I've had a busy but hugely productive day today (love days like those!) and am popping in with a quick post from me with a card I made yesterday to squeeze in for this week's challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches: 

This is such a lovely little sketch from Jen, it seemed a shame not to use it (although I did flip it and use the mirror image so that my bird would be pointing towards my sentiment rather than away from it). I had so much fun with Saturday's Bird Banter card (you can see that card here if you missed it) that I thought I would use the set again this time featuring the colourful toucan - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Bird Banter - Today it's the turn of the toucan and his accompanying punny sentiment - these funnies just crack me up! I searched up some images of toucans online before deciding on my colours and then used my Blends to colour him, with the exception of his eye and the top of his beak - I used my Lemon-Lime Twist Stampin' Write marker for that as I wanted to get a real zing of green. I stamped him twice: once directly onto my banner, then again on some scrap cardstock and fussy cut this out. This way I was able to fussy cut out his body only and pop it up onto dimensionals aligned with the banner image, without needing to fussy cut his legs.

A Time-Saving Tip  - Now I love a bit of fussy cutting, but I know that it's not for everyone. Whilst I was happy to fussy cut my toucan and the larger flowers, the tiny ones were too fiddly. Instead I used a small circle punch (my circle punch from the retired Itty Bitty Shapes Punch Pack) and punched them out; much easier and I don't think it loses anything in terms of detail - what do you think?

A Tone-On-Tone Thankyou - I could have stopped there, but instead decided to add a little tone-on-tone stamping to my background panel by stamping the 'thank you so much' stamp from Thankful Thoughts repeatedly to create a customised background that reinforces the sentiment of my card. 

I remembered to stamp and colour my envelope (yay!) and that completes my card. I just love that this set really lends itself to bright colours and fun cards - another one for my stash!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with another project. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Thankful Thoughts Clear-Mount Stamp Set	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad	Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack
Pumpkin Pie A4 Cardstock	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Pumpkin Pie Light Stampin' Blends Marker	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers
Banner Triple Punch	Whisper White A4 Cardstock	Bermuda Bay A4 Cardstock	Brights Enamel Shapes	Regals Enamel Shapes

A late and quick post from me today as I managed to grab a little crafting time this afternoon and made a card for a friend of mine that I'm also entering for a couple of challenges:

I loved the sketch over at Fusion and those bright colours at Inspire.Create were perfect for what I had in mind. No coffee cup I'm afraid - my card is all about the apology and right on the money as far as this week's theme over at CASology is concerned - take a look:

Here's the low-down on today's card:

Bird Banter - Please tell me I am not the only cardmaker who frequently forgets birthdays? I mean, my intentions are always good and I have loads of cards on hand, but more often than not one of two things happens: I either don't have the 'right' card for that person on hand and so in taking the time to make it I end up late for the date, or alternatively I simply forget. It's never intentional, I'm just always so busy and I have a dreadful memory for dates and numbers, so they just don't stick. So all that said, Bird Banter is the perfect set for me - specifically, the rather punny sentiments and this one in particular: 'A little birdie told me it was your birthday ... obviously it wasn't an early bird'. How fun is that?! I received this set for free at Onstage, but I have to say it's one I would buy for that sentiment alone - it was (unfortunately) made for me!

A Hint of Stripes - I kept my card bright, clean and simple; I tucked in a little piece of the thin-striped Sale-A-Bration Bubbles & Fizz designer series paper behind my image to add a little interest and pop of blue, to compliment my bright pink background and yellow sentiment banner. 

A Stampin' Blends Tip - I used my Stampin' Blends to colour in my party parrot (the Melon Mambo ones were actually my old Blendabilties) and added a little clear Wink of Stella to his party hat and wing for a little sparkle. I fussy cut a second wing and tail piece and popped them on a dimensional so that I could overlap my sentiment banner slightly. My Stampin' Blends tip for you today is in relation to using them to colour a co-ordinating stamped image onto your envelope: before you begin colouring, place a piece of cardstock inside the envelope; this will prevent ink leaking through to the back of the envelope and spoiling its appearance.

I added one of the other birds along with the other part of the sentiment to the inside of my card - here he is:

Another handsome fella! One thing I do know - this card is on it's way to a friend, yes, whose birthday I forgot last week!

Here is the visual summary of the key products used on today's project for you to pin for easy reference:

You can see all of my 'How To' summaries on my 'How To - Tips and Techniques' Pinterest board in case you've missed any. 

I'll be back tomorrow with my post for this week's new challenge over at The Paper Players. Until then, happy stampin'!

Stampin' Up! Supplies Used:

Bird Banter Photopolymer Stamp Set	Bubbles & Fizz Designer Series Paper	Melon Mambo A4 Cardstock	Daffodil Delight A4 Cardstock	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad
Bermuda Bay Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack	Ivory Stampin' Blends Marker	Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush