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Wooden Anniversary Present: Birdhouse
A wooden gift is appropriate for the fifth wedding anniversary. This lovely wooden birdhouse on a stand will grace an entranceway for many years to come.
Present Pointers
If you decide to make a birdhouse on a spindle, you might want to decorate it with a seasonal scene. You could add brightly colored birds and pastel-colored flowers for the spring, a scarecrow and colored leaves for the fall, a pair of lovebirds and daisies for the summer, or holly and poinsettias for the Christmas season. Try wrapping some ivy and miniature lights around the spindle for a lovely evening effect.
Time frame: Three to four hours plus two nights to dry
Level: Moderately difficult
What you need:
- Sandpaper
- Wooden spindle
- Heavy wooden base, approximately 12 inches square (Check scrap boxes at home improvement stores or lumber mills or have wood cut to these dimensions.)
- Small wooden base (approximately six inches square)
- Wooden birdhouse
- Oak stain
- Paintbrushes
- Varnish
- Drill with 1⁄2-inch drill bit
- Two screws (approximately four-inch)
- Screwdriver
- Glue gun
- Spanish moss
- Silk flowers
- Raffia
- Sand any rough edges off the spindle, bases, and birdhouse. Stain the pieces with oak stain and allow them to dry overnight. Brush a coat of varnish onto the wooden pieces and allow them to dry overnight again.
- Drill a hole through the middle of the larger wooden base and another hole about one inch into the bottom of the spindle. Screw the wooden base onto the bottom of the spindle. Drill a second hole through the middle of the smaller wooden base and another hole about one inch into the top of the spindle. Screw the smaller wooden base onto the top of the spindle.
- Using a glue gun, glue the bottom of the birdhouse onto the top base. Be sure to use lots of glue to keep the birdhouse sturdy.
- Using a glue gun, glue Spanish moss to the top of the birdhouse. Glue silk flowers on top of the moss.
- Make a bow out of the raffia and glue it onto the top of the birdhouse.
More on: Arts & Crafts Activities for Kids: Project Ideas
Excerpted from:
Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Making Great Gifts © 2001 by Marilee LeBon. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
To order this book visit the Idiot's Guide web site or call 1-800-253-6476.
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