Vintage Birdcages, Feathers & Shabby Chic Florals

I’m in love with these birdcages; so much so I decided to craft a few digital die cuts and see what I could make. Using my HP scanner and my trusty old Silhouette, by some miracle, I was able to make dies for the two birdcages, two of the leaves and the sentiment of the Brutus Monroe stamp set. (I think this set is being released this week along with it’s digital die partner which makes it all a bit easier.) I used the Brutus Monroe Detail Ink in Raven for the stamps — taking extra care to line things up and apply the right pressure. It seems like a such simple thing right? Not going to lie — with my years of jewelry making I have developed a few “dexterity issues” in my hands which can present a challenge. With a few slightly-off exceptions, I am happy with the final “stamp on the die” project! (I definitely have The Misti on my wish list now!)

I did experiment with watercoloring both the birdcage and feathers in a couple different ways; but wasn’t really happy with the results. I’m thinking it is the paper I am using which is just heavy cardstock. So I added some multimedia paper to my list of goodies I want from Brutus Monroe.The rest of the card making process was fairly easy. I chose a couple of coordinating vintage florals that I designed for my planner sticker collection and just layered away until I was happy with the overall look. I didn’t have any of that foam-like tape but I think it would have been fun to use it to give the cages and feathers a bit of depth. Also, I did color the cut edge of the dies with a black Sharpie, thinking it made them pop a bit more against the floral prints. To top them off I added bits and bobs of ribbon. When I think of Victorian, I always envision little ribbons everywhere — so they show up in my designs. When I was doing the die cut for the sentiment, I forgot to weld the pieces so that the little spaces in the middle of the sentiment would not cut. I did change my design for next time. The perfectionist-side of me wants to point out all of the whoopsies — but the creative side of me is saying “shush!”

I have to say it…again! The detail on these stamps slays me. I am really old school and come from the days of hand carving rubber or linoleum blocks to use as stamps! Trust me, no matter how experienced you were or how many scars you had from slipping with tools, I think it was just about impossible to get this kind of detail. For me the detail means that I don’t have to color or paint the stamps in any way to make them look good. I like that!

I also cut and stamped some witches — so moving on to that this week. It’ll be interesting to see how it all comes together — not much of a fan of the witch in general for some reason. But these are so cute that I’m thinking my fan state might change after I see the possibilities! Stay tuned!