Valentine Birds

Welcome to the Etsy Greetings Valentine Blog Hop! The hop starts at the team blog, where you'll find a complete list of participating blogs. Start there or jump right in here and use the red arrows at the end of this post to navigate to other participating blogs!

For this hop we were asked to pair a Valentine card from our own shop with a gift item from anywhere on Etsy. The decision was pretty easy for me. I have a favourite card in my shop which is perfect for Valentine's Day, an anniversary, birthday or just to tell someone how much you care. Looking through my favourites on Etsy (when you find an item or shop on Etsy that you love, you can bookmark it by adding it to your Favourites. This is also referred to as "hearting" an item or shop.) the perfect gift to go with my card jumped right out at me - Abigail Brown's Pink Fabric Bird.

I have been waiting from my husband to discover my Etsy Favourites for quite some time now. I have hinted several times that it is THE place to find my very favourite things, the things I most desire, but it is falling on deaf ears for the moment! In the meantime, I remain passionate about Abigail's exquisite birds and think that this little pink bird is the perfect partner for my card.

Abigail studied for a BA in Surface Decoration and Printed Textiles and since that time has worked as a designer and illustrator of children's books, children's wear, stationery, and greeting cards. As a child she spent a great deal of time with her grandma, an incredibly talented seamstress, and now says that there is nothing more natural to her than to work with fabric, using it to give life to the little creatures that form in her mind.
Abigail's little bird is not based on any specific species but is rather just a pretty little bird with a great deal of appeal. She - I rather think she is a girl - is crafted entirely by hand, layered with different coloured textured and patterned fabrics and embellished with tiny hand stitches to replicate feathers. She stands alone on wire legs and measures around 13cm in height.

My rather girly card was originally created for a friend's birthday and I thoroughly enjoyed going a little overboard crafting a sweet little bird, flowers and balloons in a pretty colour scheme of pinks, lemons and turquoises. I was rather pleased with the result and decided to recreate it and pop it into my shop. It is one of my larger cards, measuring 15cm x 20cm folded and, though perfect for Valentine's Day, I have left it without a greeting so that it can be used for any occasion*.

I have made it clear from this post that I would dearly love that little bird for myself! Unfortunately that is not likely to happen but I am sure that there are many bird lovers out there who would love to own such an exquisitely crafted piece, handmade in Abigail's studio in London. My own card is of course handmade in my workspace here in Israel but in my dreams our two birds could perhaps fly off and meet up halfway. Israel, located at the junction of three continents, is crossed by migrating birds on a scale unparallelled anywhere. About 500 million birds cross Israel's narrow airspace twice every year in the course of their migrations and consequently Israel has become an attraction for bird enthusiasts worldwide. I dare say that one of those enthusiasts would appreciate these little pink birds as much as I do!


* If you wish to purchase the card from my shop and would like me to customise it with a particular name or greeting, simply let me know by e-mail or Etsy convo.