Thursday, June 21, 2012

How To: Flock of Birds


I have had MANY requests to do a "how to" post on my flock of seagulls birds. Well, here it is. Enjoy.



What you will need:
The pattern (provided below)
Scrapbook paper
Scissors
Poster putty or something else to stick the birds to the walls

Total project takes less than an hour and costs less than $20!


For paper, I used K&Company Paper. It was nice and heavy, double-sided and worked great. They offer tons of different colors and patterns. You can find it very cheap here.


The Pattern
OK, first things first, the pattern. Here it is:
This image is scanned on 8.5 x 11 so you can (hopefully) easily print it out, then cut out the bird.


Bird Mass Production
Now that you have the pattern, it is time to mass produce these puppies. I took my scrap paper and folded it in half so I could kill two birds with one stone cut.

Example of where to fold on the 12 x 12 paper.

Look! It's a sailboat!

Once your paper is folded in half, place your pattern on it and trace around it.

Now you see it...
Now you don't...

Now that you have the pattern marked on your paper, make sure that both sheets are even and cut around the pattern.

Tra la la...cutting paper.

Once you are finished cutting, you will have two birds. Repeat this step until you have enough birds to fill the space you are looking to fill. I used most of my pad, minus the paper I used for a project in my son's room.

Yay! Two birds!

Let 'em Fly!
Now that you have your birds, you need to fold them all to give them a 3D effect. Simply lay them down flat and bend up each of the wings.

One fold...

Two folds!

Now it is time to let these colorful feathered friends fly. I used poster putty to stick mine to the wall, but you could use tape or whatever else tickles your fancy. You can do them in a flock like I did or just scatter them about. You could also draw a tree on your wall and let them hang out in it. Whatevs! Have fun with them!



Though I did this in birds, you could easily do this with bugs, pterodactyls, etc. To make a perfect pattern, I actually drew half of the bird on a piece of paper that I had folded in half, so when I cut, I had two perfectly equal sides--kind of like making a snowflake.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

11 comments:

  1. This is awesome, love the tutorial photo's. I didn't think this would be that simple to do!

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  2. Very nice! I buy my scrapbook paper at Michael's craft store -- they do weekly coupons and you can usually buy stuff with them for 40% off. That makes it awfully inexpensive to make cute birds!

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  3. Great job explaining how to do this - you make it look easy!

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  4. Very creative and simple. That's awesome. If I ever have a kid, I think that would be a great way to decorate their room.

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  5. Made a butterfly wall inspired by you! Though looking at the pics of yours and mine, I may do a little placement tweaking, I like how your flock looks more cozy. Thank you so much for the inspiration :) http://rabitstew.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/a-flutter-of-butterflies/

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  6. Just came over from Apartment Therapy to say how lovely the whole room is! The pink and green are so nice together and the birds just pull it all together.
    Karen
    (Scotland)

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  7. If you really wanted to do it cheaply then you could use wallpaper samples. They just give those away if you ask nicely and then they'll match the wallpaper too.

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    1. great idea! plus if you weren't caring about the 3D effect, some of those samples have paste you could paste to the wall.

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