Wedding Wednesday- Shabby chic bird house decor

Welcome to my first Wedding Wednesday!! As I mentioned in my anniversary post, I'm dying to share some wedding crafts with you! I got pretty crafty with our wedding decor with the help of my amazing man, bridesmaids, mom, and mother-in-law. The wedding day has come and gone, but there's no reason the decor can't live on, right?? Hopefully our decor will inspire other brides-to-be who want to DIY their wedding!
Today, I'm sharing my favorite wedding craft! We decorated tons of shabby chic bird houses for our wedding!! My mom and I collected them for what seemed like months on end. I'm pretty sure we must have bought every style from every craft store possible. Save up your craft store coupons to get them for cheap!!!
This is an easily customizable wedding craft! The bird houses can be painted in any combination of colors and you can add whatever embellishment you desire! They make the perfect centerpiece and are a great way to spruce up a food display or gift table. Best of all, they are affordable decor!
When it got closer to the wedding, I hosted a craft day at my house with my bridesmaids and the moms. These bird houses were just one of the projects we worked on that day! I put out tons of food to munch on while we worked and laid out my giant collection of teal, turquoise, and aqua acrylic paints along with a few greys and whites, and everyone got to work! As much as like to craft myself, I am beyond thankful that these wonderful ladies helped me knock these out in just a few hours!!! I could never have pulled it all off without them! <3

Materials used:
Unfinished wooden bird houses (like this one at Michaels) Acrylic paint (assorted brands and colors- I brought swatches of the bridesmaids dresses to find colors that looked good together!) Martha Stewart Crackle Finish (used on some of the houses for a vintage look, see below) Assorted lace, ribbons, and faux pearls Chiffon flowers (see the tutorial coming soon!) Krazy glue (great for holding on pearls and faux gemstones) Tacky glue (great for holding on lace and chiffon flowers)
The smaller birdhouses were for the guest tables, so they were all decorated the same. The larger ones were throughout the venue, so everyone did their own ideas! It was fun to see what everyone came up with!

We gave each bird house at least two coats of acrylic paint. Then, we applied the crackle finish to any houses we wanted to give a distressed look to. If using crackle finish, its important not to apply too much and not to brush over the same spot multiple times. Crackle paint is easy to use, but you have to work quickly! After your acrylic paint is completely dry, brush the crackle finish over the bird house with even strokes. As it dries, it will begin to crack, revealing that vintage look!
While the paint dried, we worked on making our chiffon flowers. Then we applied flowers, lace, and pearls to the birdhouses using super glue and tacky glue.
And here they are at the wedding! The pictures below were all taken by Anna Kerns Photography.

Hope you enjoyed my first Wednesday Wednesday! Check back next week for more inspiration! See our wedding page for more DIY wedding crafts! Check out Anna Kerns Photography for more beautiful DC-MD-VA weddings!