These adorable\u00a0owls from the Lawn Fawn “Mom + Me” stamp set<\/a><\/span> reminded me of a preschool song called Five Little Owls. There are lots of versions of this song but basically they repetitively count down the owls to help teach little kids how to count. So cute!<\/p>\n

<\/a>The version of the song that I printed out on my computer and added to the back is:
\n5 little owls, on a branch by the shore, one\u00a0fell off, then there were 4.
\n4 little owls, high in a tree, the wind blew hard, then there were 3.
\n3 little owls, none of them knew, a raven took one, then there were 2.
\n2 little owls, sitting in the sun, a raccoon came along, then there was 1.
\n1 little owl, in the setting sun, flew off to the forest, then there was none.<\/p>\n

I pulled out an old manila tag and\u00a0used blending tools to ink\u00a0from light to dark with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and Chipped Sapphire to create the look of a sky at dusk.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Then I die cut delicate branches from wood veneer paper<\/a><\/span> (that has been in my stash for about 2 years!) using the branch from the Diemond Dies Cherry Blossom Branch and Flowers Die Set<\/a><\/span>. \u00a0I love the texture of the wood veneer and the look of real wood that using it gives the tree branches. \u00a0PS: I find cutting delicate dies like this is much easier (esp. with thicker paper like this wood grain paper) with a metal shim die cutting plate, like this one: CottageCutz Universal Shim Plate Die Cuts<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

I then die cut –oh I don’t know a– a bazillion little oak leaves in the small and medium sizes from the Diemond Dies Mini Leaves Die Set<\/a><\/span> from hand made paper that I inked up in advance with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Evergreen Bough and Pine Needles. \u00a0Individually die cutting and gluing in these little leaves was a bit tedious, but the end results were so lush and totally worth it.<\/p>\n

<\/a>The focal point owls I colored\u00a0up with the following Copic colors:\u00a0Dad: E11, 21, 23, 25, 29; Mom: E21, 11, 97, 99;\u00a0Kids: Y11, Y23, YR24 and E33 \u00a0All the beaks and feet were colored with Y15 and Y38. \u00a0What I think totally made\u00a0these owls pop were the little white dots I added to their foreheads and wings with a white Gelly Roll pen. I had just watched “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” this past month, and I think I was channeling the beautiful henna body art. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I hand fussy cut (for scene projects I don’t like the white border that is left when you use the coordinating dies with most stamps) and inked the edges of the five little owls. I tucked in the owls nestled in the leaves of the oak tree, leaving the left side of the tag blank because I wanted to be able to add the title of the song that inspired the whole project.<\/p>\n

I stamped out the title using a Michael’s $1.50 bin Studio G wooden alpha set and then just inked the edges of each word with more Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Salty Ocean. Lastly, I decided to\u00a0add\u00a0a crescent moon to the scene using the third smallest circle from the Diemond Dies Circle Nesting Die Set<\/a><\/span>\u00a0to cut out a shimmery golden moon from a scrap from my paper scrap box. \u00a0Lastly, I added a tag topping bow with some ribbon and lace scraps from my trim scrap bag.<\/p>\n

Remember, my readers can get 10% off and free worldwide shipping on any orders of $35 at Diemond Dies<\/a><\/span><\/strong> by using the coupon code “thankskristina” at checkout.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following is a\u00a0process video of creating this tag:<\/p>\n