Retired Birds (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I hope that you are keeping well. I have some projects to share with you featuring some of the fabulous retired stamps that we brought to last month's TV shows on Create and Craft. These stamps are no longer available on the website, but if you were lucky enough to purchase these stamps in our whirlwind shows, or from the website itself, then hopefully you will be inspired this month with the projects from the Design Team.

 My first two projects we created in much the same way, I placed two colours of Distress Oxide onto a large square acrylic block and spritzed this with water. I pressed the block onto a piece of textured card to colour the background. Once the card was dry, I added images from Dawn Chorus, Wise Owl and Let Your Heart Sing.

On the first card I added a sentiment from Amazing Mackintosh Words:

To complete the second card, I used a fineliner pen to lengthen the stalks and add more berries and flowers. Do not be afraid to embellish your images and create a picture. Silhouettes are a great way to do this, as all you need is a black pen. The sentiment is from Sing Your Song.

Finally here is an older card that I made some time ago which is in keeping with the general theme of my two previous cards. I made a Distress ink background for both layers, used brown ink for the stamping. I added some white charcoal to create a dreamy feel to the top layer. The image is from Let Your Heart Sing and the sentiment is from Fly Away With Me.

Thanks so much for stopping by, I will be back later in the month with more projects to share with you.

Take care,

Judith xx

Using Scrap Paper as a Focal Point (by Judith)

Hello everyone, I am back with my final projects using the lovely bird stamps featured in last month's TV shows on Hochanda. I have created two cards using scrap pieces of paper as the main feature, to show that sometimes what might be considered as something to throw away, can be made into a great feature for your cards and other projects.

For my first card, I made a background using Distress Oxides in three different colours, and then stamped some foliage from the Nature Swirls stamp set to create a scene using coordinating dye based inks. I stamped and embossed some of the images from Sing Your Song and Live Out Loud, using Versamark and some two tone embossing powders onto scraps of Lesley's My Floral Soul papers. I cut the images out, and added then to the scene. These papers are so lovely, I want to use up every last inch of them!

For my second project, I decided to use the large owl from the Wise Owl stamp set as my focal image.

I had been making some gelli print backgrounds, and had a scrap piece of paper that I had cleaned the brayer with. The multi coloured greens looked lovely, and the paper was too good to waste. I stamped the owl using Versamark, and added two different shades of embossing powder before heat embossing. I then stamped some of the swirls from Let Your Heart Sing and Dawn Chorus, using black ink, and added some flowers from Orchard Design A Tree. I also added the sentiment from the Live Out Loud stamp set.

For the background, I used a gelli print created with green ink and bubble wrap, and stamped some of the feathers from Wise Owl and Dawn Chorus with Versamark, and swirled some mica powder over the top. I added matting layers of black card to complete the project.

Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

Doves of Peace by Brenda

Good morning, Brenda here with my last post of January sharing some more Bird inspired creations.

My first has some reverse stamping using the graceful Dove from Fly away with me. I used an Oxide ink background and my starting point was to stamp the image onto acetate (ensuring the Dove is facing into the centre) using Versafine black and then carefully lay a piece of cardstock over the top and gently rub over the image to ensure the ink all transferred. Next take a careful look at the image to see where you need to stamp the reverse image and I always use grey as the reverse stamping will always be a little lighter. I'm sure many of you are old hands at this but anyone new to this I'm always happy to help, just mail me. Finally a sentiment from Sing your song

I've used Let your heart sing again for this one stamped into a masked oval which I inked with Distress Inks and a masked sun and stamped with the oval mask still in place using Versafine black. After removing the mask I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment.

The background for this one is part of a master board which I find really useful having pre prepared and which I batch make in quieter moments. I added some background interest using the flourishes Fly away with me and Wise owl and stamped one of the birds from Dawn Chorus and a computer generated sentiment.

Thank you for your visit today.

Chorus of Birds (by Julie)

Hello, today I have two more bird themed cards.

My first card is a simple little card stamped with Let Your Heart Sing and Live Out Loud.

The little bird and foliage silhouette from Let Your Heart Sing was inked up with blue Versafine and stamped along the bottom edge of the card blank. The rest of the card blank was edged and coloured with Distress inks.

The topper is from Live Out Loud and was stamped onto spare stamping card with blue Versafine, before being coloured with coloured pencils. You will see the edges have been torn and then coloured with Distress ink, before mounting onto the card base with 3D foam pads.

I started the background of this card by applying Distress inks and stamping the small feathers from Let Your Heart Sing and Dawn Chorus randomly across the card using Sepia Versafine. The lines were added by inking the side of a stamping block and applying to the card as well as adding brown inky splodges, to create a grungy looking background.

The tree silhouette from Live Out Loud was stamped onto spare card, before being cut out with a circle die and then coloured with Distress inks. The bird house was stamped onto spare card with Crimson Versafine, before being cut out. Both were attached to the card with 3D foam pads.

The card was finished off with the Live Out Loud sentiment.

Thank you for stopping by and please call back soon for daily Design Team inspiration.

Julie xx

Golden Dawn - by Penny

Goodly morning peeps, I hope this finds you all well and warm today.  I'm back today with my second post of this month, a cheerful card from the December tv shows featuring the beautiful Bird stamps.  So for this project I have used stamps from the Let Your Heart Sing, Dawn Chorus, and Live Out Loud  sets; Distress Inks, Versamark ink and gold EP.

I took a piece of white card and, using a couple of stencils from my stash I created a scenic background with a bright sunburst created with Distress Inks.  

I then stamped the Dawn Chorus collage image at the bottom of the panel using Versamark ink and embossed it in gold.  I repeated the process with two bird in the grass images.  I wanted the images to be seen clearly above the first one, so after embossing them I lengthened the grass on one of the images by painting an extension with a fine brush and glycerine, then embossed it as normal.  I stamped and embossed the poem at the top of the panel and added gold pen around the edges of the panel.   

I matted the panel onto black card and set it aside.  On a white base card I stamped several worker stamps from all the sets around the edges with DI then attached the focal panel to it.

Thank you for popping in today and spending a few minutes with me and these beautiful stamps.  I'll be back later in the month with some more crafty fun and inspiration.

Take care until next time

                         xx  Penny xx

Moonlight song by Brenda

Morning, Brenda here with more from Lesley's December shows featuring all things Birds, I've had Let your heart sing for years, it's such a lovely stamps set and lends itself to so many occasions and for this one I went with shades of yellow with a hint of black, my thinking was moonlight but it could equally be early morning just before sunset, I will let you decide. After masking the moon I brushed on on sky, removed the mask and added some more colour across the moon and then stamped the bird image. I used my stamp platform for this along with black versafine so that I could repeat stamp to achieve a deep image.........I resisted buying one for so long and now I really wonder why, especially since my recent illness when my hands and arms have become quite weak and it has become invaluable. Finally I matted ad layered onto coordinating cardstock.

Here I took the three birdies from Fly away with me and stamped each individually onto a piece of art board using versafine toffee, then using the small egg from the same set I repeat stamped around the edges of each piece, a flourish in the corner using the tail of the Dove and under one bird added a branch from Dawn Chorus. Next I added some brick wall stencilling to the background and glazed all using repeat inking and embossing using versamark and detail clear powder, finally mounting all onto a piece of corrugated to which I added some aqua Frantage.

My final share using purple and yellow, a colour palette I always enjoy using has a central masked circle coloured with Pan Pastels and stencilled with Really Useful Leaves and Distress Inks, the mask removed and one of the birds from Dawn Chorus and sentiment from Sing your song stamped in Versafine black, both repeat stamped using my stamp platform.

My thanks as always for popping by today.

Birds at any season (by Magda)

Hello,
during this month I am posting projects with the beautiful stamps Lesley showcased on Hochanda at the beginning of December.
Birds can be used at any season to send warm messages to friends.

For my projects I used Versafine  Onyx Black for stamping the following stamps:
Let your heart sing
Fly away with me
Live out loud
Fat Robin

Distress Ink Pad through stencils or used as a wash allowed to change the white cardstock  and a tag into a colorful background

These following 3 cards explain my interpretation of research done on the relationship between the  bird, primary colours and songs. 

 Blue Bird : a song by Paul McCartney

Red Bird : a Children's song 1966 renewed in 1994

Yellow Bird :  an old Haitian Folk Song

I hope you enjoyed my post and thank you for passing by 

Magda

brusho dawn (by Veronica)

 Let your heart sing has been one of my favourite stamp sets for ages, I just love the bird silhouette , and as a plus it is perfect for using with my favourite brusho powders!
Here are three versions in different colourways, but they all look more like dawn skies to me - could be wrong there.....

The first one used a whole sheet of card colouted with brusho, stamping the image on the best bit using black versafine ink and clear embossing powder. trimming close to the image. Two panels cut from the rest of the sheet, all on thin bklack mats and mounted onto a square white 8" card blank.




The other two, image stamped first and embossed, then coloured with brusho powders.

The base card blank was randomly stamped with the music image from the music fanfare set using a light grey ink and holding the stamp in my hand, and more of the ink sponged round the edges.
Sentiment from sing your song stamped in black

The final version I used a red mat, and eged the card bl;ank with red ink to match. I repeat stamped the bird image in light grey across the bottom of the card blank

A song in your Heart (by Rachel)

This week we welcome back Rachel Fisher in her second guest design team spot.  Rachel has been combining several stamp sets with Brushos to create this fiery card. Enjoy

Hi everyone

So nice to be back here in the Design Team blog.  My design this week is all about contrasts, I love the idea of the bird silhouetted against the bright sky, almost like a morning sunrise.

To make the topper I used reds and orange Brushos for the background then overstamped using the main image from Let Your Heart Sing.

To create the card background I have used a combination of distress inks in similar colours to the topper and then I stamped images from the same set with Archival black ink. Finally I added a couple of stamps from the Texture Fragments set..

Hope you like the splash of colour, see you again next week

Rachel x

We love colour Rachel so this is a great start to the day. Look forward to seeing your next post.

If this design has inspired you then please drop by again tomorrow to see more wonderful artwork from our fabulous Design Team girls.