The Birthday "Present"

Happy Birthday to me!  I am now officially older than my sister.  It use to bother me that she would catch up and we would be the same age for a week!  That's me on the right, with my sister, Veda. Mom often made us clothes alike and always made an angel food birthday cake with pink icing when we were younger, cause we were such angels.... well not always!

We also have a younger sister, Peggy who is 3 years younger than me.  I am guessing that we are 6, 5 and 3 in this photo. It was fun to look at the old photos with fond memories.  The dresses were in our favorite colors.  Mine a blue, Veda's a lavender and Peggy's a yellow.  My dad was an amateur photographer and would pose us on the sofa with blinding flood lights.

Somewhere I suppose that there are some baby photos of me, but none that we could find.  Maybe when I go home sometime, I will find them stored in a box or a long lost album.

Anyway, in honor of my birthday, my gift to you is that I shall share how to make some delightful art fairies or angels.  Since it is close to Christmas, you may enjoy making them for your family and friends.  This first one was made with one of my photos above.  Hurray, she is queen for the day!

First you will need to gather supplies:

• Staz On Ink pad
• Various rubber stamps with small designs
• Colored pencils, acrylic paint, and markers
• Glue stick and another glue such as fabric tac or another fast grip glue.
• Cereal box or other cardboard
• Card stock (white)
• Emery board
• puzzle pieces
• photographs
• Versa Magic Ink
• Diamond Glaze or other finish
• Bubble domes (Optional)
• Crystals or other embellishments

Start by working on the body with puzzle pieces.  Use the emery board to remove the finish and then paint the pieces with a coat of white acrylic paint.

With the Versa Magic chalk ink, pounce a few color combinations on the puzzle piece.  Then ink your small rubber stamps and stamp over the top pieces.  With a magic marker, outline each piece.
If you don't have Versa Magic, you can also sponge on other paint layers to cover the puzzle before stamping.  If you water it down a bit, you will get nice transparent layers.

For the head, you can draw some of your own or use photograph that can be sized to fit into a one inch circle.  Or use a circle punch to cut out first before drawing.  On photos sketch in some whimsical hair.  Use markers to color in. Note that I used a double layer of card stock for the head.  Used a glue stick and a bone folder to seal the glue down well.

For faces, I used a flesh colored colored pencil and then used a darker peach to color around the eyes and other areas.  

Outline with a brown for more definition and add coloration for the lips and eyes.

Then use a fine black marker to define all of the features for more             depth.

Now you can glue the face to the puzzle pieces.  They look cool as is and can be hung on the Xmas tree or make them more grand with wings!

To make the wings. Sketch one wing about the size of the body in any style you wish on white card stock paper. Add a tab to join the other wing half way. Try different designs and stamp to fill the wing in with one or more stamps. You can have the other wing mirrored imaged on the copier so that you don't have to make them exact!  Or if you wish, you can make the designs different for an asymmetrical effect.

Then take both wing halves and glue as pairs on to a cereal box weight card board.

Then color in as you wish with markers or colored pencils.

Cut the wing pairs out and glue to the back of the head and body.    Embellish with crystals or other embellishments as you wish.  Add a small eyelet and cord for an ornament (Paint the back black) or use in scrap booking, making a birthday card or other projects.  Enjoy!  Would love to see what you create!