Bluebird of Paradise!

Hi everyone,

It's the Blog Hogger with a little story for you.

Once upon a time a beautiful older sister went to another land to help her daughter, who was with child. While the beautiful older sister's thoughts were centered almost solely upon the upcoming birth, she still thought lovingly of her younger, and also beautiful, sister whom she had left behind.

Now, it's important for you all to realize that the younger sister supported her older sister in all her many endeavors, including by posting on her colorful, creative and always slightly crazy blog.

"Hmmm", the older sister said to herself one day. "How can I possibly repay my younger sister's devotion and help." (Now if she had said this out loud to her sister, the younger sister would have readily replied that the older sister was the best sister in the world and constantly gifted her with Stampin' Up goodies. Therefore, no further recompense was necessary. However, she didn't and so the story continues . . .)

One day, while on an outing with her daughter and new grandbaby, the older sister saw the perfect gift! (It was perfect because, in our family, anything card-related is considered awesome! Have a look and see if you can guess what it's used for.)

Ah, yes, for those of you who are as bright as a bluebird, it's a card holder! It's quirky and cute and the younger sister loved it! The older sister gifted the younger sister with other tokens of her appreciation but the younger sister was most taken with the card holder!

She spend many minutes staring at the little metal bird before she exclaimed, "Ah ha!!! I have it!" The younger sister rushed into her craft room and feverishly flipped through cardstock, and then proceeded to cut, color, fold, punch out, run product through the Big Shot (pant, pant), and at last was happy with her creation! And here it is :

(TADA!!! Seriously, people, if you give me just one little idea I will run with it until I am so out-of-breath I can't even speak! Okay, well, that never really happens. I can always speak! lol)

Anyway, back to the story . . . no, wait, that's enough with the story! lol It would be way better if I just explained how I made the card;

1. I cut a piece of Baja Breese cardstock (cs) at 5 1/2" and scored it at 4 1/4".
2. Next, I cut a piece of Very Vanilla cs 5 1/4" x 4".
3. The Soft Suede section was cut at 5 1/4" and then I ran it through the Big Shot using an Adorning Accents Edgelit and the coordinating Folder. It ended up 5 1/4" x 2". I popped that section up on Dimensionals because I attached a curly metal thing with ribbon on it from a Hodgepodge Hardware kit.
4. The birds were made using the Bird Builder Punch. I put texture on them (in them?) using a flowery folder (which is discontinued but any folder with small designs would work). I sponged Marina Mist ink over the textured parts and around the edges. Then I used a Basic Black marker and a White Gel Pen to color in the beak and eye. The birds are popped up on Dimensionals also.
5. I finished the card with a saying from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set, using two sizes of oval punches.

And so there you have it, folks. It's a card holder that inspired a card, and gave a happy ending to a happy story!

Story-telling hugs,
Colleen