ABAA Challenge Aug 2009 - A Bird in Hand? Spanky does Mrs Pippy

(This is the Big Posh Bird in Hand project that wasn't ready in time.)


During the "Ask Spanky" coffee morning held at Ferdinand's Flotsam and Jetsam Emporium earlier this month, Mrs Pippy piped up and asked

"Hi Spanky, My sister Buffy and I are identical. I need some individuality, can you help me?"




Mrs Pippy is the Buff Rock Bantam on the left.


Spanky says:

"A bird in your hand is just a bird,
but six in your hair is a masterpiece."


Click on the pictures to make them bigger.





It is so hard to get a good shot of shinyness with a camera (well I can't do it). The background is loud gold and silver and the headdress is edged with shiny bronze but I can't get it to show up without making the rest of it look like smare.

This is the best I could manage for shinyness (Sorry Spanky, don't sulk) -





But with messing with the colours it could look like this:-







My youngest son says that he can tell which hen has laid each egg by the egg's smell.
Amazing huh? (That's ma boy!)
Alas, along with most everyone else, I don't have this talent (perhaps it is a gift that skips a generation?) .
So Spanky bless her, has fixed it that every human bean can tell which eggs Mrs Pippy has laid.

A funny thing happened on the way to Sylvia's blog.

Well, not exactly on the way there, more once I'd arrived, but that would have messed up the play on words of the post title with the film. In fact the post should probably be called
" Husbands - gotta luv 'em!"
Anyway...

I went to Sylvia's blog to say thank you for this lovely award



and noticed that visitors were writing in rhyming verse, and seeing as I excel in this art form *cough* I thought I would have a go.

This is how it went:-

Day 1 post:

Sylvia how do you do?
I am a very happy moo!
Thank you for my friend award,
I'll keep it on my ship aboard,
You may now call me "Mi'Lord",
I'm nothing if not untoward...

It could have been worse, the second line could have been "I am a very happy poo!"
Well - I'm rubbish at rhyming poems as you can tell.
My award is very lovely and you are very sweet to give it to me :-)
thank you very much
Gini xx

Day 2 post:

OK, Himself saw my drafting of your poem on a scrap piece of paper, he said it was awful, (which it was, I freely admit I can't do rhyming) so he drafted this instead, in about 3 seconds flat. Now I can look at this two ways:

1. I could think "Show off, show off, pick your nose and blow off" if I was very childish, which of course I'm not :-)

OR

2. I could think "Aren't I lucky to have such a talented husband" and do the self congratulating thingy and go get him to earn some extra money writing verse for cards, the extra 50p will come in very handy.

Verse take 2 courtesy of Himself:

Sylvia what a lovely thing
that you have done for me
Thank you for my friend award
I'm happy as can be.

I've put it up on my blog
So everyone can see
That you are kind and thoughtful
and a good friend to me.

Aaaah it's so much better second time around!!
Gini
xx

ABAA A bird in hand? Challenge August 2009. ATC We clad ourselves with false colours

I really didn't want to miss the challenge this month but had resigned myself to the fact that I would because my project is big (A3 size), she's posh and she's only half finished. She also wouldn't take kindly to being rushed. So I'll post her later in the month when she is ready and I have more time.

But then the lovely Sylvia sent me a book on making ATC's, showing ones with flaps and windows and hidden bits of loveliness and it set my brain cell whirling.
Also the delightful owl stamp that came free with the July 09 edition of Craft Stamper magazine has been sitting on my desk hooting "use me, use me". And then a phrase from the book 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith has been buzzing around in my head, so I've put them altogether tonight in a little ATC.
If you've never read Alexander McCall Smith before he has a deft and sensitive understanding of human relationships and is well worth trying. He's also written lots of books to choose from!










We've all done this at one time or another haven't we?
Trying to fit in or trying to stand out or trying to banish loneliness.
I like him best in his real colours, I think we all shine best in our real colours, whatever they may be.

I hope I'm not too late for the deadline.
:-) This is my best shiny side smile Linda and Rosie!

Will finish visiting everyone this week, look forward to seeing you all.

Blog award from Kimmie

The lovely Kimmie gave me this award and I'm chuffed to bits.
You can find her fabulous life and words blog here
and her art blog here

I have found that life is so much easier to get through if you can look at it from an angle.
You just tilt your body a little bit, until your start laughing.

Bubbly Fun Challenge #5. From your garden. The Roly Poly Bird goes a Courting.

I saw on Karen's blog that she was hosting this challenge for Bubbly Scrumptious Blog/website and I love the little nesting bird she made for her entry, it is here


As I had been wanting to make a Roly Poly Bird for ages I thought he could try and win her heart and entry to her nest with a little bit of helpful Shiny magic.


The Roly Poly Bird is the hero from the book "The Twits" by Roald Dahl and in my copy Quentin Blake illustrates him like this:




I thought he would look great transformed into colour using some pretty papers.
Here he is bearing his courting gift. (Click on him to make him bigger.)






So has he got what it takes?

1. Does he have Good looks?

Well, Roald Dahl describes him as "a truly magnificent bird... with marvellous coloured feathers".
In his present incarnation he has plumage made of the DCWV Pocket full of Posies outstanding paper collection. So I think he's looking good, but will she think so too....


2. Does he have a worthy enough character to get a foot in the nest?

Well, in the book he has plenty of heroic characteristics. He found the key to let the monkeys free and worked to the point of exhaustion "he was so tired he could hardly flap his wings" in order for the monkeys and birds to have revenge on Mr and Mrs Twit. He saved the day again and again by his actions. So he's definitely not all talk and no feathers.
Then he offered to fly all the monkeys back home to Africa one by one on his back. He did all this while he was on holiday by Jove.

So we know what a loyal and honourable bird he is. He is physically strong and generous. He can be relied upon and is a steadfast bird. He has oodles of common sense and is intelligent. he's also well educated as he knows all the Latin names of his garden gifts. I think we can safely say that he would go to the ends of the earth to ensure his wife's happiness.

(So far he's shaping up as a stud muffin with heart don't you think?)

3. Can he sing?

Oh yes, in the book he writes and sings his own songs.
He sang to keep the birds from landing on the big dead tree and the monkeys cage.
He's planning to sing "Islands in the Stream" for his lady love.
He's pitch perfect don't cha know.

(He's a rock star in the birdie world.)

4.Can he deliver the goods?

Well in his basket from the garden he's got a Pheasant Berry bract (Leycesteria), Royal Purple Smoke bush leaves (Cotinus), Lady's Mantle flowers (Alchemilla mollis), a Tree Mallow flower (Lavatera), Weigela leaves, Clematis seed heads, Rosemary, Lavender, moss, twigs, pebble and the last two raspberries left in the garden!


If this little lot doesn't win her heart I don't know what will!

Who can resist the heroic Roly Poly Bird shaking his tale feathers and bearing gifts.
So Karen, what does she say, does he cut the mustard?

P.S.
I thought it would be so nice for me and my boys to go collecting in the garden together, a little mission and bit of family fun.
So far it sounds like an idyllic "family" thing to do?
Yes, well, this is how it played out for me.

Oldest son: "Do I have to? Can't I stay inside?"

Me. "Oh come on, what can we find in the garden that one bird could give to another bird who is nest building. You know, what sort of presents can we find?"

Youngest son: "How about some cheese?"

Doh!
The wonders of real family life...

P.P.S
If you were wondering, Spanky wants to do the ABAA Challenge - Bird in Hand - on her own.
Who am I to stand in the way of a professional Diva. :)

ABAA Dragonfly Challenge July 2009. Drag Dragonfly ATC Series

My heart sank this month with dragonflies being the theme, they really give me the Heebee Geebees, what with their googily compound eyes, segmented bodies and strange bums...

So I thought I need to use artistic licence (which I think is still available from the Post Office) and get rid of some of the bugginess in them.

Seeing as I'm no good at small pictures (but I want to be), I thought I'd try some ATC's because they really are a challenge for me. Based on photos of Emperor Dragonflies which have very nice wing shapes, I made an ATC sized template designed to be used with brads so the wings are moveable. I got rid of its head just like the Queen of Hearts said, and gave it a round one.
I had to widen the body to accommodate the wings and brads. I used the smallest brads I could find called mini circle brads. I drew a heart shape for it's bum (You can't beat a little bit of lovey dovey donuts unless it's shiny lovey dovey donuts).

But it still wasn't enough, I thought these need to be comedy ATC's to finally banish the bug.

Sorry to anyone out there who loves proper dragonflies......... look away now!

So here are my

Drag Dragonflies ATC's, a series of seven. I'm sorry but the photos I've taken do not do justice to their shinyness... click on them to show them bigger.

1. Albert Einstein contemplates the shape of Dragonflies bums and just how they fit into life, the universe and everything.

2. Terry Thomas is a magnificent man in his flying machine.




3. Captain Mainwaring gets blustery in florals.




4. Darth Vader "You don't know the power of the dragonfly."




5. Ferdinand shows us his shiny bits.




6. Marc Bolan is the Dragonfly King.
(This one is for my husband)




7. Kate Bush - Babooshka "To see if he, would fall for her incognito."




I had a brain fart making this one and put the top set of wings on upside down - duh!

I sooo wanted this outfit when I was a teenager................




I've done a template, all you need to do is left click it to make it bigger then right click it, save it to your computer using "save as" and print it out at A4. It hopefully will print the right size, at least it did for me when I tried it.
I suggest you print it onto card, cut the shapes out and use those as templates. Remember to cut inside the black lines so the pieces don't keep getting bigger and bigger.

Go on, you know you want to...

Please let me see what you come up with :)

ABAA Shell Challenge June 2009, Ferdinand's Flotsam and Jetsam Emporium

Hooray, all's well that ends well, Ferdinand is safe and well and living in Clacton on Sea!
Evangeline WILL be pleased!!!
His new Emporium and boundless charm are drawing the crowds like a magnet.
I'm sure all the Lady Birds will flock to see Ferdinand's shiny bits.
Click on the pictures to see them bigger.


I was so pleased when this months challenge was Shells, there is just something so elemental about shells and seaside paraphernalia that appeals to, and delights just about everyone isn't there?
I have wanted something like this since I was a girl, I don't live close to the sea any more and I do so miss it.
This started off life as a 1 kg tin of coffeemate.




How I made it.
After I cut out a panel, I wallpapered inside and outside with 12" card stock from DCWV Pocket full of Posies set (I just love this collection of designs and www.artymiss.co.uk have got it for £5 for a 48 sheet stack pack of12" card right now!)

I used Golden Heavy Gel (Matte) medium to glue the outside card on. It dries very fast, so glue and stick in small areas at a time. I used double sided tape to glue the inside card on. Start with a strip of tape down one edge of the card that will sit flush with the vertical opening , press the card on, then add another vertical strip to the card about three inches in and press down again and keep going all the way around. I wouldn't like to try and paper the inside of a round tin without double sided tape.

I wouldn't have attempted to make the shelves without foam board. Foam board is very light and I was able to use a couple of small foam pads to stick each shelf on the inside of the house. I first covered the foam board in another Pocket full of Posies card. I used Anita's tacky PVA glue to stick it on the foam board. To get the shelves to sit flush with the inside wall of the house I used the round floor template I had cut to make the inside floor of the house as a template to draw the curve at the back of the shelf, then cut out the shelf using a craft knife. I used a piece of string to measure the inside diameter of the house to cut the floor circle the right size and I also used string to measure the inside circumference of the house to cut the inside wall paper the right size.

The hardest part was trying to stick the shelves in. Two front facing eyes don't cut the mustard I'm afraid, but how many more eyes and where they would need to be positioned is a feat of engineering way beyond me. The result being slightly wonky shelves, but evolution was working against me.

I used Anita's 3D Clear Gloss finish to glue on all the contents of the shelves, the seed bead edging around the inside and opening of the house and all the beads and bling making the flowers around the outside of the house.

When trying to glue a line of bugle beads, seed beads or any little beads, it is much easier if you string them on some sewing thread first, then run a line of clear gloss along the line you want the beads to sit on. Then lay the string of beads along the line of glue. You can either pull out the thread after a minute or two or just trim the thread at each end of the line of beads.

The roof was made using pot pourri , that was already dyed turquoise and was some sort of seed head that stuck out on three sides to make the seed head shape. It looks like feathers and I'm really pleased with it. I cut a 12" diameter circle of card that was turquoise and cut a large pizza shaped triangle out of the circle and used double sided tape to make the cone shape stick together. Sticking the seed heads on would have been a nightmare of much cussing if I had used a tacky PVA glue mainly because it is messy and dries slowly, however Golden regular gel (Matte) medium was the perfect glue because it dries so quickly and isn't messy.

I haven't glued on the shells around the bottom of the outside of the house because by them being removable it will be easier to dust.
My high tech way of dusting this type of creation is to shut my eyes and blow (don't knock it , it works!).
Many of the shells are beach finds, some are bought ages ago and I used a lot of my old jewellery bits and pieces as well.



Linda (ABAA) inspired me to have a go at a twinchie with her lovely shells ones. So this is my first twinchie. I think it can sit on my computer at work as it is very apt at the moment in view of the current economic climate.





This was a backgound I painted with acrylics and edged with a brown chalk ink and used Anit's 3D clear gloss finish again to stick everything down. I'm always picking up weather worn limpet shells like this off my husband - no sorry- I meant beaches. The little face fell off one of my sons socks in the wash, in fact the whole pack of socks disintegrated in the wash very quickly. (Bad Matalan)


I have had a wonderful time visiting everyones blogs who have entered the challenge this month. So many talented happy crafters it's been great fun, thank you to everyone and especially to Rosie and Linda for running the challenges. :)