![]() ![]() ![]() Entertaining outdoors is one of the best things about summer, especially when you're hosting a garden party picnic with friends. In this tutorial you'll learn how to personalise a garden party with a tropical parrot theme. I'll show you how to make a cake topper parrot, customised food tags and some unique signage bunting. Let's get started. Supplies![]() ![]() ![]()
1. Make the Body of the Parrot Cake TopperStep 1Make the body of the parrot by tearing out three sheets of paper from an old magazine. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Cut approximately 10cm of wire off your reel to act as the spine of your parrot. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Roll one of the torn sheets of magazine paper into a ball and using the hot melt glue gun, attach the top of the wire to the ball. Make a hole in the centre of the ball to do this. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Close the ball while the glue is still warm to ensure that the wire is contained inside. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Roll the remaining two sheets of paper into a bird body-like shape and wrap around the wire underneath the ball. Glue the body onto the wire with the hot melt glue gun. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 6Cut off the left-over wire from the bottom of the body. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 7Wrap the whole body in sticky tape to keep it all together. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 8The body should now look something like this: ![]() ![]() ![]() 2. Cover the Body in FeathersStep 1Take your green paper and fold it in half. Then draw simple feather shapes approximately 1cm in width, as pictured below, and cut out. Repeat this step so that you have enough feathers to cover the whole body. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Start attaching the feathers at the top of the head by the nose. Only glue the top part of each feather, so you can slip the next layer of feathers underneath. Make sure to leave a little space for where the beak will go. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Work your way down the body in circular shapes, sticking each feather underneath the layer above. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Keep glueing and working your way down the bird's body. It should start to look like this: ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Continue gluing and sticking the feathers down the entire body. ![]() ![]() ![]() 3. Create the Parrot's EyesStep 1Cut out two fairly large circles from your green piece of paper. Try drawing around the top of a glue stick - the size and circumference is perfect. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Using hot melt glue, attach both of the circles to either side of the parrot's head. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Now cut out two small black circles for eyes from paper, or draw them on with a black marker. ![]() ![]() ![]() 4. Craft the Parrot's BeakStep 1Begin by folding your orange paper in half and drawing a beak-like shape by the side of the fold, as pictured below. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Cut out the shape and glue it together at the back of the beak. Gently push down on the top of the beak to create a slight curve. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Trim off the edges if there is any overlap. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Attach the beak to the parrot's face using your glue gun. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Cut out at smaller beak, following the steps above, and glue it underneath the top part so it makes a complete beak. ![]() ![]() ![]() 5. Create the Parrot's WingsStep 1Lay a piece of wire behind the back of your parrot's body between the neck and the body itself. This will act as the basis for your wings. Attach the wire with hot melt glue, and try to conceal it underneath a feather. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Cut out two twin strips from your green paper and fold in half. Draw a wing-like shape on one side of the fold, as pictured below. Cut around the wing shape, making sure not to cut through the fold. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Glue alongside the fold of both of the wing shapes and attach to either side of the wire. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Cut out approximately 16 large feather shapes and begin gluing them to the wings from the body outwards. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Pinch the feathers in half to add a more realistic look. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 6Attach the feathers to both the front and the back of the wings as pictured below. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 7Now cut out enough feathers, descending in size, to cover the wings. Step 8Cover the feathers that are attached to the top part of the wing by disguising them underneath smaller petal feathers. Cut out enough petal feathers to cover both the front and back of the wings. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 9The front of the wings should now look something like this: ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 10Now take your pink paper and cut out about 10 large feathers. Insert these feathers one at a time between the two green feathers to add a pop of colour. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 11Once you've added a few pink feathers you'll get a lovely layered effect, as pictured below. ![]() ![]() ![]() 6. Make the Parrot's TailStep 1Cut out three large green feathers and stick them together so that you create a small fan effect, as pictured below. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Draw and cut out about five pink feathers and glue them underneath the green. Place your parrot face down and glue the tail to the body. Try to place the tail underneath some feathers to disguise the joint. ![]() ![]() ![]() 7. Add the Cake Topper Parts to the ParrotStep 1Simply push your two cocktail sticks into place at the bottom of the parrot. This may need a bit of force, but once they're pushed in far enough they should stay in place because of the paper base. ![]() ![]() ![]() 8. Craft the Parrot BuntingStep 1Draw an outline of a parrot on a sheet of yellow A4 paper. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Cut out the silhouettes of the parrots. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Using your hot glue gun, attach the parrots onto a line of twine about 1.5 metres in length. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Pinch the tails on each parrot in the same manner as the feathers to add some dimension to them. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5The end result will look something like this: ![]() ![]() ![]() 9. Create the BannerStep 1Simply draw outlines of letters onto individual sheets of A4 white card. Make them nice and large so they're easy to cut out. You can create any message that you like. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Draw three simple parrot silhouettes onto your pink paper, allowing for one wing to be longer by about 2cm than the other. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Cut the parrots out and carefully fold the longer wing over and behind the parrot. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Using your hot melt glue gun, glue along the inside of the parrot where the twine will sit. Place the first parrot in the centre of the twine. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Then glue the letters into place along the twine, spelling out your greeting or message. The two pink parrots will sit either side of the wording. ![]() ![]() ![]() 10. Make the Green Feather BuntingStart by folding your green paper in half and drawing a rough feather shape. Cut out to get two feathers. Repeat this process another four times so that you have a total of ten green feathers. Simply glue them to another line of twine, positioning them at different angles to create an interesting look. ![]() ![]() ![]() 11. Make the Custom Food TagsStep 1Draw three tag shapes onto your kraft paper. If you find it easier, you can make a template on card and then draw around that. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 2Cut out three circles from your green, pink and yellow paper. These will be used to make a coloured ring around the hole at the top of the tag. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 3Using the same template of the parrot in the pink parrot bunting, draw three outlines onto a sheet of patterned wrapping pattern. Cut out to create three separate patterned parrots. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 4Fold under the longer wing in the same manner as the parrots for the bunting. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 5Add some glue to the back of the parrots using a hot melt glue gun. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 6Attach the parrots at an angle onto each kraft paper tag. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 7Glue one of the circles and place at the top of the tag. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 8Use a hole punch to cut a hole within each coloured circle. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 9The three tags should look something like this when completed: ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 10Write the food labels on the tags using your calligraphy pen. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 11Take the twine and your jam jar and wrap it around the top of the jar a couple of times and then tie a double knot. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 12Thread the twine through the top of the hole. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 13Turn the tag over and tie a knot underneath it. Trim the twine near the knot. ![]() ![]() ![]() Step 14A finished tag will look something like this: ![]() ![]() ![]() Celebrate With Family and FriendsThis parrot themed tutorial could easily be adapted for a sophisticated children's party simply by changing the wording in the bunting and having the tags used for party bags instead of food labels. ![]() ![]() ![]() You can also use these skills for making greeting cards and tags, as well as decorating parcels and packages. Do you love having a summer party outdoors? Let us know how you go with our bird-themed decorations! |
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Source: crafts.tutsplus.com
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