Making a Birdhouse with a Book

I can't take credit for this idea...  

I saw a version close to it at a local art walk last weekend.  I made some changes to it 

(actually, I made a lot of changes...)!  The one I saw used a book for the roof and that's about 

all I kept the same.  I think they used wood for the rest of the house.  I chose to use heavy 

cardboard so it would be light. 

 I plan to use it in my (future) classroom.  

You can see that I incorporated a clothespin! In the classroom, I plan to clip notes there.

So, here are the pictures and how I did it.  

I hope this inspires you to make a project like this from recycled books.

First, I gathered my materials... a book with a lot of ripped pages inside, my paper cutter, Tim Holtz embellishments (of course!), scrapbook paper, scissors, Mod Podge, heavy cardboard (I used a box), a tiny clothespin :-), a large button (from my friend Leigh), a hot glue gun, spanish moss and floral moss.

I cut a template of the front (and back) of the house from white paper and then used it to cut the front 

and back from cardboard.  I then cut the scrapbook paper and Mod Podged it to the cardboard.  

I used a page from the book to Mod Podge to the backside so it would match the book on the top.

After cutting the side walls and covering them with paper, I hot glued the walls

 together and then I hot glued the book to the top.  To hide the "seams", I added the spanish moss 

and floral moss.  Then I added the embellishments like little rhinestones scattered here and there and the Tim Holtz embellishment for the "house number".  I added my tiny clothespin to hold my messages and I added some Spanish moss behind my beautiful button.  Finally, I added a ruler sticker (Tim Holtz) to the bottom to give it more of a classroom look (and because rulers have numbers on them...  and of course you know that I love numbers!)

See the message on the ruler, "Property of Board of Education  City of New York"

View of back with the page from the book.

Side View

This is the book I used.

I love how it turned out! 

So, what do YOU do with old books that have ripped pages?

Don't throw them away.... recycle them for a project!

I hope this inspired you to think of ways to recycle old books.

Please leave me a comment to let me know what you think.

I would really like to hear from you.

If you return to visit my blog, I would {L-O-V-E} for you to become a follower.

Until next time, 

:-) Tonya

* P.S. - I linked this post to Nifty Thrifty and Twigg Studios and 

Think Pink Sundays at Flamingo Toes and I {heart} Nap Time and Keeping It Simple Crafts and 

Destination: Craft and Tip Junkie and Ginger Snap Crafts and The Shabby Creek Cottage 

and Fine Craft Guild

This post was FEATURED on Destination: Craft