The Farm Chicks Fair Birdhouse Display

One of my very favorite parts of The Farm Chicks Vintage Fair each year is coming up with a theme and then carrying it through every aspect of the show all leading up to the installation display at the main entrance. It is SO FUN for me. This year’s event had a birds theme.

I decided to make a backdrop for my installation, so that it could really stand out. I took an enormous roll of paper and water-colored a sky and birds in flight. Each bird spelled out “The Farm Chicks” over and over again.

I created the bird houses one by one out of ordinary paper bags – hundreds of them.

Each bag was individually painted, and dried.

After the bags were dried, I used a circle cutter to cut holes in each birdhouse. To cut only the front of the bags, I inserted a piece of cardboard into each one before cutting.

After the holes were cut, the bags were opened and the tops folded down and hot glued into place.

In the days leading up to Farm Chicks, I prepared a wire grid with hundreds of strings tied to it, to hang the birdhouses from. On setup day, we hung the wire grid from the hang wires in the ceiling above the entrance and the roll of paper as well.

My friend, Jill, spent the day opening each birdhouse, folding down the top, glueing them into place, and then attaching each one to the strings that were already in place. It was extremely time consuming!

The next day Cody glued each birdhouse into place.

And at long last, the installation was complete!

I loved getting to see so many shoppers stopping at the installation, taking group photos, using it as a meeting place, and enjoying the show. Did you visit the show and get your picture with the birdhouses? Please leave a comment below and tell me about it! Tomorrow I’ll be sharing pictures of the fair and shoppers. I can’t wait!

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The Farm Chicks Fair is held once a year (always the first full weekend in June) in Spokane, Washington. You can read all about it here.