THE DAILY BIRD December 2023

In September, I will have been writing in my blog, Paper Seedlings, for 12 years! This post is my 1,250th entry. 

Most of my blog posts have been about cardmaking or papercrafting of some other form. That was the original intent of Paper Seedlings: to plant little seedings of ideas that will be cherished and cared for in order for these little seedings to grow into full blown creations that are so satisfying and add something wonderful to your life. That is the intent I originally set out with, and have never faltered. 

Last May, 2023, I endured a scary medical incident, a TIA, during which I lost the sight in my right eye for some time. After lots and lots of testing, it was discovered that my right carotid artery was 99% blocked, which resulted in surgery to clear that out. I am doing as fine as can be expected since then. But that little incident seems to have stolen a little bit from me, making me feel somewhat fragile and vulnerable.

Starting about that time, my interest in Paper Seedlings -- and it seems the interest of my readers too -- began to wane some and to just not be as important to me or others. Thus when I look back to my last post, I am amazed and dismayed that it has been nearly TWO MONTHS since I have posted anything. And I don't think the readers care either, because views are waaaay down and comments are pretty much nonexistent.

Thus, when my blog domain comes up for renewal next month, I am not going to renew it. That will be the demise of Paper Seedlings. I am so sad because this precious blog has been such a huge part of my life for so long, and it will be difficult to lay it to rest.

I guess they say that all good things must come to an end. And I did consider Paper Seedlings to have been a good thing.

You will probably not see any more of my card creations, although I am still creating cards for a handful of wonderful ladies who order my Project Kits each month from me. I appreciate that and them for the excuse to be creative.

The one thing that hasn't waned at all, however, is my love of drawing birds each day. I am up around 800 birds that I have drawn over the past years.

With that said, I will try to post a couple more times before Paper Seedlings ceases to exist, a few more months' worth of bird drawings. Check out this particular post, and you will see that these bird drawings are from DECEMBER! And here we are in the end of July. A little behind.

I hope you enjoy this gathering of birdies. As I always have, I will list the bird's name, as well as the area in the world where it can be found.

painted bunting

southeast and south-central u.s.

northern pygmy owl

western north america from canada through the usa and into mexico

flame-throated bulbul

western ghats in southern india

raven

northern hemisphere

mexican eagle

central and south america

cape batis

southwestern cape region of south africa

painted spurfowl

india

red-footed booby

tropical seas around the world

northern flicker

lower 48 states into central america to northern nicaragua, also cuba

king eider

arctic tundra

saira preciosa

south america

red-winged blackbird

north america

great crested flycatcher

central and eastern north america and southern canada

And there you have it: a handful of my favorites from December 2023. Hopefully it won't be so long before I get to posting those from January 2024!

As always, if you would like a print of any of my bird drawings, please contact me. I would be honored to have you love one of my little birdies anough to want it to come and live in your house!

bird

smiles.

#365birds/THE DAILY BIRD November 2023

I am still drawing a bird each day. At this point, the count is well over 700 birds drawn by Yours Truly. During this month of November, a big change took place. You see, I completed my year's worth of bird drawings, #365birds, and then I transitioned to another bird drawing challenge, this one without a specific ending date. I call it The Daily Bird. This challenge has the same parameters and expectations.

I obviously wasn't just too pleased with my November 2023 drawings, as I only have 11 to share with you. As always, I will include the bird's name and any other pertinent information above each drawing.

Here we go! 

 Day 357 #365birds

Evening Grosbeak, Canada, U.S., Mexico

Day 361 #365birds

Mountain Bluebird, Western North America

Day 1 The Daily Bird

Peach-Faced Lovebird, Southwestern Africa

Day 2 The Daily Bird

Sedge Warbler, Europe and Western Asia

Day 4 The Daily Bird

Chestnut-Backed Chickadee, Southeastern Alaska to Central California

Day 10 The Daily Bird

Flame Robin, Southeastern Australia

Day 15 The Daily Bird

Red-Rumped Parrot, Australia

Day 16 The Daily Bird

Coquerel's Coua, Madagascar

Day 18 The Daily Bird

The bird with the silly haircut: Belgian Canary, Belgium, France, Netherlands

Day 19 The Daily Bird

Olive-Backed Sunbird, Philippines

Day 20 The Daily Bird

Chinese Goose, China

So, an ending and a new beginning. I just love birds. After finishing #365birds, I decided to just keep going with them. 

A few types of birds I definitely do not enjoy drawing though are penguins and hummingbirds. These are such extraordinary birds, but I feel my rendering of any of them just doesn't ever do them justice. So, when one of them is randomly picked for the day's bird drawing, I just gulp and go forth, hoping for the best. Usually disappointed though. That's one of the reasons you won't find too many of those types of birds within these posts. I just do not like my results.

If you would ever like to own a print of any of my birds, just let me know. Please don't print from these blog posts or my Instagram account. 

Speaking of Instagram, you can find me at @paperseedlings. That account is way more up-to-date than these blog posts are. I would be honored if you would become one of my cherished followers!

Thanks so much to all of you who are gracious enough to follow along with me on my bird adventure! I love the company!

Birdie

Smiles.

JOSEPH'S COAT

For those of you who have been doing cardmaking for any amount of time, you are probably familiar with the technique that is referred to as Joseph's Coat. A process that takes a few steps and can be messy and somewhat unpredictable, the end result always proves to be worth the effort and gives a stunning background for your next card creation.

To start your Joseph's Coat background, cut a piece of white cardstock to your desired size. For my card, I used 4" x 5 1/4".  Rub this piece of cardstock well with an Embossing Buddy. 

Choose a stamp that you think would make an attractive background. I used a botanical branch. In VersaMark ink, stamp all over the cardstock, not overlapping the images at all. You may want to do this in stages so the ink doesn't dry before you even get it embossed. 

Once you have several images stamped, at the heat station, cover the images with clear embossing powder and use your heat tool to set the embossing. 

Finish up this piece in the same way.

Once the entire piece is embossed, used blending brushes to add color here and there. Try not to over blend the colors to keep the colors clean and separate, but joined. 

The photo below shows my piece embossed and the color added, ready for the next step.

For the next step, choose a color of ink that is fairly dark. I used Pretty Peacock. Using a rubber brayer -- and lots of patience -- roll ink over the embossed/colored piece until it is evenly covered with the dark ink. Roll every which way, repeatedly. It will require lots of layers. You might want to be listening to Adele's Rolling in the Deep while you are doing this. Just kidding. Though I do love that song.

Once the brayering is finished and you are happy with the look, take a tissue and gently wipe any excess ink from the images.

There! Now you are ready to create your card.

An up close and personal view of my finished card:

Snce I see my labor intensive background as the star of my card, I was, of course, hesitant to cover up just too much of its wonder, so went simple with the rest of the card.

If you are interested, I used a stamp from the set Forever Fern for my background image. The colors of ink I used, besides the Pretty Peacock, include Pear Pizzazz, Wisteria Wonder, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry, and Bermuda Bay. I know most of these are retired colors, but if you're like me, you still have them all around.

Have you ever tried the Joseph's Coat technique? Is this the same process you use to get your results? If not, please share with us how you go about the technique.

Colorful 

Smiles.

JUST BECAUSE

I decided that a truly spring-y looking card was in store for you today. I love this time of the year here in central Wisconsin. The blooming trees and bushes are at their lushest and spring flowers are popping up all over. The trees are at their vulnerable new stages of leafing out. Everything just looks so fresh and wonderful!

My card was created with a few retired products: the lovely Designer Series Paper and the darling flower die.

Just a closeup:

Here is a tutorial to recreate this card -- if you still have your supplies!

SUPPLIES:

Pool Party cardstock

Calypso Coral cardstock

Old Olive cardstock

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Floral Squares dies

Just Because die

Pool Party sequins

Peach-Colored Pearls

Stampin' Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of coordinating Designer Series Paper.

Use a small piece of Old Olive cardstock to die cut a framed flower and stem piece using a die from Floral Squares.

From this same die set, cut the three matching flowers in Calypso Coral cardstock. Adhere them over their counterparts on the first diecut piece.

Mount this to a 2 1/4" square of Calpyso Coral cardstock. Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add this to the card front, leaving equal margins at the top and at the sides.

From Pool Party cardstock, die cut a fairly large sentiment. Use small dots of glue to add this to the lower portion of the card.

Add coral colored pearls to the centers of the three flowers.

Scattered around the square, add three light turquoise sequins.

Spring-y

Smiles.

ALWAYS REMEMBER

I have been debating for some time now about whether I should discontinue my blog, Paper Seedlings, or if I should get back on the blogging wagon and keep on keeping on. Yesterday I had a really beautiful and encouraging comment on the post I had published about a month ago. This was enough of an incentive to prompt me to put something out there again. At least, for now.

Do you have any opinions on blogging? Namely me continuing my blog in order to plant little paper crafting seedlings and hope, along with you, that these seedlings grow into something beautiful and satisfying. Please share any thoughts you may have!

Back to today's card. The precious little flowers are forget-me-nots. Thus, I thought the sentiment was perfect for this card. A few words of beauty to remember a dear one who has just passed?

I did stamp, color and, finally, fussy cut my little bouquet. Because you all know how much I love fussy cutting and the look it gives to a piece. But, you'll notice in the tutorial that I suggest just die cutting the circle on which you stamp the flowers.

If you send out cards as snail mail frequently, you probably appreciate the fact that this is a very "flat' card, no unwieldy, dimensional additions.

Are you ready for that tutorial? Here you go:

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Balmy Blue cardstock

Coordinating Designer Series Paper

Peaceful Moments stamp set

Flower stamp from a recent Paper Pumpkin kit

Stampin' Blends in: Light Daffodil Delight, Light Just Jade, Light Tahitian Tide

Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Die Cutting/Embossing Machine

Seasonal Labels Dies

Deckled Circles Dies

1/2" white satin ribbon

Stampin' Dimensionals

DIRECTIONS:

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

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4"  piece of Designer Series Paper. 

Cut a strip of Balmy Blue that measures 1 1/2" x 5 1/4". Centered onto this strip, place a piece of 1/2" white satin ribbon that is about 6" long. Tape the ends of the ribbon to the back of the strip. It helps when placing something like this to run some adhesive along the back of the ribbon to hold it in place.

Adhere this strip down the center of the card.

On white cardstock, stamp in Memento Tuxedo Black ink a frond of forget-me-nots. Color them in as you wish. See list of supplies for Stampin' Blends colors I used.

Die cut this bouquet with the 2 3/8" circle from the Deckled Circles Dies.

From Balmy Blue cardstock, die cut another Deckled Circle, this one measuring 3 1/4" in diameter.

On a strip of white cardstock, stamp "Always Remember" in black ink. Use a die to cut it out. From Balmy Blue cardstock and the same die, cut another tag. Cut the blue tag in half, and adhere it to the back of the sentiment label, leaving approximately the same amount of blue extending on both ends.

Use Stampin' Diemsionals to adhere this to the bottom of the card.

Please don't forget to share how you feel about blogs in general, mine in particular. I can't wait to hear what you have to say!

Unforgettable

Smiles.

#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.