Bird-day Lady -- 5th Anniversary Design Challenge



I am so excited to share with you my entry for the 5th Anniversary Design Challenge.  Working on this project has felt more like the first challenges I did with the Cricut Circle where my goal was to try harder, work out some paper building solutions, and the prize was getting to show off my work.  In that spirit, I wanted to share my project!  The rules for this challenge were simple:  make a 12x12 scrapbook page with a birthday theme and without photographs, using any Cricut cartridges.

I don't like to sketch out a project before-hand.  I started, like I often do, by making individual elements.  This is the most fun for me!  I knew the figure would be central and I was most unsure of how she would look so that's where I started.  I used Country Life, cutting on the Imagine using Fit-to-Page and entering RGB 250, 229, 210 to create a skintone.  (Remembering that the Imagine does not have an indicator to know the actual cut size when using FTP, I plugged the cartridge also into my Expression and cancelled before the cutting began, in order to know that the cut size for this figure is 11.5" at FTP.) 

I traced a couple of extra heads to play with.  I have been looking at those fabulous works by Brittney Lee and Jayme McGowan (you can find links to their sites by looking on the list of Inspirations on the side bar!) and knew it was time to start "getting a little 3D" with my faces!  I also wanted to start using paper to add facial features instead of just my Zig fine pen.

I made a nose and eyelids by hand-cutting.  I used Everyday Paper Dolls for hairstyles and cut some ideas on my Expression, noting the sizes on the samples.

Once I decided on a style (in this case, 5" Everyday Paper Dolls page 31), I cut two (one for the base and one for some layers).  The hair color is RGB 181-82-57.

I used a bit of Liquid Applique to make eyeballs, removing my heat source before they got too puffy.  I drew, using a super fine Zig pen, eyelashes on paper crescent eyelids and attached them.  I hand-cut a layered mouth.  Layers of hair were inked before being glued on.  I glued the hair flat that was coming from the top of her head and popped up sections as they moved away from the scalp.  Cheek rouge came in the form of ink from an inkpad dabbed on with a sponge eyeshadow applicator.

I hand-cut ears, using a little ink to give detail.  The glasses are from Nifty Fifties, page 53, cut at 2".

The dress and apron are cut using prints from Lori's Garden.  I cut two aprons so I would have extra 'fabric' to cut a 3D ruffle with the same scale print.  I printed a super small square (.9")  and flood-filled it with the same (shrunken) print.  This is the 'fabric' that I used to hand-cut my heart applique.  The print on the dress gave me a second layer to the theme:  birds.  I wanted this to be more than just 'Happy Birthday Cricut' and this paper gave me that!  In the tongue-in-cheek way that Provocraft cartridges use puns, this character became my 'bird-day' lady!

Well, I love details!  This is where I like to give a little extra 'love' to my characters.  I thought, even with those big ole ears, she needed a necklace more than she needed earrings!

I found the Cricut logo on Google Images.  I copied the image and shrunk it down to teeny (that's the technical size).  I found a sweet charm on Paper Lace (page 68) and cut it twice - once at .75" and once at  .5".  The larger charm was cut to become the choker on which the smaller was a charm.

She needed great shoes... and slightly different feet.

I cut away the figure's toes to make way for those fabulous shoes on the Paisley cart (page 51), cut at .6".  I had to add a little flesh for the tops of her feet.

What's a birthday without a great cake?  I had learned to make the exact cake I wanted from something I had figured out months ago for one of Doxie's Sunday Challenges.  You can find that project here.

I used Sweet Treats for the cake (page 39), cutting off the top layer (so the height would be right once I added the candles).  It was cut at 2.2".  I used clear embossing powder to get a shiny chocolate frosting.  I used Liquid Applique for the decorative white icing and hand-cut a little silver tray.

The candles were cut from Birthday Bash.  I cut off one candle so there would be only 5 in honor of the 5th Anniversary.  Because the cut was so small, I hand-colored the candles.  I added Glossy Accents to the candles and flames!

I was so happy with the final character! 

My bird-day lady is kind of quirky so I thought her guests would be too, following the secondary theme, I made the party birds... and the gifts. 

This bird is from Birthday Bash cut at 1.8".  An extra wing and beak were cut and popped up for dimension.  I used the Cuttlebug on both birds.

This was cut at 3.2" on the same cart.

I love how the Imagine has coordinated solids on the carts with the prints.  These are all printed using Lori's Garden.  The cuts are from Birthday Bash at 3.1" and Sweet Treats at 1.5".  Check out the tag -- another thing I printed from Google Images.  I cut extra bows and popped them up after inking.

This is that same Birthday Bash cut, but this time cut at 3.5".  I transformed the front package into a gift bag, tucking in tissue paper, adding handles and a tag cut from Imagine More Cards at 1".  The gift bag was embossed with the Cuttlebug.

So, now I had all of these cute elements.  The next question:  how to make them work together.  I found that fantastic bonus paper on Kate's Kitchen and knew that was it!  I printed out two copies, cut off the floor and cut apart cabinets, removing the refrigerator (since it had a face) and adding extra cabinets.  I love that window!!!! 

I added a Cuttlebug and Cricut Baby Bug from Cricut Everyday, cut at 1.2", for her counter. 

The floor and all the cut elements of the kitchen were adhered to a piece of tan cardstock.  I cut down the floor a bit and lowered the cabinets once  I decided that I would use woodwork to place the character at the edge of her kitchen, looking into the next room. 

I added a piece of parchment to cover the kitchen back wall (but not the floor).  I wanted to create atmospheric perspective and mute the colors a bit so the figure and elements in the foreground would pop and look closer than the kitchen elements on the 'back wall'.

I added more banner cuts, just by making the same one as before and cutting away the bird, attaching as needed for added length.   The letters on the banner are from Cherry Limeade, cut at .8". 

I added a mitered wood trim using Imaginisce paper I won at the Cricut Circle Ohio meetup.  This is one of my favorite details:  I bent a mini brad, leaving part of the shank on the top of the paper, to resemble a nail holding up the banners.

I placed my packages and the little bird, finally finished!  I also added a bit of ink to her legs, to keep them from blending in with the flooring.

I used pop dots that were 1" thick to pull the figure up off the page.  Other elements were popped up 1/8" to 1/2". 

 I absolutely love the 3D features that I figured out for this project.  This is my new favorite character.  She really seems to have a personality and somehow she looks familiar.  Once I finished her, I started thinking about pieced paper portraits of real people and even tried a self-portrait -- you can see it on the sidebar!  That is opening a whole new world for me!

So, you say, what if this were a keeper and you wanted to add pictures from the party?  I love making vignettes and never really combine them with photos, but if this is supposed to be a scrapbook page, this is how I envisioned adding photos with these real party pics with The Bug!


Thank you Okie and Kendra for giving me permission to use your celebrity photos with our favorite birthday bug!  Looked like a rockin' party didn't it!

Thank you for visiting my blog!  I am so excited to share this project and I really hope you like details as much as I do!  I cannot wait to see everyone's projects -- I think this is one of those challenges that brings out the best in everyone!  I had so much fun with this... I hope it shows!