Paper Birds

Vintage books found at a garage sale, sure come in handy when making these adorable little birds. 

This is a super fun creative craft project if you have little one's around as well or you would like to attempt this yourself.. 

It takes some time, but once you make one little bird, you will have to make another and another.. they are just so cute when all lined up.. Ops, forgot a bow on one of the little birds... 

Guido wanted me to line all the little birds up in his plastic flower garden.. yes, we are still waiting on the seeds to bloom and grow.. I could not leave these little birds outside because they are made of paper.. but they do look so adorable.. all lined up (despite the bow missing off of the far left one) 

I used a blank page from the vintage book to create my template. One for the bird, one for the wings. 

You will need to tear out several sheets of the paper from the book. Don't forget to flip your bird in the opposite direction as you will need two sides. Cut several of the wings, 4 for each bird, 2 on each side. 

I mixed some of my bronze craft paint with a little water, and mixed the two up really well. 

Lay your bird and wings out on wax paper and run your wet paint sponge over each bird and the wings. Allow to dry fully before you touch the bird pieces or the wings. I went over my pieces two times. 

Take a black marker and go over the bird with tiny lines to resemble sewn marks. 

After you do this, you are going to take your bird (both front and back) line up each side and sew around your bird, leaving a hole on the belly for stuffing. Your hole should be about 2 inches wide. 

Stuff each bird with a little stuffing. I used a chop stick to help push the stuffing into the beak and tail of the bird.  If you don't have stuffing, you can always use cotton balls, just tear each cotton ball apart and use this to stuff your birds. 

Next, you will need your hot glue gun, to add on the wings, 2 wings per side. I used a black brad, then clipped off the tips on the reverse side and hot glued this as the eye for my bird. One per side. I didn't add the  black brad on the reverse side. Leave a hole in the belly after stuffing if you would like to use a stick for your bird for a perch. My white sticks are actually sucker sticks I picked up at the craft store a long time ago.. they have been hanging around in my studio. Glue your stick and tuck it up inside the belly of the bird. 

I hot glued the ribbon behind the bird on the sucker stick and then just spun the ribbon around and down the sucker stick. I used the same ribbon to tie around the neck of my bird to create his or her bow. 

These are so adorable.. You could use these for cup cake toppers, or they would be cute for a baby shower, or stuck down in a flower planter as a gift to give. You could use buttons for the eye. I did fold down the birds wings to give a little more definition .. 

Ready to fly.....

Enjoy crafting today at your own home or studio :)

Come back tomorrow as I have another use for old books that I would love to share with you.