I am A Little Bird Maker

I am a little bird maker, oh yes I am.   And for almost two weeks now these little guys and girls have been truly coming to life right here in the studio.  This has been a wonderful creative journey, the process of making something new is very fullfilling.  Ok, I know I've made birds before.  However these are made with my pattern and with more fabric than felt and new cages and new stands.  The newness of it all is making my heart skippy with joy.  So I thought I'd scatter the joy your way and show you the process of being a little bird maker.  Because in the end, little ones like Lillyana below are meant to be shared with someone you love.

First:  All the fabrics were collected and the pattern tweaked.  One football game Saturday I sat and cut out all the bodies, bellies and wings.  In fact, I still have about 30 to sew!

Second:  For a few nights in a row during TV time I sewed the bodies to the bellies, stuffed and added eyes.  They are gathered here for staging purposes.  (On a side silly note....my very overweight cat Ellie normally lays her lovely self on this table.  She jumped up the night I placed these here and literally freaked out at their sight.  You'd think she'd seen a ghost.)

Third:  The wings were layered with felt and patterened fabrics.

Fourth:  Wings and birds were paired up for attaching.

Fifth:  By the way, there may be a pop quiz on this tomorrow.  hehehe....  Tails were quilted on the sewing machine.  That's gotta hurt!

Sixth:  Beaks were added with my favorite brown wrapped wire.  When you remove the wrap a perfectly rusty wire is left behind.  Perfect!

Seventh:  Here is where the fun part came to play.  They were either placed in a pile for stands or hoop cages.  I set out to put together all the cages first and glued in the birds.  Then came the "where the heck to I put these to embellish the bottoms?" statement.  Well, I have an awning armature in my kitchen that all I had to do was lift the fabric and tie them all on to the pipe.  They have been such a fun addition to the kitchen this week!

Eighth:  The rest of the birds were given wooden candlestick bases that I painted white, added vintage music paper, tulle and crepe paper to.

So that's it in a very brief nutshell.  For some reason I was extremely methodical with the whole process.  And although I was batch making these guys, not one two are alike.  Some are totally cross-eyed, some have flopped in wings, some flopped out, some have pointy heads, some round, some are more robust than others, etc.  The one common denominator is me, and all the love I stitched into each and every one.  In fact, a couple got kisses because they were so stinkin' cute.  Even today as I was boxing them up little Jelly Bean had her head and eyes popping out of the box like she was telling me something.  Ok. Maybe that was me going cross-eyed!  Nevertheless.....my point is that their personalities are all quite unique because as they were made I was spilling over with happiness (it's been one of those couple of weeks...you know the fulled life kind).  If you'd like to check out all the birdy goodness head on over here and see!  And hopefully by tomorrow some will appear in my etsy shop.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

HEY FOLKS!!  ETSY SHOP UPDATED IWTH A FEW OF THE BIRDS!  CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Little Seed and Marmalade...Ooo...and a Giveaway

New little birdies have flown into the art studio. And one is going to be given away on Papernstitch this week! So be sure to check by the blog this week to see how to win! This is Little Seed and Marmalade. I just love this color series together. Mustard yellow and orange. Yummy.

Hope you had a creative weekend! I'm working on Christmas ornaments and other goodies for my next show series coming up in November. Oh, and still waiting for the paper mache goodies to dry. So I'm sure to be back with more from the studio this week!

Art Imitating..... Well ART!

This is one of my favorite paintings I've ever made. There's just something about the layers of color....and of course the little Mattie Bird with a party hat. Who can resist a bird in a party hat? Right? Anyhoo......while making new felted birds this go around, I decided to make some with more embellishments and definitely more personality. A fun Mattie was first on the agenda. I finally found a "Mattie blue" felt at a local craft store. One thing led to another and now we have a 3-D version of "Mattie Turns 30" above. She is sitting on top of a mache box you could fill with a fun Birthday treat or two!

Here's all the little babies I have left to add legs, stands, embellishments, etc. to. Doesn't it look like they are all saying , "Pick me....oooo...ooo...me next....pick me!" Or maybe I am just getting delirious in this art world of mine. I've got 11 completed (which if you follow my blog is twice the number on the SMART goals this week!!), and about 20 to go. What was I thinking?

Well....gotta go. Mr. Green Jeans is in his cage right now not wanting to sit up straight. And I need another glue stick, again. See you next week sometime when I finish up! My fingers are tingling to paint so I am sure there will be some fun compositions to share.

Happy 4th Of July To You!

Just wanted to pop in and say "Happy 4th!" What a wonderful day to celebrate the Independence of our nation. We are in between events taking a rest before the big parade and local fireworks display. Our little Newnan is the best at celebrating in a big small town way!