Birds and Branches

Happy Sunday, Everyone! Today I wanted to show you a card I recently created for an NC Demonstrator Swap. The swap requirements were to use new products from the 2020-2021 Annual Catalog. And if you aren’t familiar with what a swap is, it’s when a group of people sign up to create a card based on specific criteria. We are told the total number of cards to make and they are mailed to the person who is hosting the swap. Once they’ve collected all the cards from the participants, they sort all the cards and mail one design each back to everyone. So we end up with a variety of card samples to share at our classes or use for blog posts. It’s a really fun way to add cards to our collections without us each making them ourselves.

My card featured the new Birds and Branches set and some other products from the new catalog (you can see all the products below). I used the circle die first on a piece of 4″ x 5 1/4″ paper. Then I used my Blends to color the leaves and berries. Once that was done, I took that layer of card stock and ran it through my embossing machine using the Tasteful Textile 3D Embossing Folder. I just love the look that the texture gives to the branches and berries!

I then laid that layer over the front of my Thick Whisper White card stock (4 1/4″ x 11″, scored @ 5 1/2″), and using a pencil, I placed a small dot at the bottom of the circle. This was to give me guidance as to where to stamp the nest. I stamped the nest using Crumb Cake ink on the front of the folder Thick Whisper White base. Next, I took a length of the White Crinkle Ribbon and wrapped it around the die-cut and embossed layer and tied a bow, then attached that layer to the card front using dimensionals. The bird was stamped with Rococo Rose ink on Blushing Bride card stock and then die cut and also attached with dimensionals. The sentiment was stamped using the Many Mates stamp set and then die cut using the Tasteful Labels die. That was attached to the front with dimensionals as well. The final step was to add some Wink of Stella to the berries and that was my finished card!