’ve had this idea in my mind for quite some time, and Makin’s No Bake Polymer Clay and their wonderful tools just make it extra special. This is not a small project at approximately 24” tall, but, in my opinion, well-worth the materials and time it took to create it.
Be sure to go to the website, www.makins-usa.com for tips on using these versatile products.
Here’s how I did it:
Supplies:
Bird House (Hobby Lobby #637594)
Heavy Candle Stick (Thrift Store)
Makin’s Clay®: Terra Cotta, 2 packs {120 G each), Brown, 2 packs {120 G} , Earth Tones, 2 packs, Vintage Tones 2 packs and Multi-Color, 2 packs, plus scraps of leftover clay in any shade for push mold flowers
Makin’s® Professional™ Ultimate Clay Machine™
Makin’s® Texture Sheets - Woodgrain, Curly Beard, Dot and Eyelet
Makin’s® Push Molds - Floral and Borders
Makin’s® Ultimate Clay Extruder™ and small circle disc
Makin’s® Cutters, Square and Flower
Beacon® Quick Grip Adhesive
DecoArt® Americana® Multi-surface Metallic Paint, Chocolate
DecoArt® Americana DécorR Crème Wax, Espresso
Circle embellishment, ¾”(Nostalgiques)
Grapevine Wire (Hobby Lobby)
PearlEx Powders, assorted colors (Super Bronze, Super Copper, Flamingo Pink, True Blue, Misty Lavender, Duo Green-Yellow, Duo Blue-Green, Pearl White) (Jacquard)
Foil keyhole and vintage bird die cut (Paper Dreams Factory)
Black card stock scrap, 2” square
Heavy twine
Masking tape
Tools: Foam Brush, Craft Knife, Scissors, sand paper, pencil, ruler
Instructions:
Cut chipboard patterns for the door, front/back and sides of the house.
Tip: Use cheap printer paper to fold each piece along the parts of the house you need, then use the paper to trace your shape onto the chipboard.
Sand away any rough edges on the bird house and paint the entire house with Chocolate Metallic Paint. Set aside to dry.
Flatten two packs of Terra Cotta Makin’s Clay® in the
Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #1. Run it through again on setting #2. Press the Woodgrain texture plate into the clay, rubbing it with your fingers, pressing it with a roller or running the clay and texture plate through the Ultimate Clay Machine™ on setting #1.
Tip: If you have trouble with the texture plate sticking to the clay, dust it lightly with cornstarch. The clay will release and you will be able to wipe away any cornstarch residue with a damp cloth.
Place the front pattern on the clay with the woodgrain pattern top to bottom and cut two pieces for the house front and back. Use the plain cutter from the Makin’s® Professional™ Clay Tools set to cut each piece into one-inch vertical strips. Repeat with the house side pattern and set aside to dry overnight.
Mix two packs (.7 oz. each) of dark blue clay from the Vintage Tones Pack with two packs (.7 oz. each) of green clay from the Earth Tones packs. Mix with your hands until the clays are almost completely blended, then begin running it through the Makin’s Professional Ultimate Clay Machine on setting #2, folding it before you send it through each time.
Roll out the resulting color clay with the clay roller. Press the Curly Beard texture plate into the clay, then cut it into 20 squares with the middle size (1 ½”) Square Cutter.
Use a small amount of green clay (about .3 oz.) from the Multi Color Pack with the Makin’s
Ultimate Clay Extruder™ and circle disc to create a long vine that will wrap top to bottom on the candle holder. Create additional pieces make shoots to come off the large vine if desired.
Use several colors of to place pieces in the Floral Push Molds to create flowers and use white clay for the door ornament. Press green clay into the leaf molds to create leaves and push brown clay into the twig border mold to create 14 pieces (Some are extras for extending the trim pieces) of trim.
Roll out red clay from the Multi-Color pack and cut flowers with the smallest Flower Cutter. Wet the center of half of the flowers and place the remaining flowers on top, lifting the petals up on the top flowers.
Roll small pieces of leftover clay into balls and flatten into a rectangle. Roll the clay to make small roses.
Roll the black clay from the Multi-color Pack. Texturize with the Dot Texture Plate and cut a 1 ½” square with the Square Cutter.
Roll out the blue clay from one Multi-Color Pack into a rectangle. Apply the Eyelet Texture Plate to the clay, then place the door pattern on top and trim with the Makin’s® Straight-edge cutting wheel. Punch a 1 ¼” circle in a piece of scrap cardstock and use it to mark the placement of the hole in the door. Carefully cut the hole with a craft knife. And remove the excess clay.
Allow all pieces to dry overnight.
Roll out the blue from the remaining Multi-Color Pack into a long rectangle.
Create a chipboard pattern: Measure the length of the roof cap and add ½”. Measure the width of the roof cap and add ½”, then draw and cut out the chipboard rectangle. Cut the length flush and trim the width with the Makin’s® Wavy Cutter. Place the clay on top of the roof and carefully mold it to fit the roofline shape. Let dry overnight in place.
Divide the remaining brown clay into thirds. Roll out 2/3 of the clay and texturize with the woodgrain texture plate. Wrap it around the largest part of the candlestick you want to cover and trim away the excess with a craft knife. Repeat
with the remaining clay and apply it to a smaller portion of the candle stick. When you have the clay in place, use the woodgrain texture plate to press into the clay to hide the seams. Allow to dry overnight.
Assembly
House
Use Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive to attach the front, back and side clay pieces to the bird house.
\Wrap heavy twine around the house to hold the adhesive until it sets, about ten minutes.
Place two trim pieces on each corner and again wrap heavy twine around the house to hold the adhesive until it sets, about ten minutes.
Adhere four pieces on the roof front and back, adding pieces as needed to cover the roof line and top of the woodgrained clay and adhere with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Hold the pieces in place with masking tape if necessary.
Remove the roof cap from the roofline and set aside.
Beginning at the bottom of the roofline, draw a line side-to-side on each side of the roof at 1 ½”, 2 ¾” and 4”. Start at the bottom and line up four of the green squares side-to-side, adhering with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Cut one square in half to begin laying the second line of tiles, overlapping the row below by about ¼”, and ending with the other half of the cut tile. Repeat both for the last two rows and repeat on the other side of the roof.
Replace the roof cap and adhere with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive.
Paint the entire house with Espresso Americana Décor® Crème Wax, being sure to get into all the crevices and wiping the excess away with a paper towel as you go, to give the piece a vintage appearance. Allow to dry and then apply assorted PearlEx powders to all of the surfaces to accent the textures.
Apply PearlEx powders to the door. Attach the foil keyhole with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive, wrapping one edge to the side.
Attach the bird die cut to the back of the door and place 
Apply PearlEx powders to the square of black clay, then add the circle embellishment to the center with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Lay the birdhouse face-up, apply Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive to the back of the square and adhere it to the roof peak, leaving the house face-up until the glue dries.
Tip: If you didn’t have enough trim to cover the roofline all the way to the peak, place any small dried clay scrap beneath the square to stabilize it.
Apply Super Copper and PearlEx to the door ornament and attach it to the house with
Beacon Quick Grip.
Wrap any bare sections of the candlestick with heavy twine, applying Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive as needed. Paint the entire candlestick with Espresso Americana Décor Crème Wax and wipe away any excess on the clay. Allow to dry, then apply PearlEx powder to the clay portions of the piece.
Cut enough of the Grapevine Wire to wrap around the base about eight times. Wrap the clay vine around the Grapevine Wire and adhere it at the beginning end with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive. Apply Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive at the base and place the wire/clay vine near the base bottom, holding it in place with a small piece of masking tape. When the wire is secure begin loosely wrapping it three times around the candlestick. Clip off any excess clay vine when you get to the top. Wrap the remaining wire around the top and slip the end into the last wrap to secure. Add Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive beneath the wire/clay vine any place the wire touches the candlestick.
Flowers
Paint all flowers and leaves with Espresso Americana Décor® Crème Wax.
Tip: To save time, place duct tape, sticky side up, on your work surface. Place all the small pieces on the sticky side and quickly paint them all, wiping the excess away with a paper towel as you go. Allow to dry.
Use a dry brush to apply PearlEx powders to the flowers and leaves.
Beginning at the base, adhere flowers with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive over the beginning of the wire/clay vine, adding leaves as you go. Repeat adding flowers and leaves randomly all the way to the top. Adhere flowers all around the base of the house with Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive.
Place Beacon Quick Grip Adhesive on the candlestick top and adhere the house to the base.
That’s it. I think this is one of my all-time favorite projects. I hope you like it as well.
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