Birds of Bling

Christmas is sooo last season. I have set my sights on spring now. I am determined to make it as difficult as possible for the dark, grey thoughts that usually take hold of me in February. And with a stash of blingy bits and a massive creative flash taking hold of me now that my college exam is over, I set to work. Gimme some birds of spring bling.

 

Right, these birds started life as... wait for it... Christmas crackers. Yep. Miss Cheapskate here collected the torn up bits of Christmas crackers. Actually, it was even more embarrassing than that. The crackers had been used for decoration at a party hosted by friends and so I actually took the rubbish home from their party... Reason being that I was attracted by the sparkly card board, the black ribbon and the metal tie clips. 












Anyway, at first I thought I might reuse this for Christmas tags, but then I realised that my drawing room was so bare after taking down the Christmas deco and I didn't want to throw out the vase of twigs. Hence the idea was born to craft some decorations for that. And instead of Christmassy shapes I eventually settled on birds - they remind me of spring time...

I downloaded a few bird templates from the internet - a simple Google Image search throws up plenty of designs - and printed them on some card and cut them out. Then I used those three templates for drawing the bird shape onto the cracker card.












The result was not quite blingy enough. But I am one of those loonies who picks up any solitary earring lost in the street and who holds on to broken bits of jewellery and "whimsies". And from that stash I spruced up the birdies...

... with heart-shaped buttons...

... with the wire ties twisted into a heart-shape... 

... with a little bell...

... with a little red ribbon from my Lindt chocolate bear...

... with a heart pendant...

Some of the birds I gave wings by punching a hole into them and then just feeding the black ribbon through. He really looks as if he is soaring, doesn't he?











In any case, I am delighted with my blingy birds. They are happily hanging on the branches. Best thing: They are so light that every time someone passes by, they flutter in the air. Heck, they flutter at all times - this old house has a fine draft that comes in very handy for that.

 

A bit whimsical, I guess - and whim is not really something I usually like - but hey, I am waiting for spring time and they will remind me it is on its way.

Best,

I Want Snow!

It's that time of year again. No, I am not talking of winter. I am talking of the run-up to an exam. You can always tell it is that time, because there is a flurry of activity on my blogs. Suddenly the crafting tools come out again and I cannot stop myself from making things. Some people call it creativity. I call it replacement activity - I'll do anything but study *ggg*. I am that kind of bird.

So with that in mind it was essential, no, imperative, that the Queen of Crafts got her latest post-Christmas sale bargain into crafty shape. I had picked up this garland of snowy plastic fir while over in Germany. Can you see the white specks of snow crystals on the fir? Well, I think there was much more snow on the needles when I bought this in the shop, alas, travelling in my suitcase did not do this piece of deco that good - when I took the garland out of its protective bag upon arrival at home, a handful of crystals trickled onto the kitchen table. Ah well.

Anyway, undeterred, I ploughed through the fake snow and dug out my old homemade wreath base. This thing has seen better days - and is still not a perfect circle. Ah well. It'll do.

I placed the garland on the ring and then secured it in place with some decorative wire which I had also picked up in Germany. Basically it is just some silver wire with some translucent and transparent plastic stars attached. Not too showy, not too tacky. The result you can see below:

I don't mind the easter egg shape of this, but the wreath looked a bit too irregular, so I decided to decorate it with what I had at hand.

And I always have some decorative crap stuff at hand. This, I decided, was finally the time to put some blingy silver ribbon to work which I must have picked up yeeeears ago.

And then there were also some styrofoam birdies that I saw in a Euro-shop (the European equivalent of a Dollar Store - ooops, or is that obvious??) before Christmas. I completely forgot about them then, because I had originally intended to decorate the advent candle wreath with them. They matched the colours of the candles perfectly. But hey, now they came out.

So here is the winter wonder snow wreath:

It's currently gracing my kitchen window - our front door would beautifully suit as a canvas, but unfortunately we live literally 5 steps up from a main thoroughfare in Central Dublin and the wreath would be snatched as soon as night falls... (I am speaking from experience - I have lost a couple of wreaths to the great God of travelling pickpockets *grumbles*)

I still want snow. Really.

Best,