Altered Bird Card

by Lis Whiting

Altered Bird

Materials

• Paper and Cardstock
• Navy Blue cardstock     (6" x 10" - fold in half to make your card base)
• Olive Green cardstock     (5 3/4" x 4 3/4")
• Basic Grey plain light brown cardstock     (
• Gold Cardstock     (3 3/4" x 1 1/2")
• Inks and Embossing Powders
• Distess Ink, Forest Moss     ( RAN-DP-Forest   $5.00)
• Embellishments
• Rhinestones     ( KAI-RH-700   $1.99)
• Smooch Spritz, Limolicious     ( CLE-SS-limo   $4.49)
• Distress Crackle Paint, Rock Candy     ( RAN-DCP-rock   $4.59)
• Tools
• Blending Tool     ( RAN-TIM-Blend   $4.99)
• Craft Mat     ( suz-crftsht-sm   $8.99)

Instructions

• Fold your 6x10 navy blue cardstock in half to make your card. This card will open from the bottom.
  Layer your green cardstock on your card and set aside.


• To create the card background:


• To create the alphabet stencil I ran Tim Holtz’ Cirque Alphabet Sizzlet die through my cuttlebug.
  After taking out the letters – voila! A stencil!


• Take your alphabet stencil and attach to the front of your basic grey plain cardstock with repositionable tape (I used Wacky Tack).
  Since I wanted two lines of alphabet. I positioned the stencil at the top of my paper and angled it to the middle of the card.
  
  
  In this picture you can see how I placed the stencil for the second line of design.
  
  


• Once you have attached your stencil, get a box.
  


• Lay the stenciled paper on the bottom of your box – FLAT.


• Take your smooch
  
  and spray straight down – about 1 foot above the paper.
  
  (The reason for this is that the spray will fall directly down onto the paper and stencil, making a crisper image.
  If you spray from the sides, you risk getting some of the spray underneath the stencil.
  The image might be blurry.)
  
  You don’t need much smooch, so one or two sprays is enough.
  


• Take your sprayed stenciled paper out of the box and wipe off the tape holding the stencil to the card with paper towel.
  (The tape wont absorb the spray so this avoids a mess later.)
  


• Repeat the process, placing your stencil on the bottom of your paper and angling up to the right this time.
  Place paper in bottom of box and spray again.
  
  You can use your heat gun to gently dry the smooch if you want.
  
  
  
  In the end, this is what your sheet should look like after you have stenciled two lines of alphabet onto your paper.
  
  


• Just to show you how intense the colors are I'd like you to look at this picture.
  The stencil was done in plain white cardstock.
  You can see where the tape was and how different the colored vs non colored paper is!
  
  


• Cut out a piece 3 3/4 x 5 1/2 from your stenciled paper.
  Edge your paper with Forest Moss and a blending tool


• At this point I stamped a spot pattern onto the paper using Forest Moss.
  
  
  
  Attach your stenciled paper to your card.
  
  


• To make the bird embellishment:


• I started out by printing out a digital Victorian bird image onto plain cream cardstock.
  
  
  
  


• I cut the bird out.
  
  
  
  


• I placed the cutout of the bird on my craft mat – flat.


• I took the rock candy crackle paint and painted a thin coat of the paint onto the bird.
  I LOVE Distressed Crackle Paint. Its easy to use and I ESPECIALLY love the Rock Candy. Its clear and goes with everything!.
  
  


• I let this dry on my craft mat – no worries – nothing sticks!
  The cardstock may bend and curl a bit but no worries. Just straighten it out. If it cracks, that’s good too.


• When you are done, you will have a bird that sparkles when the lights hit the cracks!
  
  


• To make a panel for the card:


• Cut a piece of gold cardstock to 3 3/4" x 5 1/2" . Mat this onto a piece of green Bazzill (same color you used for the card) with a 1/8 margin.


• Mount this onto your card in the lower right with mounting tape.


• Put mounting tape on the back of your bird and attach to your panel.
  
  


• Add a row of 4 clear rhinestones (5mm) to each side of your panel.
  
  

I love this card for two reasons. It has a subtle sheen from the Smooch spray. And I love that bird! In the sun or in candlelight, the bird has a “wet” look and you can clearly see the cracks.

I hope that you give this card a try!

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