Simon Says Stamp -- Recycle/Upcycle Challenge (February, 2016)

8 years ago

Earlier this week I was at home for President's Day.  My last three day weekend until Memorial Day.  I was a bit under the weather, battling issues with my blog (long story but I'll be transitioning off of LiveJournal next week to a new blog site), and cleaning up the mess in my craft room from the weekend.  I figured since it was Monday there would be a new challenge on the Simon Says Stamp blog.  The challenge for this week is Recycle/Upcycle.

I had no idea where to start or what to do.  Friday was recycle day so my recycle bin at the house and in my craft room was a bit bare.  I thought for a bit and then started on some other stuff around the house.  I went to grab some stuff from the night before to put in the recycle bin -- a plastic container from the pasta, a wine bottle, and a cat food can.   So, I thought I could do something with the cat food can.  It had been rinsed out the night before so it wasn't full of left over cat food.  Just in case I scrubbed it good and proper.  Can't be too careful when it was salmon.

Then, I went to my craft room and stared at it.  What was I going to do with it?  I stared at it some more.  Walked away from it.  Went back to it.  Thought out a cat food can creation of little "cat houses."  Stumped.  Then, I thought about Easter.  No that wasn't going to work either.  Finally, I asked my husband.  He suggested butterflies or birds.  I looked at him, shook my head, and walked away.  For some reason I then thought about a mini park, grass, and birds.

So, here is my recycle/upcycle of a cat food can made into a park with birds.  A bit of fun!  First time I worked with the Bird Crazy stuff too!

The process follows the photos.  The second photo shows an actual can of "Pretty in Pink" cat food.  Unopened. There is dimension to the birds as each one is placed in front of the others (i.e. red bird to the back, bunny bird to the front of him but to the right (red bird's right), and blue bird in front of both of them but to the left).  Photo isn't great for that dimension, sorry.

So, I started off with one empty ready-to-be-recycled cat food can.  I wrapped the can in BARC wood tape (1 inch cherry).  I kept the natural color because I didn't want it to pull away from the rest of the stuff.  I had two rectangles of white felt that were in the bag on its way to Goodwill.  I grabbed those and the Tim Holtz Tapered Fringe Decorative Strip and die cut the felt.  I then colored the felt fringed strips with Tim Holtz Distress Stain Mowed Lawn and Shabby Shutters.  I let them dry.

While the felt was drying (and it took a little while) I grabbed some watercolor paper left over from another project and stamped the birds and watercolored them.  I used the Bird Crazy Stamp #212 from Tim Holtz.  I also used the Tim Holtz Crazy Things Stamp #237.  Bird Crazy Accessories and Bird Crazy Framelits were used to cut them out.

"Bunny bird" was stamped in Wendy Vecchi's Tree Branch Archival Ink and watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress ink:  Scattered  Straw, Carved Pumpkin, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio, and Rusty Hinge.  His bunny ears were  stamped in Watering Can Archival Ink and watercolored in Tim Holtz's Distress Ink colors Hickory Smoke and Spun Sugar.

"Blues Brother" bird was stamped in Sky Blue Archival Ink.  He was watercolored in Tim Holtz Distress Ink colors:  Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Picked Raspberry, and Wild Honey.  His glasses, hat and tie were from a variety of colors on my craft mat.

"Balloon" Bird was stamped in Red Geranium Archival Ink.  He was watercolored in Tim Holtz Distress Ink colors:  Worn Lipstick, Abandoned Coral, Candied Apple, Aged Mahogany, Fossilized Amber, and Spiced Marmalade.  His tie was in Wilted Violet, Round Balloon was in Peacock Feathers.

I also watercolored some flowers to put in the grass.  I stamped them in Pale Ochre Archival Ink and watercolored them in a couple of different colors that were already on my craft mat.  I started to lose track of the colors.

Next, I found some green floral dry foam (also in the bag on its way to Goodwill) and took out a square.  I grabbed my good English biscuit cutters (don't tell my husband) and cut out my "round" for the filler for the can.

I then stitched the fringed felt.  I alternated the colors.  I rolled it and fit it into the can.  I took it back out and hot glued it to the dry floral foam and the can.  Next, a tooth pick on each bird was glued to the back and they were stuck into the grass.  Same with the flowers.  I attached the balloons and other bird accessories.