Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Papier Mache Bird FAIL

I have been avoiding my craft blog because of this unfortunate mess.



Yes, that would be my bird. I knew I should have either sanded it, or put on a final layer of smooth paper strips before painting it, but I got impatient and thought, "How bad can it look." Obviously, pretty bad. So I abandoned my bird for the time being and started a new project.
I had bought some unfortunate looking 1980's teddy bear prints at a garage sale a while back because I liked the square frames and triple matting. I painted over the bear print and the blue matting to end up with a totally blank canvass.





I found some pretty scrapbook paper and cut it to fit over the top piece of mat board.



I cut a piece of coordinating solid colored paper to glue over the center of the board, where the teddy bear had been.

I went online and found a font I liked for the letter, "K."



I then pulled out my massive button collection, and using glue dots to adhere the buttons, I made this for my granddaughter Kate.



Today I may go and try to salvage my bird.

16 comments:

Kataroo said...

Love the Chatter Box Paper that was one of my fav's :) I just know you can fix your bird :) Can't wait to see it :)

Karin said...

Wow! I can just imagine what the bears looked like. Your transformation is STUNNING!!!

And massive button collection is right! Where did you get those all?!?

Anonymous said...

Oooh I love those and have HUGE button envy. What a collection!

Dawn said...

Love it !! So pretty !!

Nadia Marie said...

I love this craft! You have such great ideas, Tricia!

Unknown said...

Love the frame. It is just gorgeous!

Annie-Savor This Moment said...

So cute! I just threw a mat away, but I'm sure I have another stashed somewhere.

Alison said...

LOVE the button craft- so cute. Also, I feel your pain with the bird. I have asked myself with so many crafts.. "how bad can it turn out?" Unfortunately, the answer usually is very very bad. Ah well. We all have craftastrophes every once in a while:)

Anonymous said...

Sanding would have been a good plan ;) You could still sand it or go over it with filler (joint compound, polyfiller or whatever it's called whee you are) that'll smooth it out without the bother of sanding ;)

gilstrapdesigns said...

See you just never know what you'll do when you find these good treasures but we always knoe we'll do something with our finds. These are neat.

Shoua said...

Wow, you're so creative!

feathermar said...

Dollar Store Crafts is featuring decoupaged dollar store bird figurines - go check it out! I bet you'll get the same effect!

Sara said...

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee... I love love love this!

kanishk said...

What a great collection!
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Sara said...

i love love love buttons!!! i wish my collection was as extensive! I am SO going to have to snitch that fabulous idea, btw, for my daughter's room. IT IS GENIUS!

Anonymous said...

I just found this googling for paper mache birds. Your fail is the exact look I was seeking! I may end up linking to your project and hope you don't mind!
Thanks for sharing - your bird has a sweet rustic look and it does look like the Twitter bird.