Winter Cardinal

Water color blues & grays background

I love cardinals.  I think it is because of the startling red color of the males in the stark winter snow scape.  Lovely . . . .


This by far though, is my favorite bird stamp!  You can get it here:
http://www.franticstamper.com/Impression-Obsession--Cling-Mounted-Rubber-Stamp--By-Gail-Green--Snowy-Branch-Cardinal_p_115340.html

This was so pretty in person. I don't know why the lace
looks lumped but it wasn't & the card showed through
it.  The background was embossed with a clear
powder that has limited shimmer & sparkle. Subtle
but stunning in person!  The die cut star had a bit of
yellow water color on the inside & was then covered
in prisma glitter. It was then placed on a slightly
sparkling blue lace card stock

After stamping it and coloring it a couple of ways (water color background, vs water color cut out)  decided that I was obsessed with fussy cutting the whole thing and putting on different backgrounds!  I loved the simplicity of the snow scape at the bottom & use the stitched edge dies from Frantic Stamper (http://www.franticstamper.com/Frantic-Stamper-Precision-Die--Stitched-Scene-Builder-Edgers-set-of-4-dies_p_117394.html)

 

The red ribbon of paper is Peddlar's Pack Snow Flurry, stamped with white ink, cut to size & scalloped on one side. Then layered over a dark brown.  The background stamp is Stampin Up!'s  French Script in dark brown on Craft.  I love the natural element of this card but wanted just a bit of bling so I added the red sequins

 

    On this one I decided to try a wood grain embossing folder. This one is from  Tim Holtz ALTERATIONS. I inked the inside with several shades of green. After it was embossed I took a brown ink pad and rubbed across the raised areas.  Then a simple tag heat embossed with white branches, attached with brass brads holding the die cut sentiment JOY found at one of my favorite web sites https://www.papertreyink.com/pti-dies/papertrey-ink-holiday-double-cuts-die/ 
I layered ivory and olive ribbon beneath it putting that panel on top of a dark brown ~ pinking one edge & then onto cranberry cardstock.  I think this one is almost my favorite!!


Because I'm not a great photographer, here's what you can't see, but made a big difference in the finished product: 
1) All of the snow on the branches was covered with the Smooch Pearlized Top Coat
2) The berries were colored with 2 or 3 shades of red & orange
4) Each bird was lifted by dimensional tape (the star was flat against the background)
5) The background of the die cut "JOY" was heat embossed with Ivory branches.  I wanted to keep the clean look but didn't want a large blank space either.
6) The backgrounds shimmered like a cold sky behind the birds ~ I just loved the effect!