Hi Friends! I fell instantly in love when I saw the September stamp of the month, these chunky little birds are the best! I knew I really wanted to play with come bright and fun colors and since these are cardinals, I wanted one of them to be red. I grabbed the Homespun Christmas pattern paper and was immediately drawn to the red and teal patterns and that set the tone for everything else I did. I stamped out the bird on the branch with an alcohol friendly ink and colored in my cardinal so that his face was black and the rest was red. I matched his little scarf to the teal paper the best that I could and I used YG markers for the pine needles. I used the coordinating dies to cut him out and then wanted to add some sparkle to the scene. I used a very small amount of liquid glue over the snowy areas and added the Ice Rink Super Fine Glitter. This glitter is so gorgeous and adds the perfect frosty effect to this mini scene.
I set my colored and glittered piece aside to dry and I got to work on my card base. I used a side folding card base and trimmed down the teal paper to be 4.25 in x 5.5 in. I attached that panel with liquid glue so that I could fiddle with it and make sure it was on straight. I had a scrap of the red pattern paper that I wanted to use that was a little smaller than 1/2 inch wide so I trimmed it down to be 4.25 in long and added that to the center of the card horizontally. To make sure that my birdie didn’t get lost in all this pattern, I decided that I needed a plain solid panel for the center but I also wanted that pattern paper to create a bold frame. I trimmed down Pebble card stock to be 3.25 in x 4.5 in and added it to the center of the panel with foam tape to give it a little dimension. I wanted to add a heat embossed sentiment but because I didn’t want to use a heat gun on the foam taped panel and warp it, I decided to use a sentiment with a coordinating die so I could create a more seamless look. Luckily – the sentiments in the Winter Cardinals stamp set all have coordinating dies- which is my favorite thing!!
I decided on using the “Wishing you peace and joy for the season” and I stamped it on a scrap of Pebble card stock with the Embossing Watermark Ink pad. I used the new Cranberries Embossing Powder and cut it out with the die. I adhered the sentiment flat to help it blend in with the rest of the panel and added the little bird as well. I wanted to add a little more shine so I grabbed the Essential Pearls and added a few of the creamy white pearls scattered around the card. I love how happy and fun this card is and I hope you love these sweet little birds as much as I do!