A Serendipitous Simon Says Stamp Challenge

A couple weeks ago, the theme for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge was 'stripes'. I had seen a very cool little paper house on Pinterest, and decided to create a Fall-themed house, using an embossing folder for stripes. Well, it took forever, my stripes weren't very stripey, and I ended up setting it aside, even though I loved it. Imagine my surprise when I checked to see what this week's challenge was and saw it was 'Houses'! Yay! A few finishing touches and my little birdhouse was ready to go.

After Googling my heart out trying to find a house pattern, I came across the perfect template, generously offered for download by a wonderful artist named Inger Harding. Be sure and check out her blog - it's fantastic!

Using her pattern, I cut my pieces from light chipboard. I painted the house pieces using a Lettuce Dabber and colored the roof using an Espresso Dabber. After the pieces were dry, I ran them through my Vagabond and embossed them using a Cuttlebug folder. After embossing them, I sanded the raised areas with my Idea-ology Sanding Grip.

Maybe I'm weird, but I really wanted to do something glittery for Fall! I decided to glitz up my birdhouse by applying a light coating of Rock Candy Distress Stickles to just about everything. While it was wet, I sprinkled on a little additional clear glitter from Martha Stewart.

I wanted to give the bottom of the house a finished look, and I thought the Sizzix On the Fence die would be perfect. I cut it out of chipboard and painted it with Picket Fence Distress Crackle paint, adding a light coating of Rock Candy Distress Stickles after it was dry.

Of course, I'm still addicted to my Faux Crazed Porcelain technique - had to fit it in somewhere! The number 2 is from Artistic Outpost's Whimsical Melange collection and was stamped using a Pitch Black Dabber.

I was a little uncertain as to how I should cut the hole in the house; I didn't have a hole punch that would reach, or was the right size, and I didn't want to do a sloppy job with an exacto knife. I spotted my set of Nestabilities Circles and was like - aha! I centered my die and cut through the house. It looked a little boring, so I used a scalloped circle with the plain circle and created a little frame from chipboard. Much better!

My birdhouse definitely needed a bird, and this sweet one (no idea what kind it is!) from Artistic Outpost's Birds of a Feather set was perfect. On the right side of the house, I created a little sign by tracing an Idea-ology Addage Ticket onto cream cardstock. I cut it out, and stamped a portion of a sentiment from Artistic Outpost's Typography set onto it. The ticket was covered with Rock Candy Distress Crackle paint (I'm falling in love with that stuff!) and attached using an Idea-ology Memo Pin.

Now, for my favorite bit - the leaves!! I basically created this whole project just to use the leaves, lol! I cut them out of  Tim's Kraft Core'dinations paper with my new Sizzix Autumn Gatherings die. After cutting my leaves and branches, I sanded them using my Idea-ology Sanding Grip, gave them a little Rock Candy treatment, and adhered them to the bottom of the house. Finally, I added a Kraft Glassine flower that was cut using the Tattered Florals die, to the center.

I bought this little silver pedestal at an antique mall a month or so ago and it seemed like a perfect way to showcase my little birdhouse. Apologies for the slightly blurry pic!

Thanks so much for stopping by! And special thanks to Inger for sharing her wonderful template. :-) Don't forget, you can get all of the supplies I used at Inspiration Emporium. AND if you use my code - stamptramp - you'll save 10% off your entire order! BTW, you can pre-order the new Tim Holtz Limited Edition Winter Distress inks there too. If they're as popular as the Fall set, you will want to jump on these FAST!!