Internet, I need your input

Particularly you design-oriented people.

I'm still working on figuring out this mantel configuration (and yes, I'll probably get it done just in time to revamp everything for Christmas... but at least then I'll know where to put everything back). My brother-in-law gave me some good ideas and a good start by pulling out some of my children's books and getting them set up in a display with the shadow box.

This is the section he did, and I really like how it looks with the various heights and things leaning and facing different directions.

Here's the whole thing, though:

I still have a little more than half to fill up. I've pulled out some more books, and filled in some space, but now I need to decide whether the game and/or framed pictures should be hanging, and in what configuration, and then how densely to arrange the books on the shelf around/below them. I'm just kind of stuck. This kind of 3-D large-scale visual arrangement isn't something I do much.

The remaining side close-up:

Any brilliant ideas? Or websites you've found useful for this kind of thing? I think what's stumping me is that the whole thing is just so LONG. There's a lot of space to work with.

Dilemma

I think we can all agree, it's really entirely too late for me to start making Christmas cards like I usually do.  I've just been too tired to get them started, and seeing some of the cards others are making gets me all intimidated.

But.

Even with my baby-imposed hiatus, sometimes I can't keep myself from getting a little creative. It makes me want to get back to the crafting desk! Case in point, two baby showers this weekend.

I went into my office/crafting room to wrap presents, thinking I wouldn't even make cards, just put tags on the presents.

Well, I got a little carried away.

I ended up basically making the whole thing into a card-front. Apparently my creative juices were thinking differently when I said "simple."

You did hear me say "showerS" up there, right?

I kept going. This cute Martha Stewart wrapping paper (which is part of 4 rolls I bought several years ago when they were on sale - I thought they were too small to be worth more than the $1 apiece I paid for them, but I use them ALL the time for all kinds of fun stuff - I'll be buying more when they run out, even if there's not a sale - well, maybe a coupon) reminded me of hot air balloons, so I wrapped the whole thing in vintage binding tape and die-cut some balloons to stick on. The tag is also a Martha Stewart find (what did I ever do for crafting before she started making stuff?) that I added a tiny die-cut to.

Baby Boy Gift - Stamps: All Booked Up, Fillable Frames #9 - Papertrey Ink; Paper: gift wrap from Paper Affair, Buckaroo Blue (retired) - Stampin' Up; Ink: Versamark, Buckaroo Blue (retired) - Stampin' Up; Accessories: buttons, Fillable Frame #9 coordinating die & Mat Stack 2 coordinating die - Papertrey Ink, Cuttlebug, Ranger Embossing Pearl Silver embossing powder, Fine Linen felt - Papertrey Ink, twine, e2 Daily striped fabric tape


Baby Girl Gift - Paper: Martha Stewart gift wrap, Summer Sunrise - Papertrey Ink, Regal Rose - Stampin' Up; Accessories: Martha Stewart tag, vintage binding tape, Up, Up & Away die - Papertrey Ink

Hiatus

As you may have seen on Facebook, we have some wonderful news - I'm expecting twins in May!

Unfortunately, that means I'm sort of incapacitated for these next few weeks (I really hope it's not longer than that) - spending a lot of time on the couch. So I probably won't be crafting for a little while, but you'll know as soon as I'm back at it!

Blue Birthday

A more "masculine" birthday card today... I don't know why these are so hard!

I started off with a very pink-dominant inspiration photo from a magazine, and thought I'd adapt the layout to what I needed.

Basic Grey's Periphery collection is perfect for this kind of card... lots of gorgeous blues and greens and browns, with enough detail to be interesting and fun to look at.


Stamps: Stampin' Up'! It's Your Birthday
Paper: Basic Grey Periphery
Ink: Palette Umber
Accessories: Cuttlebug and scalloped-oval Nestabilities die

Small Stamping

When I'm short on inspiration, I like to take out something small to work on that just needs a few elements. I found these Martha Stewart tags at Joann last week, and they're a perfect small project.

For this "masculine" tag, I got to use my new houndstooth background stamp from Papertrey - the set came with two sizes of the pattern, and they're easy to line up to make several rows. The striped fabric is a fabric tape I picked up at Paper Source, and it's wrapped around the back as well to give the back a little interest.

This tag is made with rows of Martha Stewart paper tape - I actually just used the tapes in the same order they came packaged in, and added a little line between each tape with a sparkle pen. Very simple, but it turned out cute!


Stamps: Papertrey Houndstooth Background
Paper: Martha Stewart kraft tags
Ink: Palette Umber
Accessories: e2 Daily striped fabric tape, buttons, Martha Stewart "Vintage Girl" paper tape, Sakura Gelly Roll glitter pen

Another Different Baby Card

At least I hope this one is kind of different... I really love this Flourishes "Rock-A-Bye Baby" set - I think it's so sweet, and sort of vintage-y and unusual. It's kind of a pain to paper-piece, with the little ribbons and things, but it looks SO good that way.

I couldn't get a great picture, but the moon is embossed with a sparkly embossing powder, so it has a little dimension and glitter.


Stamps: Flourishes Rock-A-Bye Baby
Paper: BasicGrey LilyKate, Stampin' Up! Pretty In Pink
Ink: Palette Umber, Versamark
Accessories: Ranger Holographic Embossing Powder, Cuttlebug embossing folder, eyelet

Embossing for Baby

I went to a baby shower yesterday for one of my good friends, and for whatever reason, the photos of the card on its own didn't turn out at all, but the photos of the card with the gift did. So you get to see both!

The card is a little bit of a non-traditional baby card - no bunnies or blocks, but I think it's really perfect - sweet colors and a perfect sentiment for a little one with the whole world ahead of her. The background is dry embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder to give the idea of a sky and wind, and some of the clouds and balloons are popped up on foam adhesive to give the whole thing some dimension. The clouds and balloons are heat embossed to keep the sweet colors but give them some detail.

I made a hooded swaddling blanket as my gift - it's from Amy Butler's Little Stitches for Little Ones, and is one of my favorite baby-gift patterns. I make it with a simple cotton print on the outside and a thin-ish flannel on the inside... I figure in Texas, it's really not necessary to put in an extra layer of insulation or a warmer flannel. The original pattern has a sash-type tie... I leave that out, not because I'm too lazy to learn to do the buttonhole-style holes for it (although I am), but because somehow sashes and babies don't go together in my head. Seems like a bad idea. I embroidered "Sweet" on the hood (I actually had some glow-in-the-dark embroidery floss in exactly the right colors, so it glows in the dark!) - the pattern is a transfer from Sublime Stitching the book, which is from my favorite embroidery website (seriously, check out their amazing patterns - it'll make you want to learn to embroider!) - also the source of the glow-in-the-dark thread.

My goodness, I'm chatty today. Anyway, here's the whole thing together.


Stamps: Up, Up & Away and Just the Ticket, both from Papertrey Ink
Paper: Stampin' Up! Blush Blossom, Papertrey Classic White and Aqua Mist
Ink: Palette Umber, Versamark
Accessories: Dimensional foam adhesive; heat gun; Cuttlebug with swirl folder; cloud, balloon, & ticket dies from Papertrey Ink; Ranger Embossing Pearl in Silver

Fun with felt

This stamp/die set is part of the package I ordered a couple of weeks ago from Papertrey, so I wanted to get it out and get it broken in.

The die didn't quite cut through the felt, so I spent a while cutting it through the rest of the way with scissors, and then it ended up being kind of a background element... I think it would have been more worthwhile if I'd used it as a main centerpiece. I do like the effect, though, of the felt "shadow" behind the gingko leaves.

I love the sentiment that comes with this set - "Take a moment to remember how special you are & how lucky the world is to have you in it." I accented the sentiment (and some outlining around the leaves) with a glitter pen.

Something I like about Papertrey is that they frequently include with stamp sets a coordinating "Handmade just for you by:" stamp, which I can put on the back with my signature stamp. That was another I couldn't get a good close-up of (actually, that was because my camera batteries died and I need to go get some more...), but I appreciate the little touch.

Stamps: Papertrey Harvest Berries
Paper: Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist
Ink: Palette Umber, Ocean Tides
Accessories: Cuttlebug, Harvest Berries Die, Fine Linen felt, Sakura glitter pen

If at first you don't succeed...

...build a diorama.

Isn't that how it goes?

So you might remember last week's disaster. I spent some time this week fixing it. This time, rather than hanging them up in front of some cute paper and calling it a day, I got crafty.



This is the same box, with the same background and same figurines, but I added a little context. The tree is a bunch of lengths of twine, twisted and hot-glued to the box, with some die-cut "leaves" and button-apples. I figured I'd have the Lion hiding behind it and the Tin Man nearby like he might chop it down. Dorothy, of course, is on the yellow brick road, and since the Scarecrow was conveniently positioned like he was on the scarecrow-ing pole (do those have a name?), I made him one out of a stick.

With the balloon (die cut and stamps by Papertrey Ink), I was trying to make it look like it was floating up behind the tree, but from some angles it just looks like it's coming out of the Tin Man's head. If I can think of a way to move it without leaving adhesive behind or tearing the background, I probably will.

Hearth Centerpiece

I just finished working on the other main element of my over-the-hearth setup - this gorgeous framed board game that was hanging in my room when I was a kid. It's called "The Wonderful Game of Oz" and I think it's from the 30s? Maybe the 40s?

It was originally framed in red (double-glassed, because of the beautiful art on the back), and when we painted my room lavender, it got a new coat of paint. You can see both colors and the back glass here. (And yes, that's my sonic screwdriver behind it... I actually use it ALL the time because it's the easiest screwdriver to find and has 6 different heads. And it makes cool noises while I'm using it...)



The lavender doesn't really go with my grey-green walls in here, so I thought I'd paint again, this time white to go with the shadow box (insert sad trombone sound effect here).

Unfortunately, right after I took this picture of the artwork on the back (and progress in taking off the frame), I picked up the game and glass, and the glass cracked. On the bright side, it was the back glass and not the front, so I taped it... the tape doesn't look great, but if I ever want to somehow display both sides I'll just replace the back glass.



Other than that, I painted the frame and re-framed it without incident (actually, putting the frame back on was MUCH easier than taking it off). How gorgeous is this?



A closeup of my favorite part - Quadling Country. I spent HOURS looking at this game when I was little, writing new Oz stories in my head with the characters.

When a good idea goes horribly awry

This week, I've been trying to work on my over-the-mantel arrangement, and get everything looking like I want it. I'm sort of going for a vintage-childrens'-literature theme, and I've been obsessed with The Wizard of Oz forever, so that's pretty much the dominant book. This involves painting a frame that I really should have figured out how to paint without taking it off the glass, and finding a great way to display some gorgeous Wizard of Oz ornaments that Emily gave me for Christmas. They're really too pretty (and not too Christmasy) to just be out at Christmas.

And so enters my great idea - I'll do a shadow box or display box, where the figurines can be out all the time. I went to the dollhouse store (very cool, by the way), where I found a perfect display box - pre-painted, easy to assemble, perfect dimensions. They also had some little wooden... things... that were originally meant to hold up shelves, but had holes through them. I thought, hey, the ornaments have twine loops, I can just loop them through the holes. Still all sounding great in my head. Even better, I had the idea to cover the back with a nice scrapbook paper. Lovely, right?

Here it is, upside-down, right after I glued in the hangers. Looking great, no? Nice paper, cute hangers, good-looking box...



This was all great until I'd tied on the ornaments and stood the box upright.



...yeah.

Ornaments on a tree are ALL hung from something, so it looks normal, but human/humanoid figurines, hanging at a time other than Christmas from twine on their heads? SO SO SO CREEPY AND MORBID.

So.

This project is being re-thunk. Look for it again when I figure out how to re-work it to not look like the witch's forest was just entirely too dark and depressing.

Scentsy Style

My aunt sells Scentsy products (check out the link - there's a sale!), which, if you don't know, are flameless wax holder... um, things? They're awesome, anyway - I was a tiny bit skeptical ("Don't I already have enough scented-wax things with all the candles sitting around here?") until she got me one as a housewarming gift, and it's AWESOME. It's kind of a basic setup - a light bulb inside a ceramic box warms up scented wax in a tray on top - but I LOVE that I can leave it on during the day and it keeps the downstairs smelling nice (I have it in the bathroom, and the scent isn't overly strong, but it does make the downstairs pleasant), and I don't freak out if we've gone somewhere and I remember I didn't put it out.

So the reason I'm telling you all this is because the one she got me for a housewarming gift is one of their DIY ones - a plain white (I think they have brown or black too) model that comes with rub-ons so you can customize it.

I actually plugged mine in right away in the bathroom, to see how it worked, and LOVE how the plain white looks in there with all the other white, so I haven't decorated mine yet, but she got me two sets of rub-ons with it. One of them is more what I think would work well in one of the rooms downstairs if I do decide to decorate it, and the other set is SUPER cute but a lot of stuff about friends and friendship - which is perfect for cards, but maybe a little weird to decorate a thing to go in my house with.

So, I'm using them to make cards, and they're really great rub-ons... go on easily and look really good.



The ribbon is on the bottom because, well... I got this Martha Stewart edge punch that I've been wanting forever, and it turns out it'll only punch through really thin paper/cardstock. I tried to do it on this (layer of thicker cardstock + layer of paper) and it just made marks, so the ribbon is covering up the marks.

Dang, that was a ton of explanation for a really simple card...

Passing Notes

I think I sorta figured it out - the idea that was trying to happen yesterday.

So here's the story.

In high school, a particular friend and I would pass notes all the time. None of this texting stuff... we got out our fancy pens (usually purple or green ink, sometimes glittery) and wrote letters. Full notebook sheets of... well, that's the question, really.

Because we probably wrote each other hundreds of these in-class letters, folded into increasingly creative shapes. And I keep finding them. I graduated from high school 12 years ago, and I found one of her notes (football-folded) tucked into a folder when I was unpacking the house. They just turn up all the time. And I can hardly understand a word of them any more. I'm sure, to anyone happening to find a dropped one back when, they were complete gibberish - one inside joke after another. But they were cute! We were all about the decorations and doodles.

So I got inspired - if I was already so into "paper art" then, why not try to update that old tradition, and still keep the basics of it?



I folded a notebook-paper sheet into a heart, and made a whole decorated card front with a pocket to put it in.



The heart itself is decorated, too, of course - that's part of the fun!

I have a feeling someone's going to get this in their mailbox sometime soon.

Idea

Ever had an idea rattling around in your head, and you just can't shake it out? I've had one for two days that I just can't manage to get to materialize. Maybe it's time to work on something else and see if it sneaks up on me while I'm not paying attention.

"My Favorite" tag

Now that I'm mostly moved in to my study, I've been sorting through old magazines to clear out some shelf space. I've started an "inspiration file" of clippings, and once I pull out the best inspiration from a magazine, I can feel better about throwing it away. It's also nice to know that I have a whole file to dig through if I need a jumping-off point - I just look for something that strikes my fancy and put it up on the bulletin board to work on.

Today I found a cute library-pocket tag - the original had some aqua and red accents, and I've been seeing a lot of that color combination, so I pulled out some aqua and red cardstock. When I brought them back to my desk, I noticed that they worked really well with some chipboard accents that are pinned up on my bulletin board (see, that's why I have them pinned up there), and went and found the coordinating patterned paper.



I die-cut the pocket from patterned paper, and used the flip side for the main tag, then stamped the library pocket on Aqua Mist cardstock and cut out a background a little bit bigger (the width of the pocket - it's stuck down in it) from Pure Poppy.



The library pocket die and library card stamp (and You're My Favorite stamp) are all from Papertrey, and the cardstock and chipboard elements are from Sassafrass Lass.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's my dad's birthday!



I liked the cool greys and blues of this paper for my dad, and noticed that a clear overlay I picked up a few months ago is a nice echo of the argyle print on one of the papers (the behind-tag). The die is Papertrey's bookplate die, and the stamp is from one of Stampin' Up's office sets. Inside is a birthday message.

This is it!

Finally - the post I've been promising Lori for weeks. (And just a warning - this is going to be a long post with a LOT of pictures.)

So here's the deal - a little background:

When we first looked at this house, the room-that-would-eventually-be-my-study was a family room - very cozy, very comfortable. I really wanted to keep the comfortable, cozy feeling once we moved in, even though it would be a study (see, even the word "study" is much more cozy than "office"...). There were/are built-in bookshelves, so that was a great start - nothing cozier than being surrounded by all of my favorites.



But on the office side was a little... stark?



(Please ignore the blue butt print on the chair - that thing is like a jeans-dye magnet. I don't think I've ever worn new jeans in it, and I clean it off when I think of it, but it looks like this the next day. Tip of the day: No matter how chic it looks in the store, do NOT buy a white leather desk chair if you wear jeans to work, like, at all.)

My first idea was to put in a countertop running the whole length of the wall, but that was nixed once we priced out that much countertop. Fortunately, the same day, we saw a World Market ad with their new desk line in it - these great sawhorse/workbench-style desks. And they were just long enough that two of them would fit the wall and leave room for my lamp. All along in the process, though, I really wanted three workspaces - one for working:



(From left to right: My London Phone Box DVD rack, River Song print, OTT craft lamp, cute box from a Lush gift set that holds all my desk essentials, Mocha Coconut Frappucino, laptop, jar of the candy raspberries I'm addicted to, and secondary monitor. Anyone know a good solution all the cords under the desk? They bug me.)

One for paper crafts:



(From top to bottom: Giant bulletin board my parents got me for my birthday, where I put up inspiration photos and rub-ons and other small elements to have them easy to reach; desk with craft stuff.)

And one where I could leave my sewing machine up through a whole project without having to get it out of the way of other stuff (if not permanently).

Here's what I came up with all together:



That last desk on the right is the one I've been working on for weeks and building up to Lori. I'm so excited about it. Recognize it?



This was the "before":



And this is a close-up of the after:



I'm so excited - I've been loving the grey/yellow color combination I've been seeing everywhere, and I've seen the papered-back bookshelves in a few places and loved them. It's a great pop of color that I think really brightens up the room. It's going to be a great sewing table! First thing on the list: a present for Miss Molly McGee - with that name, she's pretty much guaranteed to be the most adorable baby ever, don't you think?

THANK YOU to my amazing dad! He cut the backs and helped me with all of the sanding and painting and paper-sticking and nailing. He's the best!

Y'all, I almost forgot the other important credit - check out Curbside Creations for some great furniture makeovers... she's where I got my inspiration for the desk. If I had space for a dozen nightstands, I'd buy them from her - for some reason I love every nightstand/side table she does!

Still not the promised post

We did get the paint issue resolved, but it's going to be another couple of days before I have time to finish the awesome (hopefully) project, so here's another card I made this weekend to tide you over.



This is kind of a fun one using elements from the Fancy Pants "it's the little things" set. I saw a rickrack flower in a magazine and thought I'd try it - turns out it doesn't work at all with newer, stiffer rickrack. I had to pull out some vintage stuff that I had in my ribbon stash. I think there has to be a better way to adhere it to the card front, but I'm not sure what that is.

This is not the post that I promised to Lori

This was supposed to be a different post, a very cool post about a very cool project. But due to some heat-related spray paint snafus, it's not done yet.

So instead, I'll give you a pretty card to look at.



This card is made with Basic Grey's new "Sweet Threads" paper, along with a flower I picked up somewhere, a rub-on from Stampin' Up, and leaf ribbon from Papertrey. Pretty simple, but I love how the flower mimics the flowers in the paper design.

First New-House Post

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen me mention my framing coup yesterday.

I got this great signed print for my birthday, and I kept it in the shipping tube until after we moved, because I figured that would be safer than trying to move a framed print with glass. I figured I'd need to get it custom-framed since it's an odd size.

Edit: I almost forgot to credit the artist! The print is by Bill Mudron, who has lots of really cool geeky prints. Check him out! This is another favorite of mine.

I took it to Joann yesterday, because they were having a good framing sale, but even with the sale, it was going to be about $60 to get it framed, so I got creative.

I didn't get a picture of what I ended up buying, but it was very similar to this one at Target - long and narrow with three openings for 5x7" photos.



Obviously, that's not what it looks like any more.

I chose a cardstock color to complement the colors in the print, and trimmed 1" strips of it (the print is 8.5" wide, so that was convenient in terms of the cardstock size). I figured out how much of the matte would need to be covered in order to make the whole thing look proportional, and taped the cardstock down with double-stick tape. I was hesitant to tape the print down, but I don't intend to change it now that it's framed, so I figured that was better than trying to cut the existing matte or something and screw it all up. I think the end result turned out well! Thanks to my dad for helping hang it - I'll have a post up later this week with what he really came over to help me with.

Blog Hiatus

It's been a little while since I've posted, because all of my stamping stuff is packed away!

We bought a new house, and have been moving in and unpacking for the last couple of weeks. I'm taking my time with my stamping stuff, because I want to get it really organized right from the start, so it might be a little while before I have anything new to post.

I'm also working on a plan for a new desk to fit in my new study - I think it'll be really nice once I get it all built. Exciting times!

Pillow box (not pet)

I wanted to do some cute packaging for a little gift - I love pillow boxes for this kind of thing. I have two different sizes of box templates, and while this little gift could have used the smaller one, I always go for the bigger one because it's more fun to decorate.



I had a lot of fun with this - the pink layer is a Martha Stewart wrapping paper that I've used before with a really nice quilted texture, and the patterned paper and brad are from the Basic Grey "hello luscious" collection. I wanted to coordinate the flower with the patterned paper, so that was my starting point. I pulled in the wrapping paper and glittered letter, and then went a little crazy with the baker's twine. Turned out pretty cute, don't you think?

CAS Fun with Scoring

CAS - Clean and Simple. It's not something I've ever been very good at. I like my layers and ribbon and embellishments and colors and embossing and die-cutting. From my understanding, CAS is defined as one base layer (usually white), one dominant color, and one embellishment. In this case, I've got my white base layer, my Raspberry Fizz color (with a little black accent), and my glittered score lines.



I think my score board is really what's helped me appreciate the CAS look lately - now that I can do a nice effect quickly with just the base layer, it's easier for me to see how to put everything together without looking too plain. This image is yet another from the Papertrey Anniversary set that I've been using, and the glitter (done with the same tape technique I explained the other day) is Doodlebug Designs "Sugar Coating" glitter in the Cupcake color.

More Fun with Scoring

I also picked up some German glass glitter (my favorite kind) at Smitten, and the color is fantastic with Papertrey's Lavender Moon and Plum Pudding. I tried a scoring/tape technique I've seen around, and I think it turned out great!



I scored lines just far enough apart to fit double-sided scrapbook tape in between them. This super-strong tape (I don't remember what this brand is, but others I've seen using the same technique use Scor-Tape) is fantastic for making nice straight lines of well-stuck glitter. I poured the glitter over and shook off the excess, then patted it down to secure it.



You know what the worst possible thing to do with glitter is? Try to get it back in the original container. The first time I use a new color of glitter, I always get out a gladware/tupperware/ziploc container with a sealing lid - actually, I really need to get a new matching set, because I've got all my glitters in different sizes of container - and use it to catch any excess glitter. It works so much better, and then when I'm doing anything else with the glitter I can just use a spoon to add it.



The cupcake and sentiment are both from the Papertrey Anniversary set.

Happy Father's Day

A simple card today for Father's Day:



I've been looking at score-boards for a while and ended up getting the Martha Stewart board at Michaels with a coupon - very reasonable! I really like the look I've been seeing lately of a simple card with scored lines, and I picked up some red baker's twine this afternoon at one of my favorite shops, Smitten. Everything in the shops this month is red, white, and blue, leading up to the 4th, so this seemed like a fun color/design combo. The star is from the Papertrey Anniversary set (2009, I think?), and I printed the words on my printer.

And The Winner Is...

Abbey wins the fabulous glitter prize, with her abstract button-y ATC. Congrats!

Extending the contest

I'm extending the contest until Friday at midnight, because I'm a terrible contest promoter and haven't had any entries. I probably should have known - as soon as I had an idea that would involve posting examples of the contest item, I'd never get around to doing it. That's a guaranteed way to make me not be in the mood to stamp.

So, Friday. Enter the contest, email me a photo of your ATC, hope you win the prize.

Lazy post & reminder

Because it's been a busy weekend and I never had the time (or inspiration, honestly) to put together any ATCs, I thought I'd link you to another blog post that has some really gorgeous ones: Making Your Art Accessible

I have ONE entry into the ATC contest so far - I'd love her to have some competition! Please enter here - photos/ATCs need to be in by midnight tomorrow!

Aviary Thank Yous

Our internet went down over the weekend, so I'm finally back with some new cards.

A friend asked me to make some bird-themed thank you cards for her daughter's teachers, so I pulled out a bird set that I got a while ago at Michaels - I think it's Hero Arts, but I could be wrong.



I used the Fancy Pants "it's the little things" paper pad for my launching point, and pulled out some different cardstock colors that coordinated with it.



For each card, I layered a couple of coordinating colors behind the main image (the colors I use for this are Papertrey's Aqua Mist, Stampin' Up's retired River Rock, and a pink that's lost its label - I think it's Papertrey's Sweet Blush).



For the main image, I stamped a bird or birds in watermark ink (or a very slightly darker pink, in the case of the pink birds), stamped a "thank you" message over them in Palette Noir ink, and outlined the bird with a sparkle pen for a little definition.



I used strips of "it's the little things" paper as borders, then wrapped each border in blue or pink baker's twine for some texture.



Don't forget to enter the ATC Contest!