Bird Banter Budgerigars

Hello, Crafters.

This weekend our weather forecast is for more snow, but in the south-east it will be just light snow and breezy, with the north and Scotland getting the worst of it again.

Stampin' Up! have announced that the second pre-order window for the Stamparatus will start shipping from 20th March for North America and South Pacific; and from 27th March for Europe. 

If you pre-ordered during the second pre-order window, watch out for your email from Stampin' Up! telling you that you can finalise your order, and if you want to get a Sale-a-bration gift, don't forget to add something to your order to take you to the €60/£45 mark. Equally, you can add extra products to your Stamparatus order if you'd like to.

Today's card has been made using the Bird Banter Stamp Set, and my colour choice is Peekaboo Peach. 

I started by stamping the branch first and then added the budgerigars. This wasn't a good idea because the leaves on the right went over the budgie's tail! 

For my second attempt I stamped both budgerigars onto Post It Notes, and cut them out so I could use them as masks. I stamped the budgies in position, covered them with the masks, and stamped the branch, so the feet were on the branch, but I missed! They were floating above the branch, so I started again!

For my third attempt, with the masks still in place, I stamped the balloons and managed to get the string of both balloons on the budgie's beaks. By this time, I decided it would have to stay like it!

The HAPPY BIRTHDAY sentiment is in the Bird Banter Stamp Set, but I wanted to have HAPPY on one balloon and BIRTHDAY on the other. 

By now I was feeling somewhat frustrated at the trials I was encountering, and didn't want to cover half the stamp, ink it, remove tape, stamp, clean stamp, cover other half of stamp, ink it, remove tape, and stamp it. 

I went for the easy option and cut the stamp in half - nice and easy!

NOTE: if you decide to do the same, please remember that you'll make your guarantee with Stampin' Up! null and void as you have deliberately "damaged" your stamp!

I stamped HAPPY three times, one underneath the other, and then did the same to the birthday. As you can guess it went wrong on the second balloon, so I decided to do some paper-piecing using cardstock (CS). 

I stamped one balloon on a scrap of Peekaboo Peach CS, and another balloon on a scrap of Calypso Coral.
Before I cut them out by hand, I stamped the sentiment, just once this time! I adhered them in place using Tombow.

To find out the correct colouring for budgerigars, I went online and googled it, otherwise I wouldn't have known that little bit across their beaks is blue. There should be more black on the wings, but for a stamped image I think it's brilliant as it is. 

I was particularly pleased with how green the Lemon Lime Twist looks against the yellow!

To decorate the inside of the card, I stamped two budgerigars facing each other really close, hoping that I could make them "kiss". With the level of fails I had yesterday, it didn't quite work out according to the plan, but this wasn't surprising!

Fortunately, I don't think I've ever worked on a card where so many bits went wrong, and yes, there were times I felt like giving up, but I'm a bit like a dog with a bone! LOL!


That's about it from me today. I hope you have a super weekend, and until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.