I have little feathered lodgers, House Sparrows, they've been here since I moved in and they are very busy at the moment. They are sweet, funny creatures, always twittering, sometimes squabbling and occasionally waking me up at 6am. I'd prefer to be woken by bird song rather than "cheep, cheep, cheep" but I don't think they do requests. ;) Someone once said to me I should block up the eaves but I could never do that, I could not deprive an animal of it's home, no being should be deprived of that.
I've had this project in my head since I saw these dies and stamps and I've finally got round to making it. You know what it's like being a crafter, so many ideas and not enough hours in the day!
So this card is a tribute to them, my comical little house guests.
For this project I have used Sheena Douglass stamps and dies from Crafter's Companion.
Products used:
Cottage on the corner stamp
Little Bird die
Birds of a feather stamp
Wild Rose die
Wild Rose Briar Stamp
Enjoy the Silence stamp
Crafter's Companion AquaBlend pencils
Memento Rich Cocoa
Colour Cloud inks, green and blue
White ink pad
Glossy Accents
Foam tape and glue
Small gold pearls
This was made on a 8x8" card. First I stamped the trees directly on to the left hand side of the card. I used Memento Rich Cocoa as I wanted a softer image, than I would get from stamping with black ink. I then stamped the cottage on a separate piece of white card and cut out above and round the cottage, (not underneath) leaving an horizon line. This was then coloured as grass, (with Colour Cloud ink) so it looks like the cottage is in a field. The house was coloured with Crafter's Companion AquaBlend pencils.
I cut out and stamped the bird and gave him the markings of a House Sparrow. I then also cut out the roses and stamped them. The wonderful thing about Sheena's stamps and dies is that they are designed to fit it each other, hence the Perfect Partners name. With the Roses, each petal is an individual shape, so it makes it easier to line them up. All you have to do is ink the stamp up and then press your die cut down on to it.
Crafty tip: If you find the correct direction for one of the die cuts on the stamp, do them all in one go and line them up like a production line, this makes it easier.
Next came the leaves, after cutting them out and embossing them, I began to colour them with my AquaBlend pencils, and then added water to blend.
The flowers were coloured in the same way. You don't have to worry if you slightly misalign the stamp on some of your rose petals and get a small white border you can always trim this to the edge of the stamp.
I then added foam tape to the back of the cottage scene, only where the cottage was, not on the lower portion of grass as this was going to be glued flat to the base of the card. I just wanted the house to stand away from the back of the card.
So, I then ended up with this, a base to build upon with the flowers and the bird. :)
I started to arranged the roses, leaves and Sparrow on to the card, once I liked the layout I began to glue the pieces down in to place.
I wanted the bird to appear as if he was right inside the rose briar, just having a moment, before he flew back to the house to roost. I added a drop of Glossy Accents to his eye to make it shine. His tale was glued flat but his body is stood away from the card, to give it depth, with foam tape underneath.
After I curved and shaped the flowers, giving them a more realistic appearance, I placed a golden pearl in the centre of the flower stamens.
The clouds were created by pressing my index finger into a white ink pad and then dabbing it on to the sky, the edges were softened with a cotton wool pad.
This is the the finished card.
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. I've got lots more ideas coming up. If only I could make the days longer (and house work did not interrupt them. ..)
Adele
x
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