Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A little birdie told me....

I was so excited to see the Design Team's theme this week!
BIRDS!

Enter and you could win:

Meljen's Designs - http://www.meljensdesigns.com/
* Winner Choice of 4 Images



Robyn's Fetish - http://robynsfetish.com
* Winner’s Choice of 5 Digital Stamps


Little Claire's Designs
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Love in the Spring"
I had been working on this project for my submission to
Stampendous Impressions (May challenge - a gift item)
for over a week, and knew it would be great to post it here for my
 "Do You Stack Up?"  
friends, too!
I decided to take pictures as I went along as a type of photo tutorial...and to give a tip or two on what to do and NOT to do!
Now, let's begin...
I started with this simple metal bird cage I have used a a photo backdrop
for a long time.
It seriously needed a facelift!

I wanted to give a vintage, old look to the papers on the bottom of the cage (twigs),
so I spritzed some old music sheets with a variety of colors of glimmer-type mists.

After letting several layers of the color dry thoroughly,
 I ran them through our paper shredder.
(I use it more as a scrap tool than to shred bank statements!)

 I also misted the silk ivy vines just to give them a hint of shimmer.

A tiny bit of moss gives the "female bird" something soft
for her and her eggs to rest on.

The next step has a warning included...lol!
Plastic "eggs" can NOT be heat embossed!

They looked adorable until they started collapsing on themselves. 
Kind of hilarious, and sad at the same time....
Next time, I may choose to go with wooden eggs...
But, I didn't have the energy to run out to my local craft store, so I needed to come up with a simpler solution...using the plastic ones....

This didn't stop me from using my favorite "go-to" bird egg finish...
Stampendous, Shabby Blue Embossing Powder.
I simply covered them with glue and sprinkled the perfectly colored powder all over the eggs and let them dry. A spritz of matte sealer, and they're good to go!
Still the perfect "bird egg blue"!

Oh, wait, the fun's not over!
If you've read along this far, thank you so very much!
For the record, this IS the longest post I've ever put together!

Next, I stamped two copies of the bird from Stampendous "Jumbo Songbird" rubber stamp onto a fine cream muslin and layered it with some batting.  Then, I sewed around the shapes and cut them out, producing two cute, PUFFY little birds as blank canvases.



What is terrific is that fabric heat embosses quite well!
A teensy bit of glue to hold the embossing glitters in place and hitting it with a heat gun is so easy!
Stays right where you want it, and will NEVER rub off!
They HAD to have some tiny rhinestone eyes, too!

I frayed and inked the edges of the birds to give them an even more rustic appearance.
A little Stampendous, Powder Blue Fran'tage Color Fragments
sprinkled into the "nest",
and then I assembled the cage.  (Eggs, Birds, Ivy...)



As the finishing touch, I added the Prima flowers to match the hues of my mother's  sofa and a splash of color to the project!


Ta-da!


Hopefully, this is going on my mother's end table in her livingroom.
She loves all things "country", and especially, birds.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Stampendous, "Jumbo Songbird"
Embossing Powder: Stampendous

This project is also being entered in the challenge at
LESSology (Birds of a Feather)

Again, thanks for all of your patience and reading through this post!





18 comments:

Pauline said...

Wow Jan, what an amazing project! Fab tutorial too!

Denise said...

Jan this is gorgeous - such a brilliant creation. Love your step by step pictures too.
Hugs
Denise xx

yyam said...

Awwww....what a darling project! Your mom will love it! I love the glittered eggs, the cute birdies and the blooms and vines!

Thanks for sharing your process and for joining us at LESSology! :)

Lynnda said...

OMG .... Another beautiful project!!! I love the transformation.. I love how you create those little birdie!!! Its magnificent!!! THanks so much for joining US at LESSology... hugs...xoxo

Kirsty Vittetoe said...

Oh wow, gorgeous!!!! Thanks for playing along with us at LESSology!

Jennifer Dove said...

THUD!! and awesome step by step!!

Melinda Gleissner said...

Jan, This is just over-the-top FANTASTIC! I absolutely love everything about your birdcage. The birds, the nest, those cute eggs with fragments...amazing!

cotts said...

Woe Jan, this is just lovely. The birds have turned out amazing....I cannot wait to try your technique...if thats Ok? Your mother is very lucky to be recieving this.

Unknown said...

Jan - that is just SOOOOO cool - what a brilliant project

Mary Jo said...

Your post cracked me up but all your effort was worth it! This is an amazing creation. After all that..how can you bear to give it away?! lol

Unknown said...

Great project!! Super for a gift idea. Thanks for sharing. Hugs, Joan

Greta said...

I am speechless! This is amazing & wonderful--love everything you did!

Ren-Yi said...

Oh my goodness Jan! When i saw this project up on our lil forum i didn't realize all the little details. Thanks for describing your steps and putting this together. It really shows all the learning you went through! So wooden eggs, eh? Check ;)

jeanie g said...

Love this beautiful birdhouse, your Mom is one lucky lady!!

Mynn xx said...

This is soooo pretty!!! LOVE the roses--and the butterflies up the side are amazing! LOVE your artwork! :)

~amy~ said...

Beyond gorgeous...what a FABulous project! Thanks so much for playing with us at LESSology!

Linda said...

So very pretty! Love all the time you took to up cycle this beautiful bird cage. So pretty! Thanks for joining us at LESSology with your amazing creations.

StampendousGraphics said...

Lovely project, Jan, and a terrific Tutorial! Thanks so much for sharing it and for using Stampendous Products! Gonna pin it on our Pinterest boards!

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