Make it Crate :: Gold Feathers w/Anabelle O'Malley

Feathers are everywhere this day! They can be found on wallpaper, clothing, stationary and even textiles. There are many digital cut files that can create feather for paper crafting projects, but I decided to create one by hand. It was quick and easy and definitely creates a statement on a layout.

Here's what I did; I started with DIY Shop's Measurement patterned paper. I created a template and cut two pieces from it.

To create the spine of the feather, I decided to use a gold pipe cleaner. I trimmed down the gold part so that it wouldn't be so fluffy and adhered it to the back of one of the cut paper pieces.

I used a liquid glue to adhere the pipe cleaner. I used some clothespins to clamp it to the paper while it dried (genius!).

Once it was dried, I covered the papers with lots of glue from a glue stick. I adhered the two papers together and ran my finger over the papers so that the spine (pipe cleaner) stood out.

Next, I started cutting. I used small scissors and started at the top. I cut down on a diagonal, in toward the spine. I didn't evenly space out the cuts. This made it look a bit more natural. But, I did keep them relatively close together.

I could of stopped there, but I decided to add some bling to my feather. I love gold, so I mixed some gold pigment powder with gloss medium and painted it on. I didn't cover the whole feather and kept the paint mostly toward the outer edges.

While it was still wet, I finished things off by shaking a bit of glitter to the tips of the feather. It's really shiny and sparkly in person!

I finished off the page by adding lots of gold accents. I used one of my favorite tags from the DIY Shop Stand Outs set. I spritzed the background paper with aqua and gold mists and used some of the leftover gold gloss paint to paint my wood veneers.

Die-Cuts from DIY Shop and the Maggie Holmes line are layered under the photo. I used one of the transparencies over my photo to tie in more of a gold tone into the picture.

Keeping my feather as a large design element brings the focus to it, along with my photo. I chose the white background so that everything would shine and sparkle.

Another option would be to create several feathers and use them as a background. Smaller feathers that have been misted, dipped in paint or have sequins on them would be fun for cards. The list is endless. I hope this inspired you to create some feathers of your own. Thanks for stopping by today!