Love Birds Birdcage Dress - New Images, Tutorial & Giveaway

With Valentines just around the corner I have been in a romantic mood which is reflected in this birdcage dress.  In this post I’ve included a tutorial  outlining how I assembled and decorated the birdcage dress. 

A fun aspect of this piece is that the middle section opens to reveal birds in love and then the entire birdcage opens to reveal the romantic couple inside.

This lovely ladies umbrella is made from 2 paper fan images.  The piece stands up with the aid of a chipboard stand attached to the back.  The images I used are from my new collage sheet and digital image set.

DAYS GONE BY COLLAGE SHEET

I am so excited about my new collage sheet and digital image set.  The regency period is my favorite and Jane Austen is probably one of my top 5 favorite authors of all time.  I’ve chosen some of my favorite images for the collage sheet pictured below.

DAYS GONE BY DIGITAL IMAGE SET

The digital image set includes all of the images in the collage sheet plus many more for a total of 80 images (pictured below).  Along with more images, the digital image set gives you much more flexibility in printing just the images you want, and in resizing the images to your particular needs.  Click on the image below to purchase the image set.

TUTORIAL

The skirt is made from a 2 Part Die-Cut Chipboard Birdcage which measures approximately 5 ½” wide x 6 ½” tall.

First I painted the front pieces.

I started by painting the surface with cream paint.  Then I dry brushed the reddish-orange paint onto the cage.  Next, I added Patina Gilders paste and lastly I dry brushed on gold metallic paint.

I added copper Dresden to the bottom.  I glued one side of a larger hinge to the cage and one side of the smaller hinge to the removable door.  Lastly, I glued the other side of the small hinge to the cage.  I used E6000 glue.

I used beads to cover the holes on the hinges.  To decorate the cage I added chipboard leaf flourishes, metallic stickers (from my stash), a brass keyhole, and brass butterflies accented with Stickles.

In order for the small door to open, I attached the leaf flourish to the door rather than to the cage.

I used multiple layers of paper, Dresden Scraps, paper images from my collage sheets and digital image set.  I used only paper images to decorate behind the cage which allowed the cage door to lay flat when closed.

The last step was to glue the other side of the large hinge to the back piece pictured above.

 The Umbrella

To make the umbrella I used two images of a fan.  When cutting one of the fan images out, I left tabs on each edge of the image.  I used these tabs to glue the one image to the other.  Score and bend the tabs before gluing.

It also helps to pre-bend the umbrella images before gluing them together.  Inking the edges of the images hides the white of the paper when the pieces are glued together.

The Stand

To make the stand I used heavy chipboard.

Below you can see the measurements that I used.  The idea is to create a triangle.  Next, cut away part of one edge to create a slant, that when glued to the back of the piece, causes the piece to tilt slightly backward.  I cut two pieces of heavy chipboard and glued them together to give the stand more strength.  If you want the piece to tilt more, cut away a larger piece of the triangle. 

I cut two pieces of heavy chipboard to glue on each side of the triangle giving it more support.  All of the pieces are covered with decorative paper and the edges inked.  I glued the pieces in place using E6000.  Be careful to keep track of the side where you made the cutaway so that you glue that edge to the piece.