"Owl be alright" for a Winter birthday ...

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The new theme this fortnight over at polka Doodles Challenges is "Winter birthdays" and as a person who does indeed celebrate during this season, I wanted to do something a little different, so I've made a winter themed/looking gift using a template from Twiggy and Toots Festive fun collection. Now ..... the template is originally for a bag but with a little tweaking, I turned it in to a desk tidy with a drawer ...


Print off the whole template from the Twiggy and Toots collection on to cheap paper in draft print, (well why waste ink) and begin cutting out your back and front parts from card. I have straightened out the sides a little to make my owl sturdier when standing.



Now this is where some measuring comes in to play ... I wanted my sides to be bigger than the template, so after deciding on their width, measured the template sides and then I could work out how much bigger I would need to make the template. In the end I only need to make the sides 1cm bigger. So to keep all the gluing tabs, this is what I did  ...

First, I cut our the side template and cut it in half, sticking one piece to the outside edge of my card. Next I measured the 1cm extra I needed and drew a line. Using this line, I glued the other side template in to place and this now gives me the width I needed. Repeat the above for the other side and remember to add the tab at the top ...



Back and front cut out ... tick, sides done and cut out ... tick, now planning the drawer part. For the bag, you do not get a drawer but every desk tidy needs a drawer doesn't it? Taking the front panel, decided where you want your drawer to be, measure and then cut the aperture away.


As I know the width of my sides, I know what gap. I now need to make my supporting platforms. I just measure the length of where they need to be and add 1cm to each side. I do this for the inner support and the bottom support.


Glue your sides to the front panel, placing the tabs on the inside and your tab is at the bottom. Also glue your supports for drawer (sorry no photo)  ...



I chose to place the tabs on the outside when gluing the front to the back piece and that was really for ease when sticking.



Now the messy fun part .... yippee! I printed off 3 different papers on to cheap copy paper in draft print. I want a washed out look, so draft print gives me this straight away. I then tear up the papers in to varying sizes and using a medium, begin sticking them randomly to my owl.


Now I really did have creative fun and decorated to my hearts content ... adding die cut scalloped borders, texture paste, paint, embellies galore and finally the drawer! Oh what fun and what I needed to shake the illness blues. Here are some photos of the finished piece ...

A close up of the front with those "eyes" ...


The inside; although I was lazy and didn't paint etc all the way down ...

One of the sides ... 


and finally, "Twiggy" in all his glory showing the opening drawer ...

Just what I needed to help shake the illness blues and try and get myself to concentrate, (which I am struggling with). This took over a week to make as I kept running out of energy but loved being able to pop back to him and add or tweak things.

Right better add it to the Polka Doodles challenge blog now, as I am mighty late!

Lou
x x x

Products and links:



Challenges:
C.R.A.F.T - not a card
Craft Rocket - happy anything
Crafting with an attitude - anything goes
Inspiration Destination - anything goes
Crafting from the heart - anything goes
Altered Eclectics - anything goes
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything goes

Comments

Linda Simpson said…
WOW this is fabulous Lou, love the papers and design. I do love owls.
Hugs
Linda xxx
Brawny x said…
Fabulous creation Lou. X
Lovely project, thanks for sharing at Inspiration Destination and good luck. Wendy DT x
Jackie T said…
Hi this is stunning. Hugs Jackie
Julie Odil said…
Lou, this is as fun as can be! Thanks for the tutorial.
Judy McKay said…
Thank you for your great instructions. Very nice project - love the design and colours. Thank you for joining us at Altered Eclectics this month. Hope to see you back here again soon. Judy DT
Beebeebabs said…
Very nice project and thanks for sharing the tutorial!!!
Mia Scott said…
What a beautiful project!
Mia - Polkadoodles DT
Scrappy Scatty said…
lovely Lou, clever you xx (hey that could turn into a song)
Stampsnob. said…
Oh this is so interesting Love the layers.........TFS Craft Rocket Challenges Lis DT
Unknown said…
What a creative idea. Love the desk tidy so much, Jackie x
Bev said…
Such a gorgeous muted creation Lou and a lovely detailed tutorial.
Karon said…
OMG this is so cool! WOW! TFS
Tip Top said…
Just wonderful!
Aunty Sue said…
Awesome Lou great Tutorial too and thanks for sharing at craft this week
Wow, i love what you have created! So unique and definitely going to add some color to your desk!Thanks for sharing this with us at Rhedd's Creative spirit this month, Good Luck. Rupa (DT).
My goodness this is amazing. I love absolutely everything about it. Thank you for sharing this with us over at Crafting with an Attitude. Sue DT x
starcyl said…
Just love this, those papers look great.
Jenny xx
Melanie Smith said…
Great altered owl Lou :-) thank you for the tutorial. :-)