Owl Ornament Frames

Hi blog, remember me?

I painted some little owl ornaments my boys got in their stockings once upon a Christmas Past. I followed the craft wood outlines only vaguely and looked at a photo of a great horned owl for coloring.

Hangin' on the tree

(This is the first time I've had an artificial tree since childhood.

I have mixed feelings, but boy, is cleanup easy!)

Before the paint job, hanging from the boys' stockings.  Santa originally thought the boys would want to paint them themselves, but in the end they asked me to do it... 5 years later!

Excellent bird!

http://fineartamerica.com/products/captive-great-horned-owl-bubo-raymond-gehman-greeting-card.html

They're almost camouflaged on my counter!

Xmas Gifts 5: Ashley Purse

My second vinyl purse attempt. This one is a little bigger. It's more like a slim diaper bag. In fact, I tried to make it the same dimensions as my Similac diaper bag from the hospital. I'm embarrassed to admit that. You know the one I'm talking about. It's really the perfect size bag. Ashley's bag is much cuter, though. I love the little bird on it.


I stitched along all the seams to help the purse keep its shape. I was a little disappointed at first because right up until the very last step it looked more like a messenger bag with its flap missing. Then I stitched those final outer seams along the top section and--voila!--the whole thing came together. I was pleased.




Isn't this the cutest little guy? I just want to toss him some bread crumbs.




Here's the lining. Recognize it? It's from IKEA. The little bird on the front of the purse is from this fabric. I love the little inner side pockets. They are perfect for keeping keys and chapstick handy.


Just as I was about to send this home with my brother to give to Ashley in California I realized I didn't have any pictures of the purse on a human. So here I am, modelling the purse at 11 o'clock at night while my brother snapped the picture for me. He actually paid me a huge complement: When he saw the purse he looked a little surprised, maybe even dumbfounded, and told me it looked like the kind of bag his friends would buy from some hip store. He's in with the cool, film student, artsy crowd, and I know nothing about cool, so I was very pleased to get the complement.
(In case you were wondering: The bracelet I'm wearing is one of the gifts my sister Ashley gave me for Christmas. My sister Bridey made me the knit hat for Christmas last year).

"A" Bird Magnet and a Freebie

...Just don't get your hopes up too high just yet.

I made this with a letfover image I had printed for the zipper pull on the bird pencil case (last post). I had printed it in all different sizes since I didn't know which size I would need in the end. What to do with the leftover print? A magnet! Maybe I'll eventually print some in different colors and make a set. (Or I could even make a whole alphabet with different animals. I'll have to change this one to "B" of course...) For now, my sister will get one random bird magnet for her fridge.

It lookes spiffing on my fridge with these photo booth pictures, doesn't it? Yes, I did have to clear a bunch of other junk away so I could take an uncluttered picture. I'm sure you don't really want to know what my refrigerator looks like.

I already put a thumbnail of what the original file looks like, but here it is again for your viewing pleasure. I let the color bleed over the edges, but it's supposed to be cropped round for actual usage. I know that you, oh humble and possibly imaginary readers, will all want to use this little birdie for your own projects (I flatter myself), and I'm sure you know how to right-click and save the image, so here we go: The first freebie on my new craft blog! This freebie is for anyone who a) Likes birds, b) likes the letter "A" and c) would ever possibly have a personal use for this image. You can't say I ain't generous! Just please keep it to personal use only.

Hey! You could ALL have a random bird magnet for your fridges!


(P.S. Sorry the image is so small. That was the original size. I'll remember next time to work bigger.)

Bird Pencil Case

Completed March 2009


For my first post on my new craft blog I'm showcasing my most recently completed project. It's a pencil case for my sister. She's been asking me to make her something like this for awhile now. She just went back to school to finish her Bachelor's degree, so I thought a pencil case would be appropriate. The Helen Keller quote ended up being exactly what I wanted (I found it after I started the project). It says "One can never be content to creep when one has an impulse to soar." The outside of the pouch was made with turquoise vinyl and the inside is lined with brown on yellow polka dot fabric.  I made that little yellow bird illustration for the zipper pull in Photoshop. The "A" is my sister's initial. She's loves birds.