I love... birdies!

I don't know if it was Blue Birdie in the TV series of Mapp & Lucia that got me started, but I've got a bit of an obsession with birds, in particular blue ones!

Some of my birdie collection!

There are ceramic blue birds in Duke St in Glasgow

Below are some of my birdie-related craft projects, but you can see more by clicking here.

Fabric birdie

Birdie card

Birdie collage

Another birdie collage

Painted birdies 

Clay birdies

Can you guess what these dolls are made from?

Can you guess what these dolls are made from?

I’ll give you a clue…

Yes, they were made from salt and pepper shakers! (although the ones I used were plain wooden ones, rather than vintage painted ones!)

I used a little wood filler to fill in the holes in the top, then painted them and added little polymer clay blue birdies which helped to disguise any dimples still left behind after filling the holes.

More drawings

 A vintage Sarah Coventry brooch, and my old Singer sewing machine that I was thinking about taking to the charity shop, but decided to draw instead!

Holiday drawing-a-day

 I decided that for the two weeks I'm on holiday from work, I will do a drawing each day. These are the first two.

Birdie pals

Birdie pals

I'm experimenting with stop-motion animation - it's a lot of fun!

My first ebay purchase

I signed up for ebay a few weeks ago and this was the first thing I was successful at buying - it's a vintage Japanese milk glass cockatiel. Looks like it's going to be good friends with Piu Piu!

Origami birds

Here are some more origami pieces that I've done recently. I used the following patterns that I found online:
bird - sadly this link doesn't work any more
dove

If you enjoy origami, why not have a look at some of my other origami-related projects:
Kodomo-no-hi fish origami
Magazine origami
Origami bunnies

Orange and blue

Some things I drew today.

Tweeter!

I was lucky enough to be one of the ten people who posted on Mithi's blog recently when she was giving away her remaining wedding "Tweeters". These were her wonderful and inventive invitations for her wedding a few months ago. He arrived yesterday and I've had fun this evening putting him together and introducing him to all his new friends!

New toys

A new little camera to keep in my handbag on the days that I don't need my big camera - just in case I see anything I want to photograph, and for taking to concerts and on nights out.

Also, cute Piu Piu birds from www.pylones.com in France. I fell in love with these little birds after first seeing them in the paintings on parisbreakfasts.blogspot.com/ . When I saw them on another blog last week I decided to see if I could order them online, and they arrived from France today, just three days later!

Not only are they cute, but they are also magnetic, and can be used to hold paper clips or pins. They also make a cheeping noise when they are held.

Robin collage

This is a collage that I may put on my bedroom wall. This is my first attempt at sending a post to my blog from Flickr.

Japanese containers

After seeing this, I'd been on the lookout for containers that I could plant small succulents in. I eventually found these in an antique shop, and they match my blue birdies! The mouth of the jug is a bit narrow to plant anything in, but it makes a good vase.

Birthday cards for Mum

Birdies from me, deer from Dad.

A quick transformation

It didn't take long to decoupage these Ikea drawers that I've had for ages, using papers to match the colours of my bedroom. I didn't have any paper big enough to cover the two large drawers, so I covered each with three pieces of paper to match the three small drawers at the top.

I made a little cloth to go on the top of the unit using some scrap material. I painted the little green paper suitcase, which was a more vivid green, and added some matching paper on the top. I also painted the mirror frame.


The little shelf was picked up for 20p from a car boot sale many years ago. It was blue at first, but it's been painted white for a while. I used to hang jewellery from it, but for a change I decided to hang the tin bird I got in Durham and a couple of tin hearts from Tim's in Falkland. I added my collection of cherry blossom perfume bottles to the shelf.

Fabric birdie

A little fabric bird, made from a roughly sketched out paper pattern, in a cage that was a cheap Christmas ornament. If I make some slightly larger ones I might add wings.

Birdie paintings

When I got my blue birdies, I knew I had to paint them! For a long time I have admired the paintings of Carol Gillott, and the blue birdies reminded me of some of her watercolours - wish my paintings were half as good as hers, though! I've started a new large watercolour Moleskine with these paintings, and I may fill the whole thing with paintings of the birds from different angles!

Birthday birdies and more

Here are some of the great things I got for my birthday on Thursday. Harajuku Lovers perfume (I think this is the cutest one of the lot, good choice Mum!), Ikea bowls, a card from my old friend Jane (who also just had a birthday), two wonderful little blue birdies by Lomonosov, and a wonderful blue birdie card made by Mum (I think this is her best card yet!).

Birdies reduction print

After the lino prints I did recently, I was keen to try a reduction print. But before trying it on a larger scale with lino, I decided to do a small scale eraser carving to try out the technique. This is about two inches square.

First I carved the moon, which I wanted to remain white, then printed with a beige colour (I used rubber stamping inks). On this print, my favourite, by chance the centre area also remained white, which I think frames the birds very well. Next I carved out the whole of the sky, and printed in brown. I then carved away everything except the birds and the water, and printed with turquoise. Finally I carved everything else away to leave just some waves and the wings of the birds, and printed in dark blue.

Blue birdie tin

Kschocolat in Glasgow were selling their orangettes off cheap. After I finished them (they were delicious) I decorated the tin.

Moo two

Here are my second set of Moo cards. My favourite is the one at the bottom right.