Remember those little Paper Birdies I posted last Thursday? Well, ever since then, I've been thinking about what else I could make that would look cute with little paper clip legs/feet. Owls kept popping into my mind, so I gave them a try tonight.
Unfortunately, I don't have a template for the owl that I could link you to online and I don't know how to create a file for that from the little stencil that I made....so if anyone has access to one, I'd love to know about it so that I could link people to it.
What I did was look around online for owl shapes and printed one out, then cut it out and made a stencil out of it with heavy-weight cardstock. You can find all sorts of images on Google and print them out and use the outside edges to make your stencils.
I just adore all these patterned papers. I used the Lucky n Love paper pack from GinaK Designs. They're textured and double-sided so I was able to get 2 pairs of owls out of one piece of paper. The colors and patterns are just delicious!
My little paper birdies were made without any eyes, though they would look cute if you used a hole punch to punch out where the eye would be. They still look adorable with a hole punched out, though. The owl, on the other hand, I realized didn't seem to be quite finished without some sort of eyes. I tried a hole punch, but that didn't look right. I thought about googly eyes but couldn't remember where I last put them (you'd think I'd remember since we only moved in here 8 months ago and I went through every single craft item when I organized my studio). It dawned on me that the little self-adhesive rhinestones would make perfect eyes! Thy had that faceted look of so many of the owl stamps and scrapbooking stickers have. Plus, if you look at them in the right light, they almost DO look like googly eyes.
I love how things evolve as I'm working on them. I thought the rhinestone eyes would be the perfect finishing touch, but there was just something missing. It needed a splash of color and the owls didn't look right without a beak.
I cut some quick triangles from a thin strip of Pumpkin Pie scrap paper to create the little beaks. They were perfect!
I always find it funny to see how the paper clip feet end up when the owls (or birds) stand up. Depending on how you unfold, tweak and adhere the paper clips, the feet may go a completely different way from another owl because it simply stands different (or not) from another owl. That makes them look so unique and funky.
Now to think of what else I can make that would work well with paper clips!
Happy Creating!
-Stampin' Mama
I love the little owls, the paper and the little faces on the owls. Using papr clips as legs is a very creative. Awesome work Erika.
Mary
Posted by: mimihas5@comcast.net | February 13, 2009 at 01:48 PM
Very creative Erica! I loved your birds and now your owls. I wonder what is next! TFS--I love reading your blog.
Posted by: Darlene LeMar | February 13, 2009 at 08:59 PM
I loved your owls and birds! The paper clip legs/feet are so creative. I just added some owl cards to my blog last night:
http://chavezdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/02/whoo-loves-you.html
It has a link to Better Homes and Gardens.
Posted by: Anthonette | February 15, 2009 at 01:41 PM
oh my gosh! those are too cute!!!!
Posted by: krista | February 16, 2009 at 02:45 PM
How cute are these? SUPER CUTE!
Posted by: Michele | February 17, 2009 at 07:00 AM
these owls are so cute - I linked to your post on my blog, thanks!
http://lafemmepapier.blogspot.com/2009/03/carnival-issue-9-family-fun.html
Posted by: lisa | March 08, 2009 at 06:50 PM
Thank you for that great tutorial. I think it is the only one on the Web. The three parts with the picture are in my files, now.
You make me happy :-)
Posted by: Retro Jordans | September 03, 2010 at 09:31 PM
Thank you, thank you for this idea. I used these little owls as the main decoration of a wedding shower themed "Owl Always Love You." I used the owl linked below and enlarged to three distict sizes -- the largest was glued to twine and, along with some great tissue paper flowers, hung from the ceiling. The second size (also glued to twine) hung from a twig in a cylendar vase for a few table scapes. The smallest served as nametags for the guests.
Here is my little owl (I cut off his feet to make him nice and round): http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://broadheadsbusybunch.wikispaces.com/file/view/owl_clip_art_color_edited-2.jpg/156639419/owl_clip_art_color_edited-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://broadheadsbusybunch.wikispaces.com/&usg=__YX_6b5FS7dqE00JzN4Mt_003IIY=&h=371&w=337&sz=128&hl=en&start=0&sig2=a6rvUK8-L3vY5HI31cr73g&zoom=1&tbnid=Fc-Y62as3jk0sM:&tbnh=137&tbnw=124&ei=Mek8TdPHCsaAlAeU1uDTBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dowl%2Bclip%2Bart%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1421%26bih%3D1094%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divns&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=352&oei=Mek8TdPHCsaAlAeU1uDTBg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=49&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=46&ty=29
Posted by: Merrie Beth | January 23, 2011 at 09:52 PM