The Bird Holder Tutorial

Ok ladies, I have had many requests for this tutorial. But first, today's winner is.......Rachel @ 11:07am. Congratulations Rachel, send your address to Krista@cosmocricket.com and we'll send you your prize!

And Second, did you know that Monday is Digital Scrapbooking Day? Well, according to scrapblog.com and Digital Scrapbooking magazine it is. So, how many of you do the digital thing? How many of you do hybrid stuff? How many of you have never tried anything digital?

I guess you could say that I am a hybrid girl, but only because I design all the paper and stuff I'm using on my mac before I use it. And, I guess I also take all my photos digitally, import them into Photoshop, play with them a bit and then print myself. But, I have never really done a digital layout. How about you?

If you are into the digital thing or would just like to give it a try, here is a contest that might interest you! Now through Nov. 1, users that log in or sign up on scrapblog.com and design their digital holiday greeting cards, tagging them as “DSD” will be entered in a contest for 50 printed Scrapblog greeting cards featuring their designs and a free one-year subscription to Digital Scrapbooking Magazine. There is no cost to participate and users can enter as many holiday card designs as they’d like. There will be five winners.

Now, for the tutorial!!! Hopefully it makes sense and you can tell what I was doing in these photos..... they're not the best. Oh well...... wire is hard to photograph........ especially in a basement!

Start with some sturdy wire (I'm sorry, I don't know what gauge this is) and needle nose pliers. Pinch about one inch in from end.

Twist wire around like in photo.

Squeeze together as shown.

Bend wire so that you can repeat the process.

Like this! Make three front toes by repeating these instructions.

Once you have your three toes, pinch the wire about 1 1/2" away from what will be the center of the foot, as shown.

Bend the wire around to make the back toe.

Pinch it together, like with the other toes.

You'll notice that your back toe is wider closer to the foot. If that doesn't bother you, continue, but if you like, bring your wire up between two of the front toes to finish the first foot.

You'll want the wire to be about twice as long as your finished leg length. Estimating that length, fold the wire down to make the second leg.

Following the same steps as before...... even in the same order, make the second foot. Then clip wire.

Pinch leg at about center point (this depends slightly on how long you want the leg to be).

Fold foot up as shown. Then, repeat on other side.

After you bend both legs, flip it over and you should have this. (Are you still with me?)

Pinch in center of the front part, as shown.

Bend it up and then repeat on other side. (If this looks confusing, skip down to the next photo, and I think you'll get the idea).

TaDaaa. You should now have a completed wire holder that looks like little chicken legs! Make some cute cards to fit in there and enjoy!!