This is the perfect time of year to make cards using bird house dies!

Birds are an always popular motif for handmade cards and we have quite a few things in the shop to help you add these little creatures to any project. And when you make cards using bird house dies along with their inhabitants, you offer a whole little picture that tells a story.

For instance, this spring card from Natasha tells the story of these little feathered friends getting everything ready for their families in their tiny neighborhood! Natasha says “I love spring and hearing the birds sing.  It reminds me warmer days are ahead!”.

Let’s get all Natasha’s steps to create this project!

Natasha wanted to use woodsy tones for her scene so she cut the bird houses from our Large Bird House die set and some birds from our Birds die from white card stock. Using distress oxide inks, she colored the bird house elements. She then colored her birds with Pumpkin Color Fuse Ink from Set #2 and Nectar Color Fuse Ink from Set #4.

PRO TIP: to give dimension to these elements, add the colors in layers to build up some depth and variation.

Natasha then assembled the bird houses using liquid glue. Thanks to that little window of time before liquid glue really grabs, it’s the perfect adhesive to use when you want to precisely line things up.

For her background, Natasha cut a piece of white card stock with our Deckle Frame die. Taking the inside piece of the die cut, she used our Clouds Stencil and Arctic and Sky Color Fuse Ink from Set #7 to add layers of clouds about 2/3 of the way down her die cut. She then lightly blended a little sand colored distress oxide ink over the bottom of this piece.

To make that gorgeous faux bronze frame – you have to see it in real life! – Natasha blended some greenish gray and brown distress oxide ink over the frame using varying pressure to create that look of a patina. PRO TIP: Natasha applied ink in an even, thorough saturation around the inside deckles of the frame to ensure a crisp contrast between her scene and this frame.

Using dimensional adhesive, she then adhered the frame to a dark brown card base. She then adhered her background into the frame using dabs of liquid glue, again to get it all lined up. PRO TIP: Adhering the frame first ensures that everything is easily centered on the card base.

For a little detail, Natasha cut some white card stock using our Sea Grass die and ink blended that in complementary shades of green distress oxide ink. She added this beachy foliage to her scene and then arranged and adhered her bird houses and birds using liquid glue and dimensional adhesive. PRO TIP: Did you know that you can apply liquid glue onto the sticky part of your favorite dimensional adhesive and be able to adjust THOSE elements, too? Yes you can! Just make sure you give it a minute to “grab” because the elements popped up can shift more easily that those applied flat.

To finish this card off, Natasha stamped her choice of words from the whopping 86 (!!!) stamps on our Shadow Words set with dark brown ink on a scrap of kraft card stock, trimmed them with her paper snips and added them to her card.

Isn’t that card so cool? We love the waterside vibe, the pops of color from those birds and all that lovely moody coloring. If you want to make this card too, here’s what you will want to grab from the store:

 

We have a couple of other ideas for cards using bird house dies here and then here. And watch for more because we have a fabulous new die set that turns your basic “garden variety” shed into the most darling bird house die cuts you’ve ever seen. Come back and be prepared to be wow’d!