Hello Friends,
The last few days have been busy, busy, busy as we clean up from our broken pipe and flooding mess. I’ve barely been able to play with my new toys ordered from Stampin’ Up during the demonstrator preorder period, prior to the new catalog going LIVE yesterday! Have you had a chance to make your wish list yet? If you’re anything like me, the list is LONG… so many “gotta have its” between the front and back covers! I have to remember to slow down… stretch the orders out a little bit…. the catalog and products within are available for a whole year – no need to blow my budget out of the water all at once! Hmm… that wasn’t meant to be a pun, but with our flooding issues, I suppose it could be taken that way!! 🙂
One of the new bundles I ordered during the preorder period was “Birds & Branches”. I love birds. How boring would our skies be if it weren’t for birds? Their early-morning chirping is generally what awakens me every morning. A couple days ago, I had the perfect inspiration for today’s card. As soon as the story unfolded, as told below, I knew my “Birds & Branches” stamp set and dies recently received from the new catalog, would be pulled out and put to use immediately!
As noted in my previous post, we had a little incident with water when a pipe in our wall broke and flooded my craft room. Yesterday Dean was extremely busy, occupied all day replacing all of the plumbing in our house in order to prevent future similar incidents. I was helping him as I was able (a plumber I’m not), but as evening approached, I went down to the horse stables to care for my horses. As I stepped out into Ace’s outside run to clean, I noticed something laying on the ground. It was a baby bird. It appeared to have fallen out of it’s nest. It was still alive, though moving very weakly, and was terribly cold. I picked it up and held it against my body for warmth.
So, now what? What do I do with this baby bird that’s cold and needing to be fed and cared for? If I leave him, he’s surely going to die. If I take him home, is his fate going to be any better? I looked in the tree under which he was lying when I found him, looking for a nest, but I didn’t see one.
Dean was up at the house still working on plumbing, and while I hated to call and bother him, I knew he’d have an answer for me! In years gone by, Dean raised parrots; handfeeding the babies in order to tame them for pet store stock. He’d surely know what to do! So, I called with the plea for help. “Just a minute, I’ll be right there,” was his reply.
So I held the baby bird, trying to warm him, wondering what his fate would be.
A couple minutes later, Dean came walking down the driveway packing the ladder.
I showed him where the baby bird had been found under a cedar tree that hangs over the horse yard. Dean peered up into the tree and within a couple minutes had spotted the nest. He set up the ladder and proceeded to climb up to the top rung in order to reach the nest, and carefully deposited the baby bird safely back home.
As it turned out, there were other baby birds in the nest as well, so we felt pretty good about Momma bird returning to feed the poor little guy who’d had such a rough fall.
Dean noted that the nest was sitting rather precariously on it’s branch, however, and requested some wire or something that he could stabilize the nest with before he climbed down. A long twist-tie was found in the barn and he carefully secured the nest to the tree branch, and then climbed down.
His little act of kindness, when he was otherwise so very busy and tired from a long day of replacing plumbing, absolutely warmed my heart. It would have been so easy for him to simply utter a frustrated sigh and “I don’t have time for that.” But he didn’t. He stopped what he was doing to help me rescue a newly hatched baby bird. If only there were more people like him in the world… what a wonderful world it would be. I AM BLESSED INDEED to call him my husband!
The front sentiment I chose from the Waterfront stamp set “Every little kindness makes the world brighter” seemed to fit perfectly, especially in the chaotic turmoil that seems to plague the world today. If we would all just simply slow down, take time for one another, and remember to be kind even when we don’t feel like it. What an incredible change we would see around us.
This morning when I went down to the stables, I looked up into the tree and sure enough, there was Momma bird sitting on the nest, a robin. I can’t help but think that she was quite pleased with her newly secured nest and babies safe and sound within.
Thus, the inspiration for today’s card.
Let’s get INKY!
Colors & Measurements:
- Terracotta Tile for card base – 8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ – score and fold at 4 1/4″
- Whisper White (Mat 1) – 4″ x 5 1/4″ – run through die cutting machine with edging die from “Birds & More” dies along the long edge.
- Forever Greenery DSP (Mat 2) – 5 1/8″ x 3 3/8″
- Various Whisper White pieces for stamping and die cuts
Directions:
Card Front:
- Stamp bird with 2-step stamps.
- I stamped the detailed bird stamp first with Soft Suede ink.
- I then stamped the no-detail bird in Cajun Craze ink.
- Finally, I stamped the wing only in Early Espresso ink.
- Stamp the nest with Crumb Cake ink and then add detail with the fine point of the Early Espresso Stampin’ Write marker.
- The sentiment is from “Waterfront” stamp set and was stamped in Early Espresso ink.
- Cut the bird, nest, and two branches out using coordinating dies from “Birds & More” dies.
- Use Layering Ovals die to cut out the front sentiment.
- I used Stampin’ Blends to color the branches, as well as the edging of Mat 1: Bronze, Dark and Light Shaded Spruce, and Light Mango Melody.
- I sponged Linen Thread with Early Espresso ink and let dry. I then wrapped this twice around the nest and tied a bow. (Simulating Dean’s stabilizing wire!)
- I used a black enamel dot from my stash to highlight the bird’s eye.
- Assemble card front:
- Adhere the white die-cut Mat 1 to the card base
- Adhere the DSP on top of Mat 1
- Adhere the sentiment along the top right.
- Adhere the branches, allowing them to overlap the sentiment oval.
- Adhere bird to nest, and then use dimensionals to pop nest and bird up.
Card Inside:
- Whisper White card stock cut at 5 1/4″ x 4″ and again, run through die-cutting machine with edging die from Birds & More dies.
- Color edging with Stampin’ Blends, as above.
- Cut a piece of DSP at 5 1/4″ x 1/2″ and place along bottom of white mat above die-cut edge.
I chose to leave the inside blank for a personal, hand-written note.
I hope you find some creative inspiration within your new catalog, and perhaps you’ll get to make a personal connection to some of the stamps as I have. I would encourage all of us to remember how small we really are in the big picture, but what a huge difference we can make to those around us when we simply choose to be kind.
Please let me know if I can assist you in placing an order. I am truly honored to be your Stampin’ Up demonstrator and I appreciate each and every one of you more than you know. If you don’t have a demonstrator, I’d love to get to know you and assist you in your creative journey.
If you have special requests for techniques, fun-folds, ideas for stamp sets, etc. that you would like to see here, please let me know.
As soon as my craft room is rebuilt – stronger, faster (?), dryer, and more beautiful than before, I anticipate venturing into the world of video classes with kit offerings as well….. so please, STAY TUNED!!!
Product List
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Early Espresso Stampin’ Write Marker
[119680]
$3.50
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