Imagination takes Flight!

Morning Y'all!
Well my parents have left for home and I have been working on my secret project almost the whole time they were here. I've been so excited to share it with you and MOST of all to show you that you should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER!!!!!! limit yourself to what a kit is! So I will start with what I used as kits. I used:

Christmas Open House Svg Kit, 3d Wintergreens,3d Mums and Fall Flowers. Bet you can't guess what I used to make some of the things in this new project... Yep most of it was pine cone "leaves" or what ever they are called. 

The body is actually the snowman container but instead of having an open lid I altered the top to close just like the bottom of the snowman. To make the top of the head round I added the accent pieces over the top of the head. Each Feather is made by using the shape of the pine cone pieces and making skinny triangles and placing them in various places around the edge of the pine cone. I also cut the strip at the bottom off using my Silhouette program.  I used Designer addition of Silhouette which I got from SVG cuts at an awesome deal to design or alter the main shapes from SVG cuts. You place the triangles around the shape then select the whole shapes and subtract. I then went in really close and adjusted the nodes to make it smooth . I have done this with the whole project. That is the reason it has taken me so long to make it. I made two sizes of the small body feathers then inked them with Close to Cocoa a retired ink color. I used my flower shaping tools I love so much to shape the feathers.
The beak was another SVG I designed myself. I just started thinking about how I waned it to look and did a lot of research looking at  pictures to see the shape. I will list my paper colors at the bottom of this "book" with all the supplies I used as always. I shaped it as well and hot glued it on to the face. Ok now here is where if you didn't have this SVG kit I think you could use another that might have the same kind of file. I used the Tick Seed Centers from 3d fall flowers SVG Kit to make the eye feathers around the eyes. I curled them up a bit and inked them with pumpkin Stampin up ink. I had already decided that I was going to use my 14 round Epiphany Craft tool for the eyes, just wasn't sure what color I wanted the eyes. I used my 3/8 in circle punch to make the black pupil then I used the Epiphany tool to make the rest of the eye. I used American Craft Card stock on the whole thing but for the eye I used the color Storm. I love me my American Craft Card stock!
I designed the SVG for the feet as well and all I can tell you is start with rectangles and some tall triangles then weld those together and play like crazy with the nodes! I did try to add the little flaps that Mary does on her projects to make it more rounded but when I put in on the log( recycled toilet paper roll) they flattened out. The design needs more work for sure. The front of the owl and the feet are made using Latte American Craft card stock. I used a very retired color ink for the feet It is called Creamy Carmel. The Lines on the feet were brushed on using Stampin up Soft Suede Marker. The toe nails I used a black Copic Marker to give them their color but I did want to use Inkssentials black glossy accents.. I don't have any so that is what I did instead.

I confess I ruined three sponge daubers and will have to purchase some more as I use them a lot when sponging on my ink. For the branch Mr. Owl is sitting on I used a recycled toilet paper roll cut in half and glued the other half inside for stability. The Branch is covered in Chestnut and my forest branches embossing folder was used before hand. I also inked it with three different colors ink. Close to Cocoa, Papertrey inks, Vintage Cream, and Hero Arts Shadow Ink Mid-tone Cup of Joe. I just blotted it with a regular sponge till I achieved the look I wanted.
Ok you ready for the long feathers???? I used the Boxwood from the 3d Wintergreens to make the long feather. I know Whhaaaattt??? ok just consider me weird and get it over with!  I cut one of the round boxwood shapes off the stick and went to work. Now I did do the same thing as the small feathers making a small triangle and arranging them around the shape, then subtracting them and thought ok I am ready to try and cut this tomorrow. Well I woke up the next day and while laying in bed I was thinking about the wing shape. Nope there was something bugging me and that is when I got bring the points in a bit and round it. So I got up early (even beat my dad up LOL) and worked on the shape till I got it right. I did enlarge the shape and elongated it and here is the kicker I used the Shear window to help get the look I was going for. I shaped those and hot glued them on using my detail hot glue gun I bought on amazon.The same Close to Cocoa ink was used on the longer feathers.

I used a pine Cone from one of our trees in the back yard on a small branch and added one of Mary's Pine cones as well then made the short pine needle branch and cut it in half and hot glued those in place. So there you have it my long involved project that I made and well Mom is getting this one.
She had said over and over that she loved my rooster and I just couldn't think about doing that again it was so hard on my hands and arms. I was also ready to try to do something like that again and learn as I went, which I did. I am hurting today and will need to take about a week off of doing long involved projects before I can start another one. I already have an order for one and I sure didn't expect that! It is for someone I love very much so it will be a labor of love that I get the extra  blessing of getting paid for it.
Ok Y'all I am sure you have had a couple of cups of coffee by now and now need a trip to the restroom. Sorry this was so long but I did do a lot and when I don't explain it all some really get upset with me. Thank you so much for reading this whole thing and for visiting me again. It blesses my heart to know your reading this and when you leave your comments I am blessed again. Here is the heart of this project: Mary and Leo work very hard to bring you amazing kits but that isn't the only thing you can do with them. They are a jumping off place for your creativity. To me you give Mary the highest compliment when you take her design and go with it. I have learned so much from the design of Mary's files and it has taught me how to design for myself. Don't look at the whole picture or you wont even start. Think of them as simple shapes and go from there.Thanks again for settin with me Y'all and  Happy Crafting! Blessings Sharalyn

SVG Kits used:
Christmas Open House SVG Kit
3D Wintergreens SVG Kit

3D Mums and Fall Flowers SVG Kit
Supplies used:
American Craft Card Stock: Storm, Black, Tangerine, Clay, Latte, Evergreen
Stampin Up Ink: Close to Cocoa, Pumpkin, Soft Suede Pen
Papertrey Ink: Vintage Cream
Hero Arts Shadow Ink Midtone, Cup of Joe
Epiphany Crafts 14 round tool
Copic Marker Black
Recycled Toilet paper roll
Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive
Detailed Hot glue Gun. (has a very small tip)