Elegant Bird Card (March Class Project)

You know, I get crazy about all the birds flying around on cards and scrapbook pages and journals . . . I just don't like 'em!!!!  That is, until I saw a card by Lisa Young.  I loved the flower and just had to try it myself!  So this was the third card for our March classes.  Of course, I made just a few tweaks to her card to fit my tastes a little better

The card itself is Pool Party card stock (8-1/2" x 5-1/2"); a 5-1/4" x 4" piece of Soft Suede is layered on top, then a 3-7/8" x 5-1/8" piece of Naturals White card stock was embossed with the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder and layered over the Soft Suede.  The bird body & wing were cut with the Elegant Bird Bigz Die from Attique Boutique Designer Series Paper (both are available only through the end of April from the 2012 Occasions Mini Catalog); the wing was run through the Crimper to give it a little texture.  The same DSP was used to cut the leaves with the Little Leaves Sizzlits Die.  Three flowers were cut from Pool Party card stock with the Fun Flowers Bigz Die.  I inked up the Music Notes Stampin' Around Wheel with Soft Suede Classic Ink to make the banner on a 1-1/4" wide strip of Very Vanilla card stock; used a square punch to cut the "V" at the end of the banner.  The Tiny Tags at the bottom were stamped with Soft Suede Classic Ink on Very Vanilla card stock and then punched out with the Jewelry Tag Punch.

Now . . . to the assembly -- before putting anything together, I used a Stampin' Sponge to distress the edges of pretty much everything except the Soft Suede layer of card stock and the Little Leaves.  Then I followed this sequence:

1. Adhere the embossed and distressed Naturals White card stock to the Soft Suede card stock.
2. Adhere the music banner as shown over the Naturals White card stock.
3. Adhere the Little Leaves as shown over the music Banner.
3. Adhere the bird body over the banner and leaves; scrunch up the wing and adhere it over the bird body.
4. Cut a length of Very Vanilla Seam Binding Ribbon and wrap it around your fingers twice, leaving ends at least as long as the loops.  Tie a piece of Linen Thread around the center of the loops to create the bow.  Adhere over the bird.
5. Line up the three flowers and use the Paper Piercing Tool to punch a hole in the center; attach a Vintage brad through all three layers, and then drop the  flowers into a bowl of water (or put the flower on some paper towels and spritz them with water until they're very damp).  Pull the flower out of the water and scrunch the petals toward the center of the flower, one layer at a time.  When the flower looks like you want it to, set it on a per towel to try and harden.  When dry, spritz with a Soft Suede Stampin' Write Marker and the Spritzer Tool.  Adhere to front of card over bow (I used a puddle of Tombow Multi-purpose Liquid Glue to attach the flower).
6. Tuck the two tags up under the flower and adhere to the card with Mini Glue Dots.

That's it . . . a very elegant spring card!

Cath  ;D