BURLAP LEAF

When creating a card, I love to incorporate surprising or odd elements, things you may not think of for papercrafting.

In this example, I used two stranger things (hey! That should be a television program!). They are wire-edged burlap trim and a fallish napkin.

Check out my tutorial on how I used these two oddities.

SUPPLIES:

Light neutral cardstock

A detailed oak leaf stamp

VersaMark Ink

Embossing Buddy

Gold Embossing Powder

Heat Tool

Paper Snips

Wire-Edged Burlap Trim

Fallish Napkin

Glue Stick

Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut a piece of light neutral cardstock to 4 1/4" x 8 1/2". Fold it in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Cut a piece of light-colored scrap cardstock to 3 3/4" square.

Peel away only the top ply (layer) of a fall-flavored napkin. The one I used is very delicate, so, if yours is also delicate, use a lot of caution when doing the following steps. Crush the napkin in your hands, then almost flatten it. Repeat this process three times. Using a glue stick, cover one side of the 3 3/4" square cardstock, bringing the glue to the corners and edges. Gently press the napkin to the gluey surface, centering it as well as possible. Do not smooth out what little texture you have. NOTE: If you use a heavier napkin, you will get more pronounced texture. Just gently tap on it so it adheres to the glued area. Fold the excess napkin edges to the back of the cardstock and secure it in place with glue stick, mitering the corners.

Attach the napkin piece to the card front.

Cut a 3 1/4" piece of wire-edged burlap trim. I got my roll at Dollar Tree. Carefully adhere this to the napkin portion. Use glue sparingly on the edges to secure it in place.

On the same cardstock as the card base, stamp in VersaMark Ink a fall oak leaf, after rubbing an Embossing Buddy over the cardstock first. Use gold embossing powder to heat emboss the leaf.

Fussy cut the leaf, leaving white edges rather than cutting right up to the gold lines. This makes for easier cutting.

Use Dimensionals to add the leaf to the burlap piece.

Fall

Smiles.

THE DAILY BIRD June/July 2025

Well, I guess it's time for another installment of The Daily Bird. In this post, I will be sharing a few birds that I'd drawn during June and July, 2025.

As I always do, I will give the name of the bird above each drawing, as well as the whereabouts of this bird somewhere in the world.

western yellow wagtail

europe, asia, africa

harlequin duck

north america, geenland, iceland, eastern russia

fire-tailed myzornis

butan, china, india, myanmar, nepal

common loon

north america, southern greenland, iceland

jungle myna

indian subcontinent

sula pitta

indonesia

green heron

north and central america

golden eagle

northern hemisphere

red-breasted merganser

subarctic northern hemisphere

strawberrry finch

tropical asia

scarlet-backed flowerpecker

south and east asia

And there you have it.

Please keep in mind that this is my personal art, and is not to be copied or used in any way without my express permission.

Thanks for following along on my bird journey!

Birdie

Smiles.

 

STRIPPING

If you're a cardmaker like me, you have lots of strips of patterned paper that you just cannot throw away. Why? 'cause. I'm gonna use it some day. Yeah, right. But does that day ever come? Sooner than you can imagine possible, you are buried in pretty strips. Nooooo!

Well, the time has come to use some of these pretty strips. Gather together a bunch of them that have a little bit of something in common, be it a color scheme, a design likeness. Anything that will make this grouping seem cohesive.

The charming result could be something like this card:

SUPPLIES:

Leftover strips of patterned paper with SOMEthing in common

Cardstock that matches one of the colors in your pretty strips

White cardstock

Ink in the coordinating color

A salutation stamp

Big Shot

Circle dies

Sequins that complement the color scheme

White satin ribbon

1/4" ribbon in coordinating color

Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Select nine different designs of patterned paper that work well together. Cut the papers to 1/2" x 5" strips. Set these aside for now.

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

To this white card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of coordinating cardstock.

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 3 3/4" x 5". Arrange the nine 1/2" strips as you like onto the white cardstock, leaving as even a border between them as possible. I started with the top strip, then the bottom strip, alternating up and down until you reach the center. If you're like me, the spacing between the strips will not look so great by now. To cover the spacing error, layer a 1/4" piece of ribbon over a 1/2" piece of another ribbon. Adhere this ribbon over the awkward spacing, taping the ends on the back. There! Now no one will notice. If your spacing comes out nicely, congratulations! Good job!

Adhere the strippy piece to the card base.

Using circle dies, find a die that measures 2 1/2" across, and die cut a circle from the same cardstock as the second layer.

Repeat with the circle that measures 2 1/4" across, but this time from white cardstock.

In coordinatiing, ink, stamp a sentiment that fits nicely within the white circle.

Adhere the two circles together. Using Dimensionals, add the circle to the card, raised a bit from center.

Add a trio of coordinating sequins to the white circle.

Strippy

Smiles.

RIBBON BUTTERFLY

To anyone who will listen, I always comment that my house is extra full because I see nearly everything as a potential art supply.

I save things that "normal" people would throw away without a thought. Not me. To my husband's and daughters' chagrin. But I love it because I have so many art supplies at hand. Case in point: this lovely wire-edged ribbon that came on a plant my husband gave to me. Who could possibly throw this away? Certainly not yours truly.

Follow along to discover what you can do on a card with ribbon that is just too beautiful to throw away.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Pink cardstock

Thinking of You stamp

Pink ink

Big Shot

Embossing folder

Dies for labels and butterfly

Green rhinestone

Wired floral ribbon

Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

Fold a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Add to this white card base another piece of white cardstock, this one measuring 4" x 5 1/4".

Cut a piece of bright pink cardstock (or a color that coordinates with the ribbon you have chosen) to 2" x 5 1/4". Adhere the strip of ribbon, cut to 5 1/4",  to this. The ribbon I used was 1 1/2" wide.

Add the ribbon strip to the card front, centered.

Use white cardstock to cut the label shape and emboss the label with a suitable embossing folder.

From the same pink cardstock, die cut the butterfly.

Put adhesive on the outer edges of the butterfly and add it to the embossed label. Use Dimensionals to adhere it to the flowered strip so it is a bit more than 1" from the top of the card.

On white cardstock, stamp your sentiment in a coordinating ink.

Die cut the sentiment with a label die that fits the sentiment.

With Dimensionals, add the sentiment to the center strip, about 1/2" down from the bottom of the embossed label.

Add a green gemstone to the center of the butterfly body.

Ribbon

Smiles.

THE DAILY BIRD APRIL/MAY 2025

Hey all. Time to share a handful of bird drawings I've done lately. Since medical problems reared their ugly heads in March, I feel I should change the name of my challenge from The Daily Bird to The Occasional Bird. I just don't feel moved to draw a bird each and every day. Here it is, August already, and I still haven't gone back to drawing a bird every day. Maybe some time in the not too distant future, I hope.

Since pickins' were scarce, I am sharing drawings I've completed during April and May, 2025. As I've always done with these posts, I will include above each bird its name and also where in the whole wide world these particular birds can be found.

tibetan snowcock

western himalayas, tibetan plateau

golden bowerbird

queensland, australia

bearded vulture

iran, southern europe, east africa, indian subcontinent, tibet, the caucasus

amazonian motmot

amazon lowlands, low andean foothills from eastern venezuela to eastern brazil 

and northeastern argentina

awebo (willow ptarmigan)

europe, tundra of scandinavia, siberia, alaska, canada

yellow-crowned night heron

the americas

madagascar pochard

madagascar

blue-winged mountain tanager

bolivia, colombia, ecuador, peru, venezuela

white-bellied kingfisher

equatorial west africa

white-browed robin-chat

africa

northern ground-hornbill

africa

asian koel

indian subcontinent, china, southeast asia

african jacana

sub-saharan africa

There! That wraps up another edition of bird sharing.

I share almost all of my bird drawings on Instagram. I would love it if you followed me there: instagram.paperseedlings.com.

Let me know if you'd ever like a print of any of my bird drawings!

Also, if you ever have a suggestion or special request of a bird for me to draw, send it to me!

Thanks for following me along on this bird-y journey!

Feathered 

Smiles.