A Lovely Nature Walk

My daughter Anna (who's 6) and I were flipping through the NEW 2012-2013 Stampin' Up! Catalogue. She loves stampin' and loves picking out new stamp sets. Of course a new stamp set with images of a necklace, lipstick and other girly things was the first one that caught her eye. Another stamp set that she loved was Nature Walk. Although it's not a new stamp set, it is one that has been on my wishlist for a while. I was waiting to see if it would retired before purchasing it and it didn't (YAY!). So I took the plunge and now it is part of my collection :) Anna was very pleased when she saw she it in 'our' studio ;)

Even though I'm not much of a bird girl, I love the image of the bird and the cage. I knew I wanted to feature these elements on the first project I made with the set. This week's Mojo Monday Challenge was the perfect sketch to feature them. I also loved the colors we were challenged to use at Dynamic Duos: So Saffron and Pool Party. This is what I ended up with:

Tips & Tricks:

*I love my little bee tag at the top of my card. It was easy to make with two circle punches and some Linen Thread. Making your own accessories is not only cost-effective, but it's fun, too!
*Love those Stampin' Write Markers! I used them to ink up my egg stamp in two different colors!
*I wanted my bird to be much bolder than the cage. To get the contrast I wanted, I used Crumb Cake ink for the cage and Early Espresso for the bird.
*For my first go, I didn't emboss the top So Saffron mat. But there was just something.... missing. So I embossed it with the Elegant Bouquet Embossing Folder. It adds so much to the card, yet doesn't take away from my bird and cage images.

I'm not sure who I'm going to give this card to but I'm sure they're going to love it. And it will certainly be someone special :) 'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!