Crows Feet Don't Hurt

This card has been shared several places and I frequently get requests for direction on how to make the crow so I decided to address it here once and for all.

This was originally created as a 3D element for a scrapbook swap on the yahoo group HotSwappinMamas in 2008, so some of the stamps are retired now. Of course I’ll suggest substitutions because that is just the helpful kind of blogger I am.

I’m going to re-make this rascal so I don’t forget anything – It has been almost a year since he was born.

This photo shows all the punches you will need; that bottom one is just a standard hole-punch. (Oops, I left off a punch for the flower on his hat, sorry)

I will not be embossing on this crow but the original had shiny black dots on his body and his wings (Versamark, black embossing powder, Polka Dot bkgd– could use Itty Bitty Bkgds). If you plan to mass produce these for a swap I recommend embossing first then punching your pieces – if you are just making one crow you can emboss later.

A few of the punches need a little extra attention – the larger (1 ¼) more mustard circle needs to be cut into quarters – just keep one of these for his beak.


The Basic Black Scallop Circle needs to be slipped into the 1 ¾ punch (or some other curved punch) so that about 5 scallops show when you are looking at the punch upside down – this will give you the smooth curve of the wing. (You could just cut the scallop in half, stack the two wings and cut a curve with your scissors)

This photo shows your crow beginning to form.

Now I have added a craft knife/blade to the photo and some black hemp – here is why:

Hat – you need to cut a curved slit into the large mustard oval – his head will slip into this just a tiny bit – this makes it look like he is really wearing a hat. This photo shows the brown brim peeking through the slit too but it won’t be that way when we start “sticking stuff down”.

Legs – His funny legs are  approximately 8 inches of black hemp – this has retired but you can color the neutral hemp with a permanent marker. I punched 1/8 inch holes in the center of his feet but again we have retirement issues since this size punch is also no longer for sale. You can use a paper piercer or sharp object to make a hole in the feet – just large enough to slip the black hemp through. Once my hemp is through I fold the feet in half and secure with mini glue dots. Length of legs can be adjusted under the body.

Beak – I added two little black marks on his beak with a fine marker.

Eyes – the eyes were punched into white cardstock with the retired 1/8 inch hole punch – then I punched around those tiny holes with a standard size hole punch – giving black centers in his eyes when the white is laid on the black face. You can just punch standard holes in white paper and add your black pupil with a marker – that is simpler anyway.

We are almost finished now. Original hat was the Canvas background, the “new” hat is the Sanded background. This time I gave him a red flower with a chocolate chip corduroy button on his hat. And I gave him longer legs since I plan on using him on a scrapbook page instead of a card this time. I think I’ll add a page to my BOM talking about aging. Trust me, I have plenty of photos clearly illustrating that I know what I mean when I say “Crow’s feet don’t hurt”.