Category: Birds

  • A Vibrant Hello by Christina Rannow

    A Vibrant Hello
    by Christina Rannow

    Hello! It’s Christina, and I’m excited to share this vibrant card featuring the unique Pretty Peacock Craft Dies. These dies are unique because the showy display of tail feathers is made up of the small negative spaces after die-cutting them from a cardstock panel. Then you can back the negative spaces with beautiful ink blends, iridescent spatters, or your prettiest cardstock to complete the magnificent display. For this card, I chose a yellow ink blend and a spritz of Distress Mica Stain for a little shimmer. Then I complemented this magnificent bird with some green foliage and pretty blooms. Let’s take a look at how it all came together.

    I started by die-cutting the feathers from a white cardstock panel and then ink-blended Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, and Bluepriny Sketch Distress Inks over them. Underneath the feathers, I added a tropical green ink color for the suggestion of foliage. Next, I created the backer panel for the feathers. After inking another white cardstock panel with two shades of bright sunshine yellow inks, I then spattered the panel with Flickering Candle Distress Mica Stain. I let the inks dry for a few minutes and then secured this panel behind the first one. Finally, I die-cut a circle from one last white cardstock panel and layered it onto the other panels. This last panel framed the peacock and gave it a little more definition.

    My next step was to die-cut and ink the remaining elements for my card design, including the pieces for the body of the peacock, the foliage, and the flowers. I used white cardstock for all the pieces and inked them with more of the Peacock Feathers, Mermaid Lagoon, Blueprint Sketch, tropical greens, and sunshine yellows. After inking them, I assembled the pieces and then secured them to my card front using either glue or thin foam squares.

    To finish up my card design, I added the sentiment die-cut from black cardstock and a few yellow enamel dots for embellishment. The last step was to secure the card front to a top-fold card base.

    Thank you so much for checking out my vibrant card featuring the magnificent Pretty Peacock Craft Dies. See you again soon!

    57546 Hello Scripted
    57588 Foliage Bunch
    57590 Block Print Tapestry Blooms
    57591 Block Print Pretty Peacock
  • Elegant Peacocks by Toni M Maddox

    Elegant Peacocks
    by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, friends! Toni here with you today with a couple of thank you cards using the Block Print Pretty Peacock from the latest release.

    I used an “ugly” origami paper behind the tail fan. It’s just one I didn’t prefer but looks amazing through those feathers.

    I chose the colors of the Block Print Pretty Peacock from it, using Memory Box 6×6 cardstocks.

    It occurred to me that the tail fan could be used twice to create a cool symetrical background. I decided they looked like mums that the Block Print Soaring Hummingbird is exploring.

    For both cards, I used the Sugar Script Big Thanks die which is one of my favorites–such a great size and font!

    I hope you enjoyed today’s cards and have a great rest of your week!

    Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

    57591 Block Print Pretty Peacock
    57659 Block Print Soaring Hummingbird
    57142 Big Thanks Sugar Script
    SP1011 Greenery 6×6 pack
    SP1012 Blush 6×6 pack
    SP1013 Sunrise 6×6 pack
  • Festive Thank You by Rosemary Dennis

    Festive Thank You
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a thank you card featuring the new Block Print Festive Bird die set, as well as two older products. Let’s have a look at what I created.

    One of the things I like about the packaging for all of the Birch Press Design products is that it shares an image of the finished design in color. This provides you with a great jumping off point for creating your own little bird. I have done that in the past, but this time I decided to use colored cardstock and glitter cardstock to create my little bird. I kept my color scheme fairly simple.

    You can see all the pieces of my bird laid out above. I used cardstock from the Memory Box Lagoon 6×6 pad, as well as glitter cardstock from my stash and a tiny piece of yellow cardstock for the beak.

    I did want to mention that before I started making color choices for my little bird I did die cut all the pieces from a scrap of cardstock so I could make sure I knew how all the pieces fit together.

    I used liquid adhesive to adhere my bird together. Once I had the bird finished I set it aside to figure out the rest of my card. Originally I was going to have the bird perched on a large die cut sentiment, but nothing was working. So, I decided to go through all my BPD dies and came across the Abundant Branch die. Perfect for my little bird to perch on!

    I die cut the branch from kraft cardstock and then from green cardstock. I trimmed the leaves off the green branch and adhered them with liquid glue to the kraft cardstock branch. I did that a second time and then trimmed apart that branch to I could position the pieces as you see. Then adhered my little bird on the branch.

    The sentiment is from the Vintage Everyday Greetings stamp set and was stamped on the same light blue cardstock I used for the background. I die cut it, a second layer, adhered them together with liquid adhesive and added it to my card front.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s project. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    57575 Abundant Branch
    CL8168 Vintage Everyday Greetings
    57587 Block Print Festive Bird
  • Sweet Bird Duo by Rosemary Dennis

    Sweet Bird Duo
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello and happy March everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a sweet birthday card that I think just says “spring”! I used the new Block Print Bird Duo, Block Print Mod Branches and Elegant Birthday Sentiments for my card. Let’s have a look at what I made.

    This card is similar to the card I posted at the end of February in that I die cut white cardstock and then blended on the ink. But this time I decided to use Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock for all my die cutting to give the the birds and branch a little bit more interest.

    To do the blending on these small pieces I love to use my Waffle Flower 0+ blending brushes. You can see them in the photo. Inking tiny pieces with them is a breeze!

    I decided to keep a relatively cohesive color scheme to keep things simple and allow me to complete the card rather quickly. I used two shades of green ink for the leaves, stem and parts of the bird. Then I threw blue, yellow and a little bit of red for the berries into the mix.

    Here I have the branch mostly completed. Below are all the pieces of the birds inked up and ready to be assembled.

    I love dimension on my cards, but with the cost of postage being so high now days I often refrain from using foam squares. In order to obtain some dimension without adding thickness I will often not completely glue down pieces. For example, the leaves are only glued down at the base of the stem and the wings of the birds at the top. That way I can lift up the pieces and give the illusion of dimension.

    Once everything was assembled I die cut another piece of white woodgrain cardstock with a medium sized rectangle and adhered that to a bright green cardstock base with double sided tape. I then adhered the branch (which was a little tricky, lol) and the birds using glue. I finished with the sentiment that was stamped and die cut with the matching die.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

    57585 Block Print Bird Duo
    57633 Block Print Mod Branches
    8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments clear stamp and die set
  • Tropical Birthday Greetingsby Toni M Maddox

    Tropical Birthday Greetings
    by Toni M Maddox

    Hello, my friends! Toni here today sharing a birthday card for any bird lovers in your life. Who am I kidding? This is perfect for anyone with a birthday!

    I used the Pinpoint Contour Plate on the pale blue card front then sponged it with a darker blue Catherine Pooler ink (aquatini?).

    Setting the panel aside to dry after spattering it with a bit of water, I die cut the Abundant Branch and blossoms from Memory Box cardstock.

    I particularly enjoyed assembling the  Block Print Perched Tropical Bird where I used Memory Box cardstock sponged with Catherine Pooler ink for shading.

    My final step was to emboss and diecut the Elegant Birthday Sentiments. Such a great font, isn’t it?

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!

    Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

    CL8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments
    57586 Block Print Perched Tropical Bird
    57575 Abundant Branch
    57511 Pinpoint Contour Plate
    SP1011 Greenery 6×6 pack
    SP1012 Blush 6×6 pack
    SP1013 Sunrise 6×6 pack
  • Birthday Greetingsby Rosemary Dennis

    Birthday Greetings
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! February is winding down and I am starting to think of spring even though we really haven’t had much of a winter here in the Pacific Northwest. While there are lots of pretty dies in the newest Birch Press Design release the beautiful Soaring Hummingbird and Daisy Flower dies from the Block Print line caught my eye and I just had to use them first. Let’s look at what I created.

    I love the other hummingbird die set from Birch Press Design (Block Print Hummingbird) and so was delighted to see this new hummingbird die. I started by die cutting all the hummingbird pieces from white cardstock. Initially I was just going to use them to help me determine how the bird went together, but then I decided to use distress oxide ink color the pieces instead of diecutting from colored cardstock which was my original idea. I used small blending brushes to color all the pieces.

    In the photo you can see some of the inks I used as well as the inkblended pieces.

    I die cut the daisies and centers from white cardstock as well. You will need two die cuts per flower to create the daisies on my card. I think it would be fun to die cut a third flower to create an even fuller daisy – like a gerber daisiy. In this photo you can see the small blending brush I used to color the die cuts. My blending isn’t perfect because in real life flowers are perfect, either!

    The bird and the flowers were assembled using liquid adhesive and then set aside to dry.

    Then I die cut the stems and leaves added the inkblending and added the leaves to the tall stem. I die cut white cardstock using a Memory Box Curved Cap Pinpoint Layers die and then layered that onto light gray cardstock that I die cut with a rectangle die.

    Now it was time to layer on all elements. I used liquid adhesive to adhere everything to the card front except for the hummingbird. For him I used a combination of liquid adhesive and foam squares. I stamped the greeting from the Elegant Birthday Sentiments stamp set with black ink and die cut it with the matching die. The die was used to die cut two more layers that were adhered behind the stamped sentiment and then adhered to the card with liquid adhesive.

    I really love how this card turned out. It will be going to my sweet mom who will be turning 89 at the end of April. I hope she loves it too!

    CL8166 Elegant Birthday Sentiments
    57634 Block Print Daisy Flower
    57659 Block Print Soaring Hummingbird

  • Penguin Wishesby Rosemary Dennis

    Penguin Wishes
    by Rosemary Dennis

    Hello everyone! Rosemary here on the blog today with a card that could be used for a winter birthday or a friendship card. Let’s look at what I made.

    For my card today I used the Block Print Peaceful Penguin and Superb Penguin dies, as well as the Warm Wishes Dapper Script die set. These dies are from the winter release. I also used my favorite Wavy Hillside dies for the card. I started out by diecutting the pieces of my penguins.

    I die cut the bodies from white, the beaks and second layer from a medium yellow (from the Memory Box Sunset 6×6 pad) and then a gray cardstock from my stash. I used Black Soot distress oxide ink on the yellow second layer and the gray top layer to darken them up, but still have some of the yellow and gray in each penguin. I used Fired Brick distress oxide ink on the beaks.

    I let everything dry before adhering all the pieces with liquid adhesive. While the penguins were drying I die cut the wavy hill from Memory Box white woodgrain cardstock for some texture. A piece of light blue cardstock was die cut and then I did some light ink blending of a blue distress oxide ink around the edges. I don’t know what blue it is because I just used the residual ink on my blending brush for a soft look.

    I added a little bit to the Wavy Hillside, as well. For the penguins I added a little bit of Pumice Stone distress oxide and then used the blue, again, over that. I layered the hillside onto the light blue panel with glue and then added my penguins, also with glue.

    I finished off the card with the sentiment. I die cut the shadow layer from the same light blue cardstock as the background and the word layer from white cardstock. I adhered the words to the shadow layer with liquid adhesive and then adhere the sentiment to my card with liquid adhesive.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card. Have a wonderful day!

    57641 Block Print Peaceful Penguin
    57653 Warm Wishes Dapper Script
    57639 Block Print Superb Penguin
    57563 Wavy Hillside

  • Lovebirdsby Christina Rannow

    Lovebirds
    by Christina Rannow

    Hi friends! Christina here to share a charming Valentine’s-themed card featuring the sweetest pair of lovebirds. These cuties are part of the latest release and are from the Block Print Bird Duo die set, and since we are coming up on Valentine’s Day, I decided to make them pink and red lovebirds. I have them perched on a branch and framed by a simple heart die-cut from the background panel. Let’s take a look at how this lovely card design came together!

    My first step was to die-cut the components for the sweet little birds. I used red and two shades of pink cardstock for the main body pieces and a khaki color for the beak. I assembled the birds using glue for most of the pieces but used thin foam squares for the wings. I die-cut the eyes twice from dark gray cardstock and stacked them for a little dimension before gluing them in place. 

    Next I die-cut the pieces for the Abundant Branch from green and brown cardstock and then assembled the branch using glue. 

    With most of the elements completed, I moved on to the background panel. I used the heart from the Block Print Garden Heart set to die-cut the shape from the center of a white A2 cardstock panel. Then I lightly inked the center of another A2 white cardstock panel with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink before layering the heart panel on top. This created a heart-shaped window for the lovebirds to be perched against. 

    My last steps were to bring everything together and add a sentiment. First, I attached the branch across the panel near the bottom of the heart. Then, using thin foam squares, I attached the bird duo so they were perched on top of the branch. Next, I heat-embossed a sentiment from the Poppy Stamps Sentimental Banners on red cardstock with white embossing powder and die-cut it using a small wavy banner die. I added the banner to my card front along with some small red heart die cuts that I got from the Poppy Stamps Hearts Shining Arch die set. 

    Thank you so much for checking out my Valentine’s Day card design with the sweetest pair of lovebirds that I created using the new Block Print Bird Duo die set. See you again soon!

    57585 Block Print Bird Duo
    57589 Block Print Garden Heart
    57575 Abundant Branch

    CB516 Sentimental Banners
    2501 Hearts Shining Arch
  • Blue Heron Hello by Toni M Maddox

    Blue Heron Hello
    by Toni M Maddox

    Happy New Year, my friends! Toni here with an Asian-inspired any occasion card.

    To create the medallion, I used the Arista Layer Set.

    Notice how I used vellum for the first layer to make a subtle contrast to the texture base layer.

    Next, I constructed the Block Print Majestic Heron using a shimmer cardstock in ombre shades of blue. I love that sparkle!

    I used the same cardstock for the Hello Scripted sentiment.

    I hope you enjoyed today’s card and have a great rest of your week!

    Feel free to visit my blog, Frankie Helps Craft, for a full list of supplies used and to check out my other creations.

    Supplies

    57608 Block Print Majestic Heron

    57418 Arista Layer Set

    57546 Hello Scripted

  • Christmas Cardinal Tags | by Christina Rannow

    Christmas Cardinal Tags | by Christina Rannow

    Hi friends! I’m excited to share my first Christmas tags of the season with you featuring the Block Print Winter Cardinal. I combined this handsome cardinal with plenty of holiday greenery, an embossed background, and a sentiment that is the perfect fit. Let’s get started on these handmade tags while we still have time!

    I started with two kraft cardstock tags that measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I embossed each tag with a snowflake pattern using an embossing folder and then lightly swiped a white pigment ink pad over the tags, letting the ink pad highlight the embossed areas. 

    Next I die-cut the layering pieces for the cardinals and the pieces for the Christmas greenery, including the berries, a holly leaf, and two pine sprigs for each tag. I used two shades of red cardstock for the cardinals and the berries and two shades of green for the Christmas greenery. Then I assembled the layering pieces for the cardinals, secured each piece with glue, and then added a tiny white highlight to the eyes. 

    To assemble the tags, I arranged the greenery first, gluing each piece in place, and then tucked the cardinals and the berries into the greenery, attaching them with thin foam squares. With the cardinals and greenery in place, I lightly spattered the tags with thinned white gouache paint for a snowy effect.

    To finish up the tags, I added the die-cut sentiment and a few small die-cut snowflakes. Before looping a ribbon through the tag topper, I layered another tag, this one die-cut from green cardstock, behind the cardinal tag to be used for writing a personal message or the recipient’s name. 

    And we finished in plenty of time to adorn some gifts with these beautiful Christmas Cardinal tags! Merry Christmas, friends!


    Supplies


    57635 Block Print Winter Cardinal
    57653 Warm Wishes Dapper Script
    57656 Simple Evergreen Sprigs
    57636 Block Print Holly Sprig
    57644 Bright Snowflakes