Graphic45 Birdsong - Bird Punch Card

This is the last of the Graphic45 Birdsong cards, at least for awhile. I still have quite a bit of the paper left so I will be using it on something eventually.

I wanted to go with some more of the Shanghai Girls images since I have quite a few of them and this time I chose to play up the cherry blossoms in the background. I also wanted to use the Stampin Up Bird Punch on some cards since the paper is Birdsong, it just kinda made sense in my head.

I think this was the most basic of the cards I did since there isn't a lot of paper layering and the focus is more on the blossoms. The bird and branch is from the Stampin Up Bird Punch. And there is still time to order for my Online Stampin Up Party!

I had a little cherry blossom stamp, at least that is what I think it is and for this purpose that is what it is, and I used it on some TPC Clear Translucent paper, which is much like vellum but just different enough that you can print and stamp on it very nicely. I got the sheets at the bargain store I love so much a few years ago when they got a bunch of scrapbooking stuff in. I bought several packs since it was such a good price. I also used it to mat the large image on and then put over colored paper so it softened the frame around the image.

But back to the cherry blossoms. After stamping them and letting the ink dry I used my Blush Blossom and Pretty In Pink Stampin Up Markers to add color. I thought it still needed a little something else and adding the white dots in the middle with the Signo-UM 153 gel pen did the trick. It also helped camouflage the small piece of mounting foam under the blossoms. I did have to cut the blossoms out by hand but once again it was worth the effort!

Graphic45 Birdsong - Collage Card

Remember the first set of cards I posted and there were 12 and I told you there were 12 different ladies? Well I had to think of something different to do with those ladies and this is the result.

The background behind the lady is from the Jasmine Dream sheet, the same sheet as the larger image on yesterday's card. When I first looked at them I wasn't sure how to use them but I knew I wanted to use them in some form or fashion and then it suddenly dawned on me to cut out the ladies and put them on the background.

All the decorative strips are ones I had left from different sheets and like I told you the other day it is kinda nice cutting the papers apart because you are left with some nice strips to use on other projects. I think this was the card I was doing when I told my friend Carmen "At this point I am just layering my strips of paper on the cards and hope the chit turns out looking okay".

Here you can see where the lady is pop dotted on the background image giving her the look of being in the forefront. I think the photograph look of her against the artistic drawing of the background gives a good dimension *okie is suddenly quite impressed with her description on that and feels like she sounds all artistic and chit and laughs wondering if that beeotch Martha Stewart could do as well*.

I hate to hand cut since I feel like I have a machine that cuts and I shouldn't have to hand cut but I have to admit these didn't take that long to cut out and it was worth the little extra effort.

Graphic45 Birdsong - Jasmine Dream

This was from the Jasmine Dream sheet in the Birdsong collection and the image of the lady was the larger image in the middle section of the paper.

I made two of these since I had the image from the sheets where I made other cards and since they are both exactly alike I am only posting one picture. I did hate that I couldn't use more of the image because it was gorgeous but there is only so much room on a card available. I am hoping to remember to go back and make some larger cards with the Birdsong paper when I get my large envelopes from Linda. She was ordering envelopes for her Cards For Soliders and there were some A9 envelopes for $5 so I had her order me a box *okie still wonders what she is going to do with 1,000 A9 envelopes*. 

The card was fast to put together since I had most of the papers already left over from other cards. I did like the pearls added in the bottom right hand corner of the large image and I am always amazed at how little touches such as this can nicely finish up a project.

Since there were quite a few of the bird images I decide to layer them up and use one as a base and then cut the red from another and pop dot it on the base. I have no idea why I am so addicted to dimension on projects but my addiction is causing my mounting foam supply to diminish *okie is always on the lookout for good deals on mounting foam*.

Graphic 45 Bird Song Cards - Dream

Remember on Saturday when I said *okie wonders if anyone really remembers because she often wonders if anyone really reads her drivel or if everyone just looks at the pictures and moves on* I had some larger images from where I cut the bird images apart? Well these two images are not them *okie falls out of chair laughing* but they did come from another design I cut apart to use on several different cards.

I only made two of these cards because that is all I had cut apart at the time for some of the other images and I didn't want to hack up more because I wasn't sure how I was going to use the images.

The sentiment "dream" is once again done with stickers and was about the best sentiment I could come up with at the time but I think it fits the ladies expressions, like they are just daydreaming. The inside of these are blank as well and I think they could be used as encouragement or congratulation cards.

I wanted to show you how nice the stickers really are so I took a close up shot but I also wanted to show the layered butterfly that I added at the bottom of the card. The butterfly is done with the Stampin Up Elegant Butterfly Punch and I just punched it twice, glued down the center and then added a small bit of mounting foam in between the wings to keep them popped up.

Another good thing about this paper is that you sometimes end up with decorative strips, like the lettering under the portraits and the blue flower strip along the portrait and you can place those in areas of the card to help decorate it up a little more.

I have a few more cards to post using this paper and then we will be moving on to a series of gift bags!