A month or so ago, while I was following along with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas, I discovered a yahoo group devoted to Tim's products and techniques. Called, appropriately enough, All Things Tim. I joined, and have since become a fairly active member.
Someone in the group who was lucky enough to do a class with Tim, posted some pictures of the altered bird project they did, and there was an immediate frenzy on the boards. "Where can I get a bird?" "I need one of those birds." "I must have one of those birds." Tim's assistant Mario stepped in, and ONE DAY after I placed my order, my wooden bird was at my door. Hmm..wonder if he flew?
It is your garden variety, sit on a shelf and collect dust tacky painted bird. That's the fun. Take this thing of less than beauty and alter it.
Here is a photo of some of Tim's altered birds. Notice they are all perched on unlikely objects.
Some of the students used things like vintage telephones, which is very cool. I don't have such a phone, or a globe or an old camera. What to use????Then I was in a discount store and spied a tea pot. That got me thinking. A bird on a tea pot. Huh! A tea bird...A T-bird....and there was born my idea for my T(ea)-Bird. I had a blast doing this project. Don't turn your nose up at those tacky decorative items you see at flea markets. They can be altered and become something quite unique. And here he is:
For the gift exchange, everyone who signed up was given a person to create a gift for. I got Diana, who is fairly new to our team. I don't know her very well yet, but I have observed a few things about her style, and know that she is a Frida Kahlo fan. I made a pendant that featured a Kahlo self portrait as part of the collage design, and I also altered and embellished a plain white box to put it in. The frame for the pendant is actually from the SU Hodgepodge Hardware set!The photos aren't as clear as I'd like (sorry!), but I love the necklace and box, and more importantly, Diana did too:
My name had been given to Heidi, and she made me an AWESOME gift. I haven't photographed it yet, but when I do it will get it's very own blog entry.
And here is a 4x4 (I'm loving those kewpies!): 
All images available in the 
I'm really loving these kewpie doll images (from the PID store, of course).
and an ATC:
There will be lots more to post very soon. We're doing an inchie charm swap, a postcard swap, and an ATC swap featuring Isabella, one of PID's most lovely images. And tomorrow is Monday, which means another weekly challenge to complete. 