Centerpiece Tutorial

Hi all,
My latest project is a bird house centerpiece for my monthly CYI group at For Keeps Sake.   The group is a great place to be encouraged in the craft; idea sharing abounds.   

When I start a project, I often feel that it takes me a while to find the end vision.  It's like someone took several glorious puzzles and threw them together in one box.   Which one is the one?  Like my deceased sister-in-law: sometimes I take pieces that didn't belong in the original puzzle and hammer them into place and the original puzzle is changed.

Pictures of the birdhouse project

WORD STAMP
 I'm starting with my favorite picture first (because I can).   I got the Hope stamp at a place called Melange http://www.melangeofstegen.com/ ,the proprietress is an artsy gal who is always willing to share techniques.

BIRD HOUSE

I found a wooden birdhouse and first tried gessoing embossed paper to the cylinder.   Oops, the paper did not hold the emboss (perhaps too thin) and it detracted from the finished product.   So with emphasis, I ripped the paper from the birdhouse.   : >'

I looked through my stash again and found other paper strips, attached them with tape, and ahh it was so much better.

BRANCH AND BASE

Branch: The small branch has been in my studio for some time and was waiting for repurposing.  What better than to again house birds and bird housing.

Base: A spare 2 x 4 scrap was calling out to be the base.

I have many fond memories of my father and power tools so of course I got out the drill and after several different drill bits were used, I found the right size to accommodate the branch into the base.

 The flowers on the base were cut from a Material Girl set and small were layered onto large.   I curled the leaves with my stylus to provide a more 3-D experience.

BIRD and Sun and Moon STAMP

Finding bird stamps in my menagerie wasn't hard, as my daughter's nickname is bird, so I have a plethora of that genre.  I found a little sparrow and a blue bird and decided that they would cohabitate for the day.   Fiction, even in bird land.

The Sun and Moon stamp is for cohesion.

 

Nature is my muse and birds are very conversant and willing to share.

Gotta go, resume disbursement is calling.

See you soon.

Trish