Week 37: "Love Birds"

The 4th and final wedding was today.  Tawnee and I have been friends since kindergarten, my longest running friendship.  Her wedding was on the beach in Carmel, a setting almost as lovely as the bride.  

During the planning season, Tawnee asked for lots of crafting help, including some little love-bird cake toppers.  She sent me a few ideas from Etsy, but gave me the freedom to design something myself.  Love it. 

 I made the bird bodies like I did this time, with just a few changes...  First of all, I have my sewing machine again!  So I didn't have to hand sew the seams, but sewed them on the machine, with the right sides facing. I started with muslin bodies, and I added football shaped tummies in their wedding colors.  First I attached the tummies to each side of the body.  Then I sewed from the neck all the way around to the tip of the tail, and stopped there so I could flip.  I ironed out the creases, filled them with stuffing, and then hand stitched the openings closed.  

I used embroidery floss to add eyes, and to attach burlap wings.  (See other bird post for easy attaching.)

The legs were a fun adventure. I used jewelry wire (and the Leatherman, of course).  

I cut about a foot wire, and started bending one toe.  I used the needle-nose pliers to make a tight bend for the first toe.  

Then a made a fold for the second toe, making a "U" shape. 

I did the middle toe last, so that the leg could come out centered.

  Then I went around to the other end of the wire and made the other foot the same way.  

I had about 4 inches of wire between the feet.  

I pinched the middle 2 inches together and twisted.  This twisted part slid right into the seam between the base of the tummy and the tail.  

 

I had to pinch and wiggle the wire to find the right angle for the legs.  When I found it I added a bit of hot glue to keep it in place.

I love how those little toes came out. 

After I was all done, I sent the picture to Tawnee, only to find out that she didn't want a cake topper anymore, but wanted to use the birds on the welcome table.  

When I found out that she was using a birdcage as a card collector, and she wanted me to make a sign for it, I thought it was a craft-match made in heaven.

I wired the birds feet to the top of the cage, and got to work on a banner the birds could hold. 

I embroidered letters on the same fabric I used for the bags, spelling out the words "CARDS HERE."  I made sure to keep about an inch of space around each letter. I cut a little triangle around each letter, and strung them all on a string of floss, making a tiny bunting.  

I used a home-made fabric stiffener I found on one of my new favorite blogs, (I used the corn starch one).   Then I ironed them all flat.

Lastly, I used a needle to poke each end of the banner through the birds beaks, and tied them off with knots.

Tawnee's friend Janice found the beautiful ribbon. 

This might be my favorite wedding decoration ever.