Don't worry, you haven't accidentally come to a cooking blog - there is no recipe here today, just one bird stamp which with a little different colouring can become 4 totally different birds (well actually it could be even more than that but I just did the 4 options to begin with) and as today is Dawn Chorus Day, it seemed the appropriate day to share them!
The bird stamp in question is the delightful little stamp from Wplus9 called A New Day. I know many of you have seen Dawn's amazing videos showing her watercolour her images and can be a little intimidated, so I wanted to reassure those of you, who like me, don't have Dawn's innate artistic ability, that it is actually a really easy image to colour!
I used mostly distress markers, my acrylic block and a simple paintbrush (I prefer a pointed chisel which I use for everything, which is not standard, but it works for me, so I suggest you try a few brushes and don't be forced to use the ones you "should"). The only addition I made was some white acrylic paint as I was working on off-white watercolour paper.
Stamp the bird in a water-safe ink - I used versafine onyx black which is my preference for anything I am not using copics for, especially if you need the fine details to show. Then pop on the internet, google the bird you want and copy the colours!
I started with a Blue-Tit - always one of my favourites as they are so bright and cheerful. Starting with the yellow and preserving any areas where I wanted white space until the end. The only area which didn't really follow the lines was the white stripe above the eye but its pretty easy to paint a stripe ;-)
To turn the image into a card, I decide to do some fussy cutting and to lop off the branches - to make my bird secure on the card, I just used a fine liner to extend the main branch. I sat him in a die cut frame (Lil Inker Stitched Circles) and did a little soft inking around the edges to draw the eye in. To finish I added a sentiment from Mama Elephant's Origami and simply curved it on my acrylic block before stamping to follow the curve of the die cut.
Then I opted for a Sparrow as they were probably the first bird I ever saw and did a soft watercolour of the whole stamp this time.
Again, its very easy to convert the chickadee into a Sparrow - a couple of curved lines around the eye and head, otherwise just a brown wing and tail, and a grey body - et voila! Simply die cut with Lawn Fawn's rectangle dies with a little brown dotty paper and the sentiment which comes with the bird.
Moving on to a Green Finch, I opted for some more fussy cutting to show the versatility and that you can use it without the branch at all.
This is probably the easiest to colour - mostly green with a couple of flashes of yellow and a little grey on the wing, around the eye and edge of the tail. I die cut Hello from a sheet of Beachside paper using my favourite alphabet dies - Finley's ABCs both from Lawn Fawn and to make the bird stand on them, I just cut off the back foot and half the front one (I promise no birds were harmed in the making of this card). I used the Lawn Fawn rectangles again but just embossed them to make a frame and added some ink splats in green to tie the design together.
And finally, I went for a bright Bull Finch - much rarer round out parts but they are so lovely to look at.
Again I went for a full image this time, but I extended the left hand side of branch again so I could ground it and not have it floating in nothing. I added a soft wash of blue just around the image this time for a softer look than the all over wash and added a simple sentiment from Mama Elephant's really useful Everyday Greetings set. Mounting it on a kraft base with the addition of some strips of our own brand self-adhesive wood veneers gives the whole thing a really different look.
OK, enough of me and birds for now - catch you the flip side.
Tara
NEWS FROM THE STORE:
The bird stamp in question is the delightful little stamp from Wplus9 called A New Day. I know many of you have seen Dawn's amazing videos showing her watercolour her images and can be a little intimidated, so I wanted to reassure those of you, who like me, don't have Dawn's innate artistic ability, that it is actually a really easy image to colour!
I used mostly distress markers, my acrylic block and a simple paintbrush (I prefer a pointed chisel which I use for everything, which is not standard, but it works for me, so I suggest you try a few brushes and don't be forced to use the ones you "should"). The only addition I made was some white acrylic paint as I was working on off-white watercolour paper.
Stamp the bird in a water-safe ink - I used versafine onyx black which is my preference for anything I am not using copics for, especially if you need the fine details to show. Then pop on the internet, google the bird you want and copy the colours!
I started with a Blue-Tit - always one of my favourites as they are so bright and cheerful. Starting with the yellow and preserving any areas where I wanted white space until the end. The only area which didn't really follow the lines was the white stripe above the eye but its pretty easy to paint a stripe ;-)
To turn the image into a card, I decide to do some fussy cutting and to lop off the branches - to make my bird secure on the card, I just used a fine liner to extend the main branch. I sat him in a die cut frame (Lil Inker Stitched Circles) and did a little soft inking around the edges to draw the eye in. To finish I added a sentiment from Mama Elephant's Origami and simply curved it on my acrylic block before stamping to follow the curve of the die cut.
Then I opted for a Sparrow as they were probably the first bird I ever saw and did a soft watercolour of the whole stamp this time.
Again, its very easy to convert the chickadee into a Sparrow - a couple of curved lines around the eye and head, otherwise just a brown wing and tail, and a grey body - et voila! Simply die cut with Lawn Fawn's rectangle dies with a little brown dotty paper and the sentiment which comes with the bird.
Moving on to a Green Finch, I opted for some more fussy cutting to show the versatility and that you can use it without the branch at all.
This is probably the easiest to colour - mostly green with a couple of flashes of yellow and a little grey on the wing, around the eye and edge of the tail. I die cut Hello from a sheet of Beachside paper using my favourite alphabet dies - Finley's ABCs both from Lawn Fawn and to make the bird stand on them, I just cut off the back foot and half the front one (I promise no birds were harmed in the making of this card). I used the Lawn Fawn rectangles again but just embossed them to make a frame and added some ink splats in green to tie the design together.
And finally, I went for a bright Bull Finch - much rarer round out parts but they are so lovely to look at.
Again I went for a full image this time, but I extended the left hand side of branch again so I could ground it and not have it floating in nothing. I added a soft wash of blue just around the image this time for a softer look than the all over wash and added a simple sentiment from Mama Elephant's really useful Everyday Greetings set. Mounting it on a kraft base with the addition of some strips of our own brand self-adhesive wood veneers gives the whole thing a really different look.
OK, enough of me and birds for now - catch you the flip side.
Tara
NEWS FROM THE STORE:
- We've had restocks from Avery Elle, Mama Elephant and Hero Arts this week.
- We are expecting restocks and new releases from Sugar Pea Designs, Newton's Nook, Winnie and Walter and Paper Smooches in the next week or so.
- We have our order in for the new release from Mama Elephant (they shared a peek of some super cute dogs this week on their blog) and that will be here by the end of May.
- Neat and Tangled and Reverse Confetti have new releases this month too which will be coming soon.
- We will also be stocking another FABULOUS brand in June - will keep you in suspenders about that one for now, but watch this space for news (and before you ask, it's not PTI as they won't wholesale at all and its not MFT as they won't sell to me as I'm online only, and it's not SSS as they won't wholesale their exclusive products either!)
5 comments:
I just love what you did with the little bird image, particularly the little blue tit, so sweet. I am just hoping this is still in stock when I put in my next order!
What a wonderful cards!!! Fantastic coloring!! Have an amazing day! Hugs, Jenna
These are so lovely. I like a bit of water colouring. So therapeutic. Thanks for the heads up about Sugar Pea, I'm just sorry SSS won't wholesale. They'd get a good market here and not lose any money!!
These birds are all gorgeous! xxx
Really beautiful cards, your colouring is just perfect
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