Three Little Birds

With a trio of swirly bird .svg files from this guy I created a set of wedding cards. I cut the birds with the Cricut, stamped the black swirls with glue and covered them with flock (which experience was... interesting. See my note on using flock below), and added a strip of ribbon. The message reads 'Happily Ever After'.

I made another elegant and simple set of cards to offer a married couple congratulations using the Bird and Flower Burst stamp which is a Clear Mini Stamp. I stamped in white ink onto grey textured cardstock and then embossed using white embossing powder. The black cardstock is also textured for a little bit of added style.

A really simple card just to say 'I'm thinking of you' uses the same stamp but in colour. I stamped with various inks I have and embossed with a transparent embossing powder, which somehow made the inks appear lighter than they are on the pads:

This blank card features bird stamps from Artemio (the set doesn't seem to have a name) and some pastel shades of ink:

And finally... just sittin' around... birds on telegraph wires, to thank someone with. I drew a template for the telegraph pole and traced it onto the card, shading it with cross-hatching and chalk. The bird stamps are from Toga (simply called Oiseaux). Again I embossed them with a transparent embossing powder:

A Note on Using Flock

I've just tried my hand at using flock. It's been an experience. You see, I hate mess, yet I'm a messy person. How do I live with myself? Right now I'm using blogging as therapy. Just look at the mess:

So anyway, using flock is fairly easy. You need some flock, first and foremost (I used Stampendous! Plain Ol' Black Fun Flock), and then a glue pad, glue and a stamp:

I've quickly learned a few things. For the stamp, it's important to have quite a simple stamp, as the flock will not take to one that is too intricate or too fine. When it comes to the glue, it's quite important to try not to get any where you don't want it, although you can easily clean up with a cotton bud as soon as you've stamped and flocked (don't leave it too long or it will dry). The flock does stay on. You just need to leave it a good few hours. I tested it by trying to brush it off every twenty minutes, but after a bit I got bored of waiting, so 'a good few hours' is an fair enough estimate.

Oh, and, conveniently, the flock expands once you've used it a little, so it doesn't fit back in the pot unless you pack it down! That accounts for some of the mess. As does the fact that it's so fine it floats around on the air and gets everywhere. BUT, despite all of this, IT WORKS:


I'm going to leave these cards and finish them off tomorrow. I'll post pictures then!