2-for-1 card special! ACT NOW!!! :)

yes folks i don't just have one super-cute bird-based card today...i have TWO...at *no* extra charge! c'mon in and check 'em out! you will not find this deal in stores! woohoo!!!!!! :)

(sorry, i got a little carried away by the fervent commercial pitchmen plying their wares on my tv...they are reminding me why i tend to NOT put the telly on during the day, actually!)

but seriously darlings, i have made two cute birdie cards...but they are for a very specific purpose:

miss june's fabulous blog candy contest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yes, june's blog, "simply elegant paper crafts" celebrated an entire year of simple elegance on june first--the first of many such happy, creative, productive, fabulous such years, i hope! to celebrate, june is having a cool challenge with a rather FAB giveaway! being the slow-moving creature i am, i have only just finished my cards before the deadline... (which is midnight tomorrow, june 7th) ...but if you are super-fast, you do still have a littlte time to participate, and you can find all of the details here!

there are actually two different challenges in which you can participate, but since they are BOTH so cool, i couldn't pick only one!

the first challenge involves making a gatefold card. i LOVE gatefold cards! in fact, i love them enough that it's a complete mystery that i hardly ever make 'em! this seemed like a really good time to change that! so i did.

here's the outside:

(patterned paper: basic grey, creative imaginations, karen foster, design originals, making memories sei; brads: doodlebug, sei; gems: mambi; circle punches ek success; inks: colorbox; other: foam tape, zigwriter)

here's the outside again...but you can see a bit of the inside:

(once again i have used my favorite frances meyer chipboard bird as a template (see below!) and cut "wings" from some basic grey paisley paper; the flowers are freehanded around various punched circles and then cut out as messily as possible, crumpled, straigtened, crumpled more, inked all over, and mounted on foam tape for dimension)

and here's a closeup of the inside:

(i plan to put a greeting of some description onto the little plaquet, probably using making memories felt alphabet letters...the card will a "cheer up" one for my s-i-l...i just haven't decided what to write yet!)

for the second challenge, since miss june is sooooooo SCRAP-tastic, and can make half a dozen gorgeous cards using only half a sheet of patterned paper and a handful of pipecleaners... (ok, i am exaggerating SLIGHTLY--but *only* slightly--she's amazin' i tell ya!!!) ...we are challenged to use the scraps from a previous card to make ANOTHER card...but...it cannot be *identical* to the first!

here's my "scrap" card...as you can see, i used the scraps from the first card (because they were all still sitting on my worktable!) :

(obviously, this is a "congratulations card" (the inside says "graduate") for a young friend of mine who has just completed high school. i've used scraps from the card above, but made my flowers a little less distressed. additional products: making memories journaling card & star brads, american crafts rub-on alphas)

and finally, here is a photo of the two cards TOGETHER...showing that they are similar...but not THE SAME!

thank you, june, for a fabulous year of inspiration, fun, friendship, and fantastic cards!!! many happy returns of your blogiversary!!!

ps to all those who'd like to know whence comes my favorite little birdie accent...here he is, a piece frances meyer naked chipboard that i have had for ages (you can see his little tail has been bent more than once!):

i know a lot of people would just COVER him with patterned paper and plonk him on a card and be DONE...but he is such an appealing shape (& i am sooooo not a person who can *draw* cute little birds on demand!) that i have basically turned him into a multi-use template that i trace onto either patterned cardstock or paper that is reinforced with index stock.

generally i hold a few pieces of scrap together at a time so that i have either choices OR extra birds for next time. sometimes i ink them, or outline them, or stitch on them...sometimes they get feathers or gems as accents...sometimes i cut out wings from cardstock...or use heart-shaped accents as wings and tails...i don't think i've ever made EXACTLY the same bird twice...and i haven't run out of variations yet!