Birdies

Have you seen Sunshine Birdies, stamp of the Month at Close to My Heart?

I've made a card with it using a sketch I've used a million times and am still in love with:

You may be thinking that the birdie on my card does not look the same as the one you see on the website.  No worries, your eyes are perfectly fine.  When I fussy cut it out, I realized that he is a tad bit too big on the card, so I trimmed off his tail.  And yes, I cut out his feather on his crown too.  I figured that it would look odd with just one feather after I've cut it out, so removing it would be the easiest thing to do.

I've used the music notes in the stamp set to create my own background.  Tone-on-tone technique is my favorite trick to add subtle interest to an otherwise plain cardstock.

In case you are wondering, the sketch came from Make it from Your Heart Part I.  There are many card and layout sketches on the internet, but this book is truly awesome.  It is affordable and jam-packed with pictures of beautiful projects.  Every time when my mojo is low I will be instantly inspired just by flipping it through.  Furthermore, I like that it has dimensions and cutting guides provided.  No guesswork at all!  I wll be honest that although sometimes I like the adventure to use sketches only as a reference guide, I do not always like the end product that I made because something seems unproportional.  There are moments that I did it right the first time and was extremely excited about it but I'm afraid it does not happen that often.  Thus I truly appreciate the dimension and cutting guide of the How-to books offered by Close to My Heart.

This card is going to a very dear friend of mine, who helped me a big time.  I can never thank her (and her family) enough.  I didn't want to send a thank you card, because a card like this will be more special.

I'm entering my card to the following:
Kitty Bee Designs - in the garden
Crafting with Dragonflies - Girly cards
Crafty Calendar - Special female

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!