I Challenge You Wednesday: Birds

If you remember from last week, my friend and I are getting together each Wednesday on our blogs to share our creations on a particular theme. My friend chose the theme this week, and it was "birds". Boy, I didn't realize how many bird stamps I have! And most of them hadn't been inked up yet. I get so many great deals that sometimes it takes me awhile to get to working with them all ...

Anyway, I set out all my bird stamps on my desk and looked at them for a day or so. Then I got inspired and created all of these in one day (my personal "day off").

So here are my cards for the week ...



Supplies: stamp (Inkadinkado pelican); paper (Paper Reflections, ATD Serendipity); Cuttlebug vintage corner die; dew drops.

I don't think I've ever done an inked sunset card before, but I finally got a brayer for Christmas, so I decided to try it. I hadn't done masking before, either, but it wasn't as hard as I always thought it was. I simply masked the pelican and card background to make the setting sun, then masked the setting sun to make the sunset background. If I had it to do over, I would have added some red ink to the mix. All in all, though, I'm happy with it.



Supplies: stamp (Inkadinkado pelican); Nestabilities Labels 1; paper (Paper Reflections, ATD Serendipity); corner rounder; double-sided black satin ribbon.

I used the same technique on this card, but I cropped the image this time. I like this one, too!



Supplies: stamp (Martha Stewart birds); paper (Paper Reflections, Making Memories); Nestabilities Labels 1; EK Success fleur de lis border punch; colored pencils blended with baby oil.

Now we move on to the Martha Stewart birds that I got dirt cheap at Tuesday Morning and Big Lots last year. I'll just warn you upfront that I like to look at birds, but I have no idea how to color them. I've probably colored birds that don't even exist, at least not the way I colored them. If you know the type of bird each of these is, I'd really appreciate if you'd tell me in the comments so I can look them up online to see how they're supposed to be colored! :)

With that little disclaimer out of the way, I was pretty happy with how these cards turned out.



Supplies: stamp (Martha Stewart birds); Nestabilities Labels 1; paper (Paper Reflections, Making Memories); EK Success fleur de lis border punch; colored pencils blended with baby oil.

I like the colors on this one, probably because I do know what a robin is supposed to look like! :) Now if that's really a robin, I'll be shocked ...



Supplies: stamp (Martha Stewart birds); Nestabilities Labels 8; Cuttlebug vintage corner die; paper (ATD Serendipity, Paper Reflections); colored pencils blended with baby oil.

This is a cute little bird. I only wish I knew what colors he's supposed to be!



Supplies: stamp (Martha Stewart birds); Nestabilities Labels 8; paper (unknown, Making Memories); colored pencils blended with baby oil.

I love how the paper matched so well on this card. I think it's my favorite of the Martha Stewart bird cards, even if it is the simplest in design.


Supplies: stamp (Anna Griffin stork, Autumn Leaves Flourishes); Nestabilities Large Scallop Circle; Martha Stewart heart lace border punch; paper (Paper Reflections); Versamark and clear embossing powder.

I've had this stamp for a long time and didn't know how to use it. It's more of an "antiquey" image, so I didn't know how to color it. Then I saw that a lot of people stamp those kinds of images in light brown, and I liked the effect.

Since I used my flourish stamps on the dollar store frame the other day, I haven't been so afraid of them. So this time I decided to make my own patterned paper since I didn't have any in my stash that were "just right" for these cards. I like how they turned out!

So here it is, in a girl and boy version. My niece just had a baby, and when I made this I didn't know if it was a boy or girl, so I made one of each. (It's a boy.)



Supplies: stamps (Tim Holtz Flight of Fancy, Flourishes v2 by Autumn Leaves); paper (ATD Serendipity, Paper Reflections); Nestabilities Labels 8 and Large Scallop Circles; Martha Stewart eyelet PATP border punch; liquid pearls; Versamark ink and clear embossing powder.

Lastly, I used a Tim Holtz set called Flights of Fancy. I've used this one before, but it never hurts to try something new with a stamp! I really like those pink pearls around the scallop edging, but I'm too cheap to buy the stick-on flatback pearls and then use them so quickly. That's why I love the liquid pearl paint - it's easy to apply and it's very inexpensive. I can get hundreds of pearls out of one bottle!

That's all I have for this week. Now you'll want to check out my friend's blog to see what she came up with. As always, feel free to participate and leave a link in the comments. You're just as welcome to simply browse, though! :)