This project is kind of a mashup of two other birds projects I’ve made.
I really liked how the paperclip feet birds turned out. That was a project I saw on another craft blog, and it came together super easy. And I really can’t stop making these watercolor blob birds. Every one of them is different, and it is super fun for me to add the little details with my black sharpie and watch them come to life.
I’ve made no secret of my woeful houseplant skills. Between the bad light in my house and the ease with which I am distracted, living green things (with the exception of mold) don’t really stand a chance under my care.
So I really like to craft paper plants. I recently got interested in watercolors, and so naturally the next step was to combine both skills into one new project.
Similar to my miniature hyacinths, I decided to this project on a small scale, partly to test it out, and partly because I really like tiny things. Oh, and I had this cute little jar left over from some pimentos that really needed a new home.
This is the seventh in a series of twelve paper ornaments I’m making this year, one a month, so that when December rolls around I won’t be surprised I’ve done nothing about my wish to have a full paper crafted Christmas Tree.
When I was putting up my glitter wreath decoration for July 4th, it occurred to me that I should do a paper ornament with stars. And maybe they could be done with faux glitter paper with a 3D effect. I toyed with a couple of ideas, and then realized that I was, as usual, making things more difficult than needed.
All I really needed to do was print and cut another two sets of stars – the red ones and the white ones – and then add a string at the top and call them ornaments instead of wreath decorations. Continue reading…
When I sew, I hear voices in my head.
There are two of them. One is super strict – “Slow down and cut carefully.” “Make all the markings, even those little weird triangle ones that you don’t know what they are for.” “Pin Everything.” “Press all the seams before sewing”.
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The other is super lazy. “Go faster, I’m hungry.” “Who needs to iron, it’s going to get wrinkled anyway.” “Top-stitching takes too long and who is going to notice it anyway.”
I often let the lazy voice win. And way too often, I end up frustrated with a wonky fitted garment or something that took a long time but ends up looking homemade.
Mr. SuzerSpace used to travel a lot for business, and he was super great about scouring the hotel and airport gift shops for all manner of things to bring home for me.
I have an amazing collection of snowglobes, T-shirts, and even a flying cow.
But one of my very favorite items is this little wind-up crab.
With that great smile and those googly eyes, he is a super happy fellow, and when wound up he crab-walks (naturally) across any smooth surface, raising his arms and eyeballs as he goes. He has occupied a spot of importance on the windowsill in the kitchen for years.
I decided after all these years he needed to be the star of a T-shirt. I’ve used the same method here as I did for my Halloween Batty T-Shirt – a freezer paper stencil.
