Cait, any place that sells paint should have the "primary colors" as they are called. And a coat of gloss poly spray would make them really pop like these. Or enamel paint tho I always use acrylics. Easy, I think all the curves would be fairly easy to cut out. Looks like the sides are just scored to give that appearance, tho you could paint that effect on easily enough. Winfield sells the patterns for these birdhouses, but to be honest, I'd just blow up and print out one and make my own pattern. Sometimes if I want something a lot larger, then I crop a photo into several sections and print out each one. Then tape together a big pattern. These wacky bird houses are very cute, tho I think a little too colorful for me, LOL. But I still like the design idea and may try it on one. I like this birdbath so much that I am thinking about buying the pots and just painting them. We've got some very pretty painted terra cotta pots in our albums that I'm going to see if one of them is what I'd like to try doing. My tipsy pots are hunter green with sponged white rims and I like how they turned out too. hugs, Karen

Nope, not making money off of anything that I'm talking about here. Been on these boards since 2003. Pretty aware of that rule. If you are talking about my blog . . . I thought the rules stated that you can link at the bottom to your blog or website if you have one. However, my blog doesn't ask for money in any way to readers so I didn't think it was a money making effort. I have not submitted any affiliate links on here. And there have been quite a few posts that don't mention my blog at all. So . . . no, I'm not trying to make any money off anyone. Oh! Maybe because on the little videos I say something about getting step-by-step instructions? Nah, that's a free. I'm not selling anything, just wanted to help people. Made some step-by-step instructions for my friend so she could continue to talk to her architect about her plans for her custom house. Thought I'd offer it to you guys too. Sorry, if it seemed shady -- didn't mean for it to come across that way.

I use IKEA. Though I'm using their cabinets, it's still quite handy and the price is right - free. I think Lowe's (or it could be Home Depot) has a nice one too and more realistic. They just didn't have the finishes I'm going with. If you want your layout critiqued most of the designers prefer a layout with detailed measurements, so old fashioned pencil and graph paper work.

That's cool, but actually ... You can do this yourself online. I have a Myspace page, and have seen people create a .gif or .jpg of a name written in sand and waves coming up onto the shore, using one of the compatible programs. And it's free. I'll see if I can find the site where you do that and post it here.