Friday, March 26, 2010

How-To: Make A Birds Nest Spring Wreath


This was so easy to make with the help of a grapevine wreath and some foam eggs!

You'll need:
  • An 8 inch grapevine wreath. (10 would be ok too)
  • 6 blue foam craft eggs (I got mine at Michael's but if you can't fine these you could use blown out goose eggs or even plastic eggs.. you'd just have to finish them differently).
  • Some cream craft paint
  • A brown ink pad
  • Hot glue gun and one glue stick
  • Handful (or two) of grapevine and sticks

I mentioned that I picked up these eggs at the craft store. They are made from the same semi-ridged foam material that faux craft pumpkins are made from (you know, the kind you can carve).


I gave them a quick wash with a cream craft paint to dull down the brightness of the blue. I used about 50% water to 50% paint. This was really runny and I put it on pretty light. It looks kind of sloppy and watery- but that's a good thing. (Don't throw away your watered down paint just yet... save it in an airtight container for the next step)

Once they were dry I was happy with the color but they had a few dark spots where the paint had been too thick that I didn't like. Using a paper towel I was able to rub down some of these areas and it blended nicely by the time I was finished.


Next I wanted to add some brown speckles on the eggs and did something a bit unusual to get semi-transparent speckling.

I stuck a paint brush that had a stiff bristle onto a brown ink pad.


Then dipped it into the water/paint mixture and blended that into the ink.

I used my fingernail to flick the paint brush and speckle the egg.


It's a subtle but important difference to get speckling that looks like it's part of the egg rather than a spot on top of it.


While the eggs dried I worked on transforming my wreath into a nest.


I cut a hand full of twigs and grapevine from my yard. If you don't have grapevine in your yard (and can't find it wild in the woods) you can always purchase some grapevine garland.


To start I made a few connections with straighter sticks from one side to the other.

I got some help with this part of the project...



Which meant I needed a second handful of sticks and vines from the yard.


Then- I began to fill in the spaces by weaving the grapevine in semi-circles or just back and forth. There was no real pattern or skill to how I did this (in fact I think random makes it look more realistic) I just tucked it here and there and made sure they stuck in place. I didn't use any glue here- there were plenty of places in the wreath to secure the new twigs and vines.

I felt a little funny doing this outside- like all the birds in the yard might be watching me with a critical eye.

Now with the nest build and the paint on the eggs dry I arranged them in the center and used a little hot glue to secure them.

I hung this up as a wreath but it could make a really cute spring centerpiece as well. You could place it directly on the table or even put it on a cake stand to give it a little height.

Note- my wreath is in a covered area. If you wanted to hang this exposed to the elements I might not use the foam eggs I don't know how they hold up in rain. They seem pretty sturdy-so you might just need to spray them with a matte sealer to protect the paint.

You could also make this very easter-y (not a word I know) by using different colored eggs. These foam ones come in 3 or 4 colors. But I wanted a little more of a natural look so I went with all blue.

4 comments:

  1. Gorgeous! I'm going to try a mini version.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW, so clever and so adorable......I want one for my very own! Will get materials as soon as we get home from week-end out of town. Michaels here I come!! Thanks for the great idea & instructions!!
    trudy

    ReplyDelete
  3. PS: love your helper!
    t

    ReplyDelete

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