Sunday Stampers - Week 117 - You Don't Bring Me Flowers...

... Goodly Morning Stampers... and a very big thank you to all who joined in with last weeks challenge. I shall kick off straight away with the theme for this week... have you guessed it? Yep, it is FLOWERS I know we have had this one before, but hey, we all love flowers :O)) To join in, all you have to do is make a piece of art, include the theme and some stamping... leave a comment for me here with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can hop on over and see what you have been making. The challenge will close at 21:00 Saturday August 28th '10.



My entry this week is an altered birdy... and I cannot believe this.. it is exactly a year ago to the day since I first blogged my original altered birdy... the fella who sits on the toy car *here is a link to the original post* So, the poor old boy birdy has been on his tod for far too long... and his mate has been sitting on my windowsill waiting for some attention... so that is just what she got!




I spent an age sanding her down.. ok, I spent about five mins and got bored... here is a pic of her after sanding just so you have an idea what she looked like... a bit boring ain't she? And... when she arrived from America, she had a broken beak... and no broken off beaky bit in the box... so she is staying that way... it just adds charm to her I think LOL





I Gesso'd her over with some...erm... gesso... *that's novel isn't it? LOL* and then painted a generous layer of Trad Tan paint all over because I then used some Antique Linen, Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lippy Cracklepaints over the top - so when the crackles crackled, they would show the Trad Tan.



While she was sitting drying, I used some Grungepaper and stamped some Studio 490 images... BTW... those folders that were on my desk the other day... all 490 stamps :O)) Anyways... I stamped out some flowers and used a flower from one of the new sets *big grin* to make her wings.. stamping four times, cutting out the whole flower as a wing each side and then cutting into the flowers to make the wings more fluttery.




I used Spiced Marmalade and Worn Lippy Distress Inks to colour the Grungepaper, stamping some of the 490 patterns over the top of them to add some interest to the flowers. I then curled the petals on them and by now, birdy had dried and crackled. I used some gold wax and rubbed this into the crackles - it doesn't show up too well in the pics though... I used a couple of long pointy metal tacks to attach the wings... I had to use a big hammer and... yipyah and thrice, for the first time ever, I didn't bash my fingers! *shows I am getting a dab hand at this hammering malarkey!*




I used some metal embellies to decorate the flowers - adding a little bottle filled with bead chain to the tail and popping a little propeller a-top of this. She is wearing a rather coolio pair of gold rimmed specs, she is a fashionista you know... and I added a little crown to her headdress cos she is pinky coloured and must be a princess. *yes folks, I have finally lost the plot ROFL* I have these divine letterpress blocks I have been stashing for a while... so I stuck three together - the three just so happen to be my initials too - I did this cos I am copying Wendy Vecchi... simples, I saw her birdy in Craft Stamper ages ago and she had hers perched on her initials...so I copied! And.. I *ahem* borrowed Grim's drill and made some holes in to the top of the blocks so her feet sit nicely on top of them... me and a drill? And no blood? Miracles!!! Another copy is one of the SSS&S DT's entry for this week... is a birdy... and she has a nest beside her... so I made a little nest for my birdy, winding wire around some old twiggy bits... and popping three little eggy shaped beads in there. One day I will have an original idea... I will let you know about it when I do LOL




Finally... *don't worry, I will shut up in a mo LOL* I took a picture of my original boy racer birdy with his new girlyfriend... don't they look cool together??? The getting of these birds took a lot of hunting *well, not literally hunting with a rifle and wearing a funny hat...you know what I mean ROFL*, shipping in from the USA and a rather large customs duty charge too... but I think it was all worth it... these are going to be perching in my room for a long time to come! So... that is all my waffling for one day... *whatcha mean thank heavens huh???* Thanks for looking... hope you all have a goodly day... I am planning a day of craft... Grim is working (booooo) so I will be getting inky and messy :O)) TTFN

Hels x