THE DAILY BIRD OCTOBER 2025

I realize that it's been a long minute since I posted a month's worth of my bird drawings from my personal challenge, The Daily Bird. But, after that long wait, I would like to share with you my favorites from October 2025. I did participate in Birdtober 2025, so all of the birds I will be showing you were the results of the prompts from that yearly challenge.

As always, I will note above each bird its name, as well as where in the world you can find it in the wild.

I hope you enjoy this little exhibition.

 javan green magpie

island of java in indonesia

common loon

canada, northern us, southern greenland and iceland

kalij pheasant

himalayan foothills from nepal, pakistan to western thailand

gyrfalcon

the islands of northern north america and siberia

great gray owl

north america, scandinavia, russia, siberia, mongolia

crowned parrot

northeastern mexico

red-footed boobie

islands of st brandon, mauritius, chagos archipelago

eurasian sparrow

temperate eurasia, southeast asia

tree swallow

the americas

northern waterthrush

north america

olive warbler

north america

acorn woodpecker

cantral america, north into the western us, south into colombia

pacific wren

north america

california condor (quite stylized)

north america

sultan tit

asia

varied bunting

mexican border

gallirex

africa

australian bustard

northern australia and southern new guinea

And, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed our little tour together.

Please remember that these are my original drawings and cannot be copied in any way without my approval. I would love to make you a print (or two or three?) of any of my birds if you would like. Just drop me a line.

Birdie

Smiles.

SPIKY FLOWERS

Sometimes free art supplies fall right into your little creative hands! But . . . you MUST be open to recognizing and receiving them!

A friend and I are working on a papercrafting project. Part of the project involves poking out pre-cut flowers from their host sheet. The resulting sheet has lots of negative flower shapes. Most <normal> people would trash these, or -- please?? --- recycle these. Linda? Oh no! These are STENCILS!!!

You can see in the card image below how I used these newfound art supplies. Do you see the striking flower shapes in purples?? 

Because the flower shapes are fairly close together, you do need to be careful when using them as stencils on a project.

Read on for a tutorial on how to utilize these particular free art supplies.

SUPPLIES:

White Cardstock

Black Cardstock

Black Ink

Ink colors of your choice

Happy Birthday stamp

Big Shot

Circle dies with and without scallop edges

Blending Brush

Black and white baker's twine

Black matte dot embellishment

Dimensionals

Glue Dots

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

To this base, adhere a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of black cardstock.

Cut a 3 3/4" x 5" piece of white cardstock. This is the piece you will stencil on.

Choose two colors of ink that you love and that play well together. Grab your favorite spoinging tool.

Position the "stencil" of a flower somewhere near the center of the white cardstock. Starting with one of the colors you've chosen, gently sponge the ink, being super careful not to go beyond the sponging area. Continue doing this with both colors, overlapping at times, and going off the edge, until you are satisfied with the look of your background piece.

Adhere this piece to the card.

Rub a piece of white cardstock well with an Embossing Buddy. In VersaMark Ink, stamp the sentiment onto this piece. Cover the stamped sentiment with black embossing powder. Emboss it with a heat tool.

Cut out the sentiment with a 2" circle die.

From black cardstock, die  cut a scalloped circle that measures 2 1/2" in diameter.

Adhere the circles together.

Using Dimensionals, add the sentiment piece anywhere you want on the card. Is some of the stenciling messier than you'd like?? Cover it up with the sentiment! Problem solved!

Add a black and white baker's twine bow to the circle with a small Glue Dot.

Add one piece of black bling above the writing.

Stenciled

Smiles.

RETRO PAPER, NEW FOLD

The paper I used in this card is old, old, old. But it worked up into a cool-looking card. 

I know the positioning of the card in the photo is sort of strange, but I didn't know how to set it up so I could demonstrate how it opens. Underneath the flap is a white section on which to write a message.

SUPPLIES:

Patterned Paper

Cardstock to match the Patterned Paper

White Cardstock

Ink to coordinate with Patterned Paper

Sentiment stamp

Big Shot

Deckled Edge Rectangle Dies

Metallic Pearls

Coordinating Ribbon

Dimensionals

INSTRUCTIONS:

Select a Patterned Paper and cut three pieces: two at 1" x 4" and one at 3" x 3 3/4".

Grab a cardstock that will coordinate with the Patterned Paper you selected. Cut this to 4 1/4" x 5 1/4". Also cut a piece to 3 1/4" x 8". Score this onne at the center point. Fold it in half, creasing the edge nicely with a bone folder.

Attach this, with the fold at the top, to the center of the card "base".

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 3" x 3 3/4". Adhere this to the inside of this mini card.

Add the larger piece of Patterned Paper to the center of this mini card.

In coordinating ink, stamp your sentiment on White Cardstoxk. Die cut it with a Deckled Edge Rectangle die that fits. 

Cut a 5" piece of ribbon. Fold it in half. Using tape, attach it to the back of the sentiment piece.  Cut the ribbon ends at angles to fit nicely,

With Dimensionals, add the sentiment and ribbon to the card.

Add a few silvery pearls around the sentiment.

Retro

Smiles.

THE DAILY BIRD September 2025

 Hello all! I bring to you today a handful of the bird drawings I did during the month of September 2025. Yes, I am verrrry behind. These birds are part of a personal challenge of mine, The Daily Bird. Sometimes, depending on my state of mind, I am not quite as faithful with the "daily" thing, and the challenge during those times should be called The Occasional Bird. However, to keep things simple and consistent, I will continue to do "The Daily Bird". Forgive me if I miss a day here and there.

Anyway, as I always do in these posts, above each image, I will give you the name of the bird, as well as where in the world the bird can be found in its natural environment. Here goes:

steller's eider

coastlines of russia and alaska, and in the baltic sea

shoebill

east africa

malabar trogon

india and sri lanka

horned puffin

north pacific ocean: alaska, siberia and british columbia

wrinkled hornbill

thai-malay peninsula, sumatra and borneo

pin-tailed manakin

brazil

southern screamer

argentina, bolivia, brazil, paraguay, peru and uruguay

green-billed malkoha

indian subcontinent and southeast asia

hawaiian goose

hawaii

red-shouldered hawk

north america

golden-throated barbet

southeast asia

edward's pheasant

central vietnam

marabou stork

sub-saharan africa

white-headed duck

turkey

double-crested cormorant

north america

pin-tailed sandgrouse

africa, turkey, kazakhstan

Whew! That does it for September. Hope you enjoyed my little show!

Please let me know if you would like print(s) of any of my birds. I would be thrilled to provide you with anything you wish.

If you would like to see all my birds in one place, please check me out on my Instagram account, https://www.instagram.com/paperseedlings. There you can even see my most recent drawings, not those from months ago! Please don't print or make copies of any of my drawings.

Thanks for following along on this journey of The Daily Bird!

Birdie

Smiles.

FLORAL GATEFOLD

I truly do love fussy cutting. You? Not so much? Have you ever really given it a try? Have you taken on paper piecing? 

Paper piecing is when you stamp an outline image onto patterned paper. After fussy cutting the image, you adhere it over the same image that you'd stamped onto the piece you are creating. It gives the illusion of realism, the effect of fabric, say.

I used paper piecing in this card, both on the flower and the stem/leaves. The pattern is subtle, so you need to examine it to see it. But it is there, and it is pleasing to look at.

This card is in the gatefold style, meaning that it opens at the center rather than from the right side. So many variations can be tried with this type of fold. 

You can see in the photo below that the card is partially open. 

Follow along for a tutorial on how to create a gatefold of this nature.

SUPPLIES:

Cream paper

Light blue cardstock

Cream cardstock

Blue patterned paper

Green patterned paper

Outline flower stamp

Black ink

Big Shot

Scalloped rectangle die

Fine scissors

Words embossing folder

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut a piece of cream-colored heavy paper to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2. Score it at 2 1/8". Flip it and score again at 2 1/8". Crease the score lines well with a bone folder. Fold towards the center to form the gatefold.

Cut two pieces of light blue cardstock to 5 1/4" x 1 7/8". Emboss both pieces with an embossing folder with words on it.

Add both of the embossed pieces to each of the gatefolds.

From the same cream paper as the base, die cut a scalloped rectangle that measures 3 1/4 x 4 1/2". Set this aside for now.

Stamp the flower portion of your image in black ink onto blue patterned paper with words on it. Fussy cut this flower.

Stamp in black ink the leaf/stem portion onto green patterned paper with words on it. Fussy cut this piece.

Adhere the two fussy cut pieces to the scalloped rectangle.

Adding adhesive only to the left side of the rectangle, add the completed flower piece to the left gate of the card.

Inside the card, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of cream cardstock.

Fussy

Smiles.