I Spy a Steampunk Birdie

I have to say, I really do love the steampunk genre, and I have since long before there was steampunk officially, back when William Gibson and Bruce Sterling mixed Victorian elegance and mechanical computers in The Difference Engine. Anyhow, I've blogged before about how Girl Genius is one of my favorite webcomics, and when I discovered Graphic 45's Steampunk Debutante paper collection, I nearly swooned as if I were wearing a corset.

I've been playing around with a lot of the papers, most of which have some stunning graphics that make great focal points (such as the tag I posted yesterday). However, this project uses paper from this collection more as background. The birdhouse itself I picked up from a dollar bin at Joann Fabrics. I painted it white and then put a layer of Distress Crackle Paint in rock candy over the top to give it a cracked texture. I used one G45 paper for the roof, and another cut into a grassy fringe around the base.
The birdie himself is a stamp by Graphic 45 for Hampton Arts. I love his glasses! The propeller is made from leftover electrical wire from one of my husband's home projects. The gears are an SVG file that I downloaded from The Free SVG Blog and cut on my Cricut. I used a few other bits from my stash to finish it off, including some copper swirl clips and you can't have a proper steampunk house without some steam!