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September 16, 2024

THE DAILY BIRD MARCH 2024

Going through the bird drawings that I did in March shows me that March must have been a pretty good month for birdies. I liked a lot of them! That is so unusual. 

These are my favorites from the month. Above each bird drawing, I will give the name of the bird and where in the world you could find these feathered friends. I hope you enjoy.

 african jacana
sub-saharan africa

european bullfinch
europe and temperate asia

american singer canary
macaron asian islands

cinereous vulture
southern and eastern europe, middle east, central asia into mongolia and china

russet-throated puffbird
northeastern colombia

red-cheeked cordon-bleu finch
sub-saharan africa

hooded pitta
southeast asia

nicobar pigeon
india

eastern meadowlark
southeastern canada, west to the great plains and great lakes regions, 
appalachian mountain corridor

yellow-bellied sapsucker
canada, northeastern u.s.

african fish eagle
southern africa

egyptian goose
africa: nile valley

chestnut seedeater
argentina, brazil, paraguay, uruguay

common buzzard
palearctic

marabou stork
africa

hawaiian honey creeper
the hawaiian islands

red-faced liocichla
bangladesh, bhutan, myanmar, northeast india, nepal, western yunnan

european sparrowhawk
europe, coastal northwestern africa, asia

european eagle owl
iberian peninsula, europe and asia

And there you have it. March in the bag. Thank you so much for continuing on this bird journey of mine. See you in the next installment. April 2024!

birdie
smiles.




































September 10, 2024

STRIPPY THANKS

If you're like me, you have lots of scraps and leftovers lying around from finished projects. Cardstock is so expensive, I really hate getting rid of even the smallest piece. Thus, when I come upon an idea that enables a crafter to make a cute card using up scraps, I'm all in!

You too? Keep reading for a tutorial on how to create a card like this:


SUPPLIES:
White cardstock
Assorted colors of cardstock scraps
Black cardstock

Big Shot
Amazing Thanks dies
Stampin' Dimensionals
Textured embossing folder

DIRECTIONS:
Fold a 4 1/4" x 11" piece of white cardstock in half, creasing it well with a bone folder.

Cut a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of white cardstock. Use an embossing folder to add texture to this piece. Add it to the white card base.

Cut a piece of black cardstock to 1 1/2" x 5 1/4". This will be the base to which you will add your colored strips.

From assorted scraps of colored cardstock, cut eight strips that measure 1/2" x 3". 

Add the colored strips to the black, starting with the two on the ends and adding them at jaunty angles. It might help if you lay it out first to get the color order and tilts that please you. Then, proceed with the glue.

Using a two-part die that says "Thanks", cut the larger portion from white cardstock and the narrow part from black. Carefully adhere the two word parts together.

Adhere the word over the strippy section.

Wth Dimensionals, add the completed strip to the card.

Strippy
Smiles.

September 5, 2024

FOLIAGE BIRTHDAY

I am going to make a concerted effort to add more posts to my blog. Initially, I had planned to not renew my website when it came up for renewal this month. But, I decided to keep on keeping on rather than giving up on all my hard work over the many years.

Besides my periodic posts of my bird drawings, I will resume adding tutorials for some of the cards I continue to make. I offer kits to make four cards each month. These blog posts will be the creations for those kits.

One more thing: since I am no longer a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator (ignore that claim in my header. I don't know how to fix it.), I will continue to use my Stampin' Up! products. I will then refer to those items by the Stampin' Up! name. I will also be using non-Stampin' Up! products.


SUPPLIES:
White cardstock
Forest Foliage cardstock
Designer Series Paper

Forest Foliage ink

Big Shot
Oval dies
Unbounded Love dies
Linen thread
Stampin' Dimensionals

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

Choose a piece of Designer Series Paper that you think would make a good background. Once your DSP is chosen, pick a piece of cardstock that works well with the colors in the DSP. Cut this coordinating cardstock to 3 1/2" x 4 3/4". You will be doing the next steps on this base.

From the DSP you've chosen, cut it to 3" x 4 1/2". Then cut this into three 1" strips. Evenly add these strips to the coordinating cardstock.

From white cardstock, die cut an oval that measures 1 3/4" x 2 3/4". In coordinating ink, stamp a sentiment that fits nicely in the center of the oval.

From some of the coordinating cardstock, die cut a decorative oval border. Carefully adhere this border to your white oval.

Take a length of linen thread, and after putting adhesive on the back of the oval, make loops, catching the thread on the adhesive as you pass over it. I added tape over the adhesive oncee my loops were in place.

Use Stampin' Dimensionals to add the sentiment piece toward the top of the card.

Leafy
Smiles.

September 2, 2024

THE DAILY BIRD FEBRUARY 2024

Unbelievably behind in posting my bird drawings. As you see in the title of this post, the birds I will be featuring are a handful of my favorites from FEBRUARY! 

This series, entitled The Daily Bird, began when I finished my #365birds. Yes, an entire year of daily bird drawings. Now, by calling my current challenge The Daily Bird, I have no ending in sight.

As I always do in these posts, I will indicate above each drawing the name of the bird, as well as  where in the world this particular bird can be found.

waffled curassow

tropical amazonian forest


ring-necked duck
north america

african grey parrot
central africa

clark's grebe
north america

white-naped crane
northern mongolia, southern siberia, korea, japan, central china

fulvous whistling duck
lowland south america, southern u.s., west indies

plate-billed mountain toucan
west slope of ecuador, extreme southern colombia

pale-billed flowerpecker
india

comb-crested jacana
australia

ruddy kingfisher
southeast asia

merlin
north america

green wood hoopoe
africa

And, that's it for the birds of February 2024. Stay tuned for more.

I would be delighted to have prints made of any of my birds for you! Just hit me up for which of them you would like to own. Keep in mind that the photos I have here are quick snapshots of the birds, not the quality you would get in a print.

Birdie
Smiles.