Garden Birdhouses Challenge

Hello, Friends! Our Demonstrator Team “Gathering” is this Thursday, and we had a wonderful challenge to complete. At our last meeting, Christy brought this image as inspiration.

Everyone thought this was funny, because we all know that Christy isn’t a fan of bird stamps. But Christy is a fan of color, and this photo has a lot of beautiful colors to inspire you! In fact, the colors made me say, “Wow!” when I saw this. I immediately noticed at least four of my favorites – Coastal Cabana, Granny Apple Green, Mango Melody, and Fresh Freesia. I know there are more, but these four caught my eye immediately.

I was inspired by the colors, but I also kept with the bird theme using the Garden Birdhouses Stamp Set.

You will notice that there are no birds in those birdhouses, because I am really creeped out by birds. They’re beautiful to look at from a distance or in pictures. But (you’ve probably read this story before), up close – like “in your face” close – they are scary.

You may already know I grew up on a farm. We raised Polled Hereford Cattle (that means they were bred to be without horns) and grew apples and peaches. Eventually, my dad got tired of losing money on the peach crop every year when the uncontrollable Virginia weather decided to raise it’s ugly head, so he pushed out all the peach trees. I was so sad, because I love peaches. In fact, I gorged myself one year when I was a kid, and I ended up with hives because I ate so many. It was totally worth it. But this isn’t a blog about peaches…

We also had a cherry tree. I don’t know what it was doing there; it may have just grown from a random seed. But my younger brother and I were tasked with picking the cherries one summer. After I placed and climbed up my ladder, a blackbird (and Dad’s name for blackbirds is also another story) flew right at my head. It was only by the grace of God that I didn’t fall off the ladder and do permanent damage to my person, because I’m easily startled. And I’m clumsy. Fortunately, however, the bird flew past without pecking my eyes out or any other of the horrible fates that ran through my head at the time. But since then, I have been freaked out by any winged creatures that get close to my face.

This card is pretty straightforward, so I won’t give you tons of detail since I’ve already kept you here with tales from my childhood. I stamped the birdhouses, and tree branch in Early Espresso Classic Ink, then colored with Stampin’ Blends (these are listed in the supplies at the end). I stamped the grass in Old Olive, and inked the flowers using Fresh Freesia and Pear Pizzazz Stampin’ Write Markers. I made sure to use my Stamparatus so I could re-stamp any images that I missed with the markers. The sentiment is stamped in Bermuda Bay. For a little sparkle, I added some 2021-2023 In Color Jewels as well.

I added the Basic White stamped layer to a Calypso Coral card base. The roof of the Balmy Blue birdhouse and the card base would have been Mango Melody, but the Mango Melody Stampin’ Blends were retired. (Why, Stampin’ Up!®? Why?) I’m still mourning the loss.

I had so much fun creating this card. I’ve already seen one other entry into the challenge, and it is gorgeous! I can’t wait to see the others. There was so much to inspire in our photo, and I know everyone will have a different “take” on it.

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

Product List