Bird Ballad Thank You Card

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends. After Church on Christmas morning, our plans were to go straight over to Vicki and Leigh’s for Christmas dinner – we would arrive before they arrived back from their Church, but grandson Jack would be there to let us in. As it turned out, when Hubby had loaded everything we needed in the car, he had forgotten the gluten-free sage and onion stuffing he’d made, and didn’t realise until halfway through the service!

These things normally happen for a reason! We decided we’d stop at home for a cup of tea, and have our presents to each other, instead of waiting until we arrived home that evening! As usual, I was very spoiled by hubby and my gifts were a beautiful Radley floral-patterned cabin-sized case on wheels, a pair of Fit-Flop Wellington boots for when we go on out country walks, a gluten-free food hamper and a Barbour scarf!

Before Christmas Hubby and I always agree on what the ground rules are for buying presents for each other! After making the agreement he totally ignores the rules and buys me what he knows I’d like!  Needless to say, I end up very spoiled! I also received a fabulous gift from one of the young ladies in my team – I did mean to photograph it, but you may know what it is by the name. It’s a We R Memory Keepers Bloom Embellishment Storage unit.

When it’s closed it looks like a flower, and when the handle is turned to open it, all the petals open and become drawers! As Hubby was on-call yesterday, I spent yesterday morning re-organising the shelves behind my desk so I had space for my flower, and then I went through all my embellishments and filled my flower petal drawers! Now, when I want an embellishment, I can open my flower and see ALL my embellishments at the same time! Many thanks, Sam – I absolutely love it!

After lunch, I started to play with the shrink plastic that has been sitting on my desk for about three years! It’s the first time I’ve played with it since my children were small. Back then I put the plastic in the oven and didn’t see it shrinking! Yesterday I used my heat tool and was able to see the plastic writhe and twist and turn – it was magical! As I was watching it, I couldn’t imagine that it would eventually straighten out, but it did!

Then I started working on a card for today. I’m going to make some thank you cards, probably using current products, rather than starting to use new products that’ll be available in the new catalogue. Most of us need thank you cards now, and I also have a customer who asked me earlier this month if she could buy some thank you cards. However, I think with a change of sentiment, my designs could be used equally well for most other occasions.

I chose to use the Free As A Bird Stamp Set and the Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper (DSP) for today’s card. I chose my favourite design from the DSP, although there aren’t any I really don’t like. I stamped the image in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink on Whisper White Cardstock (CS). The Stampin Blends I used to colour the bird are Light & Dark Petal Pink and Smokey Slate. I used Light Pool Party to outline the bird and Light Old Olive for the grass.

The ribbon is retired and I think was in last year’s Spring/Summer Catalogue. I wrapped it around the top two layers vertically with a bow towards the bottom so I could put the bird towards the top, with Dimensionals. Inside the card, I added a layer of Whisper White CS and then a layer of Petal Pink CS. The only decoration I added is a stamped image of the bird but not coloured because it was on Petal Pink CS which would distort any colours I used.

Because this was a quick and easy card to make, I decided to make another one! The basic card is the same, but I coloured the bird Pool Party instead of Petal Pink. The ribbon is an old retired Pool Party Seam Binding. I achieved the ruched effect by pulling strands from both sides of the ribbon. This was one of the first tips I learned when I joined Stampin’ Up! This effect can be achieved with other ribbons, but I don’t know if it will work with all ribbons or what you need to look out for.

I suggest you just try any ribbon you like to have ruched! One tip I can offer you is start by undoing some of the thread that goes from side to side. Then use a pair of fine-tipped tweezers to start pulling on the threads you have exposed that run through the length of the ribbon. Once you have both sides pulling evenly, you’ll be able to pull both sides at the same time.

That’s it from me today. I look forward to being back with you tomorrow, and in the meantime, happy crafting.

JanB. xx

Products used for this project: please click on any link to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. December 2019 Hostess Code is RVWA74X3 Thank you. xx

Petal Pink A4 Cardstock [147009] £8.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £9.00	Bird Ballad Designer Series Paper [149592] £10.75	Free As A Bird Bundle [151123] £47.50	Paper Trimmer [152392] £23.00
Stitched Shapes Dies [145372] £28.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] £5.50	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Refill [133456] £4.75	Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [147272] £8.50	Smoky Slate Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [145058] £8.50
Pool Party Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144605] £8.50	Old Olive Stampin’ Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] £8.50	Paper Snips [103579] £9.25	Take Your Pick [144107] £9.00	Grid Paper [130148] £11.75
Silicone Craft Sheet [127853] £5.50	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [154974] £3.75	Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals [144108] £3.75	Stampin’ Dimensionals [104430] £3.75	Mini Glue Dots [103683] £5.00