#365birds OCTOBER 2023

It's been more than a minute since I've posted anything on my blog, much less any of my bird drawings. In a bad headspace in recent months, I am struggling constantly.

The last batch of my bird portraits I shared with you was SEPTEMBER 2023! And, now it's April. Whoa, Linda. 

I share with you today my 14 favorite bird drawings from October, 2023. Being October, I am getting close to the end of my personal challenge, #365birds, during which I drew one bird image each day for a year.

As always, I will put certain information above each of the drawings: the day of  the challenge, the bird's name and where in the world the particular bird can be found naturally.

day 327 - golden conure

brazil

day 328 - european shag

northeast atlantic and the mediterranean

day 329 - great indian hornbill

southeast asia, bhutan, nepal, southwest china, southwest and himalayan india, cambodia, laos, myanmar, thailand and vietnam

day 330 - anhinga

southwest coastal north america - north carolina and texas

day 331 - rooster

day 336 - white-throated magpie jay

central america

day 339 - spiny-cheeked honeyeater

australia

day 344 - ornate hawk eagle

tropical americas

day 346 - bee eater

africa, asia, southern europe, australia, new guinea

day 347 - keel-billed toucan

southern mexico to venezuela and colombia

day 350 - saddle-billed stork

tropical africa

day 352 - american kestrel

alaska, northern canada, the u.s., central mexico, caribbean and south america

day 354 - steller's jay

western north america

day 356 - grey-headed bush shrike

sub-saharan africa

And there you have it. At this point, there are only  nine more days left of my 365-day challenge. I am not going to tell you right now whether I continued after the year was up or not. Watch my blog for the end of it all. ?

Please keep in mind that these are quick snapshots of my original artwork and are not to be used in any way without my express permission. I will gladly have a good quality print made for you if you wish. Just reach out to me.

Birdie

Smiles.

SENDING HUGS

I don't know what exactly it is, but a beautiful floral-themed card has always really appealed to me.

The flower featured on this card is fussy cut from a sheet of metallic-outlined flowers on Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper. When faced with the possibility of getting several focal points from a single sheet of DSP, and that I can do one of my alltime favorite things -- fussy cutting! -- I am one excited girl.

I colored my chosen flower with Stampin' Blends, which did a wonderful soft job on this gorgeous flower. 

The flower, being as beautiful and large as it is, didn't require just too much effort to incorporate it into a lovely card.

Shown at an angle in the sun, you can appreciate the coppery glow of the outline of the flower. 

Adding dimension with dotted Swiss, created with an embossing folder, was the perfect, but non-invasive, addition to add charm to the card.

If you are lucky enough to have in your stash a couple sheets of this type of Designer Series Paper, and would like to use it on a card similar to this one, here is a tutorial on how you can do so.

SUPPLIES: 

Copper Metallic Cardstock

White cardstock

Soft Seafoam cardstock

Flower cut from metallic-outlined flower DSP

VersaMark ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light and Dark Seafoam, Light and Dark Balmy Blue, Light Mango Melody

Splendid Thoughts

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Tasteful Labels dies

Stitched Shapes dies

Balmy Blue ribbon

Stampin' Dimensionals

Genial Gems

Embossing Buddy

Heat Tool

Copper Embossing Powder

Dotted Swiss embossing folder

DIRECTIONS:

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

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 4" x 5 1/4" and emboss it with a dotted Swiss embossing folder. Add this piece to the card base.

Fussy cut one of the flowers from the Designer Series Paper. Color it as you wish. 

Die cut a 2 7/8" circle with the stitched edge if you have it. Mount the fussy cut flower to this circle. Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add it to the card base so there are even margins at the top and the sides.

Heat emboss in copper embossing powder a sentiment. I used a small flagged label from the Tasteful Labels dies to cut this out.

Take a 6" piece of  Balmy Blue ribbon, fold it in half, and tape it to the back of the sentiment label. Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add it to the lower right corner of the card.

Add three Genial Gems in green to the card, two on the circle and one on the sentiment.

Fussy

Smiles.

COLORED SPECIALTY PAPER

Often in the Stampin' Up! catalogs, there are exquisite lush Designer Series Papers. While gorgeous in their own right, you can make them even gorgeous-er (!) by adding a dash of color.

The card I share with you today is just such a case. To the design on the paper, a paper with a luscious metallic sheen, I added color with Stampin' Blends. Because some of the lines were quite delicate, I needed to use the smaller end of the pens and take a great deal of time.

For my card, I used Stampin' Blends in Dark Tahitian Tide, Dark Parakeet Party and Light Call Me Clover. 

The design on the paper was raised just the slightest bit, almost as if it were gently embossed. Placed at an angle in the sunshine, you can almost "see" the dimension of the design. 

I wanted to add a background with some pop to it, so opted for this leafy embossing folder with Tahitian Tide cardstock. The colored piece was matted with Parakeet Party cardstock.

Once again, as so often happens, the colored design was just so pretty that I didn't want to cover up just too much of its charm. So I opted for a delicate white diecut sentiment, added to a strip of Parakeet Party (how appropriate for a BIRTHDAY: Parakeet PARTY) and popped it up over the lower portion with a few Stampin' Dimensionals.

And how about you? When you get your hands on a luscious piece of paper, do you use it as is, try to fancy it up with color, or add it to your stash where it will while away the rest of its life, unused and unappreciated?

Specialty

Smiles.

VALENTINE HOOT

 Just wanted to wish you all a beautiful Valentine's Day!

Heartfelt 

Smiles.

 

EVEN MORE PRECIOUS

There are ever so many reasons to love Japanese culture. One of the aspects that is especially appealing to me is that of kintsugi, the art of repair. 

Kintsugi is a lovely tradition of restoring broken pottery rather than simply throwing it out in the trash. The pottery is brought back to a whole new -- even more valuable -- life by putting the piece back together using lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver or platinum, thus celebrating the history of the piece by making it even more worthy, rather than treating it as something that needs disguise or disposal.

This act of restoration is a metaphor for embracing any flaws or imperfections in ourselves and our lives. It also teaches us that life, along with all its roadblocks and unpredictability, is never irretrievable and, through care and time, life can be pieced back together to become even more beautiful and celebrated. The fragility of life and self is then celebrated and embraced instead of mourned.

Below is an example of Kintsugi: Isn't it lovely?

Although the art of kintsugi is usually applied toward the repair of pottery, I thought it could be interesting to try to achieve this effect through papercrafting. My attempt at paper kintsugi is shown below:

I chose a piece of Designer Series Paper that I thought looked somewhat pottery-like and went to work, first destroying it, and then repairing it, making it even more beautiful than it originally was.

Tearing the 4" x 5 1/4" piece of DSP into four distinct sections, I proceeded to repair it by putting it back together onto a 4 1/4" x 5 1/4" card base. The unsightly "cracks", i.e., tears, needed to be fixed in a hurry. 

I added adhesive over the tears, then added the papercrafter's "gold", leafing flakes. It was a messy process, and frustrating, the act of brushing off and beautifying the gold flakes, but I think it turned out quite well, achieving what I'd hoped to before I started. 

A person wouldn't necessarily need to do the tearing. You could just go ahead with a solid piece of your chosen DSP, add "cracklike" adhesive, then covering the "cracks" with the leafing flakes. But, then, you wouldn't be following the reasoning behind the beautiful art of kintsugi, that of repairing something that is broken, since it wasn't even broken in the first place. 

Once my kintsugi was completed, and my DSP was even more beautiful than when I started, I turned my masterpiece into a card by adding a die cut greeting and a few spots of bling.

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Kintsugi symbolizes how we must incorporate our wounds into who we are, rather than try to merely repair and forget them.

David Wong

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Repaired

Smiles.

GOLDEN LEAVES

Two of the products that I especially like from Stampin'' Up! are when they put together a card base with a coordinating envelope, as well as the precious charm-like pieces you can find occasionally.

My card today features both of those things.

The card/envelope combination is diminutive, measuring a mere  3 1/4" x 4 1/4". Quite treasurelike. 

The woodtone design on the card base graces both the front and the back, and is very subtle. I wanted a lot of this design to show so I decided to keep my additions to the card quite simple. 

I stamped the outline of the two step flower from the Color & Contour  stamp set in Pecan Pie ink (don't you LOVE that color?!), followed by the solid portion of the flower in Calypso Coral ink. After fussy cutting the flower, I wasn't sure how to proceed.

All of a sudden, I remembered the goldtone leafy stems I'd never used before. Mostly because I wasn't sure how to use them. This seemed a perfect role for one of them -- the "stem" to my flower. First I tied a length of gold metallic cord through the hole in the top of the charm, tying it in a bow. Using a glue dot, I added it under the flower, which I'd popped up with a Stampin' Dimensional.

Following through with the simplicity I wanted, in Pecan Pie ink, I added a small "hello" in the lower right of the card.

The following photo shows finished card sitting atop the coordinating envelope.

SUPPLIES:

Card/Envelope set

White cardstock

Pecan Pie ink

Calypso Coral ink

Color & Contour stamp set (page 25 Annual Catalog)

Cactus Cuties stamp set (retired)

Gold cord

Open Leaf Trinkets

Stampin' Dimensionals

Mini Glue Dots

DIRECTIONS:

On a scrap of white cardstock, using the flower from the Color and Contour stamp set, stamp the lined portion in Pecan Pie ink, followed by the solid portion in Calypso Coral ink.

Fussy cut the flower, leaving a narrow white edge all around. (It really is easy!)

Attach the flower to the card front with Stampin' Dimensionals, about 1/2" from the top of the card.

Take about 8" of gold cord and thread it through the hole in the top of the Open Leaf Trinket, tying the cord into a bow.

Use a Mini Glue Dot, tuck this addition into the space under the flower.

In Pecan Pie ink, stamp the simple "hello" from the Cactus Cuties set in the lower right corner of the card.

Diminutive

Smiles.

#365birds SEPTEMBER 2023

I know. I know. I am woefully behind in my blog posts. It seemed that when I was linking up to other bloggers' Link Parties, I was much more committed. I gave that up in May as the result of a medical experience. Since then, I seem to have been merely treading water. 

I HAVE, however, kept up my daily bird drawings I am happy to report.

In this blog post, I would like to share with you a handful of bird portraits I'd done as part of my #365birds challnge during the month of September 2023. As I always do, above each drawing, I will note the type of bird it is and where in the world he/she can be found.

crested kingfisher

southern asia

wompoo fruit dove

australia

house wren

canada throughout the west indies and central america to the southernmost point of south america

northern flicker

north america

black-capped manakin

southern mexico through central america to south america

yellow-billed cardinal

south america

scale-crested pygmy tyrant

eastern honduras to southernmost peru and northern venezuela

boat-billed heron

central and south america

buff-laced polish chicken

europe and brought to the us

hooded warbler

caribbean, mexico and central america

eastern whippoorwill

canada and eastern us

hooded mountain tanager

south america

paradise flycatcher

asia

banded kingfisher

asia

indian roller

tropical asia

lesser white-fronted goose

russia

red-necked tanager

eastern brazil

lilac-breasted roller

africa

And there you have it. Being September, I was still in the midst of trying to conquer my yearlong challenge, which I finally finished in November. Imagine! 365 days of bird portraits!

These are awful snapshots of my drawings. If you would like a print of any of my bird portraits, contact me and I will get you a good quality print. Please remember that these are my personal art works and are not to be used in any way, shape or form (I'd always wanted to say that!) without my express consent. Just let me know if you want a print or two or three . . .

Bird-brained

Smiles.

FAUX SHUTTER FISH

I don't know about you, but when I first saw a card made like this, the first question in my head was "how did they get all those DSP pieces just the right size?" I was completely mystified.

But then I watched the video so wonderfully done by Lynn Dunn at Stamptastic Designs on YouTube. 

And the mystery was solved.

 

Following Lynn's instructional video on how to create a Faux Shutter Card or Fractured Card, as she also refers to it, is quite easy.

If you don't feel like watching the video, I will include a tutorial on how to do it yourself. The video is about nine minutes long.

The only dimension to this card is from the popped-up fishbowl. 

SUPPLIES:

Shaded Spruce cardstock

White cardstock

Coordinating Designer Series Paper

Fishin' Around - Retired stamp

Memento Tuxedo Black Ink

Stampin' Blends in: Light Pumpkin Pie, Light Pool Party, Light Mango Melody, Light Cinnamon Cider, Light Crumb Cake and SU 600

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Stitched Shapes dies

Stampin' Dimensionals

Paper Cutter

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

Cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of coordinating Designer Series Paper. Set this aside for a bit.

Cut four strips of Shaded Spruce cardstock. Three of the pieces will be 1/4" x 4", while the fourth will be 1/4" x about 6". Set these aside for now.

I used the square die from the retired Stitched Shapes dies that was about 2 1/8" to cut a white square. This will be your starting place. Add this, turned like a diamond shape, to the DSP with even margins at the top and the sides.

Take one of the shorter strips and butt it up to the diamond with the left corner of the diamond and the end of the strip together. Glue it in place, letting the end extend beyond the edge of the DSP. Take another of the shorter strips and butt that to the top corner of the diamond and tucking it into place against the first strip. Take the long strip and do the same thing as the first two strips, but running it all the way to the bottom of the DSP. Finally, take the last short strip annd finish the framing process.

Turn the DSP over, and with paper snips, trim off any of the strips that extend beyond the DSP.

Now you can add your completed piece to the card front.

To complete the card, you need something in the center of the framed portion. I opted for this cute fishbowl and fussy cut it when I finished the coloring. If you don't like the fishbowl idea, add anything that appeals to you and fits within that area. It's possible also to do your stamping directly on the white diamond, eliminating the fussy cutting step. I preferred to do it separately and added it with Stampin' Dimenisonals to give an otherwise flat card a little bit of dimension.

There! No more mystery. An easy way to get a complicated look. I'd like to thank Lynn at Stamptastic Designs for her fabulous instructions!

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Focus on the journey, not the destination. 

Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it. 

- Greg Anderson -

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Fractured 

Smiles.