Meet Merry. He will grace one of the pages in our mini book, but for now, we are going to use him to show us how a birdie is born.

To begin with, let me just say that I know the colors on these pics are kinda whacked. Apparently my dining room is more fluorescent than I bargained for, so apologies. Really, the papers at my house are all the right colors.

Use your template to trace a bird shape.

Cut him out, and then find a piece of scrap paper that partially covers him. Trace the part it covers and cut it out.

Aww, look, he has a turtleneck! Hmm, he doesn’t like it, so why don’t we trim that into a v-neck sweater. Very preppy of him.

We’ll give him a jaunty little ascot as well. I like him in red. Just trim it to fit. Ink your edges and glue it down.

Now, I think that sweater needs a little something, so we’ll use some scraps to create a mask that covers up the bird’s bum and the ascot. If you think of this ahead of time, you can skip this step and add accents before you glue it down.

Ahh, I like this stamp. It makes me happy. So we add that to his sweater, move the mask pieces and voila- very cute.

Now he needs some accessories. I’d like to bring out the yellow in the paper, especially on this bit of star grungeboard. I am only half unpacked, and I have no idea where most of my ink pads and paint daubers are boxed up, so we improvise! I have an ugly mustard color that is too dark, and my daughter happens to be coloring at the table with me, and has graciously lent me her bright yellow crayon. I mix the two- and perfect! Weathered and cute. I did experiment a bit on some scrap grunge to see if it would work out first.

Now I cut out a star just bigger than the grunge board in red to help our star pop.

We need to add some details before we glue it on. Add a little faux stitching.

Now check out the edges of your papers- don’t they have cute names? Don’t they have cute lettering? Lettering you could totally steal and put on your bird? Awesome! You could also stamp out what you wanted to say. At any rate- let’s give him a message.

Before you adhere those bits, glue on some twine. To make a simple knot without adding a bunch of bulk, lay one piece under another, glue them down and tie a little knot. Trim the knot’s edges.

Now just layer on your words and star accent, and he’s dressed and ready to go! Handsome little guy, isn’t he? He looks good on my Christmas tree, which brings me to my next point.

If you don’t have time to do the entire album, but you are enjoying the look and feel of things- why not do up a few quick ornaments? Pop a ribbon through the bird and he’d happily nestle into your tree and look festive.

Now. . .we do have a winner!!!

The random number generator told me that 38 was the lucky one:

#38

Cute little album. I wish I had enough creativity to do stuff like that.

http://peace-inthe-storm.blogspot.com/2008/12/scrapbooking-how-to.html

Comment by Elda — December 10, 2008 @ 9:29 am

Congrats Elda! E-mail me your contact info and I’ll send you the Cosmo Cricket “Chemistry” paper kit!

For those who didn’t win this time- don’t despair I have a few more give-a-ways up my sleeve. . .plenty of schwag coming in the very near future, so keep checking back!