I came across this tutorial at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Knitter, and thought it was a really fun idea.  Using a used Target gift card with a cute little bird on it, I decided to make a bracelet for this week’s bird a week challenge.  The bird is centered on the bracelet, and czech polished beads were added for extra bling.

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I have been wanting to “play” with the free downloadable paper toys from The Toymaker for sometime now.  I stumbled onto this site – literally, at StumbleUpon.com. If you want to spend more unnecessary time on the computer check it out (StumbleUpon I mean – it’s addictive!) – thanks Lorin! Anyway, The Toymaker is a site where artist/writer Marilyn Scott-Waters shares her art. She creates the most exquisite paper toys, and anyone can download them.  I downloaded her “Sun Box” and used it as a  base for my bird a week challenge. I made a “Firebird in a Box”.  I think I made the bird too big; you can’t see the full bird, but it’s coming out of the flames. Nevertheless, it was fun to make:

 I’m still working on my photography/digital graphics skills – the box looks a bit washed out, oh well.

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Well, it happens from time to time… the “Arrghhh!!!” moment.  I had made a pink flamingo bead, was quite happy with it, but when I went to clean it, it just broke in two! Oh, well, back to the torch, and three beads later, here is the new pink flamingo bead:

His head is bigger, and his neck is a bit crooked, but overall, I am happy with him :-).
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I was rummaging through some old crafts supplies that the kids used when they were young. I came across some shrinky dink sheets, and thought it would be neat to make something out of them. I got out my new pack of colored sharpies, and started drawing. I like the look of bird cages, but I don’t like caged birds. So, I made a “Canary on a Cage” shrinky dink earrings. I knew they would shrink, but they seemed to shrink more than I expected. My daughter has already “adopted” them for herself :-):

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I have come across many talented mixed media artists on my journey through the OWOH event.  So, for this week, I decided to make the “Queen of Bling”, a mixed media magpie trinket box (magpies are known to like shiny objects).  I purchased a plain oval paper box, and embellished it with scrap paper, butterfly stickers, rhinestones, and rickrack. I then topped it with a nest decorated with silk flowers, and more bling. The magpie is made of  paperclay, and painted with acrylics. She has onyx bead eyes, and wears a vintage pearl necklace.  I had a lot of fun cutting, pasting, sticking, sculpting, painting, etc.  I’m quite pleased with how it all came out:

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This week, I made a lampwork “Bluebird of Happiness”.  A bluebird of happiness has lots of wonderful meanings and symbols associated with it.  It is a widely accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc.  Virtually any positive sentiments may be attached to the bluebird. This bluebird of happiness has been made into a pendant for a very special friend and is already on it’s way to her:

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I had a chance to get on the torch yesterday, so I decided to work out of the “box” and make a bead with a bird on it. I normally like to do florals, so it was fun but challenging. I TA’d in HS for a math teacher who taught bird watching. It was an interesting class to say the least.  I remember going on early morning field trips with binoculars in hand looking for/at birds. I ended up making a focal bead in clear blue with raku and light blue frit, then embellished it with a bird that was meant to be a sandpiper, but ended up looking more like a sandpiper chick?:

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I have always wanted to try Punch Needle Work.  So for this week, I did a brown on green punch needle owl. The instructions say “Tres facile”; which it is, but I found it to be a bit tedious, and as can be seen, my results were less than perfect. I was tempted to tweak it in Photoshop, but decided against it. So, here it is in all it’s glory, my first (and possibly last) punch needle owl:

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Well, blogging has opened up a whole new world to me. I stumbled onto Ruth Baillie of Birdland Creations, Bird A Week Challenge. It sounded fun, so I joined. Since I missed the first two weeks, I did a quick “catch up” and made two origami cranes, a boy (the svelte green one) and the girl (voluptuously pink :-)). I made them from memory. It’s something that was taught to me as a little girl by my mother or grandmother. A crane “tsuru” in Japanese culture symbolizes good fortune, longevity, and fidelity. Nowadays, the tradition of folding 1,000 cranes represents a form of healing and hope during challenging times. What better birds to start the new year and challenge with. Thank you Ruth for the challenge!

Here is a link to see what other artists are doing: Bird A Week

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