A birthday blue bird

When I was shopping at the Stamp and Scrapbook Expo last month I found a cool tree ring die/embossing folder combination. I was really intrigued by it, and even though I wasn't exactly sure how I would use it, I decided to buy it. I pulled it out a couple of weeks ago to use with the Spoken Bird set from Hero Arts, and here is the card I created:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Spoken Bird (Hero Arts)
Paper: Thick Very Vanilla, Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse, Baked Brown Sugar card stock
Ink: Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip, Midnight Muse
Accessories: Spoken Bird dies and Paper Layering Feather die (Hero Arts), Tree Rings Texture Fades (Sizzix), burlap ribbon trim, clear droplets (Pretty Pink Posh), sponge, Dimensionals

I think the two products work really well together! I used a color palette of Baked Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chip and Midnight Muse to stamp branches and flowers on the card base for a background. I die cut the tree ring out of Baked Brown Sugar card stock and then embossed it. I sponged Chocolate Chip ink around the edge to create the look of bark and then adhered the tree ring to the middle of the card base. On top of the tree ring I added a Midnight Muse feather and stamped, die-cut bird.

You could use this card for a variety of occasions, but I decided to stamp "Happy birthday" in the lower left corner. (Looking at this photo, though, I can see I didn't get that stamp inked very well. Goodness.) I also tucked a bit of burlap ribbon behind the tree ring, added a few clear droplets and inked around the whole card base with Baked Brown Sugar.

Thanks for stopping by!