Patchwork Bird

It is the first Thursday of March and that means a new challenge at Stamps and Stencils.  Toni is our hostess this month is she is calling it Chirpy, Chirpy, Cheep,Cheep! ~ Put a Bird On It!  Toni describes the challenge this way:

One of the joys at this time of year, is to wake up to the glorious sound of birdsong. The challenge this month is in celebration of our fine, feathered, friends. We would love to see your mixed media projects, that include at least one bird. Whether it's a journal spread, an assemblage or card, just make sure that a little dickie bird features somewhere. Please don't forget to include stamping, or stenciling or both. Can't wait to see your creations!

I thought I would make a funky canvas this time so I started with an 8"x10" canvas from Michaels and gave it a coat of Liquitex Gesso.

Some of the next steps were done on some days when the weather was miserable and I could not get great photos so I am just going to describe how I altered the canvas.

After the Gesso was dry I gave the canvas a coat of Fresco Finish Antarctic Chalk Acrylic followed by a coat of Fresco Finish Lake Wanaka, which was wiped back a bit while it was still wet.

Next I added some Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains - Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass and Lucky Clover making sure dry between each colour.  Then came some Lindy's sprays - Starburst Jack in the Pulpit Teal and Moonshadow Mist Buccaneer Bay Blue.  Finally I dripped some FW Budwing Copper Acrylic Ink on my kraft sheet and used a sponge to dab it on the canvas.

The next step was to add some stenciled greenery on the bottom with an IndigoBlu stencil called Laurel Leaves.  I used some Clover Folk Art Acrylic paint and it seeped under the stencil in spots but I decided not to worry about it because I had plans to add some flowers.

Using a Tim Holtz clear stamp set with no name that I picked up on sale at Michaels and some of Wendy Vecchi's Watering Can Archival Ink I added some random stamping. I also added stamping with a Kaisercraft called Sheet Music.

I made a template for my bird and then traced around it onto a piece of heavy card stock.  Then I put the card stock on my light box (holding it up to a window works too) and traced the bird on the other side over the first one.

Next I decided which way I wanted my bird facing on the canvas and on that side of the card stock I covered the tracing with small bits of torn patterned paper using Mod Podge under and over the pieces.  Once it was dry I turned the card stock over and cut my bird out by following the second tracing.

I used a couple of markers to give my bird a beak, eye and define the tail feathers.  I hand cut the wing from some old book paper that I had computer generated and also hand cut the tiny heart.  The legs were hand drawn and then everything was inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink from Tim Holtz.  After the bird was adhered to the canvas I outlined him with some chalk pastels from Mungyo and blended it with my fingers.

The flowers were punched with some EK Success punches, shaped with an embossing tool and given tiny buttons from Making Memories for centres.  The butterfly was created with a Martha Stewart punch and the sentiment was computer generated.

I think my funky patchwork bird standing tall in the flower garden is perfect for that sentiment, which is so meaningful in these days of turmoil around the world. I hope you will create something with a bird on it and share it with us at Stamps and Stencils.