Baby Week: Bird Nursery

Hi! I'm Michelle from Through Michelle's Lense, welcome to baby week!

I am excited to share my bird nursery with you, but first let me introduce myself. I'm a lucky wife, mommy of an 8 month old with the cutest smile, photographer, couponer and crafter.

Unfortunately, I got laid off twice while I was pregnant. Yes, twice. Needless to say, we didn't have a lot of money for her bird nursery, so I thought I better get my craft on! I sure am glad I did, I feel like it personalized the nursery and gave it more character, especially since we rent and can't paint the walls. I was able to make most of the nursery decor myself, thanks to the good ol' DI. I love crafts and sewing projects that are easy, and that's exactly what everything I did was. If I can do it, you can too! I'm going to let you in on my 2 secret weapons:

Hot glue & mod podge.

Everything I made for the nursery uses at least one of those things.

I told Michelle my story, and showed her my bird nursery pictures, and she asked me to show you too, I hope you crafting mommas can be inspired a little bit. No matter what your nursery theme is, you can tweak these crafts easily.

Bird Baby Blocks
Secret Weapon: Mod Podge

I made some baby blocks with a little sandpaper, scrapbook paper, wood stain & mod podge. I am currently using them as book ends.


Topiaries
Secret Weapon: Hot Glue

I made some topiaries out of supplies from the DI, the dollar store, and two sticks in my back yard. They also make a cute place to store my baby's hair bows, since she doesn't have any hair still.


Bird Plate Wall Hanging
Secret Weapon: Hot Glue

Remember those wooden bowls from the 80's? I found plates just like them from the DI and thought I would challenge myself to use them somehow in the nursery. I love how unique they are. You could do this with anything for your back and any theme! I hot glued some extra birds I made for another project (see below) and some jute to the back and there you have it. My baby has always loved to look up at them while I change her diaper.


Name Plaque
Secret Weapon: Mod Podge & Hot Glue

This project ended up being my favorite! The wooden backs that I wanted to use from the craft store would have cost me $50, so I took a few days of searching the DI's wood stock, and ended up spending less than $5 on the wood backs! I like it better this way too, because they are all different shapes and sizes. I did have to buy the wooden letters and tulle from WalMart, but I used the same paper from the wooden blocks to tie it all together.
All I did was sand and paint the wooden backs, mod podged the paper, hot glued the letters on, then hot glued some tulle, and it's still hanging!


Bird Mobile
Secret Weapon: Hot Glue
Now, this ain't your mama's bird mobile. :)


First
I found a basic bird template online, then cut out my fabric from my stash of extra fabric. I sewed the wrong sides of fabric together and stuffed a little bit of quilt batting in to give the birds a little dimension. I sewed the wings the same way, then used some fabric glue to adhere the wings on.



I found 3 embroidery hoops, all different sizes, and I hot glued them to form kind of a bird cage, making sure the top holes aren't blocked. I used some old embroidery thread that my mom had, and strung a needle through the top of the bird and up through the hole in the embroidery hoops. I simply just tied a knot at the length I wanted it to hang, then hung them from ceiling hooks (you can buy a pack of them for a few dollars at Target).


And there you have it! Have fun crafting and adding character your home!

Thanks so much, Michelle, for letting me share these fun, easy and cheap crafts! Congratulations, again on your sweet little bundle of joy!

------------------------------------------------

I just love her adorable bird nursery! Our new addition's nursery is already decorated because he inherited it from my 3 year old, but I may just have to add one of those cute name plaques. I'm also thinking a cool airplane mobile would be a fun addition. Thanks for the cute ideas Michelle!

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for free Tipsy updates via RSS or email.