Robins Flowers

Leonie recently launched her new collection on Hochanda and for this card I am using some of the stamps and embossing folders from that launch. The little birds are wonderful, I think they would be lovely cut from felt, stuffed and made into Christmas Tree Decorations. I would have done this for the launch but as always I completely ran out of time. I will definitely make some for my tree this year.

I started by taking a sheet of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock from Crafters Companion and cut into the sizes I would need for stamping. I did this as I wanted to be selective about the parts of the embossing folder and to save card. I ran these pieces through the machine using the Dotty Days folder.

Next using Walnut stain Distress Ink I stamped out the birds and quite a few wings. I wanted to use the dotty art for the birds and their wings. For the flowers I wanted to use the swirl part of the same folder.

Next I took 2 pieces of card, Neenah for the background and Kraft card for the front which would become a frame. From the Kraft card I cut a rectangle using the basic die.

I next coloured the birds using a selection of my alcohol markers. I secured the wings to them using Cosmic Shimmer glue from Creative Expressions.

Next I worked out where to stamp the branches and used Walnut Stain Distress ink. For the longer branch, I simply added the branch again, I didn't bother masking as  one of the birds would cover the join.

On the frame I used the background stamp from the set, rather than using it as a whole, I hand stamped randomly using Fired Brick, Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.

I added Mowed Lawn Distress ink around the branches, very roughly with a sponge to give just a suggestion of foliage. For the sky I used Mermaid Lagoon, Faded Jeans and Picket Fence again randomly with a sponge.

I deepened the colour of the frame using Gathered Twigs.

Next I added Pebeo Gilding wax to add highlights, here I have used Empire Gold.

To create the flowers, I used the birds wings, which I had coloured with Leonie's Glitter pens, I used the Bright Lights set, using a minute amount of Berry in the centre blending through to Apricot and finishing with the Lemon. The colours are incredibly rich so I would always start with less of the deepest colour, you can always add more later if you choose. I secured the petals to the frame using Cosmic Shimmer glue.

Having secured the birds to the project with 3D glue gel I stamped out my sentiment and secured using Collall 3D glue gel from Crafters Companion. The 'Merry' was added to look as if the bird was carrying it in it's beak. I secured the frame to the card using foam tape to lift it from the design.

I really like this card and it could easily be used as a little picture to hang on the wall. I hope you have enjoyed my step by step and the finished piece. Take care and Happy Crafting.xx