Free as a Bird stamp set and a watercolour pencil tip

The last of the three designs made at last week’s Bird Ballad Night, this time using Pool Party cardstock as the base, with Coastal Cabana ink sponged on top.

As colour families go, you have several generations of the same shade here; young Pool Party, with Coastal Cabana as the parent, Bermuda Bay as the grandparent (not used) and now we have the great-grandparent in Pretty Peacock, which makes its entrance in the lovely ribbon. I hope you know what I mean and don’t think I’ve completely lost the plot!

Colouring with watercolour pencils requires a light touch, and some of my ladies tend to go a bit overboard, so I made this colouring guide for last Friday’s class. 

I used just a hint of colour around the edges with the watercolour pencils, then blended them to get the results you see in the main image above, and the previous two projects. 

Petal Pink Bird Ballad cards

It’s not often I’m in the pink, is it? But these cards just cry out for some gentle Petal Pink, sponged in Rococo Rose to add some depth. I love these Free As a Bird stamps... in fact the whole Bird Ballad Suite is absolutely gorgeous and I suggest you order it all immediately!

Get perfect fishtails by using the Tailored Tag punch; just poke in the end of a strip of cardstock, centre it by eye and punch. Voilà!

 

Bird Ballad Laser-Cut Cards with So Saffron

These laser-cut cards are so gorgeous that I just had to run a class using them. They come in a beautiful presentation tin which means you can make them up as a lovely gift for someone, or use the cards and keep the tin for something else! It’s £17 for the tin with 12 cards, and the item code is 149595.  

To get this lovely ombre effect behind the laser-cut detail, simply sponge your piece of cardstock using ink of the same colour (So Saffron in this sample). It doesn't matter how rough it looks; I promise you it will look fabulous behind these beautiful cards.

Free as a Bird and Birch Background - a match made in heaven

Bird Ballad is one of the stand-out suites in the new catalogue, with loads of lovely products including this Free as a Bird stamp set and Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper. It goes perfectly with the lovely new Birch Background stamp, too; a match made in heaven!

To get a subtle look from the Birch Background stamp, I stamped it in Crumb Cake onto scrap paper once first, before stamping onto my Whisper White cardstock. This process – known as ‘stamping off’ – removes some of the ink to give you a paler look. 

Bird Ballad Suite catalogue CASE

Long-timers will remember that the Stampin' Up!® Annual Catalogue used to be called the “Idea Book & Catalogue” and, despite the name change, it remains a valuable source of ideas.

If I'm stuck, I often turn to the catalogue for inspiration; most of the time my project turns out completely different, I just need something to start me off.

This time, however, I deliberately set out to CASE the catalogue. CASE means “Copy And Share Everything” and I fancied having a go at the card showcased on page 90. I think my card is a different size - and I know I used a different bird, cut out from the Bird Ballad DSP. Why did I use a different bird? For those who know me, that will be obvious; the one used in the catalogue is from right in the middle of the sheet! There was no way I was cutting right into the middle of a sheet of brand new DSP. Would you?

If you don't have exactly the same products as used in a catalogue project, simply adapt to your own supplies. I didn't have the All Wired Up background stamp used on the catalogue card, so embossed my cardstock using the Subtle 3D embossing folder instead.