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Wednesday 18 September 2019

A couple of birds

Hello crafting pals!

An email pings into my inbox with a challenge reminder; I look at the stamps already out on my table and a pair of ideas appear in my head... That's how today's cards came into being! Come and see:


Yes, it's a twofer! The Twofer Challenge reminder popped up just after I had used the leaves for this card and, since the leaves usually sport a bird, I thought it would be perfect for this month's Critters challenge. Let's have a closer look:


For the background, I whisked some diluted Pool Party ink over a card panel with a sponge, adding some Craft white ink when it was dry, which gives this sort of glow. Once that was dry, I used markers to ink up just the leaves of my stamps with nice autumnal colours - I do love this time of year! The stamps are from a long-retired Stampin' Up set, called Touch of Nature, that I still love to bits :)


I inked up the bird separately with a light, neutral Sahara Sand marker, coloured him with Stampin' Up Blendabilities and cut him out. I'm not sure what sort of bird he's meant to be, but I coloured him as a blue tit - such friendly little birds! The gorgeous sentiment is from one of my current favourite stamp sets - Beautiful Branches by Concorde and 9th.

My second card is a Christmas card - I never waste an opportunity to get those festive cards made!


For this one, I rootled about for some designer paper and came up with this beauty! It's from a pack of retired Stampin' Up papers called All is Calm, and those snowflakes are silver foiled onto the paper. I sponged it with Pool Party ink, stamped some trees on it (Spruce Trees by Inkylicious), then polished it up with a tissue to make a lovely shiny background.


The background was matted onto Tangelo Twist card stock so my Robin didn't have to make everything merry and bright all by himself! I stamped a good-to-honest sentiment from Clearly Besotted's Cityscape and popped it up on dimensionals.


Robins have sharper, pointier beaks than blue tits, so I adjusted that with a fineliner, gave my bird a longer tail and coloured him as a robin, using Spectrum Noir markers this time. I perched him in a snow drift made by punching out white circles and trimming them to fit the background. It amused me to have him looking up at the sentiment as if to say "Who put that sign there?!"

This is my second go at The Twofer Card Challenge this month - I find it a lot of fun to make different cards, for different occasions, using the same stamp, stencil or die!


AND IN OTHER NEWS
My youngest son has been asked to clear out his room before going off to uni. It is a slow process! I recently bought a new vacuum cleaner, a Henry, which I'm delighted with. Henry looks like this:


The state of my son's room will probably be clearer when I explain that today is the first time he has met Henry! He suggested that Henry can be a son substitute when he goes. "Let's face it," he said. "He'll be better at cleaning up than I ever was!" Henry IS very cute. But not as cute as my son!

Thanks for visiting me today - always lovely to have you here :)

See you soon,

20 comments:

  1. These cards are just lovely Vicky. You were always my favourite designer when you were with Stampin Up. So glad to find you're back, you are so inspiring.

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    1. Oh, thank you Dahlia! What a lovely thing to say! x

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  2. I remember how wonderfully you do birds, Vicky! It's so nice to see a pair again and I love how you've taken one stamp and made two very different birds! Great backgrounds for them too!

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    1. Aw thanks Bonnie. Isn't it amazing how one bird can dress up and become different birds!

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  3. Vicky what sweet designs you've created to highlight your birds for the Critter challenge. The leaves and soft blue backdrop for your fall card is serene and lovely. YOur Christmas card is quite festive. Thank you for playing along with Twofer Card Challenge #20.

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    1. Thanks for the inspiration Cat - The Twofer is becoming one of my favourite challenges!

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  4. Now, I have this bird stamp and there is NO WAY I could ever get it to look like these! Beautiful!

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    1. Haha! I promise you could LeAnne - I consulted my Book of Garden Birds!

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  5. Your fall and Christmas designs are just lovely, Vicky! I was afraid until I read your post that you had used two different stamps from the same bird set and now all I can say is, BRAVO, my friend! You did a brilliant job of coloring these birds to look like two different species (stamps)! Your blue tit and your background sky look marvelous with the beautiful fall foliage on your thinking of you card! And your robin perched partially outside the frame in your Christmas scene is fabulous! I love that snowy pp! Thank you so much for playing in Twofer Card Challenge #20! Hugs, Darnell (p.s. Henry is the cutest darn vacuum cleaner I've ever seen! How could anyone hate the job when using him?!)

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    1. No no, I've got the hang of it now - Same stamp, different occasions, different designs! Thank you for your kind words. But what is pp? Pesigner Paper?! I will discover the secret code!!
      About Henry, I know! I've never vacuumed so much in my life! People are having to yell at me to STOP HOOVERING! x

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  6. You never cease to amaze me! White craft ink on top, never done that before, your attention to detail on the birds, how you altered them and coloured them, and circles for snow, such inspiration! Xxx

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  7. Brilliant job to make the birds look so different and both gorgeous cards:)

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  8. They are both beautiful cards, Vickie. You did a nice job with your write up explaining how you did each of them. And I love your sidenote about “Henry.” Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks Mitzi :) I always want to know how people have made their cards so I always explain how I made mine! Henry is a very good vacuum cleaner - I didn't JUST get him because he looks cute (but I love that he does!)

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  9. You did a wonderful job on these two cards, two seasons and occasions. What a lovely bird it is, and clever changes you made to it, including the shape of its beak. That's really stretching your stamps. I love the pic of you and Eva. I have two Goldens -- Wally and LuLu. Loves!

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    1. Thanks Leslie! Really enjoyed bringing out this bird again :)
      I always say that having one golden in the family is a huge privilege so my goodness, you are having double the joy! They truly are the best dogs in the world aren't they?! x

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I'd love to know what you think. Do leave me a comment - it always makes my day! Vicky x


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