THE DAILY BIRD NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024

Since I posted bird drawings I had done in October most recently, I figured it was time to share some of my favorites from November this time. Well, I think my bird muse must have taken an early holiday vacation, because she certainly wasn't around for me. I needed to dip into my December drawings in order to get at least a handful to share with you, and even then, I'm not happy with the selection.

Oh, well. Here I present to you some of my bird drawings, The Daily Bird, from November and December, 2024.

As always, above each drawing, I will give you the name of the bird, as well as where in the world this bird can be found.

 horned lark

north america

white-headed island-thrush

a few islands of vanuatu and lifou off caledonia

clark's nutcracker

u.s. mountains of the west

european goldfinch

europe, north africa, western and central asia

brahminy kite

indian subcontinent, southeast asia, australia

australian pratincole

australia

black-chinned sparrow

southeast u.s.

azure kingfisher

australia, tasmania

rhea

south america

chipping sparrow

north america

hainan blue flycatcher

cambodia, china, hong kong, laos, myanmar, thailand, vietnam

ayam cemani

java

eurasian widgeon

palearctic

wood stork

southern swamps of north america

And there you have it: a questionable bunch of bird drawings from November and December, 2024.

Thanks so much once again for continuing to accompany me on my The Daily Bird drawing challenge!

birdie

smiles.

MAY ALL YOUR WISHES

If you're at all like me, you have lots of dribs and drabs of patterned paper in your stash left over from past projects. Toss the scraps in the garbage? No way! 

This card is an idea for using up some of those scraps. Simple and lovely.

SUPPLIES:

Black cardstock

Light-colored cardstock

Patterned paper

Pearlescent vellum

Black ink

Line work flower stamp

Sentiment stamp

Dimensionals

Gems

Paper Snips

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

To this card base, add a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of light-colored cardstock. You could also use white cardstock for this layer.

On a scrap piece of leftover patterned paper, stamp in black ink your line-work flower. Fussy cut the flower.

Add the cut flower to a 2 1/2" square of pearlescent vellum.

Add adhesive to the back of the vellum only in the center where the flower is placed. Adhere the vellum layer to a 2 3/4" square piece of black cardstock.

Since the corners of the vellum are not glued down, once it's adhered to the black cardstock, gently use your fingers to curve each of the corners backwards.

Use Dimensionals to add the flower panel to the card front, with even margins at the top and sides.

Using black ink, add a sentiment to the bottom of the card. I love the sentiments that stretch across thee cardstock.

Add a gen to the center of the flower to finish it off.

Fussy

Smiles.

LAVENDER HUGS

As they often say in the art world, less is more. This card is the embodiment of that saying.

Simple, but effective.

SUPPLIES:

White cardstock

Serene Patterned Paper

Foliage stamp

Coordinating ink

Big Shot

Hugs Die

Stitched Shapes Dies

Leafy Embossing Folder

Dimensionals

Mini Glue Dots

White Baker's Twine

INSTRUCTIONS:

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

Cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. Emboss this with a leafy embossing folder. Add this to the white card base,

Cut a piece of your chosen patterned paper to 2 3/4" x 4 1/4". Adhere it centered to the embossed piece.

On a scrap of white cardstock, stamp the frond in coordinating ink. Use a suitably sized stitched oval die to cut it out.

From white baker's twine, tie a small bow. Use a mini glue dot to add it to the lower portion of the stamped image.

Using Dimensionals, add the completed oval towards the top of the patterned piece, leaving approximate equal margins at the top and sides.

From white cardstock, die cut the word "hugs". Using glue sparingly, add the word beneath the oval.

Less

Smiles.

THE DAILY BIRD October 2024

Here I present to you my favorite birdies I drew as part of my personal challenge, The Daily Bird. These drawings are all from October, 2024.

I hope you are enjoying the journey I am taking you on, my own challenge of drawing a bird each day. At this point I am not sure, but I think I have drawn in excess of 900 birds. Not necessarily 900 different  birds, as some of them are repeats over the years. I try to draw birds I've never drawn before, but sometimes there are repeats.

As always, above each of the drawings, I will note the name of the bird, as well as where in the world this bird can be found.

blue jay

north america

eastern bluebird

north america

belted kingfisher

all of canada and most of the u.s.

northern cardinal

north america

great blue heron

north america

house finch

north america

carolina wren

north america

american crow

north america

white-winged dove

southwestern u.s., through mexico, central america and the caribbean

great-tailed grackle

north and south america

house sparrow

worldwide

brown pelican

east and west coasts of u.s.

greater roadrunner

desert southwest u.s.

green jay

southern texas

american goldfinch

north america

red-tailed hawk

north america

pigeon

worldwide

What!?! I had no idea until I was putting this post together that so many of the birds are native to North America! Outstanding!

Well, that closes another month of The Daily Bird. Thanks so much for accompanying me on this little birdie drawing challenge.

birdie

smiles.

PUZZLED

I have lots of scraps of patterned paper lying around that were left over from various projects. I am delighted when I discover a cute way to use up some of these scraps.

This card is one of the fun ways you can use up one of these pieces.

SUPPLIES:

Light turquoise cardstock

Black cardstock

White cardstock

Scrap of patterned paper

Desired sentiment stamp

Black ink

Big Shot

Tag dies

Light turquoise ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

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

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

Cut a piece of white cardstock to 3 1/2" x 4 5/8". This will be used as the base for your "puzzle".

Take a 3" x 4" piece of patterned paper with a prominent design. Cut this into 1" squares. Once the squares are cut, mix them up. Randomly pick a square and adhere it to the white base, starting in the lower left corner, leaving an even margin to the right and to the bottom. As well as you can, randomly pick a square and place it in a grid pattern, keeping spaces between as even as possible.

Adhere the finished "puzzle" to the black layer.

On a scrap of white cardstock, stamp a sentiment in black ink. Use a tag die to cut it out. Use a slightly larger tag die to cut a piece of black cardstock.  Adhere the two tags together. Knot a 4" length of light turquoise ribbon through the aligned holes in the tag, snipping the ends as needed.

Use Dimensionals to add the label to the far right edge and about 1/2" from the bottom of the puzzle.

Puzzled

Smiles.