WOYWW #119 - Tim Holtz Birdcage Swap Results

It happened, and without too much of a hitch!! One poorly person, and one person away because of a new-born, but otherwise I have not heard of any problems... I expect not everyone has received their birdy cage yet, as many were coming from overseas, but hopefully they will all show and tell about the one they made, here today, via the linky thingy at the bottom of this post... They could be tags or postcard sized. So here is the one I made, and sent to Hels...

 Yup!! Guess what??? It's a tag!!! Hels VERY kindly called me the "Queen of Tags" and said I do the most AMAZING taggy art, on her blog!!! WOO I was SO pleased... but, you are now asking yourself, but where is the birdy cage, arn't you?? Well, you see, the truth is I CHEATED!!

 Yes, I made a tag, but also made a 6"x4" postcard, so I could fill up all the spaces with the ideas I had for this piece!! So above, and below, are both pieces in process of being painted, ready for thier embellies...

 I used some acrylic paint in brown first, then a layer of pva glue with another layer of paint on top, then dried to get these fabby crackles. The thicker the glue, the bigger the cracks so I went for a mixture...

 I had several ickle birdies to make and here are two of them - the larger one was for the front, as you can see below...

 So how did it work with two pieces then?? Well, I decided to fasten them together with some hinges. I would have liked to have real hinges, but don't have any just now, so I made them by cutting a TH die top on each end of the grunge paper, then painted...

 So this is how it stands up to be displayed. It was great having 4 sides to deorate!!

 Here is the inside, showing the bird letters, which were TH alphabet pieces fixed to the grunge blocks, painted and distressed...

 I used rub 'n buff and Viva Inca Gold pastes to colour over the paint...

 Voila, finally, my birdy cage, complete with ickle bird, who sits outside, looking at the bits and pieces... the "lock" diamond is a Vintaj filigree, distressed with paint and paste. Hung from the holes is a chain with a pen nib, bead, metal disc, light bulb and tiny penny farthing!!  At the top is a hitch fastener for the cage to hang from. I also added a spinner and gears and a pocket watch I made from an idea-ology type tag... the 300 is to commemorate my 300 blog posts to that date...

Just a small view to show the key, lock and metal tag on the right hand side... I put the tag through a folder, then shone it up... well thre HAD to be a tag somewhere, eh??

 And now for the back of the project... one of the ickle birdies has sat on the clock hands, mounted on to a large rosette, escaping from his cage beneath!!

 I embossed with several different powders, as on the large one... the green is a wonderful verdigis one I have had forever, it's wonderful stuff... oo I do love embossing... I pressed a stamp into the birdies whilst they were still hot, to make the illusion of feathers... I think embossing powder is like using alchemy...

Hurrah, you shout, this is the end... well yes, this is the last photo of the piece. I think I have showed you most of it... and I hope you liked it. I LOVED it and Hels tells me she loves it too!! Most people who have contacted me say they really loved doing the swap, and want to do another one, so I shall organise that soon... not sure whether to do another birdy cage or to do a different die?? Let me know what you think, if you are interested at all. I would like to put this piece into a challenge or maybe two, so I have chosen

Shopping our Weekly Stash - vintage/distressed/shabby
Make it Monday - anything goes
Gingersnap Creations - crimping/pleating

Now for the real reason for WOYWW - chez Julia (who joined the swap, so that was gudd!!) there is an admirable opportunity to snoop around others' workspaces and stuff, so hop over and take a look... below is my disreputable desk!!!

However, it's full of good intentions, as I am sorting my stamps into disc cases... found LOADS in Pete's cupboard, so I am turfing out the discs, and popping some stamps in... this set on the left is from the ineffable Wendie Rhodes in conjunction with Kanban... so glad to see her back!!

So that really IS the end... Thanks for coming to look and getting here, because it has been a marathon!! I am thrilled that so many of you visit me these days and I look forward to seeing your work too...

Love and Light

Frankie

xx