Bluebird Altered Treat Jar

Not a kitty, but I love bluebirds, too.  One year we had a terrible hatch out of grasshoppers.  We were still in the old house and my chickens free-ranged over on our new property...so they couldn't help with the awful pests.  In the late summer when the grasshoppers were at their peak, the juvenile bluebirds were fledging.  Help was on the way!                                                                                                 It was very entertaining to see the youngsters learning to hunt.  Bluebirds' natural inclination is to hunt on the wing, but these grasshoppers were on the ground.  Instead of just picking them off the blades of grass as the experienced adult bluebirds knew to do, the young bluebirds would flap their wings and hop around in the yard to flush out the grasshoppers.  As the insects jumped, the juveniles would flutter up in the air a few inches and catch them.  A little unconventional, but they sure ate a lot of those disgusting hoppers...and it was great fun to watch!

Hi, Friends....

I'm here with another brief hiatus from my Big Blog Blitz Giveaway series to share a pretty bluebird altered treat jar that I made for a friend's birthday and filled with mini Almond Joy bars.  Yum!  :)

These are so much fun to make and it makes me feel good to reclaim jars that otherwise would not be saved.

The lovely images are fussy cut from an envelope that had come with a card a friend sent me a few years ago.  I knew that sometime I would use those cheerful birds!

To make this treat jar, I first gessoed over the sides of the jar and over the whole outside of the lid.  Then I tore discarded book pages in strips and Mod Podged them over the gesso on the jar and let it dry thoroughly.  I rubbed Gelatos with a moist finger to add some color over the book paper.  Then I Mod Podged my birds and blossoming branch papers in place and let everything dry completely.  This whole process took several days as each "let it dry" step was overnight!

 


I glitzed up my images with some glitter on the branches and flowers and I colored over the birds lightly with my Wink of Stella pen...although you can't really see much shimmer in the photo.  

I added a few sequins here and there and some twine.  

 

You can see a little flower I put on the twine in the top photo. I even tucked in a wee leaf from some vine trim I have had for ages.




Then it was time to work on the lid......

I blended the same Gelatos over the gesso and Mod Podged it all to seal it.  Then I added a twine bow and a layered flower with a sweet little dew drop that my crafty friend, Karen Ladd, once sent to me. (THANKS, Karen!)  I have been hoarding these so long I had forgotten about them!  Hoard No More!!!!  :)

I hope you like my treat jar. It has no stamping on it at all......but, again, who misses it? The gorgeous birds and flowers are plenty and the book paper adds a nice background.....so it really didn't need any stamping.

Okay, that's all for tonight. I have two more Blog Blitz posts that I will put up tomorrow. Be sure to visit my GIVEAWAY posts and answer the questions on each post by 11:59 pm April 30th Pacific Daylight Time to be entered!! Details are on THIS POST!!!

Thanks so much for your visit!!!

<3
Janis

Thank you for the honor of entering this altered treat jar in the following challenges:
1. Countryview April Challenge - Spring
2. Southern Ridge Trading Co April Challenge - Anything Spring
3. Craftin Desert Divas Linky Party - In the Garden
4. Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Use Metal (The lid of my jar is metal, and the sequins are metallic.) 
5. Ellibelle's Creative Moments Critters & Cratures Linky Party #3 - Critter must be the Focal
6. Happy Little Stampers April Mixed Media Challenge - Wings
7. Craft for the Craic April Challenge - Anything But a Card
8. Really Reasonable Ribbon Challenge #139 - Things with Wings must use Ribbon or Trim
9. Anything But Cute Challenge #12 - Earth Day Mixed Media Mood Board
(I am inspired by the colors and the bird on the mood board.  I recycled/reused several items for my project that would have been discarded, otherwise.)