Trending: Feathers (Part 2)

Crafts

Feb 13

It's Ashley Calder again, back with part two of Trending: Feathers! Last time, I covered the fantastic assortment of new scrapbooking products available with feather motifs. Today we are going to look at finding feather products outside of the scrapbook store and craft aisle.

First up is an item I haven't seen embraced by the scrapbooking world yet (or, again)... feather metal charms! There is a huge selection available online through sources like independent Etsy shops, and I bet you could find them in person in jewelry and beading stores. Here are a few of my favorites I've seen recently:

(Sources: FindingBox (Etsy); ingredientsforlovely (Etsy); zazastory (Etsy); fallinlovegems (Etsy).)

I love that they can be found in silver or gold tones, and are flat and somewhat stylized. The look and style of these metallic feathers creates a modern, sleek look, compared to the romantic styling of real feathers. The oversized feathers would make an impressive impact on their page! For those that are dollar-conscious (and aren't we all?), although the larger feathers may price out to more per embellishment than your usual spending, they are just so amazing and impressive that not much else would be needed on the page.

For this layout, I used two smaller-sized feather charms in this fun "arrow" type embellishment. I love the bold crisp look of the silver against the delicate tones and patterns on the rest of the page. Although made of metal, they are light enough that they don't pull down on the arrow; I just used one small glue dot to hold them in place.

fallinlovegems has been kind enough to donate a set of three feather metal charms like the ones I used on the layout above for our reader give-away! Don't miss the details below!

And how could we talk about scrapbooking without mentioning stamps? I am totally blown away by the amazing feather stamps available through independent artists. From red rubber, to hand carved from erasers or lino, there is a perfect feather stamp for each of you out there, just waiting for you to find it. I couldn't pick a single favourite, and I couldn't show you all of them, so again, here are a few of my favourites. How awesome is the range in size, too -- from several inches tall, to teeny tiny?

(Sources: oldislandstamps (Etsy); norajane (Etsy); creatiate (Etsy).)

I used the "a feather in your cap" stamp from creatiate to create my own custom feather flair in the above layout. I also matched the watercolor paint colour I used on the background to one of my favourite ink colours, and stamped repeatedly, reinking somewhat randomly in between impressions. The combination of the multi-generational stamping plus the watercolor paint and splats creates nice depth to the page.

And speaking of flair, now we need to look at feather flair. From photorealism, to cartoon to retro-inspired, there is truly a feather for everyone out there. These little metal and mylar icons are so perfect for adding a punch of colour and dimension to your pages.

(Sources: greatestview (Etsy); PipingHotPapers (Etsy); aflairforbuttons (Etsy).)

Don't forget to check out my Feather board on Pinterest for more great feather products and feather inspiration!

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a wonderful package of feather goodies supplied by some wonderful companies! Give-away will be on February 28th. Leave a comment on each installment of my Trending Feathers article for another entry for a chance to win! Give-away open to US residents only.