The Pizza Box Birdie Wreath

My family started ordering "S_'s" Pizza when I was in middle school. Every Friday night. Same order. Delicious.

The T family often continues the tradition when Mimi (my mom) comes over on Fridays. Everyone is tired from the long week and pizza just makes sense.

I got really bored last weekend. So bored that I didn't feel like ironing or weeding the garden. I was in a crafty mood and decided to make a wreath for our back door using only items I had in the house. Meaning I would not spend an extra dime on it. I had an old grape vine wreath to use as a base, but beyond that I was stumped.

I really wanted to use some cardboard to make an embellishment, but it usually takes T about 5 or 60 reminders before he'll bring something like that home for me.

Then my eye's fell upon the holy grail of trash to treasure: pizza boxes.

I considered carving a monogram out of the cardboard, but everyone does cardboard monograms these days. That's when I got the idea to try a bird.

I found a silhouette I liked on Google images and freehanded the outline onto a piece of paper, which I cut out and traced onto the cardboard. Very carefully, without slicing any major arteries, I used T's box cutter to cut out my bird.

My next brilliant idea was to wrap the bird in twine and hot glue it in place. I spent the better part of naptime saying very bad words under my breath and ended up with a big wad of twine in the trash can.

So next I spray painted it.

Meh. You could see the places where I stabbed the bird with a stapler in a blind fit of twine rage.

I ended up Mod Podging some scrapbook paper onto the bird and distressing the edges with a black ink pad.

And adding a small black button for an eye so it can stare at me watch over us as we play in the backyard.

The twine that wasn't destined for the trash can was used to tie the pizza box birdie to the wreath. I hung the wreath from a burlap strip and added some faux berries for a little somethin.'

Not bad for a pizza box that was a real "roadkill rescue." And the price was even better since it didn't cost a cent to make!

Linking to The CSI Project for their Roadkill Rescue Day.

Have a wonderful day!