When I was a kid in school, we used to get notes from the teachers and the office on yellow slips of paper with a smilie face on the and the title "Happy Gram". I used to love getting Happy Grams! They were way better to take home than the notes I would also get telling my mom I talked too much and daydreamed a lot during class! Still to this day, I think of all little happy notes as Happy Grams.
I have been wanting to make a fun little note pad holder using the Sizzix Hanging Bag die for a while now. I wanted to create a cheerful little piece that I could hang on the refrigerator to hold a note pad that would help encourage everyone in my house to write more Happy Grams to each other.
To construct the pocket, I adhered patterned paper to piece of mat board using adhesive sheets. After die cutting the pieces, I sanded and inked the edges and then assembled the pocket according to the package instructions.
To embellish the pocket, I decided to include a bluebird on the design. I love bluebirds and their symbolism of happiness. I decided to use the Sizzix Bird die for this project. Today I want to share with you how I colored the bird.
To begin, die cut two birds from grungepaper. Apply a generous base coat of Picket Fence Distress Stain. After applying the ink, dry each bird with a heat tool.
Apply Wild Honey Distress Stain to the beak area of one of the birds. Apply Vintage Photo Distress Stain to the legs of the same bird. Heat the ink to dry it.
Use an ink blending tool to ink the edges of the beak and over the legs.
On the second bird, apply Broken China Distress Stain over the bird's body.
After drying the stain, apply Stormy Sky Distress Stain along the top edge of the bird (along its back and the top of its head). Dry the stain with a heat tool.
Add Faded Jeans Distress Stain to the top edge of the bird's back and the top of it's head. Dry the stain with a heat tool.
Apply Scattered Straw Distress Stain along the chin and belly of the bird. Heat dry the stain.
Trim off the legs and beak of the blue bird.
Use an ink blending tool to apply Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the edges of the bird's body. The wing may be lifted up to apply ink to the edge of it.
After both birds were dry, I adhered them together with glue. I covered the eye of the bird with a small round punched hole from the matboard pocket. You could fill it with a small brad also. I left the tip of the two tails slightly separated to add a bit of dimension.
To embellish my hanging notepad holder, I cut a piece of grungepaper using the Branch die. I colored with with Walnut Stain Distress Ink. After it was dry, I adhered it to the front of the pocket and placed the bird over it.
I tucked a small tag under the bird's wing. I also added some fine black pen lines to the legs to help define them. Finally, I added two small ribbon flowers to the branch.
Behind the bird, I added a die cut heart. Before die cutting the heart, I adhered patterned paper to a scrap of mat board. After die cutting I added my sentiment with letter stamps. I adhered the heart to the pocket behind the bird's head and added a few staples to anchor the piece to the design.
I added dyed crinkle ribbon to the holes in the pocket so that I could hang it.
I love the size of this pocket! It is perfect for a note pad but would also be great for holiday treats!
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