Cardmaking - Dec - Cardinal

December has arrived and most of us are counting down to Christmas hoping the to do list will be conquered in the time we have to get it done! I designed cards for this month's class that are
appropriate for expressing your appreciation for the blessings received over the Christmas season. It is more likely they will be sent if they are ready to go before the season truly gets busy!!

I saw this card on Splitcoast Stampers with its cute little cardinal and after a bit of examination, figured it was created using several punches so dug out my selection to see if I could replicate the little bird. *See below for details in creating the cardinal. I am very happy with the way it turned out!! I sponged all the pieces with black ink and then assemble it. After embossing the label (TH-SX) I added the little green sprigs (MS) punchies and sat the bird just above them. I used the slot punch (SU) to create the openings for my ribbon and glued their ends to the inside of the card. The background paper is one that I created a few years ago using acrylic paint washes and a background stamp I created by gluing fun foam snowflakes to a piece of acrylic. Once I had washed the paper with colour I simply placed the stamp on the wet surface and it moved the colour around which gave a very beautiful subtle texture to the paper which was perfect for this card. I brought along some stamps to let everyone customize their cards to their needs.

It is getting busy! I have parcels to send out, a Christmas letter to print and cards to mail!! Most of the shopping has been done - thanks to DH!!

If your list is looking too long for the time left I suggest you start deleting and/or delegating!! Get creative - no one will ever know that you had intended to make pies and goodies instead of buying them from the local bakery, (baker, friend, farmers market or bake sale)!!

Therese

*A Cardinal tutorial I found on line which is pretty close to what I did. I used a 1 3/4" punch (SU) for the body, 1" punch (SU) for the wing and a scallop punch (SU) for the tail. I used the 1 3/4" punch to create the "face" and just hand cut the beak.

Face: The photo on the left shows the creation of the beak section using the 1 3/4" punch. I first cut a 3/4" strip of black cardstock and removed a concave section from the end by placing the end into the punch and lining up both corners with the cutting edge of the punch and taking out a small slice. The next step is shown here: place the concave end into the punch until you have one edge lined up with the cutting edge and the other edge of the cardstock is about 1/4" away from the cutting edge. The little piece makes a perfect "face" for your cardinal.

Body: Use the 1 3/4" punch and fill the punch opening to about 3/4 full just off the edge of the paper. OR Punch a full circle and trim off about a 1/4 of it.

Wing: Punch about a half of the 1" circle OR Punch a full 1" circle and cut it in half to create two wings.

Tail: Punch a full scallop punchie and cut from the bottom of one scallop to center of punchie. Count two scallops and cut from the bottom of that scallop to the center. One scallop punch will make several tails. NOTE: you could substitute a heart punchie for the tail.

Beak: 3/4" x 1/4" scrap of yellow cut to a blunt point on one end

Eye: mini white brad.