BPM/IBFS: Beware the Bird Man

Hello, friends!

I really enjoy legends and lore of everything from local ghosts to strange creatures.  Today’s creation, a Halloween card, is inspired by this.

This card is inspired by tales from folklore.  It contains quite the warning to watch your p’s and q’s - especially around Halloween!  Mr. Ignatious Crane was a well-to-do member of the village of Maple Falls, located just outside of Salem, MA.  He wasn’t a pleasant man and was known for his temper.  Townsfolk would move out of the way when they saw him coming . . . lest they take a chance on offending him and suffering his verbal abuse.  They all snickered behind his back about the fact that his surname was quite appropriate since he resembled a bird with his long, protuding nose and small dark eyes.  As fate would have it, he encountered the widow Winslow on All Hallow’s Eve in 1792.  The widow was rumored to be a witch, and it was hinted that she killed her husband with witchcraft many years back.  She was carrying home some herbs that she picked in the forrest when Ignatious appeared in front of her on the path back to the village.  Being the bully that he was, Ignatious refused to move out of the widow’s way and let her proceed.  Instead, his acerbic toungue spewed insult after insult at the old woman until she had enough.  She had warned him to move on and he refused the warning.  Old widow Winslow started to yell in what Ignatious could only think was gibberish . . . until he started to feel different.  He could feel something sprouting from his head, and only heard bird chirps as he yelled at the widow.  He left her behind and ran back home, garnering gasps and shrieks of horror from each person he passed.  It wasn’t until he reached for his hand mirror that he understood - and saw a man’s body with a bird’s head staring back at him.  It was said that Ignatious left the village that night and lived in the woods around the town.  He’d return each All Hallow’s Eve to scare the townsfolk - and would run off at just the mention of old widow Winslow’s name.

I hope that you enjoyed my Halloween story inspired the products used to make the card:

• Vintage Style Hybrid Mystical Character Bird Man Art Rubber Stamp
  
• BEWARE Word Art Rubber Stamp
  
• Faded Page Text Words Rubber Stamp
  
• 4”x5” cotton paper panel
• 5”x7” Kraft card base
• Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Tea Stain, Old Photo, Lost Shadow, Hickory Smoke
• Tim Holtz Distress Spray Stains - Old Photo, Antique Linen

Making the card was very easy - just stamping, cutting, and mounting with double sided foam tape.

I added lots of grunge to make it look very old, and the cotton paper helped make it look older, too.

I hope that you enjoyed my card and my story.  May you all have a happy and safe All Hallow’s Eve!

Until next time . . . be well!