Holiday Craftiness

We have been in California for the last five days, spending Christmas with our extended family!

The scenery is a far cry from New England's snowy landscape.

I received some very thoughtful, crafty gifts for Christmas!

Today the ladies of the family had a lovely brunch together, followed by a card-making party using Stampin Up products. Tracy demonstrated for us and brought some beautiful samples to inspire us!

We managed to create quite a mess as we worked around the coffee table!

And here we are with our creations!

Back row, l to r: Teka, Barbara, Debbie, Ellie, Emilie, and Kate.

Front row: Our hostess, Becca and me.

Throughout the proceedings, Becca's dog, Abby, supervised and lent support!!

It was such a lovely morning of friendship, laughter and creativity!! 

Lace Bird Tutorial

Here is a tutorial ( my first) on how to make the lace bird shown in my last post. You'll need scissors, a pencil, a needle and thread, glue, and either white cardstock and a paper doily (left), or white stiffened felt and a piece of white lace (right).

On the back of the felt or cardstock, draw this pattern (leaving space around each shape), or any bird shape, and two wings, and cut out the inside of the shapes.


Now cut about 1/4 inch (or less) around each outline, being careful not to cut into the outline, to create a "frame".
Here's the cut-out frame and one wing, but don't forget to make two wings!Apply a continuous line of tacky or paper glue to all frames, and flip them over onto the lace or doily, capturing your favorite motifs. It's a good idea to put some plastic or parchment paper under the lace to catch excess glue. Let the glue dry and trim carefully around the outer edge of the frames.
Glue the wings to the front and back of the bird, arranging the wings as you'd like them, add a little diamond shape for a beak, and a bead for the eye, and "hang" it in your window with double stick tape or with some thread or fishline. This is the lace bird... ...and this is the paper doily bird, which is lighter and more delicate. ( I used a paper punched circle for the eye on this one.)

If you want to put two or three in one window, you can arrange each bird's wings differently and vary the angle at which each is flying.

If anyone makes a bird following this tutorial, I would love to see the results!

Have fun!