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Exquisite Mosaic Bird Baths To Make & Enjoy

Mosaic Bird Baths are so unique all of your friends and neighbors will be envious and want one of their very own. Add a pedestal to your bird bath as a platform. Using a large terracotta saucer, you can create and design the most beautiful mosaic bird bath that doesn’t cost a lot. Use a large terracotta pot turned upside down to create the pedestal base. You can even tile the base if you want or paint it. Just use your imagination. If you don’t want a pedestal just place your bird bath anywhere you like – on a rock, bench, porch, anywhere. Use shades of blue, turquoise, aqua to give your bird bath a calming feel of the ocean.

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Gypsy Sky Mosaic Garden Bird Bath — Jo Sara Designs

The Gypsy Sky Mosaic Garden Bird Bath has a Bohemian feel it and a design which reminds me a bit of tie die, and a bit of a Mandala. The pattern uses shades blue from turquoise to aqua, and dark sapphire to sky, and then is finished with graduating blues as a border.

Blue Green Mosaic Birdbath — whors USA, Inc.

Bright and brilliant mosaic tiles are used to create a gorgeous birdbath that the birds will want to take a splash in. Terracotta flower pots aren’t just for flowers either. Turn a terracotta pot upside down to make the birdbath pedestal.

DIY Mosaic Bird Bath Supplies

If you want to try your hand at making some of these easier mosaic bird baths, here are some of the supplies you will want to keep on hand.

You will need a variety of Tesserae tiles, ceramic tiles, tile cutter (to break plates), tile grout, and some strong Tile Adhesive.

These beautiful mosaic birdbaths are ready for the birds to visit in your garden! These unique designs are made on a terracotta base and includes a range of materials from a broken china to Tesserae tiles and glass pebbles. There are lots of elements which will sparkle through the water in the sunlight.

Mosaic Birdbaths to Make and Enjoy — Mosaics by Hippo

This DIY birdbath project is so simple and inexpensive that even a child can help with it with adult assistance. You will need a terracotta pot and large saucer, spray paint (optional), tiles and glass gems, strong glue such as E-6000 or Gorgilla Glue, white grout and sponges.

Sparkling mirrors and a burst of blue make a beautiful addition to your Spring Garden with this gorgeous concrete and mosaic birdbath that is made with hundreds of pieces of hand cut silver mirror tile, blue Italian glass tile, glass gems and Italian Millefiori.

The pastel tile colors in this mosaic birdbath include pale and light aqua blue, mint green, and pale sea green. The center of the daisy flowers are translucent amber glass which give a lovely depth to the design.

This mosaic bird bath might look difficult or expensive, but it is actually easy to make and the supplies are cheap. You’ll be making many of these DIY bird baths in no time for our garden and to giveaway to friends. Put out several of different designs in your yard, or give them as gifts to bird-loving friends!

FREE Rock Flower Garden Projects

We don’t always think of taking a plain rock and using it to decorate our yard and garden. Rocks are free so what better material to use when money is tight.

We have so many ideas for creating fun yardscapes with rocks and stones to share with you. Stones and rocks are an affordable way to create a majestic yard and garden. You just need some ideas to get you started and then the sky is the limit in what you can create. You can gather stones in your yard, at the beach, in the woods, at the park, or even purchase them.

For some of the rock garden projects we listed, you may need basic supplies like quick grout or quick cement to put in between the cracks but those items are fairly cheap to buy.

Some rock garden projects may require outdoor paint. Outdoor house paints or acrylic paints work well for these rock garden projects. My favorite paint for outdoor projects is Rust-Oleum. It really projects outdoor projects against the elements and looks great with a sleek finish. For kids, Spray Chalk paint is a good option.

Great family project!

If you have kids you can get them involved in the fun of creating a colorful rock garden and remember, it’s a free project so it’s a win-win. Let them scavenge for rocks in your yard or take a trip to a park, go hiking and make it a family event. This could even be a summer project. Start by coming up with the one project you want to create, figure out how many rocks you will need to collect. When school is out for the summer, start your project by making a making a chart to show what days you found the rocks on and where. It will make a fun record of your project and keep the kids interested for the whole summer break. By the time summer is over you will have collected rocks, painted rocks, and right before school starts again, you can assemble your rocks into a fabulous rock flower garden.

These free rock flower garden projects will put you in your happy place. They are also easy and fun to create. Go all out and fill a space in your yard with color rocks, or take ordinary rocks and make a design like a butterfly or a flower design.

How to Make & Decorate a Rustic Wooden Christmas Tree

Coastal Creators Crafters group met for our monthly craft class in December and we decorated Rustic Wooden Christmas trees.

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Each person received two trees – one traditional pine tree and the other more like a birch tree with straight lines. We provided the wooden trees, paint, decorative papers, ribbons, stickers, stencils and embellishments and students brought their creativity to decorate their trees with their own unique flair!

Take a look at some of the Christmas tree designs our students came up with.

Scroll down to find out how to make your very of Wooden Christmas Tree.

Rustic Wooden Christmas Tree Supplies List:

If you are following along at home, you will need the following supplies to make your own set of Wooden Christmas trees. These make great accents to put on the mantel, dresser, foyer, or anywhere you decorate for the holiday season.

Pine boards or plywood
Decorative Scrapbook Papers
Double-back tape, Modge Podge, Tacky Glue, Glue Runners, or glue sticks
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes, Makeup sponge applicators for dabbing
Tiny clothes pins
Bakers Twine
Tiny Ribbon Bows
Sanding blocks
Stencils (see below)
4mil to 6mil Mylar
Embellishments

How to Cut a Wooden Christmas Tree

We created our own template to make these trees. You can download the stencil to make your own. Trace the tree onto the wood and then use a jigsaw to cut out the design.

The large tree measures approximately 7″ x 9-3/4″ (10-1/2″ high with base) and the smaller tree measures 3-1/4″ x 7-1/2″ (8-1/4″ high with base). These are just guidelines and you can make them any size you wish. We even made a larger 16″ high trees to make a “Sweater Christmas trees” (see photo above)

Wooden Christmas Tree Base

You may want a base to keep your trees from falling over. We used a 1×2 board to create the bases. Scraps of wood work fine as well. The large tree base measures 3-1/4″ x 1-1/2″ x 3/4″ thick and the small tree base measures 1-1/2″ x 1-1/2″ x 3/4″ thick.

We glued the bases on the bottom of the trees and then used Quick-Grip Clamps to hold them in place. Then we used Cordless Nail Gun to staple the base into place. We let the bases dry overnight.

Use a power sander or sanding block to shape the edges and get rid of any rough edges and bumps on the surface of the wood.

How to Decorate a Wooden Christmas Tree

The first thing you will want to do is paint your tree with a base color. Even if you are using decorative papers on your tree you want to make sure the wood is painted because the edges will show and maybe some of the wood around the paper. We also created our own stencils and used 4mil Mylar with our Cricut machine to cut them out. You can also create vinyl stencils.

Free Christmas Stencils

Here are some of the stencils we created for our students that you can download and use for free. You can use these .png files and upload them to your Cricut or other cutting machine and cut out stencils from Mylar, or make vinyl sticker stencils or even vinyl stickers.

If you want to use decorative papers to decorate your wooden tree, use the original tree stencil to cut out the shape of the tree on the decorative paper. By laying the stencil on the paper you can see what the design will look like once it is glued to the tree.

TIP: Since the tree may be a slightly different shape than the original stencil once you are done cutting it out, you may want to make your decorative paper cutout slightly larger and then trim the edges around the tree.

You can use glue sticks, Double-back tape, Modge Podge, Tacky Glue, Glue Runners, or glue sticks to adhere decorative paper to your trees.

You may want to use Baker’s Twine and tiny clothespin to add to your tree and then you can hang tiny greeting cards or photos from the clothespins.

Paint or decorate both sides of your trees and if you get tired of looking at one side, you can turn them around.

Wooden Christmas Tree Decoration Inspiration

These handmade Wooden Christmas trees make great gifts and so much fun to make if you are hosting a craft class.

Take a look at how some of our students decorated their wooden Christmas Trees. Hopefully they will inspire you to make your own. Most of the students decorated both sides of each tree.

How to Make & Decorate a Rustic Wooden Christmas Tree

How to Chalk Paint Mason Jars

We recently offered a craft class and taught our guests how to chalk paint on Mason Jars. It’s quite simple and the results are stunning. These chalk painted Mason jars are the perfect addition to our Simply Blessed wooden centerpiece box.

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Chalk Paint Mason Jars Supplies List

Here are some of the items you will need to complete your project.

32 oz. Mason Jars (quart size is what we used but you can use smaller)
Alcohol pads (Rubbing Alcohol and paper towels work too)
Chalk Paint (we like FolkArt Brand)
Paint Brushes
Sanding Block
Twine
Rubber gloves (Optional)
Mod Podge (Optional)

How to Chalk Paint Mason Jars

1. The first thing to do is lay out your supplies and be ready with your chalk paint.

2. Next, you need to clean your Mason jar with the alcohol wipe. Put your hand inside of the jar and wipe all around the outside of the jar up and around the rim. Make sure you do not touch the jar once you have cleaned it. By using the alcohol wipe you are removing any dirt or oil. If you have oil on the jar your paint won’t stick properly.

3. The alcohol should dry almost immediately. Begin painting the jar with even brush strokes. Take a look at how the paint is looking on the jar and if you want the lines to go one way then paint all in the same direction. If you find that your paint does not stick you will have to clean those spots with the alcohol again.

TIP: I like to keep my hand inside of the jar (well not all of the way) and guide the jar down on the mat once I am finished painting, using the paint brush to hold the bottom of the jar so I can remove my hand as I place it on my mat or table to dry.

4. If you are painting more jars, continue to the next jar. If you are only painting the one jar, then wait for about 15 minutes before adding a second coat.

5. Let the second coat dry to the touch. Using your sanding block, distress your jar as much or as little as you like.

OPTIONAL: For added protection to the finish, you can use a coat of Matte Mod Podge once the final coat of paint is dry and you have distressed the jar.

Our Chalk Painted Mason Jar Gallery

Take a look at the finish Chalk Paint Mason Jar project. Our students did a fantastic job to transform a simple jar into a specialty home decor piece that can be used in so many ways. They look amazing in our wooden centerpiece box too.

Build and Decorate a Broken China (Mosaic) Birdhouse

A Broken China Birdhouse is a labor of love created by adding broken china pieces to a wood birdhouse using glue and grout. We will teach you how to build the birdhouse, how to find broken china, how to add broken china pieces to your birdhouse and how to give your broken china birdhouse a good finish so it will last for many years.

When building a broken china birdhouse you will need certain materials but they are very affordable. You’ll need some china you don’t mind breaking or tiles you purchased, pine wood to build the birdhouse and a few other supplies, that we list below.

One day, I bumped into my hutch and broke this beautiful tea cup and saucer. It literally came flying out at me and crashed onto the floor. All was not lost because I decided to turn it into the lovely birdhouse I am going to show you how to build and decorate.

Where to Get Broken China

If you own a piece of china that has chips on it and you are willing to part with it, you can use it for your broken china birdhouse. If you don’t have any broken china, you will easily find a chipped tea cup or china saucer or maybe a tea cup that is missing it’s saucer at your local Goodwill store or Thrift shop. If it is summertime, stop by some yard sales and see what pieces of china you can find.

Online you can also visit local “free cycle” or “buy it nothing” groups to see who is giving away china that you could use for your broken china birdhouse project. Check Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist under the free section. Someone is always giving away china they don’t want or use anymore that would be perfect for this project.

Using Other Embellishments

You can also embellish your birdhouse with other elements such as stained glass, jewelry beads, pieces of decorative stone, Tesserae tiles, ceramic tiles, or even pieces of metal. This is the kind of project that allows you to be creative.

Supplies Needed

1/2″ plywood
1″ x 6′ pine board
2″ square piece of fiberglass screen
1 1/4″ brad / finishing nails
Saw to cut the wood (we used a compound miter saw)
Sand paper or random orbit hand sander
Drill
Tile Cutter
Pointed Tweezers
China you can break or purchased tiles
Grout Sealer
work gloves
Tile Adhesive (We use Mapei Type 1)
Tile Grout
Plastic Spatula
Tile Grout

Step-by-Step Birdhouse Instructions

1. Using the 1/2″ plywood, cut one piece to be 3-1/2″ wide by 5″ long.

2. Cut a second piece to be 4″ wide by 5″ long.

3. Using the 1″ x 6″ pine board cut a 4-1/2 ” square to be used as the bottom of the birdhouse.

4. Using the 1″ x 6″ pine board cut the two sides to be 2-1/2″ wide by 4″ long.

5. Using the 1″ x 6″ pine board cut two pieces to be 4″ wide by 6″ long. These are the front and back of the birdhouse.

6. The front and back need to have a peak. Do this by measuring in 2″ from the side of each piece at the top of the 6″ length. Using a 45 degree angle, draw a line from where the angle intersects the 2″ mark to the edge of the board. This should result in the correct length of the peak.

If a 45 degree angle is not available, still mark the top 2″ inches in, basically the middle of the board. Then measure 2″ down from the top of the board and draw a line from side to side. Taking a straight edge, draw a line from the 2″ mark at the middle of the top to the 2″ line on the edge of the board. Do either method for the left and right sides of the board. Cut on the 45 degree lines to form the peak.

7. Select one of the 4″ x 6″ pieces for the front. Drill a 1-1/8″ diameter hole, 3″ up the bottom and 2″ in from the side.

8. Lightly sand each piece of wood. (Sand paper or random orbit hand sander)

9. Before assembling, attach the fiberglass screen behind the hole, using staples.

10. To assemble the birdhouse, start by nailing the sides to the front and back. The sides go between the front and backs, so once fully assembled the body of the birdhouse will be 4″ x 4″.

11. Next, nail the 3-1/2″ x 5″ roof piece onto the body of the birdhouse at the peak with the 5″ side going across the wide of the birdhouse. The top edge of this roof piece needs to be flush with point of the peak. The sides and bottom of the roof piece should overhang the birdhouse by 1/2″.

12. Nail the 4″ x 5″ roof piece to the other side of the peak. Align this roof piece so one edge overlaps the already attached roof piece. This roof piece should also overlap the birdhouse by 1/2″.

13. Nail the bottom to the birdhouse so that there is approximately 1/4″ of the bottom showing around all sides of the birdhouse.

Now that your birdhouse is built you may want to sand it lightly. I also give my birdhouse a base coat. I use basic white acrylic paint. You could skip this step if you wish.

Cover the Opening

We use fiberglass screen to cover the opening in our birdhouse. We are not building a birdhouse that is actually going to be used by birds. Our birdhouse is a decorative art piece that we will display in the garden, to display on a shelf in our home, or even to sell.

If you are using our birdhouse instructions, you will want to add a piece of fiberglass screen behind the hole because you do not want birds to go into the birdhouse and build a nest. There are two reasons for this. Our birdhouse is small, too small for a bird to build a proper nest. Also, the hole is small and most birds will not be able to fit properly. The second reason is, if you want to make this broken china birdhouse as a decorative piece, you want to discourage birds from trying to build a nest inside. The fiberglass screen solves both.

You could use metal screen instead of fiberglass screen if you have it on-hand. We just had some fiberglass screen on hand that was leftover from the screen door project. We replaced the screen in our screen door and we had a small amount leftover. If you can use scraps for projects like these, you can make them super affordable. Fiberglass screen is also easier to work with and staple onto the wood.

Prepare the China Pieces

To prepare the china pieces you will want to break the pieces of china into pieces that are about 1/2″ in size. Each piece of china is going to be a unique shape anyway but generally keeping the pieces around 1/2″ to 3/4″ in size seems to work out the best.

Put gloves on to protect your hands from getting shards of the china in your skin. Grab the nippers and make a clean break on the edge of the china. Continue until the whole piece has been cut and you have a lot of small pieces to work with for your birdhouse design.

Create Your Design

Lay out the china pieces on the birdhouse before you glue everything down. Once you glue a piece down it will be harder to move things around. This is where the tweezers come in handy. Some china pieces may be small and using tweezers makes it easier to get them positioned just right. You may need to use the Tile Nippers to cut small edges of the tiles to fit them into your design just right.

Visit our Birdhouse Design Gallery to get some ideas.

Glue the China Pieces to the Birdhouse

Once you have your design in place, use the tweezers to pick each piece up and put some glue on the wood. Then press your piece firmly in place. If you want to skip this step, you can cover one side of the birdhouse with glue and press the broken china pieces in place, arranging your design as you go.

Let your birdhouse set overnight to make sure the glue is really firm and dry.

Grout the Broken China

Mix your grout with a spatula or plastic spreader. Using the spatula to spread the grout over the surface of your broken china, making sure to get in all of the little grooves. When you are finished with the whole birdhouse, use an old rag and wipe it down to make a level surface.

Let your birdhouse set overnight to make sure the grout is really firm and dry.

Apply a Finish

Your broken china birdhouse is now finished. You may want to add a Grout Sealer that will protect it and also give your birdhouse a more finished look. Grout Sealer is completely clear so it won’t add any color to your beautiful creation.

Sell Broken China Birdhouses

Broken China, Tiled and Hand Painted birdhouses are always in demand. People like pretty things to decorate their home and garden. Pretty things sell! If you are a craft, artist or painter you most likely make your own pretty things but there are millions of people who are not artistic or have no time to create pretty things for their home or garden. These decorative birdhouses could be sold at arts and craft fairs, online at Etsy, or your own website.

Creating these decorative birdhouse is very affordable. You can make one for probably $3 to $5 and sell them upwards of $40 each! All you need to do is invest some of your time. As a hobbiest you could work on them in your spare time. It’s good for the soul too as painting and crafting is very therapeutic! When we craft we don’t think of the cares and woes of our daily lives.

If you don’t mind taking a bit less, you could sell them directly to gift shops in your area at wholesale prices or on consignment. To sell to a local shop you usually cut your price in half so the shop owner can charge double and earn the other half. The advantage of selling to a shop owner is that you deal with one person and not individual people. Sell 40 birdhouses to 1 person or deal with 40 people. One makes you more money but you will have to figure out how to find and sell to 40 people whereas selling to a shop owner takes the pressure off of you having to find those customers.