Papertrey Ink December Countdown Day 1

Welcome to day 1 of the Papertrey Ink December countdown! I'm currently listening to Christmas music and pining for a cup of hot cocoa (which I'll probably make before the post is through), but it's looking like spring around here! ha ha! Aren't these new Into the Blooms: Pansies dies fabulous??? As hard as it is for me to transition from Christmas crafting, these beautiful dies make it a little bit easier! That being said, I'm not completely done with all of my crafty Christmas, so stay tuned this next week for a few more projects!

I paired these pansies with one of the sentiments from the new Just Sentiments: Thinking of You stamped in black. This sentiment is perfect for a sympathy, get-well, and more....I will tuck this one in my stash for just the perfect time. I die cut all of the flowers from white cardstock and then inked them up using finger daubers and assorted Distress Oxide inks. I added some tiny black dots in the center of each flower using a fine tip marker.

Once the flowers and leaves were all done, I set them aside to create the different design elements to finish this card. I die cut a panel of Royal Velvet cardstock using the Border Bling: Tin Stitch Die and then added the beautiful new Cover Plate: Elegance die over the top that is cut from Lilac Grace cardstock. I actually cut three of them and glued them together for maximum dimension.

Although I hated covering up the beautiful details of this new Cover Plate, I really wanted to ground the sentiment so I die cut an oval using the Nesting Basics Ovals die and added the pierced detail using the Nesting Basics: Pierced Oval dies. I had toyed around with the idea of stamping a different sentiment on a BANNER, so I decided to add that bit of detail coming from behind the oval. I love when things like this fall into place...something I don't think I would have tried otherwise.

From there, I added the flowers and leaves here and there using foam squares and liquid glue. I added some glitter to both the leaves and flowers for some added detail and sparkle.

My next card uses the latest in the Feathered Friends Mini collection. This particular set is a little bit bigger than the other sets and includes two birds, some berries and leaves, a nest, and a perfect branch to perch!

This particular set has quite a few images so I stamped my birds using the stamping guide. I love how these birds come to life as each step is added. I always like to add a little bit of extra shading to different parts of the bird using two colors of ink and a blending brush to tap the colors together and remove any harsh lines.

Once all of the images were  stamped and ready to go, I set them aside to get the background created. I die cut the On the Border: From the Heart Frame die twice from Stormy Sea cardstock and glued them together with liquid glue.

I layered it onto a top folding A2 card base using liquid glue. I stamped the sentiment at the top of the heart using black ink. This is a new sentiment from the Just Sentiments: Thinking of You stamp set. I die cut the heart frame using the Border Bling: Skinny Heart Frames die from the same cardstock and glued it over the top.

I added all of the stamped pieces using foam squares and tucked a few more leaves from the new Pansies set to frame the birds. Thanks for fluttering by!