Fabulous Filigree Quilled Blue Bird Ornament

Hello and Welcome!

I have a new addiction passion... I am in love with my new cutting dies... I now have a small collection of Spellbinders Nestabilities dies and these incredibly detailed Memory Box dies....

I have to share what I have done with them over the holidays... I made these super cute ornaments! It is always a bonus when the fun products you have purchased actually make your handmade gifts even more beautiful and special.

So my plan is to share some of the ornaments that I have made and also embark on my 2012 calendar project, so each month I will show you a new calendar page, I can see where this is taking me already, I cannot decide which images, so I may have more than one calendar - at least this is something useful that I can force my friends to take give to friends! lol

It is a new year, so I have lots of ideas and energy... now if I could just win the lottery so I could do all of them :-)

These dies are so much fun to use! I am really having fun cutting them out of different paper and seeing how they look, what I like best.... Oh, the possibilities - now only if I could get my imagination to catch up to those possibilities!

For this lovely Blue Bird Ornament I used the Nestabilities Lacy Ovals  -I picked those specifically because I knew I was going to make ornaments and I wanted to be able to have something so they would hang nicely, and this lovely die did the trick! I also absolutely had to use some of my new Memory Box dies, and this lovely Frosty Border is what I chose.

Well, maybe I should take a step back and tell you how the process works... You see the ornaments are for my son's teachers, so on those years that I think I will be able to make handcrafted ornaments he gets to decide what his teachers get... So, his music teacher needed an ornament with birds and music notes... So with that information in mind, I get to pull my hair out figure out how and what exactly to make... This year he was very specific that they had to be blue birds :-)

Ok, so now that I have birds and music notes, I really did need something for them to be resting on, and did I tell you I absolutely love my Memory Box dies? So you see I had to find a way to include them, I really did! And this lovely "Frosty Border" die arrived and the idea was born.

Now, for my blue lovelies, I could have chosen quilling strips that were blue, but as I was placing my order for Christmas colored quilling strips, I happened upon this lovely paper called "Touch of Blue Gilded on Edge" and I thought, now that will make a statement!  Isn't it pretty? The base paper is white, and on the top edge is this beautiful shimmery blue!

To make the birds I followed the same process, I just used a little bit more paper for the larger bird!

• I started with the tail feathers - I really did, and you'll find out why in a sec... So, for the tail feathers...
• 2 - 2 inch (5 cm) strips of paper, fold them in half, and curl the ends.  
• Now, I rolled the teardrop for the body of the bird
• 1 full strip of my Touch of Blue quilling paper, rolled and shaped into a Teardrop
• Don't glue it just yet... but hold on tight to the pinched end, because this is where the tail feathers go :-)
• Where you would normally glue your teardrop, you will take those tail feathers and glue them to the bird before you glue that outside strip to hold everything in place.  
• Squeeze tightly to get a nice set of tail feathers

Beak, Feet, and Wing

• For these remaining pieces, I took small scrap pieces and added them to the cuties
• I can't give measurements, because I literally cut small pieces (and didn't measure, just figured what I thought would be proportional)
• A small piece cut and bent for the beak and glued to the nice rounded end of the teardrop
• A small piece bent in half, and then bent again for their feet
• Finally 2 small pieces bent and rolled for the "wing"

I am entering this in the Sentimental Sundays "Snow, Blue, and/or Glitter" and my project has all 3 Yeah :-)

Make It Monday - Anything Goes!

I used the following products on this ornament:

Spellbinders Nestabilities Lacy Ovals and Classic Ovals




Memory Box Frosty Border from Ellen Hutson

Quilling Paper from Whimsiquills (thanks Pat)

Enjoy the ride!! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco