Summer Lovin' with Anything But a Card

I finally got a bird feeder.  When I moved, I had to leave my old one at my old house and I have been bugging anyone and everyone to get me a new one.  So, after about a year of begging, I went and bought one myself.  Now that I have my spectacular feeder, I needed somewhere to keep the birdseed.  I am not particularly strong, so the idea of lugging a bag of birdseed out to the front yard doesn’t thrill me.  So I made a birdseed (bird food) holder for my Summer Lovin’ project, the challenge now being held at Anything But a Card.

This should have been simple.  Should have been a piece of cake.  But, I got sidetracked as my SO decided we needed another cat when he went to Petco to get cat litter.  Our local shelter, The Dumb Friends League, loans out cats and dogs to the local Petco in hopes someone will see the animal and fall helplessly in love.  Score one for Dumb Friends League.  Now I have five, yes FIVE feline companions and our newest is named Sylvester – but more on him in another post.  I give you my Bird Food Jar:

See the cat on the left side? Guess who!

What I Used in my Project:
Container

Gesso

Damask Paper from MME Bestof Damask Pack

Chipboard from Basic Grey, Undressed Periphery (retired, but you can find it)

Distress Ink Pad in TeaDye

Distress Marker in VintagePhoto

Distress Paint in MilledLavender

Tim Holtz Grunge Board Letters, Plain (again, retired)

Pale Lilac Paper from SU!(retired, I think)

Cut File from my Batch of Free Files

Silhouette Machine

I eat biscotti (too much, but hey!) and the brand I eat comes in these awesome containers.  And since I eat so much, I always have an empty container handy.  So I peeled off some of the label (in hindsight, I really should of taken the time to peel off the whole label), gathered 2 12x12 sheets of the paper I thought would be pretty, measured and cut the paper and then glued the paper to the container.  I also cut out a circle of the same pattern to put on the lid.  This is going great!

I gesso all the Grunge Board and the Basic Grey Chipboard.  After that is dried, I try to paint my letters.  I know what color I want them, as the paper is a mixture of pink and brown (which doesn’t match ANY room in my house. . .) so I try to paint them with Distress Marker in Gathered Twigs – I scribble the marker on my craft sheet and spritzed some water on it to make paint.  Well, I forgot gesso kind of reactivates with water.  So I ended up with a very light tan.  OK, I’ll let that dry and perhaps I can paint on it after since there is now a base coat.  Nope.  I’ll spare you the trials and tribulation and share that I finally just pressed the letters on a Distress Ink Pad in Tea Dye.  After they dried, I used a Distress Marker in Vintage Photo to edge the letters.  Whew!

 

The Top

Now I move on to my gessod chipboard.  Again, I had an idea in my head of the color I wanted the chipboard to be.  Pink enough to pick up the pink in the paper.  I must have painted that chipboard with 45 different colors of Distress Paint.  I could NOT get the pink “pink” enough.  I used Pickett Fence with Festive Berries – nope.  Tried to dry brush Pickett Fence on the chipboard after it dried – nope.  After numerous attempts, I realized that Milled Lavender matched the paper almost perfectly.  See, I told you this SHOULD have been easy!  By this time, I have literally lost days, since the heat is here (along with our one month where it rains almost every afternoon – sort of like Florida, but without the crushing humidity) and I have to wait for the embellishments to dry.  I start to panic.  I have my words and my shipboard plaques but what am I going to decorate the container with?  Thank goodness I have this Silhouette.  I found some paper that matched, SU! Pale Plum, and set about cutting out some cute little birdies to put on the sides of the container. 

And the cat is so helpful

I glued them to the sides, glued my letters to my chipboard plaque, and attached my plaques to the container. . .only to realize I had put the birds on the wrong sides.  But yanno what? You can’t tell.  And if anyone dares to ask me why my bird food container is in pink & brown, or why the seams are visible, well, let’s just say I have a shovel and a large backyard.

Take my mistakes and use them so you don’t go bonkers – at least from crafting something. If you'd like the cutfile I used here, or in any of my projects, just ask (I share, except when , legally, I can't) I hope you are cool and comfortable ~ enjoy! Christi

PS: Maybe I'll make another one that matches my kitchen??

Before and After (told you I had a bunch of these)

I would like to enter my Bird Food Container in the following challenges:
Open-Minded Crafting Fun Challenges - #12, Anything With Wings
UnStampaBelles - #36, Mixed Media
Penny's Paper Crafty Challenges - #181, Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Challenges - #20, Anything Goes