A Nesting We Will Go-A Peek-a-Boo Project

In my last blog I wrote of the migration of many song birds that spend the winter in the tropics, now coming north to spend the summer in the United States and Canada.

Some of these birds are dozens of species of warblers, thrushes, vireos, orioles, flycatchers, tanagers, grosbeaks, they are traveling north to find a mate, make a nest, and lay their eggs. This is the inspiration for this artwork.

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Use Embossing Dabber to Apply Gel on both Sides of GSLC Scribble Frames- Oval Ivy.
   
3. Sprinkle with Allure Charred Gold Embossing Powders and Cure With a Heat Tool.
4. Add Patina to Cured Frames using Acrylic Paints-Gold, Copper, Green Gold, Gold, Browns and a Paintbrush.
   
5. Cut Book-board  to Use as Backdrop for Prepared Frames.
   
6. Use a UHU Glue Stick to Add Scrapbook Paper.
   
7. Trace Center Part of Frame on another Piece of Scrapbook Paper.
   
8. Cut out Ovals and Use as Guideline for Collages.
   
9. Choose Stickers form Antiquarian Sticker Book, and Collage onto Scrapbook Paper , Securing With a UHU GlueStick.
   

   
10. Use WeldBond Glue to Attach Collages to Frames and Also to Prepared Background Pieces.
    
11. Dry Full, Pressed and Weighted Down.
12. Once Fully  Dry Add Glossy Accents Medium to the Locations you Desire.
    
13. Allow to Dry Fully Creating a Glasslike Center Over Top of Collages.

Final Thoughts

I’ve always been fascinated by bird’s nests and their eggs. I wrote about them in this blog, Waiting for the Robins.In Part: “A little further up the paved road was a farm road that led to the left. It was heavily posted that trespassers would be prosecuted so he ran the first few yards to get under the cover of the faithful trees that would shelter him from all harm. The boy is aware of the chirping of the birds as they flutter about making preparations for their expected families. The boy always remembers to put out pieces of yarn and cotton because he liked to imagine himself a nest maker or at least a nest provider. Perhaps the ‘Jenny’ Wren, his mother's favorite, would use some of it to brighten her home. He loves how the tiny bird makes his mother's heart sing. Her face brightens with a smile whenever she hears the birds bubbling song as she hangs the clothes out to dry on the spring's gentle breeze. 

He noticed a goldfinch that was becoming more recognizable as a male because he was getting the bright yellow color back into his feathers. The boy hopes his favorite springtime bird will return to one of his parents many bird feeders. The indigo bunting is an awesome sight to behold because of their brilliant, almost iridescent blue that will always outshine that of the bluejays or eastern bluebirds.

An observation the boy has made is that birds sing loudest in the springtime. Their songs can seem overpowering. some birds sing with their whole hearts, while others sing with their whole beings making their proclamations of joy.  He is reminded of the mourning dove; whose sorrowful song is strangely silent when they take flight upon their whistling wings. While some birds have beautiful songs, the boy believes that others are no so lovely. In fact, he thinks the blackbirds, the crows, and the starlings, are the troublemakers of the bird kingdom with their robust calls and squeaky cackling.”

I like the classic “cup or bowl-shaped nests”made by robins, flycatchers, larks, thrushes, hummingbirds, warblers, and many others. They are made with twigs, leaves, mosses, lichens, seaweed, mud feathers, fur hair from animals. Furthermore, birds often line their nests with additional softer materials. Some even use spider webs or cocoon silk. Although most reptiles lay eggs, and even some mammals (such as the platypus) too, birds are the only backboned animals alive today that can lay colorful and patterned eggs.

Supplies:  GSLC Scribble Frame Oval Ivy , Embossing Dabber, Paintbrush, Allure Charred Gold Embossing Powders, Heat Tool, Acrylic Paints-Gold, Copper, Green Gold, Gold, Browns, Buckboard, Cutter, UHU GlueStick, Pencil, Scrapbook Paper Scraps, Antiquarian Sticker Books, WeldBond Glue, Glossy Accents Medium

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Double Sided Coins-A Peek-a-Boo Projection

In early spring, March through April, billions of birds migrate back into the United States from their southern wintering grounds. These birds are teaching for nesting locations for breeding season, with abundant food sources. In the United States the bird most associated with our coinage is our bald eagle, but around the world there are other coins with birds on them. Usually when tossing coins, you want a two-sided coin that are different. For these trick coins, tails side always wins. They are the inspiration for this artwork.

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Glue GSLC Artist Trading Coins to Magazine Pictures Using a UHU GlueStick.
   
3. Once Dry, Take a Damp Cloth to Rub Around Coin Edges. Gently press out coins.
   
4. Use a Nail File to Sand Edges.
   
   
5. Use Highlighters on Edges of Sanded Coins.
   
6. Seal With Matte Gel Medium.
   
7. Search Through Antiquarian Sticker Books for Desirable Stickers and UHU GlueStick to Create Compositions.
   
8. Use Assortment of Green Acrylic Paints and Dry Brush Technique on GSLC Fern Fronds.
   
9. Spray with Cheap Hair Spray and Sprinkle on Iridescent Glitter.
   
10.  Cut Apart Fern Fronds and Secure to GSLC ATC Coins Using WeldBond Glue.
    
11.  Press Flat with a Weighted Object.
12.  Use Polymer Clay Leaf and Flower Molds to Make Additional Embellishments.
     
13. Use Mica Powders and an MakeupBrush to Add Shimmer to the Pieces.
    
14.  Cure as Directed on Package in a Polymer Clay Oven.
15. Once Cooled Add Clay Embellishments to Prepared Coins.
    
16.  Add Patina Using Colored Pencils and Seal with Cheap Hair Spray.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Final Thoughts

One cannot talk about coins without mentioning the Witcher. Toss A Coin To Your Witcher, is such a catchy tune. Just as we all know there are two sides to a coin There are two sides to every story.

Besides the American Eagle being featured on many of our coins, there is a Cuban Coin with a Hummingbird on it, UK Farthings with Wrens, Russian Federation Ruble wit a Two-Headed Eagle, a mythological bird, the Simurgh, on the Iranian Rials,  Australia has coins with a lyre burn and an emu on them, The Canadian Loonie coin has a loon on it, and at one time they had a River Dollar Flying Goose coin. I am sure there are others but these re the one I discovered during my research. 

For Migrating Birds there are two most prominent seasons, Spring and Autumn, and two lands where they call home. While not all birds migrate and have adapted to survive the cold winter, many do. Some may only migrate a few hundred miles to escape the worst of the winter weather and food shortage, others  wile other may fly thousands of miles.  The Arctic Tern fly more than 49,000 miles round-trip each year  from their breeding grounds in the Arctic to winter foraging areas in the waters off Antartica.

Supplies:  GSLC Artist Trading Coins,  GSLC Fern Fronds, Antiquarian Sticker Books, UHU GlueStick, Magazine Pictures, With cloth, Nail File, Highlighters, Matte Gel Medium, Paintbrush, Assortment of Green Acrylic Paints, Cheap Hair Spray, Iridescent Glitter, WeldBond Glue, Polymer Clay, Leaf and Flower Molds, Mica Powders, MakeupBrush, Polymer Clay Oven, Colored Pencils

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!

Time Marches On-A Peek-a-Boo Project

I find myself once again in the month of March thinking of pubs and Ireland. The say on St. Patrick’s Day we are all Irish. I have enjoyed a pint r two in my day but the older I get the less appealing are the drunkard days of yore. However, I am still intrigued by vintage pub signs and the lore of the ambience of a place where one can escape for the harsh realities of the rat race of life, to settling into a gentle atmosphere here people can enjoy the art of conversation, revel in the music and song with lovely libations maybe chauffeur’s choice cocktail. These are the inspirations of this artwork.

1. Gather Supplies.
   
2. Resize and Print Vintage Pub Signs.
3. Use Brown, Orange and Gold Acrylic Paints on GSLC Hanging Sign Set   We are Going for a Weathered and Worn Look.
   
4. Use a Pencil to Trace the Signs onto The Printed Signs so you Know Where to Cut.
   
5. I Actually Settled on Just Cutting the Signs in Their Rectangular Shape.
   
6. Use Dark Brown Paint to Paint the Edges of the Signs.
   
7. Glue the Prepared Pub Signs to the GSLC Hanging Sign Set 1.
   
8. The Finished Pieces Look Nice Framed with a Village Street in the Background.
   
   
   
   

Final Thoughts:

The Vintage Pub Signs have significance for me and speak to the traveler side of my soul when I was bit wilder and free-spirited.

The First is Talley Ho reminding me of the Summer I spent working in Chautauqua New York at the Tally-Ho Hotel and Restaurant. I was in college and at my finest physique, learning and finding my way. There was a  small group of us that stayed on the premise some as maids for the hotel and others waiters for the restaurant. It was a time of innocence and debauchery. Somehow we got alcohol and indulged in the freedoms of youth. This is the summer that we danced at the bar as it was flooding and the borrowed car we had floated into the lake.

From the Tally-Ho Sign we go to the Stage and Fox and Hounds signs they are reminiscent of miniature pub signs I picked up the year I went to England for a week as an Ambassador of Rockledge Elementary School and stayed in very Goth bedroom of son of my host house. I was not a world traveler at this time having only spent one summer touring Europe after graduating from college. I was a bit apprehensive of the darkness, and the black painted walls but enjoyed touring the countryside and observing the differences of our educational systems. 

New words I learned while there: torch(flashlight), fag(cigarette), rubber(eraser), chips(French fries), crisps( potato chips), spotted dick and sticky offing pudding(yummy desserts), bits and bobbins(a mismatched collection), loo(bathroom), the underground(London subway), flat(apartment), grey(gray), colour(color), among others.

These signs also remind me of a favorite place to visit in Maryland, Ladew Topiary Gardens. One of the most famous topiaries is the iconic fox chase across a lawn rendered only using yew hedges.  Harvey S. Ladew was a rich socialite who grew up in Westbury, Long Island. His is describe as Anglophile, admiring all things of England and Britain, especially fox hunting. As the area became more suburbanized in the 1920s, it became less and less agreeable to the sport of fox hunting. Mr. Ladew had hearth was wonderful hunting in Maryland’s Hartford County and that is what enticed him to purchase a 200+ acre property in Monkton in 1920 adjacent to the Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club. Ladew’s 22 acres of gardens feature more than 100 larger-than-life topiary forms which serve as the backbone and centerpiece of the gardens and define a series of garden “rooms” including the Rose, White, Yellow, Sculpture and Iris Gardens. The gardens are beautiful to visit in the three seasons they are opened, it is closed during the winter months.

Supplies:  GSLC Hanging Sign Set 1, Brown, Orange, and Gold Acrylic Paints, Pencil, Resized and Printed Vintage Pub Signs, Paintbrush, UHU GlueStick

I cannot wait to see your interpretation of this project. Share it on the Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Craft Group Page on Facebook. I would love to see what new creations you are working on!