Bird of the Mountain - customizing die sets!

Hello, my Doodlebugs friends!  Michele here with my final Friday post!  Before I get started showing my card, I'd like to thank everyone who left their kind thoughts about my cards here at Doodlebugs - you know who you are, and I love and so appreciate every. single. kind word.

Ready for some fun?  What do you do when you get a fun die set from Altenew?  My first time out I often use their suggestions... but not today!  THIS time I was inspired by the scene outside my window - a gorgeous Baltimore Oriole on our HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER! Silly bird!

The Altenew Bird of the Mountain die set is a gorgeous Moussier's Redstart found in the mountains of northwest Africa. It has the same basic shape as my visitor - with a little 'tweaking' and color changes, here is my male Baltimore Oriole:

Those of you who are familiar with the ways in which he can be attracted to your own yards will know how appropriate it is to add this orange - am I right?

I did use colored cardstock to cut the various layers, but added a bit of blended inks to punch up the colors - and there is my inspiration found at All About Birds, Cornell's website. Tweaking the layers, and one extra layer of white using the 5th layer die, added those fabulous wing details.

I love this Dotted Geo cover die and the subtle interest it adds to the sky behind him - did you find 

my teensy little sentiment?

I hope you like him!  I have several friends who are as crazy as I am about birds!

Okay, one final thought - thank you Cathy for these many months on your design team - it is easy to love the products and service your shop offers and will continue to send folks your way!  

=] Michele

 

Links to products used or recommended are listed below:   

Happy Home - Gnome Style

Are you a last minute birthday card designer or pick from a well stocked stash? I'm definitely last minute both because I tend to be that way but also so that I can design projects especially for the occasion.  A couple of weeks ago, my stepdaughter had a housewarming | birthday party at her new house.  This is how I was inspired:

My Stepdaughter is a high school teacher + avid reader.  She loves to read sci-fi + fantasy. We're super happy for her to be in her own home.  She's worked hard for it.

These are the supplies I used:

• Lawn Fawn - Simply Summer Sentiments
• Lawn Fawn - Beary Rainy Day stamps + lawn cuts
• Lawn Fawn - Mushroom House
• Lawn Fawn - Stitched Woodgrain
• Lawn Fawn - Magic Iris
• Lawn Fawn - Simple Wavy Banners
• Pretty Pink Posh - Simple Sentiments

The pale blue stitched circle is from the Magic Iris set.  Yes I could have used a plain circle but why when I have a stitched one?

The hearts [smoke] are from Beary Rainy Day. I thought I could get away with using clouds for smoke but ended up with the hearts. I love how it gives it a cozy feel.

After I put everything together I noticed that the lower portion of the design had more 'free space' than the upper portion so I trimmed down the card.  The Stitched Woodgrain is perfect for that, very forgiving for miscalculations.

The weekend is just around the corner, I hope you can spend some time being crafty!

 

Links to products used or recommended are listed below:   

It's Party Time with the Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Mug Additions Die

It's time for a party!  I'm using the Birthday Mug die again to create this festive card full of party hats.  I chose some fun colors for cardstock and cut several hats in the various colors.  I layered them together and added some glitter glue to the tops.

I cut the Four Window Cover die from white cardstock to add to the top of my folded note card.  Before securing it, I added some Kiddie Pool ink from Lawn Fawn where the bottom, open portions of the windows would be.  Once the cover piece was secure, I added the party hats and stamped my sentiment.

 I added some jewels for a final touch.
 

I hope you enjoyed today's project.

Thanks for taking a look!

Cathy

Links to products used or recommended are listed below:  

Hot Foiling with Spellbinders and Pretty Pink Posh

Woohoo!!! This is Amanda from Twiddler's Nook and I'm so happy to be joining the Doodlebugs team! I'll be bringing you fantastic inspiration with your favorite brands mixed and matched together. Sometimes we get in a rut of using only one brand of products per project but remember that it's fun to combine your favorites together.

Today I had some fun hot foiling with the new Spellbinders Hooray hot foil and die set. Isn't that speckled prism hot foil eye catching! I love it! Once that was done, I pulled out the Pretty Pink Posh Tropical Toucans and Trellis stencil to play around.

My orange panel measures 3x5.5 inches and is inked up with Lawn Fawn carrot ink for a tone-on-tone background. I popped the panel up with foam tape before adding my birds and sentiment with foam squares.

For finishing touches I added black glaze pen to the toucan's eyes and glossy accents to their beaks. Next I put a bit of stardust Stickles on the the flower and finished the design off with a scattering of Pretty Pink Posh sea foam pearls using liquid glue.

I love how fun and happy this bright card is! It's perfect for a variety of occasions and great to have in your stash.

I appreciate you sharing your time with me. Have a fabulous day!

 

Links to products used or recommended are listed below: