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Making a Driftwood Bird

You may have noticed that one of our favourite materials to craft with is driftwood. Not only is each piece uniquely shaped and coloured and has it’s own story and origin, but the smoothly polished surface and rounded edges are perfect for crafting with.

We are fortunate to have ready access to this wood on the shores of the Canadian side of Lake Huron where our family cottage is located. We spent beautiful hours throughout the summer combing the beach for the best and more interesting pieces of wood to use for projects as well as to stock our Etsy shop.

Inspired by our driftwood and lavender window wreath project from the summer we decided to make an evergreen and birch branch wreath for the holidays which will be posted shortly. But when finished the beautifully green wreath just begged for a pop of colour and the idea of a red cardinal came to mind. So, we went through our driftwood collection and found this little piece. Does is look like a bird to you? We thought so- it even seems to have an eye in the right place!

The only thing missing was a beak. A triangular shaped scale from a pinecone did the trick and we affixed it to the back of the bird with a hot glue gun. Then we applied three coats of “Apple Red” multi-surface Satin Acrylic Folk Art Paint by PLAID (with drying time between each coat). Black acrylic paint was used to add an eye and wings. You can see the whole transformation in this short video.

YouTube video

For the hook, we created a narrow “U” with a 4 inch length of craft wire (use 18-20 gage) and then folded that forward. We affixed the ends to the back of the bird with hot glue.

And there she is, our little red cardinal. Have any ideas what we should name her?

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Across the Boulevard

Saturday 7th of November 2015

I love your driftwood projects and this little bird is adorable. Finding a random piece and then having a vision of how it could become a bird is so creative! Thanks so much for sharing at Snickerdoodle Sunday. I'll be featuring this at today's party.

Jane and Sonja

Monday 9th of November 2015

Thank you so much! We are so happy to have you feature it on Snickerdoodle Sunday. We love looking through all the linked up posts every week!

Mary, Living a Sunshine Life

Saturday 7th of November 2015

I so wish I could find more driftwood around here, but in the middle of Nebraska most of ours isn't so pretty, when we can find it, that is. I may have to make a trip to eBay to see what I can find, LOL. Love all the awesome crafts you share on the Sunshine Life Link Up! Thank you so much for sharing with all of us!

Jane and Sonja

Monday 9th of November 2015

We are very lucky to have driftwood close to us. It is so inspiring! And no need to go to eBay, you can check out our Etsy shop for all your driftwood needs:)

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