Woohoo! I love birds!
This week's AWESOME challenge at
Shopping Our Stash is...
-Duck, Duck, Goose-
Use a bird, or birds, and/or a feather, or feathers!
Okay, I have to just say my piece: you guys be nice if you are joining up, and just know that I will probably be creating a shopping list for all of the bird and feather paraphanelia you show off. I might even be willing to buy it off of you. I am kind of a bird nerd. Or bird freak. Story time below...
Here's my finished project:
Here are a few pictures of the journey:
Supplies and notes:
- I used a 2016 calendar from Autumn to make my bird-day-- I mean birthday-- calendar
- Coated the calendar cover with white Liquitex gesso
- Dabbed various Distress Paints around then blended together with my fingers and partially heat-dried and sun-dried
- Stamped designs and patterns using Andrea's stamps with Tim's Mixed Media Ground Espresso ink
- Splattered with white gesso
- Added a bird from an old "Discover Birds" sticker book-- it's pre-sticker, really: it's lick 'n' stick like old stamps!
- Sealed the project with matte Mod Podge
- The trim/page marker is made from old cotton cording, dyed with various coordinating Adirondack alcohol inks
Story time: I am totally a bird-nerd for life. For starters, my grandparents were big-time birders as I was growing up. Fine... kids just absorb information and truthfully, I can't say I was very interested-- I was just highly exposed to the avian animals. Fast-forward to college. I was going to school for forestry (which I often mention because a] it was a difficult major and b]I also am in L-O-V-E with trees and plants native to the PNW, and all conifer species... anyway...), and when the going got tough and classes got hard I turned to the birds. I birded all the time. I would study hard until I got too fried, then I'd drink and read my bird guide. I'd get up and hit the marsh before a test. If there wasn't enough time to walk the marsh, I'd drive the bird hot-spots in the hopes of "getting" a rare-but-regular. Larger amounts of free time would entail drives up or down the coast to catch a harlequin duck in the Humboldt Bay or searching for a solitary common grackle amidst a mixed flock in the farmlands. (Common grackles are
not common in the west!). My grandmother was still alive when I was in school, and we would have wonderful phone conversations about birds: discussing species, behavior, adaptation, and habitat. So there. Birds are SOOO special to me. If anyone wants my attention, just talk birds with me! (Or paper crafting!)
Enjoy your crafting, and watch birds! Both are good for your health!
For more inspiration, please go visit the gals at
Shopping Our Stash! See you there!
