A bird in the hand(made)...

Well seeing as it seems that you lovely ladies are a very sensible bunch, I will of course share our latest diy conquest. In the grand tradition of my diy projects, there were moments when I nearly through her out the window. But as she doesn't have wings that simply wouldn't have been a good idea.

Meet Norma Jean.....

(I thought she deserved a real name, she's too pretty to be to be without one)

She's a prototype so please forgive the fact that she is one legged and has no tail. The final version will be made in the silk dupion shown in the sneak peak and will be wrapped in the extra fabric from my dress, once it's been altered. She will have a tail of white dove feathers, from live free flying garden doves, if you please! And she will have a boy, a boy of the smartest black silk dupion with some very dapper tail feathers of his own.

Her mauve rose is made from the same ribbon that I will wear wrapped round my waist and the flower in her hair is the same colour as the one I'm going to wear in mine. She was going to have a little birdcage veil, but I couldn't resist leaving the rest of it billowing out behind her, it's just so pretty!

Despite the afore mentioned desire to jettison her from the fourth floor, she was surprisingly enjoyable to make. It turns out that I'm much better at DIY that doesn't involve printers, measurements or straight lines.

However the first version was awful. Truly dreadful, more Casper the Friendly Ghost than sweet chubby little bird. The second version was better, but wouldn't stand up. The third version, well you can judge for yourself. But she was the only one deserving of eyes, a dress and the all important beak.

I want to thank you all for your lovely words of support. It's wonderful to know that you are such a fantastically sane bunch of girlies! And extra points to Meg, who was foiled by the merry widow netting. Is it called that in the States? I have a funny feeling that it's not and that you will have no idea what I'm talking about. Hmmm. Here's a picture, just in case....

I think it's more commonly known as French or Russian netting, but Merry Widow is such a fun name that I can't think of it as anything else!

Anyway, I was going to use it on Norma Jean, but it was a bit overpowering on such a little lady. I think I will try and make myself some sort of a veil or fascinator with it. I don't really know where to begin though. But I'm sure I'll figure something out. It turns out I'm quite crafty when I get going!


So what do you think? I know bird cake toppers are getting a little passée, everyone and their grandmother has them these day, but they seemed so fitting to our outdoor garden party wedding that I couldn't resist having them sit watching over our piles of cupcakes. And what has become passée in the States usually hasn't even made it across the pond, so our guests will most likely have never seen anything like them before. I predict a few puzzled looks from our Grandparents - why are there birds on your cake? Where are the little plastic people?