Well its snowing were I am, so this card is a happy little piece to make me feel a little closer to warmer weather and spring time. 

I began my card by stamping out the little birdies from the Bird Day set, using versa fine black onyx ink as it is water proof and would allow me to use a few different mediums. (When I started I didn't know what I was going to use to color these cuties in with) 

Once I had enough stamped out (I always do multiples to practice and try different things out) I went to my stash of colouring mediums to see what I had not used in a little while and settled on the Peerless water colors. I absolutely love these things as it makes painting so easy and the best thing is you only need a water brush so perfect for crafting/ painting on the go.  I played around with the different colors a bit as well as googled some images of what I though these birds might be, this helped give me some ideas for coloring them in.   

I set the birds aside to dry and went on to play with different ideas for the actual card. I had previously thought to use pattern paper for the card but decided to once again play with distress oxides. Seriously my favorite ink ever, I use it for almost everything. Also I have to thank Kristina Werner’s color combinations she’s been posting as they have been a great inspiration to me.

So I pulled out some bristol cardstock and my distress oxieds in tattered rose, scattered straw and dried marigold and went to town just adding the ink to paper with my blending tool.  Once I was happy I spritzed it with the water bottle, creating some fun water droplets.   

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I set the background panel aside to dry a bit and moved on to the rest of the card. I pulled out a few more paper rose products to play around with the lay out of the card. I knew the birds would need to be grounded some how, looked at the Birch tree die and figured out how to use it more as a branch then a set of trees. I die cut them out using white heavy weight cardstock, and then inked them up using ,Yup you guessed it,   more distress oxides, this time in walnut stain. 

Because this die creates one big piece I had to fussy cut a part the different trees trying to make sure it looked more like branches. Since I was cutting things out I went back to the stamped birds and fussy cut two of my favorite ones. 

 While I was at my die cutting machine I went ahead and ran my background panel through using the stitched rectangles from Paper rose. After that I die cut a couple of circles one larger then the other for layering. I also cut down some of that copper paper to layer under neath my distressed oxide panel just to slightly peak out from underneath. 

The measurements for the base and layers inside and out are as followed, black base is 5¾ x 4½, the copper is 5½ x 4¼ and the inked panel is 5 3/8 x 4 1/8 

I took the white circle, my clarity stencil  brushes, a cloud stencil and some broken china distress oxide and added some clouds to help create the scene and add some interest. I then stamped on the sentiment with versa fine black onyx ink as I love how crisp it stamps. 

Before I assembled the whole card I decided to cut down more cardstock for the inside using the same copper cardstock and bristol to finish it off, and used the same distress oxide colours to the front to add some soft clouds to the inside as well and add some of the coordinating birds from the set to add just that extra little something. 

Now it was time to assemble everything. I attached the copper layer flat to the base, the distressed panel was popped up using foam tape, and so were the birds an branches. The sentiment circle was adhered flat to the copper and to the base, I really wanted the birds to stand out. The inside portion was adhered flat. 

   One last finishing touch was to add some sparkling clear sequins in just the right places. 

Thank you so much for taking time to check out my little spot on the web.

I do hope my card has given you some inspiration and 

I would love to hear what you thoughts. 

Have a wonderful day, 

Nancy F Paper Rose Design team member