Christmas Project Series Day 12: Great Lakes Lighthouse Birdhouse

Hello and welcome back! Today's project is a Lighthouse birdhouse for infinity-engraving.com.  I had my 7 year old nephew in mind when deciding how I wanted to decorate it, as it will be a Christmas present since he LOVES birds.  I used paint, texture paste, glitter, mica flakes and metal and resin embellishments to give it a life by the lakeshore vibe.

 I started by giving my lighthouse two coats of gesso, letting it dry between each coat.  I followed the gesso with a coat of Dylusions London Blue paint.  After that was completely dry, I added my texture.  Using White Sand Texture Paste by Prima, I added copper microfine glitter and mixed it in to add shimmer to the texture and add opacity when it dried.  I wanted it to look like wet sand drifted up from the waves.  Using the Flourish stencil by Tim Holtz, I added my texture paste thickly over ever other flat side of the lighthouse using a palette knife. 

I added more of the paste mixture around the lighthouse around the base to add to the wet sand drift look.  While it was still wet, I carefully added mica flakes to simulate rocks.  If you wanted this to look like an ocean lighthouse, you could add tiny seashells.  I'm a Michigander, which means the Great Lakes and freshwater, so plenty of sand and water, but no seashells.  I finished it simply with a metal winged-heart embellishment over the door and a resin butterfly resting on the top, both of of which are attached with hot glue.  To hang it, drill a chain into the top of the lighthouse.  I plan on laying a few strings and ribbons on the top to attract some birdie's to make a home come spring.

Thanks for hanging out with me today!  I hope you had fun and learned something new.  Feel free to ask any questions and let us know what you think.

Much love and Merry Christmas!
Jasmine